NEWS ROUNDUP
Senator Craig Thomas of Wyoming Dies at 74
Senator Craig Thomas, a three-term Republican from Wyoming, died Monday evening, just hours after his staff reported that the treatment he was receiving for leukemia was no longer working. He was 74. Under Wyoming’s election laws, the state Republican Party will nominate three people to be his successor. The final choice will be made by the state’s governor, David Freudenthal, a Democrat. Because the seat will remain in Republican control, the balance of power in the Senate will not shift, a prospect that shook up Capitol Hill when Senator Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, had a brain hemorrhage on Dec. 13. Mr. Thomas’s family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia. Mr. Thomas announced that he had just been given the leukemia diagnosis two days after the 2006 election, in which he was elected with 70 percent of the vote. Raised on a ranch near Cody, Wyo., Mr. Thomas worked with the Wyoming Farm Bureau and the Wyoming Rural Electric Association before entering politics in the state Legislature. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1989 in a special election to replace Dick Cheney, who had been appointed secretary of defense. He was first elected to the Senate in 1994. Senator Thomas, a conservative who could almost always be counted on to vote with the Republican leadership, served on the national parks subcommittee, an assignment that was a good fit for a lawmaker whose state was home to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Whether the issue was snow-mobiling, wildlife management or timber rights, he believed that policy for parklands should be set Westerners, not by “East Coast liberals.”....
U.S. Cuts Back Climate Checks From Space
The Bush administration is drastically scaling back efforts to measure global warming from space, just as the president tries to convince the world the U.S. is ready to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gases. A confidential report to the White House, obtained by The Associated Press, warns that U.S. scientists will soon lose much of their ability to monitor warming from space using a costly and problem-plagued satellite initiative begun more than a decade ago. Because of technology glitches and a near-doubling in the original $6.5 billion cost, the Defense Department has decided to downsize and launch four satellites paired into two orbits, instead of six satellites and three orbits. The satellites were intended to gather weather and climate data, replacing existing satellites as they come to the end of their useful lifetimes beginning in the next couple of years....
Climate Change May Cut Yields, Feed Fires, USDA Says
Global warming could reduce U.S. corn yields 1.5 percent in the next 30 years and harm the livestock industry, according to the initial draft of the first major climate report from the Agriculture Department in five years. More wildfires, longer droughts and greater heat stress on animals will disrupt U.S. agriculture, forcing farmers to change land and water management practices, the department said. U.S. crops were valued at $122.4 billion in 2006, with corn accounting for $33.8 billion, the USDA said. The report was based on observed effects of climate change on U.S. agriculture, rather than the computer models used in past studies, David Schimel, a lead writer of the report, said before it was released. The initial document is less optimistic than the USDA's 2002 climate report, he said. The negative effects on crops may be mitigated somewhat by increased levels of soil-nurturing carbon dioxide, the report said. Rice and soybean yields may increase in some regions of the country, the USDA said. The report, prepared with help from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and other federal agencies, is subject to revision and peer review and won't be completed until the end of the year, Schimel said....
Vegas tapping Utah water?
Aquifers beneath the west desert are more connected than previously believed, indicating that a project to pump groundwater to Las Vegas from central Nevada valleys could impact neighboring Utah farmers and wildlife. A draft analysis released by the U.S. Geological Survey reveals that groundwater flows from Nevada to Utah at a greater rate than anticipated. It also indicates that there may be more groundwater in various aquifers than expected. That news only adds to the anxiety of ranchers and conservationists who say a proposal by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to eventually pump as much as 200,000 acre feet of water from desert valleys annually to the ever-growing Las Vegas metropolis would be "devastating." "It's basically a very immoral thing to do," Utah rancher Cecil Garland said Monday. "Those of us in agriculture know there isn't that kind of water in these desert valleys." Earlier this year, Nevada State Water Engineer Tracy Taylor ruled that the water authority could pump 40,000 acre-feet of water yearly from aquifers in Spring Valley, Nev. That area lies directly west of Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah-Nevada border. After 10 years, state and federal authorities will determine whether the pumping has been harmful to the environment. If the impacts are not too great, the Nevada water authority could then pump an additional 20,000 acre-feet a year from Spring Valley to Las Vegas....
Army to disclose plots it would seek in expansion
Fort Carson leaders plan to release a map this week showing which land they want to acquire if they expand their training site in southern Colorado, a spokeswoman said Monday. The Army has previously provided an area of interest for the proposed 418,000-acre expansion of Piñon Canyon, which is opposed by many ranchers in the area. Fort Carson spokeswoman Dee McNutt said a map of specific plots the Army is interested in would be released at a public meeting Thursday in Trinidad. She declined to provide details, including whether any landowners had agreed to sell to the Army. “This is just an area of interest,” McNutt said. Lon Robertson, a rancher in Kim who leads a group opposed to the expansion, said it doesn’t matter which land the Army wants, because acquiring that much ranch land would have a ripple effect on the region’s economy and culture. “It doesn’t matter which leg you cut off. You still cut off a leg,” Robertson said. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., said the Army didn’t tell him about the meeting. “I continue to not support the Army’s expansion plan, especially when it takes agriculture land out of production,” he said in a statement. The proposed expansion would nearly triple the size of what the Army now owns on the plains and canyon country of southern Colorado....
Yuma Proving Ground exploring expansion
Up to 500,000 acres of public land could go to expand a military training facility near Yuma, pushing the boundaries of the complex near or beyond several protected wilderness areas and into Maricopa County. If the U.S. Army annexes the land, public access to some parts of the Sonoran Desert will be eliminated. Expansion plans for the Yuma Proving Ground are only in the "exploratory" phase, facility officials said Monday. It's too early to know which lands would be included in the annexation and what the impact on plants and wildlife in those areas would be. The proving ground, about 30 miles northeast of Yuma, is a testing site for military weapons and hardware. Officials there want to be able to test artillery with greater firing ranges than weapons used there now, said Chuck Wullenjohn, public affairs officer for the proving ground. But some environmental advocates are concerned about an expanded facility's effects on sensitive areas. Officials at the Bureau of Land Management, which holds the land adjacent to the proving ground, say they won't know how the lands would be affected until the facility solidifies its plan....
When will Wyo gain wolf control?
Even with a recent compromise, it will be some time before Wyoming assumes control of wolves within its borders. "There are a number of hurdles that have to be dealt with," said Mitch King, director for the Mountain-Prairie Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. After years of negotiating, state and federal leaders last month announced a management plan that lawyers for both sides say they can live with. That plan will now be forged in the same public process that resulted in management strategies employed by Montana and Idaho. The work is expected to take several months. In the meantime, concessions made by both sides during the negotiating process could open new avenues for litigation regarding removal of wolves from Endangered Species Act protection. And the extended timeline means wolf numbers will continue to swell beyond expectations at the time of reintroduction in the 1990s. Before Wyoming takes control of its wolves, Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall must formally accept Wyoming's wolf management plan, a move that will require a lengthy public comment process....
Former Forest Service fire commander gets 2-year term for starting blazes
A former U.S. Forest Service fire management officer was sentenced to 24 months in prison Monday for starting a blaze without authorization. U.S. District Court Judge Paul Rosenblatt rejected the contention of Van Bateman that he simply "cleaned up a little timber" with that and at least one other prescribed burn, albeit without the proper authorization. "My intent and desires have always been to protect the national forest as best I could," Bateman told the judge. But Rosenblatt said that while he is "familiar with Forest Service bureaucracy," Bateman was wrong. "You simply were doing what you wanted to do rather that what should have been done," the judge told the 34-year veteran of the Forest Service, who acknowledged setting the Boondock Fire three years ago about 45 miles south of Flagstaff. Nor was the judge impressed by more than 50 letters from others — many of them former Forest Service employees — who wrote that they had done the same thing. In fact, the judge suggested those letters were one reason he was rejecting a plea by Grant Woods to place his client on probation. "That's kind of chilling," Rosenblatt said of the letters. "Too much paperwork simply doesn't cut it." Bateman also will have to pay a $5,000 fine and $10,390 in restitution to the Forest Service. Once released, he will be on supervised probation for another three years and will have to undergo a psychological exam. The two-year sentence was the maximum Rosenblatt could impose under the terms of a plea deal.... Former firefighter struggles with friend's pending imprisonment Until his recent retirement, Larry Humphrey was an incident commander for an elite Type 1 firefighting team. And for the past 30-some years, he's also been Van Bateman's best friend. Bateman, a firefighter accused of arson and sentenced to two years in prison, was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine along with a $10,000 restitution to the federal government. "It breaks my heart," said Humphrey. "He was the best firefighter in the U.S. as far as I'm concerned. Of course, he is my best friend." And now Humphrey's best friend is going to prison. Bateman and Humphrey were both top dogs when it came to waging war against the biggest flames. As Bateman was sentenced today, Presiding Judge Paul G. Rosenblat, addressed the fact that some top firefighters may think the rules don't apply to them. "You never think you're above the law," Humphrey said. "You have so many conflicting laws and policies, it's impossible for an incident commander to follow everything."....
Lawsuit seeks to reverse grizzly delisting
The grizzly bears in and near Yellowstone National Park face food shortages caused by global warming, a dearth of protected habitat and a shallow gene pool. Plus, there aren't enough of them to ensure their own survival. And the government is ignoring this information because of political pressures. That, in a nutshell, is the legal case presented by seven environmental groups in a lawsuit filed in United States District Court in Idaho Monday that seeks to halt the government's effort to remove federal protections for the bear. On April 30, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the grizzly from the U.S. Endangered Species Act, where it had been since 1975. Chris Servheen, the man who runs grizzly recovery efforts for FWS, said he wasn't surprised at the suit or its allegations. “It's called the 'throw-it-on-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks's approach,” Servheen said Monday. “Nothing we could have ever done would prevent them from suing us. That's what they do. Whatever we achieve, they always want more than that.” He also strongly defended the integrity of the government's delisting plans. The suit was filed by lawyers for EarthJustice, an environmental law firm. The plaintiffs are the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, Great Bear Foundation and Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance....
Some greens oppose lawsuit
If a lawsuit to restore federal protection for grizzly bears is successful, it would hobble the Endangered Species Act program and consume resources better spent on other threatened or endangered species, federal officials and some conservation groups say. Those who want grizzlies to remain shielded, meanwhile, portray the lawsuit as a challenge to the Bush administration's alleged strategy to remove wildlife as an obstacle to drilling, mining and grazing on federal lands. Several other conservation groups, including Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation, have supported the delisting of Yellowstone grizzlies. "There will always be uncertainties, for any species," said Tom France of the National Wildlife Federation. "But the facts are there to support delisting and the regulatory plans are adequate to protect bears."
Agreement Reached on Tongass National Forest Timber Sales Lawsuits
The District Court approved a comprehensive settlement agreement between mill owners, the Forest Service, the state, and conservation groups on May 30th. The settlement addresses a series of lawsuits concerning timber sales on the Tongass National Forest, and is effective until the Forest completes its amendment of the 1997 Forest Plan. Under the terms of the agreement, the Forest Service will withdraw Records of Decision for nine Environmental Impact Statements that allow timber sales in inventoried roadless areas. In return, plaintiffs will withdraw litigation on several purchased sales. The terms of the agreement provide enough timber to keep hundreds of people employed in the industry throughout Southeast Alaska until the Forest Plan Amendment is completed and implementation begun. "We're happy to be able to keep working," Viking Lumber owner Kirk Dahlstrom said. "Our existing wood products industry is dependent on timber from the National Forest, so it's great to have some wood available for the next year or more." "This settlement is very practical. For the duration of the agreement, it safeguards important community use areas and wildlife habitat-the places most important for hunting, fishing, wildlife, customary and traditional gathering, recreation, and tourism on the Tongass-while ensuring local mills have the timber they need until the Forest Service completes the forest planning process," said Russell Heath, Executive Director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council....
Adopt a Wild Horse or Burro and Get a Free Gas Card!!!
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) invites you to head out to the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri, on June 22 - 24, 2007 and take home a mustang or burro from America's public range lands. And they will even help pay for your gas. The three-day event features approximately 60 wild horses and burros, ranging in age from 5-years-old and younger. In addition to nice, healthy yearlings, mares, studs and geldings, there will be a limited number of jack burros. Gas blues keeping you home?? No worries. Adopt an animal and BLM will give you a $50 gas gift card. Plus, take home your choice of a nice ball cap or t-shirt. These bonuses are limited to one gift card and choice of ball cap or tee shirt per adopter....
Off roading leaves behind ugly scars in the desert
Ranchers say Pinal County is becoming a haven for off-road enthusiasts unlawfully riding their dirt bikes and sand buggies over areas that are off limits. And while they wait for lawmakers and state officials to do something, ranchers say off-roaders are tearing up the scenic desert. "If it wasn't for the ranchers out here, this place would be totally gone," said rancher Craig Shelley, who ranches about 15 square miles northeast of Queen Creek. "At least we're out here and trying to keep some semblance of the desert out here. It's getting harder to do it all the time." Shelley and other nearby ranchers have experienced a barrage of problems from off-road vehicle riders destroying their property and the property they've leased from the state. Ranchers are also spending thousands of dollars on fence and property repairs, litter cleanup and replacing signs that warn riders of trespassing and closed routes....
`America's salad bowl' on ballot
The fertile Salinas Valley served as a backdrop for some of John Steinbeck's most memorable writing, from "East of Eden" to "Of Mice and Men." Today, voters will write a new story there. Its plot: whether to sharply restrict development on farmland throughout the valley, a 100-mile-long expanse of lettuce, broccoli, strawberries, vineyards and cattle ranches known as "America's Salad Bowl" which stretches along Highway 101 south of Salinas, producing a $3.3 billion farm economy. In one of the more intense local election seasons in at least a decade, Monterey County voters will decide the fate of Measure A, a citizen initiative that would require a countywide vote for new developments on most of the region's unincorporated land - largely farms and ranches. But the most strident opponents are farmers and ranchers, who maintain the measure will do more to harm their way of life than preserve it. Environmentalists and their supporters say the measure is needed to limit the kind of sprawl and traffic that swallowed up Santa Clara County's "Valley of Heart's Delight" 50 years ago....
Carbon Credit Program Pays Off
The check is in the mail for about 630 farmers and ranchers in North Dakota, who signed up last year in the Carbon Credit Program. It`s a program that pays producers to capture carbon dioxide in their soil through practices like no-till cropping and grassland preservation. Those carbon credits are then sold at an exchange, to offset greenhouse gas emissions. To date, farmers and ranchers in the state have earned more than $2 million through the program. Enrolling acres in the carbon credit program might just change Jim Hopfauf`s way of life. "Right now I don`t NO till, but next year I`m planning on getting a no-till drill so I`ll be 100% no till," Hopfauf says. After two years of no-till, he can add that land to his 103 acres already signed up to earn carbon credits through the North Dakota Farmers Union program. The Carbon Credit Program not only benefits farmers financially now, it benefits them in the long run by helping to create a healthier soil environment. Preserving the environment is one of the main goals of the Carbon Credit Program. "We get better drought resistance. We get better productivity. We get lower production cost. We get higher water quality and water use efficiency," says Dr. Michael Walsh, executive vice president of the Chicago Climate Exchange....
Discovery in Orange Cauliflower May Lead to More Nutritious Crops
While orange cauliflower may seem unappealing to some, it has distinct nutritional advantages. Now, Cornell researchers have identified the genetic mutation behind the unusual hue. The finding may lead to more nutritious staple crops, including maize, potato, rice, sorghum and wheat. The genetic mutation recently isolated by Cornell plant geneticist Li Li and colleagues -- and described in the December issue of The Plant Cell -- allows the vegetable to hold more beta-carotene, which causes the orange color and is a precursor to the essential nutrient vitamin A. While cauliflower and many staple crops have the ability to synthesize beta-carotene, they are limited partially because they lack a "metabolic sink," or a place to store the compound. Developing staple crops with more vitamin A is important because vitamin A deficiency, common in developing countries, leads to compromised immune systems and is the leading cause of blindness in children. "A large percentage of the human population depends on staple crops for nutrition," said Li, an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics and a scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory at Cornell. "The research provides a possible new technique for genetically modifying staple crops to increase their ability to store beta-carotene and increase nutritional content in staple crops."....
Cattlemen Eye Swift Deal Warily
Reverberations from the proposed sale of meatpacker Swift & Co. to a Brazilian conglomerate have now reached from Denver to Washington D.C. to Sao Paulo. Many ranchers in the West are “relieved,” the Post reports, because the sale will keep Swift’s four plants operating and could result in higher beef prices. Lower worldwide demand has resulted in a price slump for beef in recent years, and the Swift plant in Greeley – scene of a December immigration raid that resulted in 1200 arrests – had cut one of its two shifts. The new owners say they plan to go back to two shifts a day, and retain the current workforce. The cattle industry is not so thrilled, however: “What all this means for U.S. cattle producers is that the sleeping giant is awakening and quickly moving in our direction,” said Eric Nelson, Trade Committee Chair for R-CALF USA, a cattle-business lobbying association. R-CALF is pushing for “marketplace reform” – a euphemism for protectionist legislation. Brazil is now the world’s largest exporter of beef, but the beef industry there has been plagued by foot-and-mouth disease. The European Commission banned all imports of beef from the three Brazilian provinces affected by the disease, and an Irish delegation to Brazil recently found lax efforts to combat FMD: “If such practices were found anywhere in Europe the cattle would be deemed worthless and their owners faced with hefty fines and, quite possibly, a spell behind bars,” ag expert Dan Buglass wrote recently in the Scotsman newspaper....
It's All Trew: Country cures tame pesky farm critters
No one knows why, but occasionally rats will choose to invade a farm or ranch. As this is definitely a health and safety hazard, every effort should be made at eradication. A friend near Shamrock suffered such an invasion on his ranch overnight. It was frightening for the family, plus as damage soared, he was at wits end as rat poison would also be dangerous to family pets. An employee, hailing from another country, solved the problem with a bale of hay, a 2-inch by 2-inch board and a half barrel of water. He placed the half barrel in the barn and filled it about half full of water, then placed the bale of hay nearby. Wedging the board under the bale wires on one end, he extended the board out over the barrel about halfway. The rats ran down the board trying to get a drink of water, fell off into the water and drowned. They buried buckets of dead rats for days before complete eradication. Grandpa and Grandma Trew dipped snuff as long as I can remember. Before planting their garden each spring, they soaked the seeds in "snuff water" overnight to keep the bugs, worms and birds from ruining the seeds. They always had a beautiful garden....
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
The 2007 Farm Bill Will Not Be Neutral To Livestock Producers
So you are a pork producer or a cowboy, and just have a passing interest in the 2007 Farm Bill. Maybe you raise poultry, or sheep, or exotic livestock and they are never mentioned in farm programs. Since there are no program payments for livestock production (except milk), you have very little interest in the current debate on Capitol Hill. Buckle your seatbelt for a 180 degree turn. As all 435 Members of the House and 100 Members of the Senate prepare for farm policy debate over the next several months, the Congressional Research Service has been issuing background papers so everyone on Capitol Hill can speak about agriculture without having the audience or the media giggle. The recently released report on animal agriculture(pdf) contains a broad look at some controversial issues that need to be addressed in the 2007 Farm Bill....
So you are a pork producer or a cowboy, and just have a passing interest in the 2007 Farm Bill. Maybe you raise poultry, or sheep, or exotic livestock and they are never mentioned in farm programs. Since there are no program payments for livestock production (except milk), you have very little interest in the current debate on Capitol Hill. Buckle your seatbelt for a 180 degree turn. As all 435 Members of the House and 100 Members of the Senate prepare for farm policy debate over the next several months, the Congressional Research Service has been issuing background papers so everyone on Capitol Hill can speak about agriculture without having the audience or the media giggle. The recently released report on animal agriculture(pdf) contains a broad look at some controversial issues that need to be addressed in the 2007 Farm Bill....
NEWS ROUNDUP
Column - They call this a consensus? "Only an insignificant fraction of scientists deny the global warming crisis. The time for debate is over. The science is settled." S o said Al Gore ... in 1992. Amazingly, he made his claims despite much evidence of their falsity. A Gallup poll at the time reported that 53% of scientists actively involved in global climate research did not believe global warming had occurred; 30% weren't sure; and only 17% believed global warming had begun. Even a Greenpeace poll showed 47% of climatologists didn't think a runaway greenhouse effect was imminent; only 36% thought it possible and a mere 13% thought it probable. Today, Al Gore is making the same claims of a scientific consensus, as do the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hundreds of government agencies and environmental groups around the world. But the claims of a scientific consensus remain unsubstantiated. They have only become louder and more frequent. More than six months ago, I began writing this series, The Deniers. When I began, I accepted the prevailing view that scientists overwhelmingly believe that climate change threatens the planet. I doubted only claims that the dissenters were either kooks on the margins of science or sell-outs in the pockets of the oil companies. My series set out to profile the dissenters -- those who deny that the science is settled on climate change -- and to have their views heard. To demonstrate that dissent is credible, I chose high-ranking scientists at the world's premier scientific establishments. I considered stopping after writing six profiles, thinking I had made my point, but continued the series due to feedback from readers. I next planned to stop writing after 10 profiles, then 12, but the feedback increased. Now, after profiling more than 20 deniers, I do not know when I will stop -- the list of distinguished scientists who question the IPCC grows daily, as does the number of emails I receive, many from scientists who express gratitude for my series. Somewhere along the way, I stopped believing that a scientific consensus exists on climate change. Certainly there is no consensus at the very top echelons of scientists -- the ranks from which I have been drawing my subjects -- and certainly there is no consensus among astrophysicists and other solar scientists, several of whom I have profiled. If anything, the majority view among these subsets of the scientific community may run in the opposite direction. Not only do most of my interviewees either discount or disparage the conventional wisdom as represented by the IPCC, many say their peers generally consider it to have little or no credibility. In one case, a top scientist told me that, to his knowledge, no respected scientist in his field accepts the IPCC position....
New protections proposed for bald eagles The Fish and Wildlife Service wants to replace four decades of federal protections for the American bald eagle with new rules against disturbing it. In a push to remove the nation's symbol from the endangered species list, the wildlife agency is writing new regulations under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act to protect the birds and their nesting, breeding and feeding areas from anything likely to cause them harm. The law, which dates to 1940, says only that bald eagles cannot be disturbed. Since 1967, when the bald eagle was listed as an endangered species, it has benefited from much tougher protections. The government's new interpretation of the 1940 law, proposed Friday, would allow the birds to be moved in rare cases if their nests or breeding and feeding grounds were in the way of an airport runway or some other development. Killing or injuring them accidentally would not be punishable. Fish and Wildlife, which is part of the Interior Department, must meet a June 29 court-ordered deadline in deciding whether to remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list. A federal judge in Minnesota ordered the agency last year to remove the eagle from the list unless the government could prove further delays were necessary. The order came in a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Minnesota landowner who wants to develop property with an active bald eagle nest....
Cougars or humans: Which are intruders? The notion that mountain lions are encroaching on people in the Great Plains draws a chuckle from Gary Jepson, who has lived smack in the middle of cougar country most of his life. The 66-year-old trapper and rancher says it's the hunters and outdoors enthusiasts who are intruding on the cougars' domain. "Human activity in this lion habitat has probably increased 100 times over," he said, atop a wind-swept bluff in western North Dakota's Badlands overlooking prime cougar territory. Cougar stories in the Plains and the Midwest have become more frequent in recent years. In 2004, Illinois reported only its second confirmed cougar sighting in more than a century. North Dakota has its share of unusual mountain lion stories, ranging from a cougar following mountain bikers on the Maah Daah Hey Trail in southwestern North Dakota to a dead lion found frozen in the ice on Lake Sakakawea. In the past six months, four lions have been caught in bobcat traps or snares in western North Dakota. The combination of more deer for lions to eat and more people out in the wilderness to see the cats "makes this appear like an explosion [of lions], when it really is not," Jepson said....
A Fresh Battle In South Dakota's Prairie Dog War Here on the sun-parched prairie, where rain seems as rare as gold dust, the fight over federal grassland is unending, pitting the backers of the crowd-pleasing prairie dog against the supporters of the humble cow. This week, the Bush administration could open the door to poisoning more of the furry rodents in order to help the cattle. A new environmental assessment will say that more prairie dog colonies can safely be targeted. Although the U.S. Forest Service will not make a decision until after a 45-day public comment period, conservation activists started to complain even before federal staff members in recent days mailed the document to politicians and advocates. Challenging ranchers who rely on public land for grazing, activists warned that a reduced habitat for prairie dogs would pose setbacks for Great Plains biodiversity and fragile communities of black-footed ferrets. The ferrets, masked members of the weasel family, were all but extinct a decade ago but have slowly been returning with careful attention from the federal government. It happens that the ferrets, often called the most endangered mammal in North America, prefer one delicacy to all others: prairie dogs. They eat almost nothing else. The controversy is unfolding as ranchers feel embattled and environmentalists feel emboldened by the national momentum toward conservation and "green" policies. Myron Williams, a prominent rancher in Wall, just north of the contested Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, has been pressing political appointees in the Bush administration to act while they still can....
Ferret release on hold pending conclusion of county’s lawsuit It’s been eight months since Mike LeValley submitted a 22-page environmental assessment report that would guide any effort to reintroduce black-footed ferrets into prairie dog towns in Logan County. It likely will be many more months before that report ever sees the light of day — or at least publication in the Federal Register, something that is needed before the prospect can move forward. As a result, it’s unlikely that ferrets will be reintroduced in Logan County again this fall, considered that’s the ideal time for releasing the animals. Under normal procedure, LeValley’s report would have gone from the Denver office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upstream to the Washington office and ultimately be published in the Federal Register. The public then would have at least 30 days to comment on the plan. Then, and only then, could LeValley and his team at the FWS ecological field office in Manhattan start the process of reintroducing the nation’s most endangered mammal into an area where it once thrived. But for some reason, the report has been put on hold. For an unusually long time, officials say. The agency says the delay is a result of Logan County’s lawsuit that seeks to force the poisoning of prairie dogs on land where the ferrets would be reintroduced. Prairie dogs are considered a pest in Kansas and state law allows counties to poison the animals and then send a bill to the landowners. The Logan County lawsuit seeks to force ranchers to remove cattle from their land so the controversial poisoning program can continue. Rozol, the poison of choice, cannot be used when cattle are present....
The restoration: Five years later Walking a narrow path through the middle of Pinehurst Ranch, Laurie Glauth moves between the stark challenge and subtle joy of regeneration. To her right, a line of newly strung fence, pulled taut as piano wire, surrounds acres of scorched ponderosa pine amid an emerging bed of native grasses that will become grazing land. To her left, naked, singed remnants of towering aspen rise above remarkably lush new growth - a grove whose slender shoots reach as high as 20 feet. "How do you mitigate the damage?" says Glauth. "You cross your fingers a lot and hope Mother Nature heals herself." It's been five years since the Hayman fire burned a 138,000-acre footprint on the landscape after a U.S. Forest Service employee carelessly ignited a letter from her estranged husband amid drought- stricken woods. The worst wildfire in Colorado history destroyed 132 homes over six weeks, cost an estimated $238 million in damage and rehabilitation, and burned so hot it created its own weather beneath towering clouds of smoke and ash. It turned most of Pinehurst into a blackened moonscape. Five years. Half a decade to begin repairing the wide-ranging effects of the fire - from lost natural resources to crippled local economies to suddenly sludge-laden watersheds. But barely a heartbeat in the centuries-long process of restoring a forest....
Grayling savior - science or politics? The fluvial arctic grayling are one of Montana's rarest fish. That wasn't always so. At one time, the easily fooled grayling were caught by the basketfuls to feed hungry homesteaders, miners and cowboys all the way along the upper Missouri River drainage. Over-fishing, competition from introduced non-native trout, and habitat degradation slowly pushed the fish best known for its large dorsal fin back into the upper reaches of the Big Hole Basin. Now there's perhaps a few thousand that survive in this last stronghold. In this high mountain valley where cattle are more common than humankind, there's a debate being waged on what's the best way to save the last native river-dwelling arctic grayling population in the contiguous United States. On one side stand the valley's ranchers, many of whom can trace their lineage back the first few who ventured into this place known for its nutritious mountain grass. Over the last few years, many of them have taken up the call to protect precious grayling habitat by fencing off their river and creek channels, building fish ladders and installing water measuring devices on their irrigation head gates. It's all part of an effort to protect themselves from the fallout that could occur if the fish were listed under federal government's Endangered Species Act. On the other side are those who believe the federal law's umbrella of protection is the only sure way that Montana's population of fluvial arctic grayling has a chance to survive....
Cache County in Dispute with U.S. Forest Service over Roads Cache County is fighting with the U.S. Forest Service over whether it can claim to own nearly every mile of road on the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The county council has passed two resolutions in six months declaring it owns 197 miles of roads in the national forest and it intends to claim another 150 miles of road in the future. The county wants to own the roads so it can maintain them. "We as a county are stepping up and saying . . . these are our roads," said Cory Yeates, a council member who has heard numerous complaints that forest roads are often blocked or in poor condition. "By law, they are (now) county roads," says Yeates. The Forest Service disagrees. "The Forest Service and other federal agencies don't really have the right to grant that to them," said Kay Shurtz, engineer for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. A court would have to determine whether the county's claims to the roads are valid, he said. A Civil War-era mining law allowed counties and cities to use routes across federal land. That law was repealed three decades ago, but existing rights of way were grandfathered in. Confusion now exists on what constituted an existing right of way....It's interesting how these reporters refer to the mining law as a "Civil War-era" relic. The Constitution is just under a hundred years older than the mining law. Yet, those same reporters don't refer to the First Amendment as a "Revolution-era" amendment. No sir, not when their rights are protected.
Out of the ashes, questions still burn I f ever you were caught in the path of a forest fire, believe me, you'd want to have John N. Maclean with you. This is a man informed about the behavior of fire -- about its tendencies to blast over hillsides and through canyons, to jump across roads and giant boulders, and to glow in wild and disturbing colors. Maclean knows how spot fires are doused, how big burns are controlled with the right kind of digging, and he knows how to gauge when it's simply time to get out of fire's way -- running from oncoming flames as fast as possible. Rather than a firefighter or a scientist studying the properties of fire, Maclean is a writer and the author of such fire-related books as "Fire and Ashes" and "Fire on the Mountain," as well as the volume he helped publish after his father Norman Maclean's death, "Young Men and Fire." His latest book, "The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal," is an account of a travesty and a tragedy, the story of a forest fire that started out as a small blaze in the narrow Chewuch River canyon in Washington state, near the Canadian border, in July of 2001, but quickly became more fierce and powerful than anyone could control. Over-stretched managers, who were concentrating on the huge Libby South Fire in the North Cascades Range, underestimated the blaze. By the time these higher-ups realized the seriousness of a fire to which they'd sent mostly inexperienced firefighters, a crew was trapped (along with two campers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time) and four firefighters were dead. Maclean follows the mostly rookie crew forced to deal with the Thirtymile Fire, and we're with that rag-tag group as they realize they're fighting an all-consuming monster instead of a no-big-deal blaze....
Woman who started wildfire to leave U.S. prison next June Terry Barton, the former Forest Service worker convicted of setting the Hayman fire, is scheduled to be released from federal prison next June. Whether she will serve more time in a state prison remains unclear. Barton said she accidentally set the fire after she had burned a letter from her husband while on the job in the Pike National Forest. Barton was sentenced in 2003 to a six-year federal term, which computes, with good behavior, to about five years and two months. She also took a plea deal that carried a 12-year sentence on state arson charges, which likely would have been cut by half or more. That sentence was to run concurrently with her federal sentence....
Hayman recovery: 600 years Five years after the epic Hayman Fire blackened 138,000 acres of pristine Front Range woodlands, nature is sending some promising signals. A greenish hue tints the landscape, the once- blackened ground colored by blue gramma grasses and splashes of sage. Trees are returning, too. Not yet the signature ponderosa pine, but willows and cottonwoods filling in along denuded streambeds. Aspen, also, are resurfacing, their labyrinth root systems sheltered from the fire. Still, it will be centuries before the forest returns to the condition it was on June 7, 2002 - the day before a distraught Forest Service worker started what scientists believe to be the worst wildfire in the southern Rockies in at least 700 years. On Sunday, June 9, the fire raced 19 miles in 13 hours, a freakish explosion of energy so hot it sparked advance fires a mile ahead of its frontline and sent waves of heat to 21,000 feet....
Otero County says fire hazard may increase County officials say the risk of fire in the Lincoln National Forest could easily and steadily increase over the next eight years, if the right conditions remain in place. "Our most recent study shows that conditions will worsen for us over the next eight years, if things continue as they have been," Commissioner Mike Nivison said Friday. Otero County Emergency Services Coordinator Paul Quairoli said there are three factors that will determine the potential for increased fire risk. "These factors are the amount of moisture we receive, the defoliation and the amount of dead trees left in the forest," Quairoli said. "If the dead trees are not removed, they just add to the fire fuel." Quairoli said the depth of the fuel bed, the living above-ground biomass including conifer needles, always determines surface fire behavior. "If the trees die and are not removed, they become snags, standing dead trees or fallen ones on the forest floor. They will accumulate a massive fire fuel load in the forest," Quairoli said. It takes up to 1,000 hours of moisture to alter the combustibility of a tree from dry to saturated with moisture, according to Quairoli....
Snowbowl, feds appeal ruling barring snowmaking at ski resort The owners of the Arizona Snowbowl ski area and the federal government are asking an appeals court to reconsider a March ruling barring the use of treated wastewater to make snow. This week's filings are the latest step in a multi-year court battle between tribes and the owners of the resort on the San Francisco Peaks outside Flagstaff. The Department of Justice, Forest Service and the Snowbowl asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the ruling it made largely on religious grounds. Attorneys for the government and the Snowbowl contend the ruling sets a dangerous precedent, giving almost anyone the power to set up serious roadblocks anytime the government grants a use of public land that they disagree with. They also contend that the three-judge panel's ruling departs from established case law. The filing said the court should have relied on an earlier case that said Native Americans' religious rights were not harmed by the commercial ski area so long as other areas on the San Francisco Peaks were available for religious activities....
Wyoming's natural gas boom sees growing pains On a windy Friday afternoon in Sublette County, Wyo., Ensign Rig No. 121 clanks and moans as it drives steel pipe 11,500 feet into the ground to capture natural gas. Just a few hundred yards away, framed against the stark blue sky, a half-dozen antelope bound across the sagebrush desert. Until recently the county's three million acres served mostly as a quiet and relatively isolated habitat for the herds of grazing animals. But at the moment it's hard to hear anything other than the hulking mechanism's steady percussion. "I guess you could say it's like a gold rush out here," shouts 44-year-old supervisor Todd Arnold over the racket, with the 15-story derrick looming behind him. "Everything is going full bore right now. We keep all the components of this thing moving all the time - 24 hours a day, seven days a week." They can't afford not to. Arnold and his five-man crew are at the epicenter of the biggest boom ever to hit this part of cowboy country. His employer, Canadian natural gas giant EnCana, has drilled 374 new wells in Sublette in the past three years alone. A host of other multinational oil and gas companies, such as BP (Charts) and Exxon Mobil (Charts, Fortune 500), have rushed in as well. The promise of $25-an-hour starting pay for drillers has drawn thousands of men from as far away as Texas and Florida to this once-sleepy corner of western Wyoming. Arnold, who came from Utah, works up to 18 hours a day and makes more than $150,000 annually. A confluence of events in the global energy market brought the drillers here. In recent years Russia and Venezuela, both big natural gas suppliers, nationalized their fields, shutting off access to foreign companies. Simultaneously, natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico - the source for 10 percent of American consumption - declined some 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, as easy-to-drill reserves were depleted and explorers had to move to deeper water. The tightening supply, combined with ever-increasing demand in the U.S., has helped lead to a quadrupling of the price of natural gas over the past decade. And that has created a new urgency to drill for Wyoming's "unconventional" gas - which sits not in easy pools above oil, but thousands of feet beneath the earth in pockets of sandstone and coal formations....
Ducks Unlimited praises Congress for addressing grassland loss A briefing from a new report the Governmental Accounting Office will release this summer says conversion of native prairie grasslands is a growing problem. Ducks Unlimited believes this report and others will help Congress focus on solutions to prairie losses as it writes the new 2007 federal farm bill. “Ducks Unlimited is working with Congress to address grassland loss in the new farm bill legislation,” said Ducks Unlimited (DU) Executive Vice president Don Young. “Interim Results: Impact of USDA Payments and Sodbuster on Grassland Conversions to Cropland” was prepared for two key Senate and House committees working on the new federal farm bill. The report provides compelling evidence that farm program payments contribute significantly to grassland loss in the Prairie Pothole Region. More than 70 percent of North America’s ducks are hatched in this region annually. DU supports the Sodsaver provision to help stop grassland losses. Sodsaver was recently included in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm bill proposal. It would eliminate eligibility for federal payments - particularly crop insurance and disaster payments - on newly broken acres without a cropping history....
Dutch try to grow enviro-friendly meat in lab Dutch researchers are trying to grow pork meat in a laboratory with the goal of feeding millions without the need to raise and slaughter animals. "We're trying to make meat without having to kill animals," Bernard Roelen, a veterinary science professor at Utrecht University, said in an interview. Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment, he said. "Keeping animals just to eat them is in fact not so good for the environment," said Roelen. "Animals need to grow, and animals produce many things that you do not eat." Research is also under way in the United States, including one experiment funded by U.S. space agency NASA to see whether meat can be grown for astronauts during long space missions. But it will take years before meat grown in labs and eventually factories reaches supermarket shelves. And so far, Roelen and his team have managed to grow only thin layers of cells that bear no resemblance to pork chops....
They Die in Brooks County At the Side Door Café in Falfurrias, Texas, body counts enter conversations as naturally as the price of feed, or the cost of repairing torn fences. “I removed 11 bodies last year from my ranch, 12 the year before,” said prominent local landowner Presnall Cage. “I found four so far this year.” Sometimes, Cage said, he has taken survivors to a hospital; mostly, however, time and the sun have done their jobs, and it is too late. As increased U.S. border security closes certain routes, undocumented migrants continue to come but squeeze onto fewer, more dangerous and isolated pathways to America’s interior. One of these is the network of trails that bypasses the last Border Patrol checkpoint traveling north on Hwy. 281, in Brooks County. That change is having a dramatic ripple effect on the county (total pop: 7,685), and on people who have lived here for generations. Pictures of the dead are kept discreetly in certain places in this town, a collective album that tells an important part of what Brooks County—which used to be better known for oil, watermelon, and a Halliburton facility—has become in the last couple of years: a grave for the weak or unlucky....
America, by horseback Like journalistic legend Charles Kuralt and faux newsman Borat Sagdiyev before him, Bill Inman is embarking on a trip across the United States searching for the true American spirit, as well as for stories and people that aren't typically featured on the nightly news. The most obvious difference between Inman, 47, and his predecessors is that the loquacious Lebanon resident is making his cross-country trek on horseback, with a videographer tagging along every step of the expected 32-week-long adventure. The journey began Saturday during Lebanon's annual Strawberry Festival parade. From there Inman moseyed east along Highway 20 toward Sweet Home - the first of many small-town stops he expects to make between Oregon and the East Coast. If all goes as planned, the Inman expedition will wrap up early next year in Hendersonville, N.C. Inman is hopeful that by then, he'll have compiled enough footage to piece together a documentary film or series that showcases a side of rural American life that he believes is generally overlooked by mainstream media outlets....
Learning the ropes It's 140 degrees in the rope stretching room. Gary Mefford, employed 33 years, dabs his forehead as he strings ropes inside. The heat will permanently remove the spiral effect caused by coiling. It's 9:55 a.m. Five minutes until recess. Dan Morales, who joined the team in 1978, whirls a lasso around his torso, checking its stiffness. Andy Lucas flips a switch and twists strands of nylon and polyester into what will become a fine lariat. The clock on the cement wall in the basement reads 9:59.33 a.m. Close enough. Four grown men bound up the steps. It's break time -- or recess -- at King's Saddlery and King Ropes in Sheridan, a company known worldwide for its high quality, handmade saddles, ropes and tack. King's is fiercely devoted to regular Wyoming cowboys who do real work in a place that remains the real West. It is a business, like its Sheridan-area home, whose employees know how to cowboy up and play hard. Today, the gunslinging wild West has mellowed, but its spirit lives on in Sheridan's cowboys and ranchers. And it lives in the saddle and rope shop founded by Don King more than 60 years ago. Don grew up cowboying with his father around the West. Along the way, he learned how to tie his own ropes and build his own saddles....
Column - They call this a consensus? "Only an insignificant fraction of scientists deny the global warming crisis. The time for debate is over. The science is settled." S o said Al Gore ... in 1992. Amazingly, he made his claims despite much evidence of their falsity. A Gallup poll at the time reported that 53% of scientists actively involved in global climate research did not believe global warming had occurred; 30% weren't sure; and only 17% believed global warming had begun. Even a Greenpeace poll showed 47% of climatologists didn't think a runaway greenhouse effect was imminent; only 36% thought it possible and a mere 13% thought it probable. Today, Al Gore is making the same claims of a scientific consensus, as do the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and hundreds of government agencies and environmental groups around the world. But the claims of a scientific consensus remain unsubstantiated. They have only become louder and more frequent. More than six months ago, I began writing this series, The Deniers. When I began, I accepted the prevailing view that scientists overwhelmingly believe that climate change threatens the planet. I doubted only claims that the dissenters were either kooks on the margins of science or sell-outs in the pockets of the oil companies. My series set out to profile the dissenters -- those who deny that the science is settled on climate change -- and to have their views heard. To demonstrate that dissent is credible, I chose high-ranking scientists at the world's premier scientific establishments. I considered stopping after writing six profiles, thinking I had made my point, but continued the series due to feedback from readers. I next planned to stop writing after 10 profiles, then 12, but the feedback increased. Now, after profiling more than 20 deniers, I do not know when I will stop -- the list of distinguished scientists who question the IPCC grows daily, as does the number of emails I receive, many from scientists who express gratitude for my series. Somewhere along the way, I stopped believing that a scientific consensus exists on climate change. Certainly there is no consensus at the very top echelons of scientists -- the ranks from which I have been drawing my subjects -- and certainly there is no consensus among astrophysicists and other solar scientists, several of whom I have profiled. If anything, the majority view among these subsets of the scientific community may run in the opposite direction. Not only do most of my interviewees either discount or disparage the conventional wisdom as represented by the IPCC, many say their peers generally consider it to have little or no credibility. In one case, a top scientist told me that, to his knowledge, no respected scientist in his field accepts the IPCC position....
New protections proposed for bald eagles The Fish and Wildlife Service wants to replace four decades of federal protections for the American bald eagle with new rules against disturbing it. In a push to remove the nation's symbol from the endangered species list, the wildlife agency is writing new regulations under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act to protect the birds and their nesting, breeding and feeding areas from anything likely to cause them harm. The law, which dates to 1940, says only that bald eagles cannot be disturbed. Since 1967, when the bald eagle was listed as an endangered species, it has benefited from much tougher protections. The government's new interpretation of the 1940 law, proposed Friday, would allow the birds to be moved in rare cases if their nests or breeding and feeding grounds were in the way of an airport runway or some other development. Killing or injuring them accidentally would not be punishable. Fish and Wildlife, which is part of the Interior Department, must meet a June 29 court-ordered deadline in deciding whether to remove the bald eagle from the endangered species list. A federal judge in Minnesota ordered the agency last year to remove the eagle from the list unless the government could prove further delays were necessary. The order came in a lawsuit brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of a Minnesota landowner who wants to develop property with an active bald eagle nest....
Cougars or humans: Which are intruders? The notion that mountain lions are encroaching on people in the Great Plains draws a chuckle from Gary Jepson, who has lived smack in the middle of cougar country most of his life. The 66-year-old trapper and rancher says it's the hunters and outdoors enthusiasts who are intruding on the cougars' domain. "Human activity in this lion habitat has probably increased 100 times over," he said, atop a wind-swept bluff in western North Dakota's Badlands overlooking prime cougar territory. Cougar stories in the Plains and the Midwest have become more frequent in recent years. In 2004, Illinois reported only its second confirmed cougar sighting in more than a century. North Dakota has its share of unusual mountain lion stories, ranging from a cougar following mountain bikers on the Maah Daah Hey Trail in southwestern North Dakota to a dead lion found frozen in the ice on Lake Sakakawea. In the past six months, four lions have been caught in bobcat traps or snares in western North Dakota. The combination of more deer for lions to eat and more people out in the wilderness to see the cats "makes this appear like an explosion [of lions], when it really is not," Jepson said....
A Fresh Battle In South Dakota's Prairie Dog War Here on the sun-parched prairie, where rain seems as rare as gold dust, the fight over federal grassland is unending, pitting the backers of the crowd-pleasing prairie dog against the supporters of the humble cow. This week, the Bush administration could open the door to poisoning more of the furry rodents in order to help the cattle. A new environmental assessment will say that more prairie dog colonies can safely be targeted. Although the U.S. Forest Service will not make a decision until after a 45-day public comment period, conservation activists started to complain even before federal staff members in recent days mailed the document to politicians and advocates. Challenging ranchers who rely on public land for grazing, activists warned that a reduced habitat for prairie dogs would pose setbacks for Great Plains biodiversity and fragile communities of black-footed ferrets. The ferrets, masked members of the weasel family, were all but extinct a decade ago but have slowly been returning with careful attention from the federal government. It happens that the ferrets, often called the most endangered mammal in North America, prefer one delicacy to all others: prairie dogs. They eat almost nothing else. The controversy is unfolding as ranchers feel embattled and environmentalists feel emboldened by the national momentum toward conservation and "green" policies. Myron Williams, a prominent rancher in Wall, just north of the contested Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, has been pressing political appointees in the Bush administration to act while they still can....
Ferret release on hold pending conclusion of county’s lawsuit It’s been eight months since Mike LeValley submitted a 22-page environmental assessment report that would guide any effort to reintroduce black-footed ferrets into prairie dog towns in Logan County. It likely will be many more months before that report ever sees the light of day — or at least publication in the Federal Register, something that is needed before the prospect can move forward. As a result, it’s unlikely that ferrets will be reintroduced in Logan County again this fall, considered that’s the ideal time for releasing the animals. Under normal procedure, LeValley’s report would have gone from the Denver office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upstream to the Washington office and ultimately be published in the Federal Register. The public then would have at least 30 days to comment on the plan. Then, and only then, could LeValley and his team at the FWS ecological field office in Manhattan start the process of reintroducing the nation’s most endangered mammal into an area where it once thrived. But for some reason, the report has been put on hold. For an unusually long time, officials say. The agency says the delay is a result of Logan County’s lawsuit that seeks to force the poisoning of prairie dogs on land where the ferrets would be reintroduced. Prairie dogs are considered a pest in Kansas and state law allows counties to poison the animals and then send a bill to the landowners. The Logan County lawsuit seeks to force ranchers to remove cattle from their land so the controversial poisoning program can continue. Rozol, the poison of choice, cannot be used when cattle are present....
The restoration: Five years later Walking a narrow path through the middle of Pinehurst Ranch, Laurie Glauth moves between the stark challenge and subtle joy of regeneration. To her right, a line of newly strung fence, pulled taut as piano wire, surrounds acres of scorched ponderosa pine amid an emerging bed of native grasses that will become grazing land. To her left, naked, singed remnants of towering aspen rise above remarkably lush new growth - a grove whose slender shoots reach as high as 20 feet. "How do you mitigate the damage?" says Glauth. "You cross your fingers a lot and hope Mother Nature heals herself." It's been five years since the Hayman fire burned a 138,000-acre footprint on the landscape after a U.S. Forest Service employee carelessly ignited a letter from her estranged husband amid drought- stricken woods. The worst wildfire in Colorado history destroyed 132 homes over six weeks, cost an estimated $238 million in damage and rehabilitation, and burned so hot it created its own weather beneath towering clouds of smoke and ash. It turned most of Pinehurst into a blackened moonscape. Five years. Half a decade to begin repairing the wide-ranging effects of the fire - from lost natural resources to crippled local economies to suddenly sludge-laden watersheds. But barely a heartbeat in the centuries-long process of restoring a forest....
Grayling savior - science or politics? The fluvial arctic grayling are one of Montana's rarest fish. That wasn't always so. At one time, the easily fooled grayling were caught by the basketfuls to feed hungry homesteaders, miners and cowboys all the way along the upper Missouri River drainage. Over-fishing, competition from introduced non-native trout, and habitat degradation slowly pushed the fish best known for its large dorsal fin back into the upper reaches of the Big Hole Basin. Now there's perhaps a few thousand that survive in this last stronghold. In this high mountain valley where cattle are more common than humankind, there's a debate being waged on what's the best way to save the last native river-dwelling arctic grayling population in the contiguous United States. On one side stand the valley's ranchers, many of whom can trace their lineage back the first few who ventured into this place known for its nutritious mountain grass. Over the last few years, many of them have taken up the call to protect precious grayling habitat by fencing off their river and creek channels, building fish ladders and installing water measuring devices on their irrigation head gates. It's all part of an effort to protect themselves from the fallout that could occur if the fish were listed under federal government's Endangered Species Act. On the other side are those who believe the federal law's umbrella of protection is the only sure way that Montana's population of fluvial arctic grayling has a chance to survive....
Cache County in Dispute with U.S. Forest Service over Roads Cache County is fighting with the U.S. Forest Service over whether it can claim to own nearly every mile of road on the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The county council has passed two resolutions in six months declaring it owns 197 miles of roads in the national forest and it intends to claim another 150 miles of road in the future. The county wants to own the roads so it can maintain them. "We as a county are stepping up and saying . . . these are our roads," said Cory Yeates, a council member who has heard numerous complaints that forest roads are often blocked or in poor condition. "By law, they are (now) county roads," says Yeates. The Forest Service disagrees. "The Forest Service and other federal agencies don't really have the right to grant that to them," said Kay Shurtz, engineer for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. A court would have to determine whether the county's claims to the roads are valid, he said. A Civil War-era mining law allowed counties and cities to use routes across federal land. That law was repealed three decades ago, but existing rights of way were grandfathered in. Confusion now exists on what constituted an existing right of way....It's interesting how these reporters refer to the mining law as a "Civil War-era" relic. The Constitution is just under a hundred years older than the mining law. Yet, those same reporters don't refer to the First Amendment as a "Revolution-era" amendment. No sir, not when their rights are protected.
Out of the ashes, questions still burn I f ever you were caught in the path of a forest fire, believe me, you'd want to have John N. Maclean with you. This is a man informed about the behavior of fire -- about its tendencies to blast over hillsides and through canyons, to jump across roads and giant boulders, and to glow in wild and disturbing colors. Maclean knows how spot fires are doused, how big burns are controlled with the right kind of digging, and he knows how to gauge when it's simply time to get out of fire's way -- running from oncoming flames as fast as possible. Rather than a firefighter or a scientist studying the properties of fire, Maclean is a writer and the author of such fire-related books as "Fire and Ashes" and "Fire on the Mountain," as well as the volume he helped publish after his father Norman Maclean's death, "Young Men and Fire." His latest book, "The Thirtymile Fire: A Chronicle of Bravery and Betrayal," is an account of a travesty and a tragedy, the story of a forest fire that started out as a small blaze in the narrow Chewuch River canyon in Washington state, near the Canadian border, in July of 2001, but quickly became more fierce and powerful than anyone could control. Over-stretched managers, who were concentrating on the huge Libby South Fire in the North Cascades Range, underestimated the blaze. By the time these higher-ups realized the seriousness of a fire to which they'd sent mostly inexperienced firefighters, a crew was trapped (along with two campers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time) and four firefighters were dead. Maclean follows the mostly rookie crew forced to deal with the Thirtymile Fire, and we're with that rag-tag group as they realize they're fighting an all-consuming monster instead of a no-big-deal blaze....
Woman who started wildfire to leave U.S. prison next June Terry Barton, the former Forest Service worker convicted of setting the Hayman fire, is scheduled to be released from federal prison next June. Whether she will serve more time in a state prison remains unclear. Barton said she accidentally set the fire after she had burned a letter from her husband while on the job in the Pike National Forest. Barton was sentenced in 2003 to a six-year federal term, which computes, with good behavior, to about five years and two months. She also took a plea deal that carried a 12-year sentence on state arson charges, which likely would have been cut by half or more. That sentence was to run concurrently with her federal sentence....
Hayman recovery: 600 years Five years after the epic Hayman Fire blackened 138,000 acres of pristine Front Range woodlands, nature is sending some promising signals. A greenish hue tints the landscape, the once- blackened ground colored by blue gramma grasses and splashes of sage. Trees are returning, too. Not yet the signature ponderosa pine, but willows and cottonwoods filling in along denuded streambeds. Aspen, also, are resurfacing, their labyrinth root systems sheltered from the fire. Still, it will be centuries before the forest returns to the condition it was on June 7, 2002 - the day before a distraught Forest Service worker started what scientists believe to be the worst wildfire in the southern Rockies in at least 700 years. On Sunday, June 9, the fire raced 19 miles in 13 hours, a freakish explosion of energy so hot it sparked advance fires a mile ahead of its frontline and sent waves of heat to 21,000 feet....
Otero County says fire hazard may increase County officials say the risk of fire in the Lincoln National Forest could easily and steadily increase over the next eight years, if the right conditions remain in place. "Our most recent study shows that conditions will worsen for us over the next eight years, if things continue as they have been," Commissioner Mike Nivison said Friday. Otero County Emergency Services Coordinator Paul Quairoli said there are three factors that will determine the potential for increased fire risk. "These factors are the amount of moisture we receive, the defoliation and the amount of dead trees left in the forest," Quairoli said. "If the dead trees are not removed, they just add to the fire fuel." Quairoli said the depth of the fuel bed, the living above-ground biomass including conifer needles, always determines surface fire behavior. "If the trees die and are not removed, they become snags, standing dead trees or fallen ones on the forest floor. They will accumulate a massive fire fuel load in the forest," Quairoli said. It takes up to 1,000 hours of moisture to alter the combustibility of a tree from dry to saturated with moisture, according to Quairoli....
Snowbowl, feds appeal ruling barring snowmaking at ski resort The owners of the Arizona Snowbowl ski area and the federal government are asking an appeals court to reconsider a March ruling barring the use of treated wastewater to make snow. This week's filings are the latest step in a multi-year court battle between tribes and the owners of the resort on the San Francisco Peaks outside Flagstaff. The Department of Justice, Forest Service and the Snowbowl asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the ruling it made largely on religious grounds. Attorneys for the government and the Snowbowl contend the ruling sets a dangerous precedent, giving almost anyone the power to set up serious roadblocks anytime the government grants a use of public land that they disagree with. They also contend that the three-judge panel's ruling departs from established case law. The filing said the court should have relied on an earlier case that said Native Americans' religious rights were not harmed by the commercial ski area so long as other areas on the San Francisco Peaks were available for religious activities....
Wyoming's natural gas boom sees growing pains On a windy Friday afternoon in Sublette County, Wyo., Ensign Rig No. 121 clanks and moans as it drives steel pipe 11,500 feet into the ground to capture natural gas. Just a few hundred yards away, framed against the stark blue sky, a half-dozen antelope bound across the sagebrush desert. Until recently the county's three million acres served mostly as a quiet and relatively isolated habitat for the herds of grazing animals. But at the moment it's hard to hear anything other than the hulking mechanism's steady percussion. "I guess you could say it's like a gold rush out here," shouts 44-year-old supervisor Todd Arnold over the racket, with the 15-story derrick looming behind him. "Everything is going full bore right now. We keep all the components of this thing moving all the time - 24 hours a day, seven days a week." They can't afford not to. Arnold and his five-man crew are at the epicenter of the biggest boom ever to hit this part of cowboy country. His employer, Canadian natural gas giant EnCana, has drilled 374 new wells in Sublette in the past three years alone. A host of other multinational oil and gas companies, such as BP (Charts) and Exxon Mobil (Charts, Fortune 500), have rushed in as well. The promise of $25-an-hour starting pay for drillers has drawn thousands of men from as far away as Texas and Florida to this once-sleepy corner of western Wyoming. Arnold, who came from Utah, works up to 18 hours a day and makes more than $150,000 annually. A confluence of events in the global energy market brought the drillers here. In recent years Russia and Venezuela, both big natural gas suppliers, nationalized their fields, shutting off access to foreign companies. Simultaneously, natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico - the source for 10 percent of American consumption - declined some 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, as easy-to-drill reserves were depleted and explorers had to move to deeper water. The tightening supply, combined with ever-increasing demand in the U.S., has helped lead to a quadrupling of the price of natural gas over the past decade. And that has created a new urgency to drill for Wyoming's "unconventional" gas - which sits not in easy pools above oil, but thousands of feet beneath the earth in pockets of sandstone and coal formations....
Ducks Unlimited praises Congress for addressing grassland loss A briefing from a new report the Governmental Accounting Office will release this summer says conversion of native prairie grasslands is a growing problem. Ducks Unlimited believes this report and others will help Congress focus on solutions to prairie losses as it writes the new 2007 federal farm bill. “Ducks Unlimited is working with Congress to address grassland loss in the new farm bill legislation,” said Ducks Unlimited (DU) Executive Vice president Don Young. “Interim Results: Impact of USDA Payments and Sodbuster on Grassland Conversions to Cropland” was prepared for two key Senate and House committees working on the new federal farm bill. The report provides compelling evidence that farm program payments contribute significantly to grassland loss in the Prairie Pothole Region. More than 70 percent of North America’s ducks are hatched in this region annually. DU supports the Sodsaver provision to help stop grassland losses. Sodsaver was recently included in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm bill proposal. It would eliminate eligibility for federal payments - particularly crop insurance and disaster payments - on newly broken acres without a cropping history....
Dutch try to grow enviro-friendly meat in lab Dutch researchers are trying to grow pork meat in a laboratory with the goal of feeding millions without the need to raise and slaughter animals. "We're trying to make meat without having to kill animals," Bernard Roelen, a veterinary science professor at Utrecht University, said in an interview. Although it is in its early stages, the idea is to replace harvesting meat from livestock with a process that eliminates the need for animal feed, transport, land use and the methane expelled by animals, which all hurt the environment, he said. "Keeping animals just to eat them is in fact not so good for the environment," said Roelen. "Animals need to grow, and animals produce many things that you do not eat." Research is also under way in the United States, including one experiment funded by U.S. space agency NASA to see whether meat can be grown for astronauts during long space missions. But it will take years before meat grown in labs and eventually factories reaches supermarket shelves. And so far, Roelen and his team have managed to grow only thin layers of cells that bear no resemblance to pork chops....
They Die in Brooks County At the Side Door Café in Falfurrias, Texas, body counts enter conversations as naturally as the price of feed, or the cost of repairing torn fences. “I removed 11 bodies last year from my ranch, 12 the year before,” said prominent local landowner Presnall Cage. “I found four so far this year.” Sometimes, Cage said, he has taken survivors to a hospital; mostly, however, time and the sun have done their jobs, and it is too late. As increased U.S. border security closes certain routes, undocumented migrants continue to come but squeeze onto fewer, more dangerous and isolated pathways to America’s interior. One of these is the network of trails that bypasses the last Border Patrol checkpoint traveling north on Hwy. 281, in Brooks County. That change is having a dramatic ripple effect on the county (total pop: 7,685), and on people who have lived here for generations. Pictures of the dead are kept discreetly in certain places in this town, a collective album that tells an important part of what Brooks County—which used to be better known for oil, watermelon, and a Halliburton facility—has become in the last couple of years: a grave for the weak or unlucky....
America, by horseback Like journalistic legend Charles Kuralt and faux newsman Borat Sagdiyev before him, Bill Inman is embarking on a trip across the United States searching for the true American spirit, as well as for stories and people that aren't typically featured on the nightly news. The most obvious difference between Inman, 47, and his predecessors is that the loquacious Lebanon resident is making his cross-country trek on horseback, with a videographer tagging along every step of the expected 32-week-long adventure. The journey began Saturday during Lebanon's annual Strawberry Festival parade. From there Inman moseyed east along Highway 20 toward Sweet Home - the first of many small-town stops he expects to make between Oregon and the East Coast. If all goes as planned, the Inman expedition will wrap up early next year in Hendersonville, N.C. Inman is hopeful that by then, he'll have compiled enough footage to piece together a documentary film or series that showcases a side of rural American life that he believes is generally overlooked by mainstream media outlets....
Learning the ropes It's 140 degrees in the rope stretching room. Gary Mefford, employed 33 years, dabs his forehead as he strings ropes inside. The heat will permanently remove the spiral effect caused by coiling. It's 9:55 a.m. Five minutes until recess. Dan Morales, who joined the team in 1978, whirls a lasso around his torso, checking its stiffness. Andy Lucas flips a switch and twists strands of nylon and polyester into what will become a fine lariat. The clock on the cement wall in the basement reads 9:59.33 a.m. Close enough. Four grown men bound up the steps. It's break time -- or recess -- at King's Saddlery and King Ropes in Sheridan, a company known worldwide for its high quality, handmade saddles, ropes and tack. King's is fiercely devoted to regular Wyoming cowboys who do real work in a place that remains the real West. It is a business, like its Sheridan-area home, whose employees know how to cowboy up and play hard. Today, the gunslinging wild West has mellowed, but its spirit lives on in Sheridan's cowboys and ranchers. And it lives in the saddle and rope shop founded by Don King more than 60 years ago. Don grew up cowboying with his father around the West. Along the way, he learned how to tie his own ropes and build his own saddles....
Sunday, June 03, 2007
The devil is in the details
Cowgirl Sass and Savvy
By Julie Carter
Dan and his roping partner Monte, are about as diabolically calculating as ropers can be - fine-tuning every facet of their sport and always looking for an edge that promises more frequent and lucrative trips to the pay window.
Last fall they decided they were a little weary of winning just enough at the local jackpots to almost get their fees back and were intent on setting their sights on any number of bigger, tougher ropings.
You know the ones. Thousands of ropers all vying to win a purple pickup truck with flames painted down the side. Prestige doesn't always partner with dignity, which, by the way, is usually hard to find at a team roping.
The duo practiced day and night and in all kinds of weather. When the early spring rains turned the arenas into rice paddies, they drove as far as they needed to find a covered practice pen.
No team roper has ever been accused of getting his priorities out of order as long as you agree his first priority is roping.
When the first "big one" rolled around, they entered up and arrived feeling skillfully prepared and confident. All things in order, when their names were called they backed their horses into the box with hats pulled down tight and minds focused on the task at hand.
Their first steer left the chute like a scalded dog headed for cool water. The cowboys traveled a good distance down the arena before they got him roped and turned, making their time a little long in the first round.
Their plan for the second steer involved Monte pushing the barrier a little harder and determining he would not play catch up this time.
Of course, this steer broke from the chute and promptly came to a complete stop.
The judge culled that steer and gave the team another one who happened to be of the Nascar-bred Corriente line. They caught him but, again, their time wasn't anything to be too proud about.
The day progressed in much the same pattern. Another steer ducked under the heading horse's neck and made a beeline to the arena wall like he was on his way to the hot dog stand.
They caught him "long" but it qualified them for the short round.
In the short round, with a last shot at making some money, their steer moseyed out of the box like an AARP member looking for a Furrs cafeteria.
The ropers pulled their horses up hard, flailed a couple loops at the gawking steer and in spite of the odds, managed to get a qualified time. It wasn't pretty but they had four steers down clean.
Their hard-earned, fine-tuned calculated efforts had put them pretty close to the bottom of the list of qualifiers. With no new money in their pockets, they loaded up and headed home.
The return trip, as it often does, offers enough miles and time for serious introspection.
It was during this analytical survey that the duo realized there was a critical element to roping they had neglected to factor into their program.
Sure enough, they needed to go home and work on practicing the luck of the draw.
Visit Julie’s Web site www.julie-carter.com
The Cowboy Manifesto
By Christian Probasco
Part I: Control
Our instincts evolved in tribes which have grown into corporations, armies and cities devoid of communities. Once upon a time, the rewards for our hard work and loyalty went to our families and to friends who might become part of our families, and now they go to strangers. In return, we get the illusion of security in the form of wages and benefits. What we really need is control.
Control of the means of production would be wonderful but I think most of us would settle for more control over our lives. To achieve it, each of us would need to be secure in his or her immediate environment. The problem is that the very space our bodies occupy in the city is usually partly or wholly owned by somebody else. The other problem is that we don’t have the freedom to act as we should within the spaces we don’t own.
When I say “freedom,” that’s exactly what I mean: freedom from coercion or the threat of coercion. Everybody is in favor of this kind of freedom, of course, as long as it’s balanced by everybody else’s security. To use a classic example, you’re not supposed to exercise your freedom to yell “fire” in a crowded theater even if there is a fire because the patrons will trample themselves to death in a rush to escape. Fair enough. But the “balance” goes too far in the wrong direction these days.
The “New West” phenomenon is really cities of the intermountain west filling beyond capacity with people from the rest of the world. As our cities grow, we will all have to find a new “balance” between our own needs those of our society. In other words, we will have to get used to being stuck in traffic, and we will have to develop thicker skins and become more tolerant of each other’s foibles and aberrant behavior. We will also have to conserve energy and water, and recycle, and drive economy cars. And eventually, we should expect to get piled on top of each other like New Yorkers.
While we are being compressed, we should expect more laws, guidelines and regulations concerning our behavior. Every time a criminal misuses a gun, somebody will suggest taking everyone’s guns away. If someone runs his motorcycle into a wall and vegetablizes himself, the law will require all of us to wear helmets. If somebody misreads a label on an over-the-counter medication and comes to harm, it will be suggested the drug be made available by prescription only. If doctors could get their way, we’d surely need prescriptions for aspirin.
Part II: The Manifesto, In Two Parts
The first part of the manifesto is refusing to allow further encroachments on our lives in the name of balance or even reasonableness. In order to do this, we must become less civilized. We must become less tolerant, on an individual basis, of pushy cops, politicians and the lobbyists they work for, lawyers and other criminal types, rude clerks, overbearing bosses, inconsiderate neighbors and moralists of every ilk.
We must, in other words, become more like the cowboys of the Wild West. Let me give you an example. A law was passed a while back in Florida which makes it clear that nobody has a “duty to retreat” in a public place when threatened with deadly force. Apparently that was the policy lawyers down there established on the backs of law-abiding people who had acted “reasonably” once too often; that if they were being assaulted, they had an obligation to run away instead of facing their attackers. Opponents of the bill warned that the new law would lead to a “Wild West” mentality. That is precisely the point. We Westerners, in turn, should worry about adopting a “Domesticated East” mentality.
The larger the cities of the intermountain west grow, the blander they will become. The more Las Vegas expands, for example, the more it will look and feel like Los Angeles, with its strip malls and big box retailers, convenience stores, clogged arterial freeways, smog, crime and cookie-cutter suburbs. The only difference, beyond the Strip will be the slot machines in the convenience stores and the vegetation growing through the cracks in the asphalt. As individuals and communities, we have an obligation to find our own way.
The second part of the manifesto is to disallow anyone coming between us and the country that keeps us wild. The open spaces beyond our cities are the common collective of freedom and nobody should have a monopoly on their use; not environmentalists, not the government, not corporations, not even cowboys. More importantly, nobody should restrict our access to them.
You might be thinking that this is all irrelevant to you because you are not a cowboy or a cowgirl. You don’t herd cattle, after all, and maybe you’ve never been able to sit through a John Wayne movie and perhaps you don’t even like country music, so how could you participate in any political movement involving cowboys? Excellent question. The fact is, you don’t have to be involved with any of these things and you don’t have to feel obligated to uphold some old “code of the West” to be a modern cowboy. You just have to have a healthy disrespect for authority and a desire to do things your own way and be left to your own foolish devices. In this sense, rock stars can be cowboys. Truck drivers can be cowboys. Bikers are the modern descendents of cowboys. Even pencil pushers can be cowboys on occasion. But if you’re really bothered by your lack of credentials, here’s what I suggest you do. Find a friend who espouses a coastal ideology, or better yet, find any European. Tell him your thoughts about the downsides of city life. Relay your feelings about bureaucrats, our sluggish legal system, meter maids, the lone prairie and instant Karma. Chances are, he’ll call you a cowboy, even if you’re a woman. Congratulations, you’re a cowboy. Now start acting like one.
Cowgirl Sass and Savvy
By Julie Carter
Dan and his roping partner Monte, are about as diabolically calculating as ropers can be - fine-tuning every facet of their sport and always looking for an edge that promises more frequent and lucrative trips to the pay window.
Last fall they decided they were a little weary of winning just enough at the local jackpots to almost get their fees back and were intent on setting their sights on any number of bigger, tougher ropings.
You know the ones. Thousands of ropers all vying to win a purple pickup truck with flames painted down the side. Prestige doesn't always partner with dignity, which, by the way, is usually hard to find at a team roping.
The duo practiced day and night and in all kinds of weather. When the early spring rains turned the arenas into rice paddies, they drove as far as they needed to find a covered practice pen.
No team roper has ever been accused of getting his priorities out of order as long as you agree his first priority is roping.
When the first "big one" rolled around, they entered up and arrived feeling skillfully prepared and confident. All things in order, when their names were called they backed their horses into the box with hats pulled down tight and minds focused on the task at hand.
Their first steer left the chute like a scalded dog headed for cool water. The cowboys traveled a good distance down the arena before they got him roped and turned, making their time a little long in the first round.
Their plan for the second steer involved Monte pushing the barrier a little harder and determining he would not play catch up this time.
Of course, this steer broke from the chute and promptly came to a complete stop.
The judge culled that steer and gave the team another one who happened to be of the Nascar-bred Corriente line. They caught him but, again, their time wasn't anything to be too proud about.
The day progressed in much the same pattern. Another steer ducked under the heading horse's neck and made a beeline to the arena wall like he was on his way to the hot dog stand.
They caught him "long" but it qualified them for the short round.
In the short round, with a last shot at making some money, their steer moseyed out of the box like an AARP member looking for a Furrs cafeteria.
The ropers pulled their horses up hard, flailed a couple loops at the gawking steer and in spite of the odds, managed to get a qualified time. It wasn't pretty but they had four steers down clean.
Their hard-earned, fine-tuned calculated efforts had put them pretty close to the bottom of the list of qualifiers. With no new money in their pockets, they loaded up and headed home.
The return trip, as it often does, offers enough miles and time for serious introspection.
It was during this analytical survey that the duo realized there was a critical element to roping they had neglected to factor into their program.
Sure enough, they needed to go home and work on practicing the luck of the draw.
Visit Julie’s Web site www.julie-carter.com
The Cowboy Manifesto
By Christian Probasco
Part I: Control
Our instincts evolved in tribes which have grown into corporations, armies and cities devoid of communities. Once upon a time, the rewards for our hard work and loyalty went to our families and to friends who might become part of our families, and now they go to strangers. In return, we get the illusion of security in the form of wages and benefits. What we really need is control.
Control of the means of production would be wonderful but I think most of us would settle for more control over our lives. To achieve it, each of us would need to be secure in his or her immediate environment. The problem is that the very space our bodies occupy in the city is usually partly or wholly owned by somebody else. The other problem is that we don’t have the freedom to act as we should within the spaces we don’t own.
When I say “freedom,” that’s exactly what I mean: freedom from coercion or the threat of coercion. Everybody is in favor of this kind of freedom, of course, as long as it’s balanced by everybody else’s security. To use a classic example, you’re not supposed to exercise your freedom to yell “fire” in a crowded theater even if there is a fire because the patrons will trample themselves to death in a rush to escape. Fair enough. But the “balance” goes too far in the wrong direction these days.
The “New West” phenomenon is really cities of the intermountain west filling beyond capacity with people from the rest of the world. As our cities grow, we will all have to find a new “balance” between our own needs those of our society. In other words, we will have to get used to being stuck in traffic, and we will have to develop thicker skins and become more tolerant of each other’s foibles and aberrant behavior. We will also have to conserve energy and water, and recycle, and drive economy cars. And eventually, we should expect to get piled on top of each other like New Yorkers.
While we are being compressed, we should expect more laws, guidelines and regulations concerning our behavior. Every time a criminal misuses a gun, somebody will suggest taking everyone’s guns away. If someone runs his motorcycle into a wall and vegetablizes himself, the law will require all of us to wear helmets. If somebody misreads a label on an over-the-counter medication and comes to harm, it will be suggested the drug be made available by prescription only. If doctors could get their way, we’d surely need prescriptions for aspirin.
Part II: The Manifesto, In Two Parts
The first part of the manifesto is refusing to allow further encroachments on our lives in the name of balance or even reasonableness. In order to do this, we must become less civilized. We must become less tolerant, on an individual basis, of pushy cops, politicians and the lobbyists they work for, lawyers and other criminal types, rude clerks, overbearing bosses, inconsiderate neighbors and moralists of every ilk.
We must, in other words, become more like the cowboys of the Wild West. Let me give you an example. A law was passed a while back in Florida which makes it clear that nobody has a “duty to retreat” in a public place when threatened with deadly force. Apparently that was the policy lawyers down there established on the backs of law-abiding people who had acted “reasonably” once too often; that if they were being assaulted, they had an obligation to run away instead of facing their attackers. Opponents of the bill warned that the new law would lead to a “Wild West” mentality. That is precisely the point. We Westerners, in turn, should worry about adopting a “Domesticated East” mentality.
The larger the cities of the intermountain west grow, the blander they will become. The more Las Vegas expands, for example, the more it will look and feel like Los Angeles, with its strip malls and big box retailers, convenience stores, clogged arterial freeways, smog, crime and cookie-cutter suburbs. The only difference, beyond the Strip will be the slot machines in the convenience stores and the vegetation growing through the cracks in the asphalt. As individuals and communities, we have an obligation to find our own way.
The second part of the manifesto is to disallow anyone coming between us and the country that keeps us wild. The open spaces beyond our cities are the common collective of freedom and nobody should have a monopoly on their use; not environmentalists, not the government, not corporations, not even cowboys. More importantly, nobody should restrict our access to them.
You might be thinking that this is all irrelevant to you because you are not a cowboy or a cowgirl. You don’t herd cattle, after all, and maybe you’ve never been able to sit through a John Wayne movie and perhaps you don’t even like country music, so how could you participate in any political movement involving cowboys? Excellent question. The fact is, you don’t have to be involved with any of these things and you don’t have to feel obligated to uphold some old “code of the West” to be a modern cowboy. You just have to have a healthy disrespect for authority and a desire to do things your own way and be left to your own foolish devices. In this sense, rock stars can be cowboys. Truck drivers can be cowboys. Bikers are the modern descendents of cowboys. Even pencil pushers can be cowboys on occasion. But if you’re really bothered by your lack of credentials, here’s what I suggest you do. Find a friend who espouses a coastal ideology, or better yet, find any European. Tell him your thoughts about the downsides of city life. Relay your feelings about bureaucrats, our sluggish legal system, meter maids, the lone prairie and instant Karma. Chances are, he’ll call you a cowboy, even if you’re a woman. Congratulations, you’re a cowboy. Now start acting like one.
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Endangered Species Act Has Harmed Endangered Species
Today is the second annual "Endangered Species Day," as declared by the U.S. Senate in honor of the Endangered Species Act. Yet rather than a cause for celebration, animal lovers and private property owners should view this day with sadness, according to an expert with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). "The law of unintended consequences has wreaked havoc on wildlife and landowners due to the Endangered Species Act," said NCPA Adjunct Scholar Brian Seasholes. "The ESA punishes landowners for harboring endangered species, and the tragic result has been a scorched earth policy towards the very species the Act is supposed to protect." Seasholes notes that there is growing evidence that many landowners are actively managing their land so as to avoid potential endangered species problems. For example:
* The ESA's protections for the red-cockaded woodpecker, which locked-up more then $1.4 million worth of timber for a single landowner, inspired widespread "panic cutting" across North Carolina. Researchers from Montana State University and Towson State University found landowners preemptively cut 15,144 acres of trees, which could have supported 76 colonies of woodpeckers.
* Concern over protections for the spotted owl has led to "panic cutting" across the Pacific Northwest. For instance, a Washington state property owner clear-cut his 24-acres of land out of fear of owls being spotted taking residence in his trees.
* Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed Colorado landowners whose property was located in the habitat for the jumping mouse. They found 26 percent of them managed their land so as to make it inhospitable to the mouse, and most would not let their land be surveyed for the mouse due to fear of ESA related land-use restrictions.
"If one had deliberately written legislation to harm endangered species, it would be almost impossible to top the ESA," said Seasholes. "The only way to reverse this is to remove the penalties. Unfortunately, most in Congress are more interested in gimmicks and so-called incentives, which will do little for America's wildlife and landowners.".
Think Tank Challenges Greenpeace to Meet Transparency Standards
Today The National Center for Public Policy Research is challenging Greenpeace and its affiliates to disclose the sources and amounts of its 2006 donations exceeding $50,000. If it does so, The National Center for Public Policy Research will do the same. We're making this challenge in light of allegations in Greenpeace's May 17 report, "ExxonMobil's Continued Funding of Global Warming Denial Industry," which suggests that it is improper for 41 groups, including The National Center for Public Policy Research, to accept contributions from ExxonMobil because the positions of at least some of them on climate issues is not precisely in accordance with those of Greenpeace. Most of the groups singled out for criticism in the Greenpeace report work on a wide variety of public policy issues. For most of the groups, climate policy is just a small fraction of their portfolio. Greenpeace - perhaps based on its own behavior - assumes that donations influence the stands groups such as ours take. They do not. So that the public can judge for themselves, we're challenging Greenpeace to complete transparency through disclosure of major gifts. Funding from energy companies is not what is fueling the vigorous climate debate. What is fueling the debate is genuine, sincere belief that great uncertainties remain - both on the science and on the appropriate public policy response....
Government Gouges You at the Pump
Democrats, seething at the injustice of gasoline prices, have sprung to the aid of embattled motorists. So resolute are Democrats about defending the downtrodden, they are undeterred by the fact that motorists, not acting like people trodden upon, are driving more than ever. Gasoline consumption has increased 2.14 percent during the past year. As Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute notes, there is no yearning for national self-sufficiency concerning other essential goods, such as food, automobiles, airplanes or medicines. Are Democrats worried about security of oil supplies? In some ways, Hayward says, America's energy supply is more secure than it was in the 1970s, partly because "since 1975, energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product has fallen 48 percent." Furthermore, "oil represents a shrinking share of total U.S. energy consumption—from 44 percent in 1970 to 40 percent in 2005." The oil America consumes—only one-eighth of which comes from the Middle East—is used almost entirely in transportation. Half of America's electricity is generated by coal, of which the United States has a huge abundance. Pelosi announced herself "particularly concerned" that the highest price of gasoline recently was in her San Francisco district—$3.49. So she endorses HR 1252 to protect consumers from "price gouging," defined, not altogether helpfully, by a blizzard of adjectives and adverbs. Gouging occurs when gasoline prices are "unconscionably" excessive, or sellers raise prices "unreasonably" by taking "unfair" advantage of "unusual" market conditions, or when the price charged represents a "gross" disparity from the price of crude oil, or when the amount charged "grossly" exceeds the price at which gasoline is obtainable in the same area. The bill does not explain how a gouger can gouge when his product is obtainable more cheaply nearby. Actually, Pelosi's constituents are being gouged by people like Pelosi—by government. While oil companies make about 13 cents on a gallon of gasoline, the federal government makes 18.4 cents (the federal tax) and California's various governments make 40.2 cents (the nation's third-highest gasoline tax). Pelosi's San Francisco collects a local sales tax of 8.5 percent—higher than the state's average for local sales taxes....
Global Warming Is Not a Threat But the Environmentalist Response to It Is
Early this winter, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the summary of its latest report on global warming. It’s most trumpeted finding was that the existence of global warming is now "unequivocal." Although such anecdotal evidence as January’s snowfall in Tucson, Arizona and freezing weather in Southern California, and February’s more than 100-inch snowfall in upstate New York, might suggest otherwise, global warming may indeed be a fact. It may also be a fact that it is a by-product of industrial civilization (despite two ice ages having apparently occurred in the face of carbon levels in the atmosphere 16 times greater than that of today, millions of years before mankind’s appearance on earth). If global warming and mankind’s responsibility for it really are facts, does anything automatically follow from them? Does it follow that there is a need to limit and/or reduce carbon emissions and the use of the fossil fuels – oil, coal, and natural gas – that gives rise to the emissions? The need for such limitation and/or rollback is the usual assumption. Nevertheless, the truth is that nothing whatever follows from these facts. Before any implication for action can be present, additional information is required. One essential piece of information is the comparative valuation attached to retaining industrial civilization versus avoiding global warming. If one values the benefits provided by industrial civilization above the avoidance of the losses alleged to result from global warming, it follows that nothing should be done to stop global warming that destroys or undermines industrial civilization. That is, it follows that global warming should simply be accepted as a byproduct of economic progress and that life should go on as normal in the face of it. (Of course, there are projections of unlikely but nevertheless possible extreme global warming in the face of which conditions would be intolerable. However, as I explain below, to deal with such a possibility, it is necessary merely to find a different method of cooling the earth than that of curtailing the use of fossil fuels; I also show that such methods are already at hand.)....
Things to Think About
Last week, Japan pledged $100 million in grants to fight global climate change. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the world's major leader in the struggle against climate change. The World Conservation Union has recently recognized the work of women from all over the world fighting against climate change. We might want to ask whether it's too late to worry about fighting climate change. Let's look at it. About 65 million years ago, the Earth experienced one of the most rapid and extreme global climate changes recorded in geologic history. The period has been named the "Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum." The ocean was 18 to 27 degrees hotter than it is today. Antarctica, which is today's coldest place on Earth, was home to temperate forests, beech trees and ferns. The Earth had no permanent polar ice caps. In the past 65 million years, the Earth's temperature has increased and decreased with no help from mankind. My questions to the anti-climate change warriors are: Can mankind really stop climate change, and what is the "correct" Earth temperature?....
The Many Myths of Ethanol
No doubt about it, if there were a Miss Energy Pageant, Miss Ethanol would win hands down. Everyone loves ethanol. "Ramp up the availability of ethanol," says Hillary Clinton. "Ethanol makes a lot of sense," says John McCain. "The economics of ethanol make more and more sense," says Mitt Romney. "We've got to get serious about ethanol," says Rudolph Giuliani. And the media love ethanol. "60 Minutes" called it "the solution." Clinton, Romney, Barack Obama and John Edwards not only believe ethanol is the elixir that will give us cheap energy, end our dependence on Middle East oil sheiks, and reverse global warming, they also want you and me -- as taxpayers -- to subsidize it. When everyone in politics jumps on a bandwagon like ethanol, I start to wonder if there's something wrong with it. And there is. Except for that fact that ethanol comes from corn, nothing you're told about it is true. As the Cato Institute's energy expert Jerry Taylor said on a recent "Myths" edition of "20/20," the case for ethanol is based on a baker's dozen myths. A simple question first. If ethanol's so good, why does it need government subsidies? Shouldn't producers be eager to make it, knowing that thrilled consumers will reward them with profits? But consumers won't reward them, because without subsidies, ethanol would cost much more than gasoline. The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant," Taylor says. And because ethanol degrades, it can't be moved in pipelines the way that gasoline is. So many more big, polluting trucks will be needed to haul it. More bad news: The increased push for ethanol has already led to a sharp increase in corn growing -- which means much more land must be plowed. That means much more fertilizer, more water used on farms and more pesticides. This makes ethanol the "solution"?....
The problem of junk science
As regular readers know, I seldom review books in these columns, preferring to leave that important job to professional reviewers. But every once in a while a book comes along that illuminates a major political problem so effectively that I cannot resist calling it to the attention of thoughtful readers. That is the case with Tom Bethell's "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science," recently published by Regnery. As Bethell points out in an introduction, science is forever being used, like everything else, to reinforce political viewpoints. Normally, an advocate using something to support his point of view is promptly countered, more or less effectively, by an opponent citing something else that contradicts it. The rest of us can listen, with the help of the media, and decide for ourselves which viewpoint is better supported and therefore deserves to be believed. But, Bethell notes, "Scientists seem to enjoy a measure of immunity." If a statement is made by a scientist in his professional capacity, non-scientists are afraid to contradict him. Even the media, whom we can usually count on to report opposing points of view, seldom look for information contradicting what a seemingly impartial scientist has declared to be the case. Unfortunately however, scientists are human like the rest of us, with their full complement of opinions and biases on all sorts of subjects not squarely in their field of expertise. And not surprisingly, a lot of them are happy to rely on their reputations as unbiased experts to promote political causes of one sort or another. In many cases, they don't even recognize what they are doing; they simply confuse what they know with what they want. So Bethell has written an entire book to expose some of the liberal myths that are forever being foisted on us with the important help of scientists, who are forever laying down the law without ever being effectively challenged by the media....
Send Your Underwear to the Undersecretary
Dennis R. Spurgeon, U.S. Undersecretary of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585 Top-loading laundry machines have long been a low-priced, dependable home appliance. But no more—the federal government has wrecked them with its energy-efficiency regulations. That’s the finding of the June 2007 issue of Consumer Reports. In its words: “Not so long ago you could count on most washers to get your clothes very clean. Not anymore. …What happened? As of January, the U.S. Department of Energy has required washers to use 21 percent less energy, a goal we wholeheartedly support. But our tests have found that traditional top-loaders … are having a tough time wringing out those savings without sacrificing cleaning ability, the main reason you buy a washer.” Some of the top-loaders tested had “the lowest scores we’ve seen in years.” In fact, out of the 21 new top-loader models that Consumer Reports tested, it couldn’t pick a single one as a “Best Buy”: “[F]or the first time in years we can’t call any washer a Best Buy because models that did a very good job getting laundry clean cost $1,000 or more.” Government mandates for higher efficiency are almost always accompanied by claims that the higher prices they cause will be more than offset by their alleged savings from lower energy costs. But that raises a fundamental question—if these new technologies are so good, then why do we need laws to force consumers to buy them?....
Endangered Species Act Has Harmed Endangered Species
Today is the second annual "Endangered Species Day," as declared by the U.S. Senate in honor of the Endangered Species Act. Yet rather than a cause for celebration, animal lovers and private property owners should view this day with sadness, according to an expert with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). "The law of unintended consequences has wreaked havoc on wildlife and landowners due to the Endangered Species Act," said NCPA Adjunct Scholar Brian Seasholes. "The ESA punishes landowners for harboring endangered species, and the tragic result has been a scorched earth policy towards the very species the Act is supposed to protect." Seasholes notes that there is growing evidence that many landowners are actively managing their land so as to avoid potential endangered species problems. For example:
* The ESA's protections for the red-cockaded woodpecker, which locked-up more then $1.4 million worth of timber for a single landowner, inspired widespread "panic cutting" across North Carolina. Researchers from Montana State University and Towson State University found landowners preemptively cut 15,144 acres of trees, which could have supported 76 colonies of woodpeckers.
* Concern over protections for the spotted owl has led to "panic cutting" across the Pacific Northwest. For instance, a Washington state property owner clear-cut his 24-acres of land out of fear of owls being spotted taking residence in his trees.
* Researchers at the University of Michigan surveyed Colorado landowners whose property was located in the habitat for the jumping mouse. They found 26 percent of them managed their land so as to make it inhospitable to the mouse, and most would not let their land be surveyed for the mouse due to fear of ESA related land-use restrictions.
"If one had deliberately written legislation to harm endangered species, it would be almost impossible to top the ESA," said Seasholes. "The only way to reverse this is to remove the penalties. Unfortunately, most in Congress are more interested in gimmicks and so-called incentives, which will do little for America's wildlife and landowners.".
Think Tank Challenges Greenpeace to Meet Transparency Standards
Today The National Center for Public Policy Research is challenging Greenpeace and its affiliates to disclose the sources and amounts of its 2006 donations exceeding $50,000. If it does so, The National Center for Public Policy Research will do the same. We're making this challenge in light of allegations in Greenpeace's May 17 report, "ExxonMobil's Continued Funding of Global Warming Denial Industry," which suggests that it is improper for 41 groups, including The National Center for Public Policy Research, to accept contributions from ExxonMobil because the positions of at least some of them on climate issues is not precisely in accordance with those of Greenpeace. Most of the groups singled out for criticism in the Greenpeace report work on a wide variety of public policy issues. For most of the groups, climate policy is just a small fraction of their portfolio. Greenpeace - perhaps based on its own behavior - assumes that donations influence the stands groups such as ours take. They do not. So that the public can judge for themselves, we're challenging Greenpeace to complete transparency through disclosure of major gifts. Funding from energy companies is not what is fueling the vigorous climate debate. What is fueling the debate is genuine, sincere belief that great uncertainties remain - both on the science and on the appropriate public policy response....
Government Gouges You at the Pump
Democrats, seething at the injustice of gasoline prices, have sprung to the aid of embattled motorists. So resolute are Democrats about defending the downtrodden, they are undeterred by the fact that motorists, not acting like people trodden upon, are driving more than ever. Gasoline consumption has increased 2.14 percent during the past year. As Steven Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute notes, there is no yearning for national self-sufficiency concerning other essential goods, such as food, automobiles, airplanes or medicines. Are Democrats worried about security of oil supplies? In some ways, Hayward says, America's energy supply is more secure than it was in the 1970s, partly because "since 1975, energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product has fallen 48 percent." Furthermore, "oil represents a shrinking share of total U.S. energy consumption—from 44 percent in 1970 to 40 percent in 2005." The oil America consumes—only one-eighth of which comes from the Middle East—is used almost entirely in transportation. Half of America's electricity is generated by coal, of which the United States has a huge abundance. Pelosi announced herself "particularly concerned" that the highest price of gasoline recently was in her San Francisco district—$3.49. So she endorses HR 1252 to protect consumers from "price gouging," defined, not altogether helpfully, by a blizzard of adjectives and adverbs. Gouging occurs when gasoline prices are "unconscionably" excessive, or sellers raise prices "unreasonably" by taking "unfair" advantage of "unusual" market conditions, or when the price charged represents a "gross" disparity from the price of crude oil, or when the amount charged "grossly" exceeds the price at which gasoline is obtainable in the same area. The bill does not explain how a gouger can gouge when his product is obtainable more cheaply nearby. Actually, Pelosi's constituents are being gouged by people like Pelosi—by government. While oil companies make about 13 cents on a gallon of gasoline, the federal government makes 18.4 cents (the federal tax) and California's various governments make 40.2 cents (the nation's third-highest gasoline tax). Pelosi's San Francisco collects a local sales tax of 8.5 percent—higher than the state's average for local sales taxes....
Global Warming Is Not a Threat But the Environmentalist Response to It Is
Early this winter, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the summary of its latest report on global warming. It’s most trumpeted finding was that the existence of global warming is now "unequivocal." Although such anecdotal evidence as January’s snowfall in Tucson, Arizona and freezing weather in Southern California, and February’s more than 100-inch snowfall in upstate New York, might suggest otherwise, global warming may indeed be a fact. It may also be a fact that it is a by-product of industrial civilization (despite two ice ages having apparently occurred in the face of carbon levels in the atmosphere 16 times greater than that of today, millions of years before mankind’s appearance on earth). If global warming and mankind’s responsibility for it really are facts, does anything automatically follow from them? Does it follow that there is a need to limit and/or reduce carbon emissions and the use of the fossil fuels – oil, coal, and natural gas – that gives rise to the emissions? The need for such limitation and/or rollback is the usual assumption. Nevertheless, the truth is that nothing whatever follows from these facts. Before any implication for action can be present, additional information is required. One essential piece of information is the comparative valuation attached to retaining industrial civilization versus avoiding global warming. If one values the benefits provided by industrial civilization above the avoidance of the losses alleged to result from global warming, it follows that nothing should be done to stop global warming that destroys or undermines industrial civilization. That is, it follows that global warming should simply be accepted as a byproduct of economic progress and that life should go on as normal in the face of it. (Of course, there are projections of unlikely but nevertheless possible extreme global warming in the face of which conditions would be intolerable. However, as I explain below, to deal with such a possibility, it is necessary merely to find a different method of cooling the earth than that of curtailing the use of fossil fuels; I also show that such methods are already at hand.)....
Things to Think About
Last week, Japan pledged $100 million in grants to fight global climate change. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the world's major leader in the struggle against climate change. The World Conservation Union has recently recognized the work of women from all over the world fighting against climate change. We might want to ask whether it's too late to worry about fighting climate change. Let's look at it. About 65 million years ago, the Earth experienced one of the most rapid and extreme global climate changes recorded in geologic history. The period has been named the "Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum." The ocean was 18 to 27 degrees hotter than it is today. Antarctica, which is today's coldest place on Earth, was home to temperate forests, beech trees and ferns. The Earth had no permanent polar ice caps. In the past 65 million years, the Earth's temperature has increased and decreased with no help from mankind. My questions to the anti-climate change warriors are: Can mankind really stop climate change, and what is the "correct" Earth temperature?....
The Many Myths of Ethanol
No doubt about it, if there were a Miss Energy Pageant, Miss Ethanol would win hands down. Everyone loves ethanol. "Ramp up the availability of ethanol," says Hillary Clinton. "Ethanol makes a lot of sense," says John McCain. "The economics of ethanol make more and more sense," says Mitt Romney. "We've got to get serious about ethanol," says Rudolph Giuliani. And the media love ethanol. "60 Minutes" called it "the solution." Clinton, Romney, Barack Obama and John Edwards not only believe ethanol is the elixir that will give us cheap energy, end our dependence on Middle East oil sheiks, and reverse global warming, they also want you and me -- as taxpayers -- to subsidize it. When everyone in politics jumps on a bandwagon like ethanol, I start to wonder if there's something wrong with it. And there is. Except for that fact that ethanol comes from corn, nothing you're told about it is true. As the Cato Institute's energy expert Jerry Taylor said on a recent "Myths" edition of "20/20," the case for ethanol is based on a baker's dozen myths. A simple question first. If ethanol's so good, why does it need government subsidies? Shouldn't producers be eager to make it, knowing that thrilled consumers will reward them with profits? But consumers won't reward them, because without subsidies, ethanol would cost much more than gasoline. The claim that using ethanol will save energy is another myth. Studies show that the amount of energy ethanol produces and the amount needed to make it are roughly the same. "It takes a lot of fossil fuels to make the fertilizer, to run the tractor, to build the silo, to get that corn to a processing plant, to run the processing plant," Taylor says. And because ethanol degrades, it can't be moved in pipelines the way that gasoline is. So many more big, polluting trucks will be needed to haul it. More bad news: The increased push for ethanol has already led to a sharp increase in corn growing -- which means much more land must be plowed. That means much more fertilizer, more water used on farms and more pesticides. This makes ethanol the "solution"?....
The problem of junk science
As regular readers know, I seldom review books in these columns, preferring to leave that important job to professional reviewers. But every once in a while a book comes along that illuminates a major political problem so effectively that I cannot resist calling it to the attention of thoughtful readers. That is the case with Tom Bethell's "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science," recently published by Regnery. As Bethell points out in an introduction, science is forever being used, like everything else, to reinforce political viewpoints. Normally, an advocate using something to support his point of view is promptly countered, more or less effectively, by an opponent citing something else that contradicts it. The rest of us can listen, with the help of the media, and decide for ourselves which viewpoint is better supported and therefore deserves to be believed. But, Bethell notes, "Scientists seem to enjoy a measure of immunity." If a statement is made by a scientist in his professional capacity, non-scientists are afraid to contradict him. Even the media, whom we can usually count on to report opposing points of view, seldom look for information contradicting what a seemingly impartial scientist has declared to be the case. Unfortunately however, scientists are human like the rest of us, with their full complement of opinions and biases on all sorts of subjects not squarely in their field of expertise. And not surprisingly, a lot of them are happy to rely on their reputations as unbiased experts to promote political causes of one sort or another. In many cases, they don't even recognize what they are doing; they simply confuse what they know with what they want. So Bethell has written an entire book to expose some of the liberal myths that are forever being foisted on us with the important help of scientists, who are forever laying down the law without ever being effectively challenged by the media....
Send Your Underwear to the Undersecretary
Dennis R. Spurgeon, U.S. Undersecretary of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20585 Top-loading laundry machines have long been a low-priced, dependable home appliance. But no more—the federal government has wrecked them with its energy-efficiency regulations. That’s the finding of the June 2007 issue of Consumer Reports. In its words: “Not so long ago you could count on most washers to get your clothes very clean. Not anymore. …What happened? As of January, the U.S. Department of Energy has required washers to use 21 percent less energy, a goal we wholeheartedly support. But our tests have found that traditional top-loaders … are having a tough time wringing out those savings without sacrificing cleaning ability, the main reason you buy a washer.” Some of the top-loaders tested had “the lowest scores we’ve seen in years.” In fact, out of the 21 new top-loader models that Consumer Reports tested, it couldn’t pick a single one as a “Best Buy”: “[F]or the first time in years we can’t call any washer a Best Buy because models that did a very good job getting laundry clean cost $1,000 or more.” Government mandates for higher efficiency are almost always accompanied by claims that the higher prices they cause will be more than offset by their alleged savings from lower energy costs. But that raises a fundamental question—if these new technologies are so good, then why do we need laws to force consumers to buy them?....
FLE
White House revises post-disaster protocol The Bush administration is writing a new plan to maintain governmental control in the wake of an apocalyptic terrorist attack or overwhelming natural disaster, moving such doomsday planning for the first time from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to officials inside the White House. The policy requires all government agencies to have clear lines of succession if top officials are killed and be prepared to operate from a new headquarters within 12 hours of a catastrophe. They must be prepared "to lead and sustain the nation during a crisis" -- a charge ranging from "providing leadership visible to the nation and the world" to "bringing to justice perpetrators of crimes or attacks." The policy replaces a Clinton-era "continuity in government" post-disaster plan. The old plan is classified, but security specialists and administration officials said the new policy centralizes control of such planning in the White House and puts a greater emphasis on terrorism spurring the catastrophe. Bush quietly signed the new policy on May 4. The unclassified portion of his "homeland security-national security presidential directive" -- a special kind of executive order that can be kept secret -- was also posted on the White House website on May 9, without any further announcement or press briefings. The new policy focuses on a worst-case scenario in which a terrorist nuclear bomb explodes without warning and wipes out much of the nation's top leadership. Older plans were instead premised on a Cold War-era long-range missile attack, presuming it would be detected in enough time to evacuate the president and other top government officials. The unexpected arrival of the new policy has received little attention in the mainstream media, but it has prompted discussion among legal specialists, homeland security experts and Internet commentators -- including concerns that the policy may be written in such a way that makes it too easy to invoke emergency presidential powers such as martial law. The public portion of the new "National Continuity Policy" contains few details about how surviving officials would invoke emergency powers, or when emergency powers should be deemed to be no longer necessary so that the elected democracy can resume. The answers to such questions may be contained in a classified appendix which has not been made public. The unanswered questions have provoked anxiety across ideological lines. The conservative commentator Jerome Corsi , for example, wrote in a much-linked online column that the directive looked like a recipe for allowing the office of the presidency to seize "dictatorial powers" because the policy does not discuss consulting Congress about when to invoke emergency powers -- or when to turn them off....
Mosques awarded Homeland Security grants - CAIR urges Muslim clerics to cash in on federal funds While the European Union investigates mosques for ties to Islamic terrorism, the U.S. government is giving mosques security grants that are designed to protect churches, synagogues and other nonprofit groups from Islamic terror. Most recently, the Islamic Society of Baltimore landed a $15,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade security at its Maryland mosque. The Council on American-Islamic Relations since April has been urging leaders of mosques and Islamic schools across the nation to apply for the DHS grants, even though the agency's program was set up to help protect nonprofit facilities that are at high risk for attacks by Islamic terrorists. In a recent "Action Alert" posted on its website, CAIR encouraged its Muslim members to take advantage of $24 million in federal funds DHS has made available – specifically, DHS says, for nonprofit organizations "deemed high-risk for a potential international terrorist attack." Organizations in 46 urban areas designated high risk for Islamic terror attack are eligible to participate in the new Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Several Islamic institutions already have applied and are receiving government approval. U.S. officials who spoke to WND on condition of anonymity expressed dismay that CAIR would drain limited federal funds away from higher risk targets for terrorism. They argue mosques are among the lowest risk for such attacks....
FBI: Violent Crime Still Increasing Violent crime kept climbing in 2006, a top FBI official said Wednesday, previewing a report detailing nationwide increases in murders, robberies and other felonies for a second straight year. The rising crime rate, in an FBI report expected next week, counters Justice Department attempts to tamp down violence by sending more funds to local police and studying U.S. cities for clues on how the increase began. Asked if the report would show crime rates are still rising, FBI Assistant Director John Miller said: "I think you can anticipate it will." He declined to say by how much. Miller said the FBI's findings will largely mirror those of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington think-tank that in March reported spikes in the number of big-city murders, robberies and gun crimes. That survey "showed that there would be, in all likelihood, a continued uptick in violent crime, particularly among midsized American cities," Miller said during an interview taped for C-SPAN's Newsmakers program. "The data we're going to release Monday will contain no big surprises in that regard." Preliminary numbers the FBI released in December showed violent crimes rose by 3.7 percent nationwide during the first six months of 2006....
Campaign Puts New Strain on Secret Service The U.S. Secret Service expects to borrow more than 2,000 immigration officers and federal airport screeners next year to help guard an ever-expanding field of presidential candidates, while shifting 250 of its own agents from investigations to security details. Burdened by the White House's wartime security needs, the persistent threat of terrorism and a field of at least 20 presidential contenders, the Secret Service was showing signs of strain even before the Department of Homeland Security ordered protection for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as of May 3, the earliest a candidate has ever been assigned protection in an election season. Its $110 million-plus budget for campaign protection -- two-thirds more than the record $65 million it spent for the 2004 election -- was prepared when the service did not expect to be guarding Obama or anyone else until January. The agency has already been forced to scale back its efforts to battle counterfeiting and cybercrime. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has doubled the number of officials granted Secret Service protection, from 26 to 54, including top White House aides such as the chief of staff and national and homeland security advisers. Founded as part of the Treasury Department in 1865 to combat counterfeiting and tapped in 1901 as guardian of presidents, the service is best known for protecting individuals. By law, the agency guards presidents, vice presidents, candidates, their families and visiting heads of state. The president can also extend protection by executive memorandum. But the service has taken on added homeland security jobs in recent years, such as screening White House mail and coordinating security at national events such as presidential conventions and Super Bowls. And while its budget has grown 50 percent since 2001, the number of agents, uniformed officers and support staff has increased by about 20 percent, to 6,500....
Supreme Court ruling OKs cops storming our bedrooms There were some adolescent smirks among the crowd as the U.S. Supreme Court solemnly deliberated the case of Max Rettele and Judy Sadler this spring. How odd, then, that -- as with the dog that did not bark in the famous Sherlock Holmes story -- no one seems to have noticed the most important thing about this 6-year-old case was the question that no judge ever asked. At 7 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2001 (the earliest moment police could act, because they had no "nighttime endorsement,") the Lancaster, Calif., couple were in bed in their home when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in possession of a search warrant banged on the front door. Chase Hall, Ms. Sadler's 17-year-old son, opened the door to find five deputies leveling guns in his face. Rather than present their warrant and give anyone a chance to read it, the cops ordered the youth to the floor and fanned out through the house. Three deputies burst into the bedroom, ordering Mr. Rettele and Ms. Sadler -- who had bought the home three months before -- to get out of bed and show their hands. Police denied them permission even to grab a sheet or blanket to cover their nakedness. A few minutes later, the deputies apologized to the couple and decided they would be allowed to clothe themselves. Although the address on the warrant matched the couple's residence, it soon became evident the targets of the search, three suspected identity thieves, had moved out before Mr. Rettele and Ms. Sadler moved in. The suspects being sought were African-Americans; Rettele and Sadler are unmistakably white. Not placated by the deputies' apologies, the couple sued the officers and Los Angeles County, complaining they had been victims of an "unreasonable search" in violation of the Fourth Amendment....
White House revises post-disaster protocol The Bush administration is writing a new plan to maintain governmental control in the wake of an apocalyptic terrorist attack or overwhelming natural disaster, moving such doomsday planning for the first time from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to officials inside the White House. The policy requires all government agencies to have clear lines of succession if top officials are killed and be prepared to operate from a new headquarters within 12 hours of a catastrophe. They must be prepared "to lead and sustain the nation during a crisis" -- a charge ranging from "providing leadership visible to the nation and the world" to "bringing to justice perpetrators of crimes or attacks." The policy replaces a Clinton-era "continuity in government" post-disaster plan. The old plan is classified, but security specialists and administration officials said the new policy centralizes control of such planning in the White House and puts a greater emphasis on terrorism spurring the catastrophe. Bush quietly signed the new policy on May 4. The unclassified portion of his "homeland security-national security presidential directive" -- a special kind of executive order that can be kept secret -- was also posted on the White House website on May 9, without any further announcement or press briefings. The new policy focuses on a worst-case scenario in which a terrorist nuclear bomb explodes without warning and wipes out much of the nation's top leadership. Older plans were instead premised on a Cold War-era long-range missile attack, presuming it would be detected in enough time to evacuate the president and other top government officials. The unexpected arrival of the new policy has received little attention in the mainstream media, but it has prompted discussion among legal specialists, homeland security experts and Internet commentators -- including concerns that the policy may be written in such a way that makes it too easy to invoke emergency presidential powers such as martial law. The public portion of the new "National Continuity Policy" contains few details about how surviving officials would invoke emergency powers, or when emergency powers should be deemed to be no longer necessary so that the elected democracy can resume. The answers to such questions may be contained in a classified appendix which has not been made public. The unanswered questions have provoked anxiety across ideological lines. The conservative commentator Jerome Corsi , for example, wrote in a much-linked online column that the directive looked like a recipe for allowing the office of the presidency to seize "dictatorial powers" because the policy does not discuss consulting Congress about when to invoke emergency powers -- or when to turn them off....
Mosques awarded Homeland Security grants - CAIR urges Muslim clerics to cash in on federal funds While the European Union investigates mosques for ties to Islamic terrorism, the U.S. government is giving mosques security grants that are designed to protect churches, synagogues and other nonprofit groups from Islamic terror. Most recently, the Islamic Society of Baltimore landed a $15,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade security at its Maryland mosque. The Council on American-Islamic Relations since April has been urging leaders of mosques and Islamic schools across the nation to apply for the DHS grants, even though the agency's program was set up to help protect nonprofit facilities that are at high risk for attacks by Islamic terrorists. In a recent "Action Alert" posted on its website, CAIR encouraged its Muslim members to take advantage of $24 million in federal funds DHS has made available – specifically, DHS says, for nonprofit organizations "deemed high-risk for a potential international terrorist attack." Organizations in 46 urban areas designated high risk for Islamic terror attack are eligible to participate in the new Nonprofit Security Grant Program. Several Islamic institutions already have applied and are receiving government approval. U.S. officials who spoke to WND on condition of anonymity expressed dismay that CAIR would drain limited federal funds away from higher risk targets for terrorism. They argue mosques are among the lowest risk for such attacks....
FBI: Violent Crime Still Increasing Violent crime kept climbing in 2006, a top FBI official said Wednesday, previewing a report detailing nationwide increases in murders, robberies and other felonies for a second straight year. The rising crime rate, in an FBI report expected next week, counters Justice Department attempts to tamp down violence by sending more funds to local police and studying U.S. cities for clues on how the increase began. Asked if the report would show crime rates are still rising, FBI Assistant Director John Miller said: "I think you can anticipate it will." He declined to say by how much. Miller said the FBI's findings will largely mirror those of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington think-tank that in March reported spikes in the number of big-city murders, robberies and gun crimes. That survey "showed that there would be, in all likelihood, a continued uptick in violent crime, particularly among midsized American cities," Miller said during an interview taped for C-SPAN's Newsmakers program. "The data we're going to release Monday will contain no big surprises in that regard." Preliminary numbers the FBI released in December showed violent crimes rose by 3.7 percent nationwide during the first six months of 2006....
Campaign Puts New Strain on Secret Service The U.S. Secret Service expects to borrow more than 2,000 immigration officers and federal airport screeners next year to help guard an ever-expanding field of presidential candidates, while shifting 250 of its own agents from investigations to security details. Burdened by the White House's wartime security needs, the persistent threat of terrorism and a field of at least 20 presidential contenders, the Secret Service was showing signs of strain even before the Department of Homeland Security ordered protection for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) as of May 3, the earliest a candidate has ever been assigned protection in an election season. Its $110 million-plus budget for campaign protection -- two-thirds more than the record $65 million it spent for the 2004 election -- was prepared when the service did not expect to be guarding Obama or anyone else until January. The agency has already been forced to scale back its efforts to battle counterfeiting and cybercrime. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Bush administration has doubled the number of officials granted Secret Service protection, from 26 to 54, including top White House aides such as the chief of staff and national and homeland security advisers. Founded as part of the Treasury Department in 1865 to combat counterfeiting and tapped in 1901 as guardian of presidents, the service is best known for protecting individuals. By law, the agency guards presidents, vice presidents, candidates, their families and visiting heads of state. The president can also extend protection by executive memorandum. But the service has taken on added homeland security jobs in recent years, such as screening White House mail and coordinating security at national events such as presidential conventions and Super Bowls. And while its budget has grown 50 percent since 2001, the number of agents, uniformed officers and support staff has increased by about 20 percent, to 6,500....
Supreme Court ruling OKs cops storming our bedrooms There were some adolescent smirks among the crowd as the U.S. Supreme Court solemnly deliberated the case of Max Rettele and Judy Sadler this spring. How odd, then, that -- as with the dog that did not bark in the famous Sherlock Holmes story -- no one seems to have noticed the most important thing about this 6-year-old case was the question that no judge ever asked. At 7 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2001 (the earliest moment police could act, because they had no "nighttime endorsement,") the Lancaster, Calif., couple were in bed in their home when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies in possession of a search warrant banged on the front door. Chase Hall, Ms. Sadler's 17-year-old son, opened the door to find five deputies leveling guns in his face. Rather than present their warrant and give anyone a chance to read it, the cops ordered the youth to the floor and fanned out through the house. Three deputies burst into the bedroom, ordering Mr. Rettele and Ms. Sadler -- who had bought the home three months before -- to get out of bed and show their hands. Police denied them permission even to grab a sheet or blanket to cover their nakedness. A few minutes later, the deputies apologized to the couple and decided they would be allowed to clothe themselves. Although the address on the warrant matched the couple's residence, it soon became evident the targets of the search, three suspected identity thieves, had moved out before Mr. Rettele and Ms. Sadler moved in. The suspects being sought were African-Americans; Rettele and Sadler are unmistakably white. Not placated by the deputies' apologies, the couple sued the officers and Los Angeles County, complaining they had been victims of an "unreasonable search" in violation of the Fourth Amendment....
Saturday, June 02, 2007
GAO
Correspondence
1. Oil and Gas Royalties: A Comparison of the Share of Revenue Received from Oil and Gas Production by the Federal Government and Other Resource Owners. GAO-07-676R, May 1.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-676R
Correspondence
1. Oil and Gas Royalties: A Comparison of the Share of Revenue Received from Oil and Gas Production by the Federal Government and Other Resource Owners. GAO-07-676R, May 1.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-676R
Friday, June 01, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Bush wants global meeting on climate change U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire for resisting tough action on global warming, on Thursday called on 15 influential countries to agree by the end of 2008 on a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The proposals, announced before a summit of major powers that will consider the issue, stressed new technologies to make energy use more efficient and restated Bush's rejection of firm caps on carbon dioxide emissions that many of his allies want. Critics dismissed the strategy as a diversion and a delaying tactic, but some European leaders and a U.N official expressed hope that it might be a first step to more action. It was the strongest statement yet from the United States about curbing climate-warming emissions after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. "The United States takes this issue seriously," Bush said in a speech on his agenda for the summit. "My proposal is this: by the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases." "To help develop this goal, the United States will convene a series of meetings of nations that produce most greenhouse gas emissions, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China," he added. Bush's proposals included cuts in tariff barriers to encourage sharing environmental technology. In an interview with Reuters, U.N. climate change chief Yvo de Boer said White House staff had indicated that this could be the start of a policy shift....
G8 emissions rise Greenhouse gas emissions by leading industrialised nations have accelerated since 2000 and several countries are performing worse than the United States which opposes a U.N. pact for curbing global warming, U.N. data shows. Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations meet in Germany next week with President George W. Bush resisting pressure by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to cap emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels. But Bush is not alone in presiding over rising emissions. "Growth rates ... of emissions in the U.S. are slowing," said Michael Raupach, of the Earth Observation Centre in Canberra, Australia, of overall greenhouse gas trends. "European emissions are creeping up in the post-2000 years." National data submitted to the U.N.'s Climate Change Secretariat show that overall emissions by G8 nations rose 2.0 percent from 2000 to 14.3 billion tonnes in 2005 and were up 0.7 percent since 1990, the base year for the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol. Among G8 nations, Russia, Italy and Canada have all had bigger rises than the 1.6 percent U.S. gain since 2000, when Bush won election to the White House. The revival of the Russian economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union is a main spur. Only Britain, Germany and France have cut back since 2000....
Bison slaughter postponed The Montana Department of Livestock decided Wednesday to make a final attempt to haze as many as 300 bison back into Yellowstone National Park from the West Yellowstone area instead of immediately rounding up the wild animals and shipping them to slaughter. The decision postponed Tuesday's announcement at an emergency meeting of the Livestock Board by acting State Veterinarian Jeanne Rankin to start capturing and sending bison - including 100 calves that have wandered from park lands into Montana - to packing plants. Brucellosis, a contagious disease, was found earlier this month in seven cows from a Bridger-area herd. Another positive test from an unrelated herd would cost the state its brucellosis-free status. "We are going to put off capture and lethal measures until about Monday," Livestock spokeswoman Lisa Schmidt said. "They may resume hazing as soon as (Thursday)."....
Gray Wolf Found Dead The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking information about the shooting death of a Mexican gray wolf whose carcass was found about 20 miles east of Reserve. The remains were found May 9 in the Gila National Forest. Tests at Fish and Wildlife's national forensics laboratory in Oregon determined the animal was an endangered Mexican gray wolf and that it had been shot. Fish and Wildlife offers a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for the shooting deaths of Mexican gray wolves. Killing a Mexican gray wolf is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. That's punishable by criminal fines of up to $50,000 and-or up to a year in jail.
State halts key water pumps to protect endangered delta smelt State officials stopped the massive pumps that send water to some 25 million Californians and thousands of acres of crop land, a move aimed at protecting an endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Harvey O. Banks pumping station outside Tracy was shut down Thursday to protect the delta smelt, a small, silvery fish that's considered a key indicator of the delta's health. The voluntary measure was scheduled to last seven to 10 days. "We're calling on other agencies, other entities to take similar action," said Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources. The pump shutdown will not leave customers without water. Urban and rural water districts will get deliveries from the San Luis Reservoir and other sources, Snow said. "It was a difficult decision," said Department of Fish and Game Director Ryan Broddrick, who asked the state to stop the pumps. "There are trade-offs from an economic and even an environmental standpoint." The move comes less than two weeks after officials reported the smelt population at an all-time low, raising questions about the species' ability to survive. The three-inch long fish are protected under the California Endangered Species Act....
Freudenthal calls for summit on sage grouse Gov. Dave Freudenthal has announced plans for a meeting on how to protect sage grouse in Wyoming and prevent the bird from being listed as an endangered species. The Sage Grouse Summit will be June 27-28 at Casper College. C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of the interior, is scheduled to attend, along with Freudenthal. In a news release Wednesday, Freudenthal said that the consequences of ignoring sage grouse would be “dire for both the bird and all interested parties,” including the agriculture and oil and gas industries. “My hope is we can formulate a more unified plan that will balance protection with reasonable energy exploration, grazing and other activities that have and will continue to take place in sage grouse habitat,” Freudenthal said. The announcement follows a pair of reports that paint a gloomier picture of Wyoming’s sage grouse habitat than some experts had predicted. It also comes as efforts are being made in federal court in Idaho to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend Endangered Species Act protection to the grouse, an action that could cripple energy development in Wyoming and the West....
Condors 'trash' already burglarized southern Utah cabin It was bad enough that their vacation cabin was burglarized. But it was insult to injury when a family of California Condors crashed there, tearing the place apart. "The burglars came and trashed the place a little, but nothing like the birds did," Washington County Sheriff's spokeswoman Stephanie Coots said Thursday. "The birds came and wreaked havoc. They tore the couch apart, tore the place apart, bird droppings everywhere." Washington County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the burglary of a cabin in southern Utah's picturesque Kolob Mountain area. The break-in is believed to have happened at least a month ago, but was discovered by the cabin's owners over the Memorial Day weekend. The doors of the cabin were pried open and equipment was reported stolen from a shed. The cabin doors were left open after the burglars split and that's when the condors moved in. "There were feathers and bird droppings," Coots said. The California Condor is the largest land bird in North America, with a wingspan of up to 9 1/2 feet. The endangered species is being reintroduced in areas around the Grand Canyon. Captive-bred birds have been released in areas around southern Utah....
Parks initiative may total $3B in spending A National Park Service initiative will ensure the “greening’’ of a new Yellowstone visitor center and allow the park a new Web-based program, more cataloguing of its collections, enhanced trout habitat and a kids’ initiative, officials said Thursday. The Centennial Initiative, which will boost the Park Service’s budget leading up to its 100th anniversary in 2016, will benefit every park, officials said. It calls for $100 million in extra funding for the agency each year for the next 10 years. Another $100 million would be provided if matched by the same amount of private donations, for a potential total of $3 billion over the decade. For Yellowstone, the funding will allow the construction of a new Old Faithful visitor center to meet higher environmental standards, Park Service Director Mary Bomar said in a conference call with reporters. Intermountain Regional Director Mike Snyder agreed that the money will allow the visitor center construction to move forward. But he added that the Centennial Challenge money, matched by donations, will do a lot more for Yellowstone besides new buildings and infrastructure. “It goes a really long ways,’’ he said. They plan to have a Web-based interpretive program about Yellowstone for those who can’t make it there in person, he said. Other plans include stepping up the cataloguing and conservation of their extensive artifact collection and enhancing the habitat of native trout. “We have plans to look at a ‘no child left inside’ initiative using Yellowstone as a foundation to excite parents and let them feel free to have their kids experience the out-of-doors without fear,’’ he added. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said that children’s initiative would be a model for other parks around the country. He said the corporate community wants to join the effort and is willing to put resources into it....Oh, what a wonderful program. My grandchildren live in such fear of the outdoors. And for only $3 billion no less. Finally they will be able to overcome their fears with the help of the friendly Park Service. I shall return in a moment, once I'm done puking.
Delegation not rushing to back brucellosis 'buffer zone' Montana's congressional delegation has yet to endorse Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan to create a brucellosis "buffer zone" around Yellowstone National Park, even as livestock officials struggled Thursday to push a renegade group of bison back into the park. Schweitzer proposes that any outbreaks of the disease on ranches in an area that extends about 50 miles from the park would not count against the state's brucellosis-free status. The issue has taken higher profile since the state's first outbreak of the disease, which causes cattle to abort. That problem has been compounded by roughly 300 bison that are refusing to leave summertime cattle range and return to the park. The renegade bison, including nearly 100 calves born this spring, were being hazed back into the park Thursday and Friday with uncertain results....
Ex-US Senator Leaders Propose Eliminating Direct Farmer Payments Former Senate leaders Tom Daschle and Bob Dole suggested Wednesday that the nation's agricultural policy should be reformed, saying farmers should become more dependent on the marketplace. Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, and Dole, a Republican from Kansas, proposed eliminating direct payments to farmers but retaining countercyclical payments, which pay farmers only when prices are low. They also suggested that farmers be encouraged to take part in emerging markets such as renewable fuels to help them stay afloat. The former senators said their proposals could mean a net savings of $4.68 billion to the U.S. Treasury. "If we're going to have a farm bill this year, we have to demonstrate that the farm bill can be written at a reduced cost to taxpayers," said Daschle, the Senate's top Democrat when Republican John Thune defeated him in 2004. Daschle was a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and played a major role in writing the last six-year farm bill, passed in 2002. Congress is beginning work on that law's renewal this year. Dole also was on the committee before he left the Senate in 1996. Lawmakers need to broaden their perspectives when crafting farm policy, he said. "Enabling farmers to access new markets will increase farm incomes while lowering our existing commodity subsidies," Dole said....
Beef Imports From Australia Down According to the most recent data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as of May 22, 2007, U.S. beef imports subject to a tariff rate quota (TRQ) equaled 281,224 MT. This was 3.3 percent lower than the same period a year ago. U.S. beef imports from Canada totaled 104,189 MT, nearly unchanged from last year. Imports from Canada do not fall under a TRQ. Through May 22,beef imports from Australia fell 11.5 percent from a year ago to 83,553 MT. This filled 22.1 percent of Australia’s TRQ, compared to 24.9 percent a year ago. Beef imports from Australia are expected to remain lower due to a drought-induced decrease in Australia’s beef production. U.S. imports of beef from New Zealand equaled 67,478 MT, which was 7.5 percent less than last year. This filled 31.6 percent of the TRQ, compared to 34.2 percent last year. Through May 22, the U.S. imported 6,707 MT of beef from Uruguay. This was 57.4 percent more than last year and filled 33.5 percent of the country’s TRQ. A year ago, only 21.3 percent of Uruguay’s TRQ had been filled. Beef imports from Japan totaled 49 MT, compared to 3 MT last year. Of Japan’s total TRQ, 24.5 percent had been filled. Argentina beef remains banned in the U.S....
S. Korea's quarantine service finds ribs in U.S. beef shipment South Korea's quarantine service said Wednesday it has found in a shipment of American beef two boxes of U.S. beef ribs, which cannot be brought into the country under current import rules. The boxes containing 53 kilograms of ribs were part of a 15.2 ton shipment that arrived in Busan on May 25, the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said. "The two boxes were packed full of chuck short ribs so they were easily noticed by our inspectors," said Kang Mun-il, head of the state-run service under the Agriculture Ministry. He said Seoul immediately ordered a suspension of all imports from the meat processing company that shipped the rib-filled boxes. Notice of the decision to halt imports from the meat processing company has been forwarded to the U.S. government. The NVRQS chief said the entire shipment has been put on hold pending an investigation into the matter by South Korean and U.S. authorities....
Researchers Find ‘Skim Milk Cows’ In a few years, skim milk may come straight from the cow, it was reported this week. Skim milk is usually produced by taking all of the fat out of regular milk, but in 2001, researchers found a cow that skipped that step. While screening a herd of cows, they found one with a natural gene mutation that makes her produce lower-fat milk than a normal cow. Marge, as researchers later named her, makes milk that has 1 percent fat (as compared to 3.5 percent in whole milk) and is high in omega-3 fatty acids. And remarkably, Marge’s low-fat milk still has the same delicious taste as conventionally produced low-fat milk, according to the report in Chemistry & Industry magazine. The low saturated fat content of Marge’s milk also means that butter made from it is spreadable right out of the fridge, while most butter has to come to room temperature before it can be spread on toast. After researchers found that Marge’s daughters also produced low-fat milk, they surmised that the genetic trait was dominant and planned to breed herds of skim milk-producing cows. (Marge and her offspring live in New Zealand.) ViaLactia, the company that owns Marge, expects the first commercial herd of cows supplying natural low-fat milk and spreadable butter for the market by 2011....
'Fighting for survival' Bruce Pheasant has been raising sheep and lambs since 1985 -- part of a family tradition that goes back to his grandfather’s sheep operation in 1890. “This is what I love to do,” Pheasant said, referring to the positive side of raising sheep -- watching them graze on green grass, warming up a newborn lamb by the stove in the kitchen, bottle-feeding a hungry “bum” lamb and seeing it grow and thrive. “It gets in your blood,” he said. But the Kaycee-area rancher also knows plenty about the down side of sheep ranching, a business and a lifestyle that is slowly vanishing in the American West and here in Wyoming. Coyotes and other predators are a constant problem. International competition weighs on the industry's profitability. Mother Nature can also take a toll: This year, Pheasant lost a third of his flock to a March snowstorm....
Imports hurt Wyo sheep producers Wyoming sheep growers are threatened by imports from Australia and New Zealand, people in the industry say. “Those imports really kill us,” said Kaycee-area rancher Bruce Pheasant. Lamb and mutton imports, which currently account for nearly half of U.S. consumption, are mainly from Australia (about 68 percent) and New Zealand (about 32 percent), according to USDA statistics. Nevertheless, Pheasant said demand for his feeder lambs and prices are up. Ethnic restaurants and immigrants are proving to be a growing customer base for feeder lambs -- those raised to 85 pounds before heading for feedlots and packing houses. Lamb consumption is not only associated with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions; it is also a staple food among people from specific parts of the world, especially those of Middle Eastern, African, Latin American or Caribbean origin. With per capita lamb and mutton consumption fairly stable, imports have offset the decline in domestic production. In addition to importing meat products, the United States also trades live animals with its North American trading partners. Live imports are primarily from Canada, while exports go primarily to Mexico. The United States has a greater demand for lamb than for mutton and thus imports Canadian lambs. Mexico has a greater demand for mutton and thus imports U.S. cull ewes (older, less productive females)....
A Hawaii Rancher's Fly Way of Herding Cattle An old time Hawaii tradition gets a technological boost. Paniolo (a Hawaiian word for cowboys) have herded cattle on our islands for more than a century. Now, an Oahu rancher shares how he's made his life a bit easier. This is ranch country. Bob Cherry's been herding cattle here for decades. "I've been a rancher here in Hawaii since 1975," he said. Over the years, he's learned shortcuts to save him time and money. The typical way of herding cattle is with horses. Then came motorcycles. But this ranch takes a non-traditional approach. Yup, he uses a helicopter to herd cattle. This method saves him hours a day. Plus, it's easier to go after wayward cattle. "They try to run away but the helicopter is right there," said Cherry. "And they're looking up, 'Where did you come from?' It takes care of the wild ones pretty good."...
World's richest tombstone race to be run in Fort Sumner The world's richest tombstone race, The Billy the Kid Tombstone Race, with more than $4,000 in cash prizes, will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at the Fort Sumner High School Football Field. The Tombstone Race draws more that 900 people from all over New Mexico as well as Utah, Texas and Colorado. It is estimated the economic impact of this one-day event is more than $250,000 for the local economy. The race has gained national recognition, with features in the Wall Street Journal, People magazine and on the Today Show. The tombstone, which marks Billy the Kid's grave at Fort Sumner, has almost as much history as the famous outlaw himself. The stone has been stolen three times since placement by a historical society in the 1940s, and once spent 27 years under a boxcar in Texas following a theft. After its most recent disappearance, the tombstone's recovery in California was shown on national television. The race is run over a simple, but grueling, 25-yard course. In the open division, two hurdles of four and five feet must be scaled while carrying an 80-pound stone during two laps of the four-lap race. In the women's and the over-age-35 divisions, contestants carry a 20-pound stone and women have a step at the 5-foot barrier. Fort Sumner has successfully combined the legends of the late 19th century with the vision of the 21st century. The legendary outlaw Billy the Kid sought refuge from the long arm of the law in Old Fort Sumner, only to meet his demise there at the hands of Sheriff Pat Garrett....
Larry McMurtry and the American West Entering his eighth decade, Larry McMurtry has under his belt 29 novels, five collections of essays, several screenplays, and, recently, a few short histories, not to mention his vast journalistic output. Raised up in a ranching family near Archer City, Texas, he has become one of his generation's more prolific men of letters. A bibliophile at his core and a rare book dealer on the side, his knowledge, interests, and the topics and settings of his books range widely. But from the beginning of his career, the American West has been the theme and the place to which he has most often repaired. And he is of two minds about it. In Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond (1999), McMurtry lamented that his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove (1985), a saga of two legendary retired Texas Rangers, had failed in its purpose. He had intended the book to "demythicize" the West. "[I]nstead," he complained, it "became a kind of American Arthuriad." In later (and lesser) novels, McMurtry tells us, he "tried to subvert the Western myth with irony and parody with no better results." He persists in this quest down to his latest novel, Telegraph Days (2006) and his latest history, Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West, 1846-1890 (2005). Yet somehow his writings on the West nearly always subvert his subversive intentions. Telegraph Days is the story of a bright and sassy woman with the Dickensian name of Nellie Courtright (she finds herself courted by, among others, George Armstrong Custer, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Virgil Earp), narrated in the first person. It opens in the Oklahoma territory, in and around a desolate town called Rita Blanca, and ends on a Hollywood movie set that perfectly reproduces the town (though appearing now more charming than desolate) from old photographs. The disjunction between town and movie set, and between Nellie's life and the plot of the film—in which she will be played by Lillian Gish—is the novel's theme, and this disjunction between the reality of the past and how it is remembered, artistically and popularly, is the theme of most of McMurtry's recent books....
Bush wants global meeting on climate change U.S. President George W. Bush, under fire for resisting tough action on global warming, on Thursday called on 15 influential countries to agree by the end of 2008 on a long-term goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The proposals, announced before a summit of major powers that will consider the issue, stressed new technologies to make energy use more efficient and restated Bush's rejection of firm caps on carbon dioxide emissions that many of his allies want. Critics dismissed the strategy as a diversion and a delaying tactic, but some European leaders and a U.N official expressed hope that it might be a first step to more action. It was the strongest statement yet from the United States about curbing climate-warming emissions after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. "The United States takes this issue seriously," Bush said in a speech on his agenda for the summit. "My proposal is this: by the end of next year, America and other nations will set a long-term global goal for reducing greenhouse gases." "To help develop this goal, the United States will convene a series of meetings of nations that produce most greenhouse gas emissions, including nations with rapidly growing economies like India and China," he added. Bush's proposals included cuts in tariff barriers to encourage sharing environmental technology. In an interview with Reuters, U.N. climate change chief Yvo de Boer said White House staff had indicated that this could be the start of a policy shift....
G8 emissions rise Greenhouse gas emissions by leading industrialised nations have accelerated since 2000 and several countries are performing worse than the United States which opposes a U.N. pact for curbing global warming, U.N. data shows. Leaders of the Group of Eight rich nations meet in Germany next week with President George W. Bush resisting pressure by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to cap emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels. But Bush is not alone in presiding over rising emissions. "Growth rates ... of emissions in the U.S. are slowing," said Michael Raupach, of the Earth Observation Centre in Canberra, Australia, of overall greenhouse gas trends. "European emissions are creeping up in the post-2000 years." National data submitted to the U.N.'s Climate Change Secretariat show that overall emissions by G8 nations rose 2.0 percent from 2000 to 14.3 billion tonnes in 2005 and were up 0.7 percent since 1990, the base year for the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol. Among G8 nations, Russia, Italy and Canada have all had bigger rises than the 1.6 percent U.S. gain since 2000, when Bush won election to the White House. The revival of the Russian economy after the collapse of the Soviet Union is a main spur. Only Britain, Germany and France have cut back since 2000....
Bison slaughter postponed The Montana Department of Livestock decided Wednesday to make a final attempt to haze as many as 300 bison back into Yellowstone National Park from the West Yellowstone area instead of immediately rounding up the wild animals and shipping them to slaughter. The decision postponed Tuesday's announcement at an emergency meeting of the Livestock Board by acting State Veterinarian Jeanne Rankin to start capturing and sending bison - including 100 calves that have wandered from park lands into Montana - to packing plants. Brucellosis, a contagious disease, was found earlier this month in seven cows from a Bridger-area herd. Another positive test from an unrelated herd would cost the state its brucellosis-free status. "We are going to put off capture and lethal measures until about Monday," Livestock spokeswoman Lisa Schmidt said. "They may resume hazing as soon as (Thursday)."....
Gray Wolf Found Dead The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking information about the shooting death of a Mexican gray wolf whose carcass was found about 20 miles east of Reserve. The remains were found May 9 in the Gila National Forest. Tests at Fish and Wildlife's national forensics laboratory in Oregon determined the animal was an endangered Mexican gray wolf and that it had been shot. Fish and Wildlife offers a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the conviction of anyone responsible for the shooting deaths of Mexican gray wolves. Killing a Mexican gray wolf is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. That's punishable by criminal fines of up to $50,000 and-or up to a year in jail.
State halts key water pumps to protect endangered delta smelt State officials stopped the massive pumps that send water to some 25 million Californians and thousands of acres of crop land, a move aimed at protecting an endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The Harvey O. Banks pumping station outside Tracy was shut down Thursday to protect the delta smelt, a small, silvery fish that's considered a key indicator of the delta's health. The voluntary measure was scheduled to last seven to 10 days. "We're calling on other agencies, other entities to take similar action," said Lester Snow, director of the Department of Water Resources. The pump shutdown will not leave customers without water. Urban and rural water districts will get deliveries from the San Luis Reservoir and other sources, Snow said. "It was a difficult decision," said Department of Fish and Game Director Ryan Broddrick, who asked the state to stop the pumps. "There are trade-offs from an economic and even an environmental standpoint." The move comes less than two weeks after officials reported the smelt population at an all-time low, raising questions about the species' ability to survive. The three-inch long fish are protected under the California Endangered Species Act....
Freudenthal calls for summit on sage grouse Gov. Dave Freudenthal has announced plans for a meeting on how to protect sage grouse in Wyoming and prevent the bird from being listed as an endangered species. The Sage Grouse Summit will be June 27-28 at Casper College. C. Stephen Allred, assistant secretary of the interior, is scheduled to attend, along with Freudenthal. In a news release Wednesday, Freudenthal said that the consequences of ignoring sage grouse would be “dire for both the bird and all interested parties,” including the agriculture and oil and gas industries. “My hope is we can formulate a more unified plan that will balance protection with reasonable energy exploration, grazing and other activities that have and will continue to take place in sage grouse habitat,” Freudenthal said. The announcement follows a pair of reports that paint a gloomier picture of Wyoming’s sage grouse habitat than some experts had predicted. It also comes as efforts are being made in federal court in Idaho to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend Endangered Species Act protection to the grouse, an action that could cripple energy development in Wyoming and the West....
Condors 'trash' already burglarized southern Utah cabin It was bad enough that their vacation cabin was burglarized. But it was insult to injury when a family of California Condors crashed there, tearing the place apart. "The burglars came and trashed the place a little, but nothing like the birds did," Washington County Sheriff's spokeswoman Stephanie Coots said Thursday. "The birds came and wreaked havoc. They tore the couch apart, tore the place apart, bird droppings everywhere." Washington County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the burglary of a cabin in southern Utah's picturesque Kolob Mountain area. The break-in is believed to have happened at least a month ago, but was discovered by the cabin's owners over the Memorial Day weekend. The doors of the cabin were pried open and equipment was reported stolen from a shed. The cabin doors were left open after the burglars split and that's when the condors moved in. "There were feathers and bird droppings," Coots said. The California Condor is the largest land bird in North America, with a wingspan of up to 9 1/2 feet. The endangered species is being reintroduced in areas around the Grand Canyon. Captive-bred birds have been released in areas around southern Utah....
Parks initiative may total $3B in spending A National Park Service initiative will ensure the “greening’’ of a new Yellowstone visitor center and allow the park a new Web-based program, more cataloguing of its collections, enhanced trout habitat and a kids’ initiative, officials said Thursday. The Centennial Initiative, which will boost the Park Service’s budget leading up to its 100th anniversary in 2016, will benefit every park, officials said. It calls for $100 million in extra funding for the agency each year for the next 10 years. Another $100 million would be provided if matched by the same amount of private donations, for a potential total of $3 billion over the decade. For Yellowstone, the funding will allow the construction of a new Old Faithful visitor center to meet higher environmental standards, Park Service Director Mary Bomar said in a conference call with reporters. Intermountain Regional Director Mike Snyder agreed that the money will allow the visitor center construction to move forward. But he added that the Centennial Challenge money, matched by donations, will do a lot more for Yellowstone besides new buildings and infrastructure. “It goes a really long ways,’’ he said. They plan to have a Web-based interpretive program about Yellowstone for those who can’t make it there in person, he said. Other plans include stepping up the cataloguing and conservation of their extensive artifact collection and enhancing the habitat of native trout. “We have plans to look at a ‘no child left inside’ initiative using Yellowstone as a foundation to excite parents and let them feel free to have their kids experience the out-of-doors without fear,’’ he added. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said that children’s initiative would be a model for other parks around the country. He said the corporate community wants to join the effort and is willing to put resources into it....Oh, what a wonderful program. My grandchildren live in such fear of the outdoors. And for only $3 billion no less. Finally they will be able to overcome their fears with the help of the friendly Park Service. I shall return in a moment, once I'm done puking.
Delegation not rushing to back brucellosis 'buffer zone' Montana's congressional delegation has yet to endorse Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan to create a brucellosis "buffer zone" around Yellowstone National Park, even as livestock officials struggled Thursday to push a renegade group of bison back into the park. Schweitzer proposes that any outbreaks of the disease on ranches in an area that extends about 50 miles from the park would not count against the state's brucellosis-free status. The issue has taken higher profile since the state's first outbreak of the disease, which causes cattle to abort. That problem has been compounded by roughly 300 bison that are refusing to leave summertime cattle range and return to the park. The renegade bison, including nearly 100 calves born this spring, were being hazed back into the park Thursday and Friday with uncertain results....
Ex-US Senator Leaders Propose Eliminating Direct Farmer Payments Former Senate leaders Tom Daschle and Bob Dole suggested Wednesday that the nation's agricultural policy should be reformed, saying farmers should become more dependent on the marketplace. Daschle, a Democrat from South Dakota, and Dole, a Republican from Kansas, proposed eliminating direct payments to farmers but retaining countercyclical payments, which pay farmers only when prices are low. They also suggested that farmers be encouraged to take part in emerging markets such as renewable fuels to help them stay afloat. The former senators said their proposals could mean a net savings of $4.68 billion to the U.S. Treasury. "If we're going to have a farm bill this year, we have to demonstrate that the farm bill can be written at a reduced cost to taxpayers," said Daschle, the Senate's top Democrat when Republican John Thune defeated him in 2004. Daschle was a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and played a major role in writing the last six-year farm bill, passed in 2002. Congress is beginning work on that law's renewal this year. Dole also was on the committee before he left the Senate in 1996. Lawmakers need to broaden their perspectives when crafting farm policy, he said. "Enabling farmers to access new markets will increase farm incomes while lowering our existing commodity subsidies," Dole said....
Beef Imports From Australia Down According to the most recent data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as of May 22, 2007, U.S. beef imports subject to a tariff rate quota (TRQ) equaled 281,224 MT. This was 3.3 percent lower than the same period a year ago. U.S. beef imports from Canada totaled 104,189 MT, nearly unchanged from last year. Imports from Canada do not fall under a TRQ. Through May 22,beef imports from Australia fell 11.5 percent from a year ago to 83,553 MT. This filled 22.1 percent of Australia’s TRQ, compared to 24.9 percent a year ago. Beef imports from Australia are expected to remain lower due to a drought-induced decrease in Australia’s beef production. U.S. imports of beef from New Zealand equaled 67,478 MT, which was 7.5 percent less than last year. This filled 31.6 percent of the TRQ, compared to 34.2 percent last year. Through May 22, the U.S. imported 6,707 MT of beef from Uruguay. This was 57.4 percent more than last year and filled 33.5 percent of the country’s TRQ. A year ago, only 21.3 percent of Uruguay’s TRQ had been filled. Beef imports from Japan totaled 49 MT, compared to 3 MT last year. Of Japan’s total TRQ, 24.5 percent had been filled. Argentina beef remains banned in the U.S....
S. Korea's quarantine service finds ribs in U.S. beef shipment South Korea's quarantine service said Wednesday it has found in a shipment of American beef two boxes of U.S. beef ribs, which cannot be brought into the country under current import rules. The boxes containing 53 kilograms of ribs were part of a 15.2 ton shipment that arrived in Busan on May 25, the National Veterinary Research and Quarantine Service (NVRQS) said. "The two boxes were packed full of chuck short ribs so they were easily noticed by our inspectors," said Kang Mun-il, head of the state-run service under the Agriculture Ministry. He said Seoul immediately ordered a suspension of all imports from the meat processing company that shipped the rib-filled boxes. Notice of the decision to halt imports from the meat processing company has been forwarded to the U.S. government. The NVRQS chief said the entire shipment has been put on hold pending an investigation into the matter by South Korean and U.S. authorities....
Researchers Find ‘Skim Milk Cows’ In a few years, skim milk may come straight from the cow, it was reported this week. Skim milk is usually produced by taking all of the fat out of regular milk, but in 2001, researchers found a cow that skipped that step. While screening a herd of cows, they found one with a natural gene mutation that makes her produce lower-fat milk than a normal cow. Marge, as researchers later named her, makes milk that has 1 percent fat (as compared to 3.5 percent in whole milk) and is high in omega-3 fatty acids. And remarkably, Marge’s low-fat milk still has the same delicious taste as conventionally produced low-fat milk, according to the report in Chemistry & Industry magazine. The low saturated fat content of Marge’s milk also means that butter made from it is spreadable right out of the fridge, while most butter has to come to room temperature before it can be spread on toast. After researchers found that Marge’s daughters also produced low-fat milk, they surmised that the genetic trait was dominant and planned to breed herds of skim milk-producing cows. (Marge and her offspring live in New Zealand.) ViaLactia, the company that owns Marge, expects the first commercial herd of cows supplying natural low-fat milk and spreadable butter for the market by 2011....
'Fighting for survival' Bruce Pheasant has been raising sheep and lambs since 1985 -- part of a family tradition that goes back to his grandfather’s sheep operation in 1890. “This is what I love to do,” Pheasant said, referring to the positive side of raising sheep -- watching them graze on green grass, warming up a newborn lamb by the stove in the kitchen, bottle-feeding a hungry “bum” lamb and seeing it grow and thrive. “It gets in your blood,” he said. But the Kaycee-area rancher also knows plenty about the down side of sheep ranching, a business and a lifestyle that is slowly vanishing in the American West and here in Wyoming. Coyotes and other predators are a constant problem. International competition weighs on the industry's profitability. Mother Nature can also take a toll: This year, Pheasant lost a third of his flock to a March snowstorm....
Imports hurt Wyo sheep producers Wyoming sheep growers are threatened by imports from Australia and New Zealand, people in the industry say. “Those imports really kill us,” said Kaycee-area rancher Bruce Pheasant. Lamb and mutton imports, which currently account for nearly half of U.S. consumption, are mainly from Australia (about 68 percent) and New Zealand (about 32 percent), according to USDA statistics. Nevertheless, Pheasant said demand for his feeder lambs and prices are up. Ethnic restaurants and immigrants are proving to be a growing customer base for feeder lambs -- those raised to 85 pounds before heading for feedlots and packing houses. Lamb consumption is not only associated with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions; it is also a staple food among people from specific parts of the world, especially those of Middle Eastern, African, Latin American or Caribbean origin. With per capita lamb and mutton consumption fairly stable, imports have offset the decline in domestic production. In addition to importing meat products, the United States also trades live animals with its North American trading partners. Live imports are primarily from Canada, while exports go primarily to Mexico. The United States has a greater demand for lamb than for mutton and thus imports Canadian lambs. Mexico has a greater demand for mutton and thus imports U.S. cull ewes (older, less productive females)....
A Hawaii Rancher's Fly Way of Herding Cattle An old time Hawaii tradition gets a technological boost. Paniolo (a Hawaiian word for cowboys) have herded cattle on our islands for more than a century. Now, an Oahu rancher shares how he's made his life a bit easier. This is ranch country. Bob Cherry's been herding cattle here for decades. "I've been a rancher here in Hawaii since 1975," he said. Over the years, he's learned shortcuts to save him time and money. The typical way of herding cattle is with horses. Then came motorcycles. But this ranch takes a non-traditional approach. Yup, he uses a helicopter to herd cattle. This method saves him hours a day. Plus, it's easier to go after wayward cattle. "They try to run away but the helicopter is right there," said Cherry. "And they're looking up, 'Where did you come from?' It takes care of the wild ones pretty good."...
World's richest tombstone race to be run in Fort Sumner The world's richest tombstone race, The Billy the Kid Tombstone Race, with more than $4,000 in cash prizes, will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 9, at the Fort Sumner High School Football Field. The Tombstone Race draws more that 900 people from all over New Mexico as well as Utah, Texas and Colorado. It is estimated the economic impact of this one-day event is more than $250,000 for the local economy. The race has gained national recognition, with features in the Wall Street Journal, People magazine and on the Today Show. The tombstone, which marks Billy the Kid's grave at Fort Sumner, has almost as much history as the famous outlaw himself. The stone has been stolen three times since placement by a historical society in the 1940s, and once spent 27 years under a boxcar in Texas following a theft. After its most recent disappearance, the tombstone's recovery in California was shown on national television. The race is run over a simple, but grueling, 25-yard course. In the open division, two hurdles of four and five feet must be scaled while carrying an 80-pound stone during two laps of the four-lap race. In the women's and the over-age-35 divisions, contestants carry a 20-pound stone and women have a step at the 5-foot barrier. Fort Sumner has successfully combined the legends of the late 19th century with the vision of the 21st century. The legendary outlaw Billy the Kid sought refuge from the long arm of the law in Old Fort Sumner, only to meet his demise there at the hands of Sheriff Pat Garrett....
Larry McMurtry and the American West Entering his eighth decade, Larry McMurtry has under his belt 29 novels, five collections of essays, several screenplays, and, recently, a few short histories, not to mention his vast journalistic output. Raised up in a ranching family near Archer City, Texas, he has become one of his generation's more prolific men of letters. A bibliophile at his core and a rare book dealer on the side, his knowledge, interests, and the topics and settings of his books range widely. But from the beginning of his career, the American West has been the theme and the place to which he has most often repaired. And he is of two minds about it. In Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections at Sixty and Beyond (1999), McMurtry lamented that his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove (1985), a saga of two legendary retired Texas Rangers, had failed in its purpose. He had intended the book to "demythicize" the West. "[I]nstead," he complained, it "became a kind of American Arthuriad." In later (and lesser) novels, McMurtry tells us, he "tried to subvert the Western myth with irony and parody with no better results." He persists in this quest down to his latest novel, Telegraph Days (2006) and his latest history, Oh What a Slaughter: Massacres in the American West, 1846-1890 (2005). Yet somehow his writings on the West nearly always subvert his subversive intentions. Telegraph Days is the story of a bright and sassy woman with the Dickensian name of Nellie Courtright (she finds herself courted by, among others, George Armstrong Custer, Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Virgil Earp), narrated in the first person. It opens in the Oklahoma territory, in and around a desolate town called Rita Blanca, and ends on a Hollywood movie set that perfectly reproduces the town (though appearing now more charming than desolate) from old photographs. The disjunction between town and movie set, and between Nellie's life and the plot of the film—in which she will be played by Lillian Gish—is the novel's theme, and this disjunction between the reality of the past and how it is remembered, artistically and popularly, is the theme of most of McMurtry's recent books....
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