Agency dismisses protests of Roan drilling; leases issued The Interior Department on Monday dismissed nearly 15,000 protests submitted by groups and individuals against drilling on the Roan Plateau and the same day issued oil and gas leases on the western Colorado landmark to energy companies. The leases covering nearly 55,000 acres had been auctioned off by the Bureau of Land Management, an arm of the Interior Department, on Aug. 14. But the leases couldn't be issued to the winning companies until the protests had been resolved, the agency said. By dismissing the protests, the BLM also has cleared the way for Colorado to pocket $56 million, or 49 percent of the $113.5 million raised from the lease sale - an onshore record in BLM's history....

Suit targets Roan drilling The federal government issued $114 million in oil and gas leases on the Roan Plateau on Monday, and within hours, a legal challenge was filed by environmental groups. The sale was the largest onshore revenue producer ever for the federal Bureau of Land Management. The request for an injunction to bar issuing the leases was filed by Earthjustice and Western Resource Advocates. The two nonprofit environmental law groups are seeking an expedited hearing on their motion. The lawsuit contends the BLM did not follow the National Environmental Policy Act in selling the leases. "We are trying to get BLM to reconsider its drill-everything approach," said Mike Freeman, an Earthjustice attorney....

BLM rebuilds agency The Bureau of Land Management plans to restructure its agency to put more authority in local regions rather than in state offices. The change, approved last year, is expected to transition during the next two years, said John Husband, field manager for the BLM Little Snake Field Office in Craig. It should not affect the general public, he added. For instance, a landowner who wants to talk about grazing on BLM land still would speak with officials in Craig. The only difference, Hus­band said, is that if landowners wanted to appeal the Craig office’s decision, they would take their cases to district office in Grand Junction rather than to Denver, where the state office is located. The federal agency’s decision reverses one made in 1999, when district offices were removed to “flatten the layers and eliminate (bureaucratic) layers,” Husband said. The new structure comes with the risk of adding bureaucratic layers, but it shouldn’t become burdensome or take much authority away from Craig, he added....So Clinton streamlined the agency, and Bush is building back the bureaucracy.

Old growth Sierra junipers felled amid warming debate Moments after he saw the centuries-old junipers on the ground, Glenn Fair felt sick to his stomach. A 60-year-old fishing guide from rural Lassen County, Fair has nothing against thinning forests to protect them from fire and disease. But the barren, dusty swath of stumps and downed junipers logged from public land last year and the adjacent house-high pile of wood chips was not that kind of cut. Not only were trees mowed down across nearly 300 acres, they were leveled under a banner of ecological restoration, energy independence and climate-friendly power. It was portrayed as a win-win by the federal government, which was paying for the removal to undo the legacy of poor land management. But to Fair, burning old-growth junipers in a wood-fired power plant to battle global warming just doesn't make sense....

Thought-provoking film documentary to be shown in Helena Filmmaker Todd Darling pokes holes in the idea that environmental deregulation is good for the average person in a new environmental documentary called "A Snowmobile for George." Darling, 56, is a Los Angeles filmmaker who also has worked in television, including as the director of the popular MTV reality TV series, "Laguna Beach." "The film is the personal stories of people," Darling said. "It's not some college professor telling you to eat your vegetables." Darling said he began the film in 2004, and finished it last year. He logged more than 8,000 miles driving across the country for the project. A "range war" between ranchers and oil-companies in Wyoming is one of the stories highlighted. The battle, according to the film, began "when political appointees in the Interior Department suppressed clean water rules for natural gas drilling."....

Ethanol, Pitting Ranchers against Farmers? In a country where Corn is King, you would assume that rural ranchers and farmers in our countries corn belt would vote for a president who is Pro Ethanol. After all, most ethanol is made from corn and the U.S. Government is paying farmers to grow it. But a growing number of cattle and pig ranchers are seeing the increased price of corn, drive them out of business. Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, opposes the Renewable Fuel Standard and Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, supports it. Two farmers from Ohio, offered their perspective on how the presidential candidates’ stances will influence their votes in the Nov. 4 election. Tim Blair, who has spent 33 years raising hogs, will be voting for Sen. McCain. Tim predicts he’ll be out of business by year’s end, and said “I’ve basically spent my life savings the past 14 months hoping it would get better.” Speaking of the growing feed prices that are making his hog operation unprofitable, he continued by adding, “I’m losing money because of the government’s policy.” Tom Becker, a 600 acre corn farmer, sees things a different way, and will of course be voting for Sen. Obama. “Ethanol is one of the big things that down the road is going to help farmers more than (Sen. John) McCain’s ideas,” he said....

Stokes resigns as CEO of NCBA Terry Stokes, chief executive officer of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), announced today he will resign from his position following the 2009 Cattle Industry Convention, January 31, 2009. Stokes said representing cattlemen and championing their cause has been the greatest honor and the most fulfilling job of his career, but he explained it also is all-consuming. He said he is looking forward to spending time with his family and exploring new opportunities. Stokes joined NCBA 12 years ago, in 1996, as chief financial officer. He was appointed CEO in 2002. During his tenure as CEO, NCBA grew revenues 41 percent. Membership grew more than 17 percent in the past three years....

Spam, Still the Mystery Meat, Escapes New U.S. Food-Label Rules U.S. rules requiring meat and fresh produce to be labeled by national origin are falling short of lawmakers' aims, leaving shoppers in the dark about where mixed vegetables, steaks and Spam come from, some lawmakers say. Six years after being adopted by Congress, country-of-origin labeling takes effect today. Concern about unsafe imports from China and Canada helped overcome food industry efforts to delay the measures. They will cost companies $2.5 billion in the first year, with retailers spending more to market beef, pork and lamb, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. Industry groups say expenses will be even higher. Some lawmakers and consumer advocates say loopholes will let meatpackers blur the distinction between foreign and domestic meat. Mixed vegetables are exempt from the requirements, as are processed foods ranging from roasted peanuts to Spam, the canned luncheon meat made by Hormel Foods Corp. More regulations may be needed, the lawmakers say. Country-of-origin labeling, or COOL, is a longtime goal of U.S. farmers and ranchers convinced that identifying imported food may encourage manufacturers to use more U.S. product....

New Mexico's Peppers Pride Seeks Record 17th Win oe Allen’s Peppers Pride has entered a six-furlong allowance race at Zia Park on Saturday afternoon in her attempt to set the record for consecutive wins. The Joel Marr-trained Peppers Pride has won each of her 16 career wins and shares the record for consecutive wins with Triple Crown winner Citation, two-time Horse of the Year Cigar, Santa Anita Derby winner Mister Frisky and the Louisiana-bred sprinter Hallowed Dreams. “She’s doing well,” said Marr. “She hasn’t raced since April, but has had two works.” The daughter of Desert God won the Foutz Distaff Handicap at SunRay Park on April 26. She has remained in training since that win in Marr’s stable. Peppers Pride was scheduled to make her record attempt on two occasions this summer at Ruidoso Downs. She was slated to run in the Lincoln Handicap on July 27 but that racing card was cancelled after the remnants of Hurricane Dolly damaged Ruidoso Downs. The Lincoln Handicap was rescheduled for August 31, Peppers Pride was entered and then Marr elected to scratch her due to an off track. She has only raced on fast racing surfaces....

Man attacked by mountain lion at Taos Ski Valley A Taos man is recovering after a mountain lion attack Friday at Taos Ski Valley. The Taos News reports that Adam Wheat, 29, was hiking in the area when the attack occurred. He drove himself to his business in town and then asked his employee, Tony Knief, to take him to a hospital. "I guess he was hiking and he heard this hissing and he turned around and it scratched his chest pretty bad," Knief told the newspaper. "He drove to Jack Wrap It and came in asked me to take him to the hospital. I thought he was joking at first but then I saw he had these scratches in him." Knief added that Wheat also hit his head in the encounter.

Judge may 'sanction' government in Stevens case Sen. Ted Stevens's lawyers have a chance to weaken the case against him as a federal judge will consider sanctioning sanctioning government prosecutors over their handling of a key witness. Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia said Monday he was "disturbed" that the government allowed Rocky Williams to return to Alaska without the court's permission and without consulting defense attorneys, who also subpoenaed the witness to testify in the case. Sullivan said arranging Williams's travel back to Alaska raised the appearance of impropriety. "I’m going to sanction if appropriate — I’m just not going to drop that issue," Sullivan said, without specifying the sanctions he had in mind. The case hinges on whether Stevens (R-Alaska) concealed gifts and home renovations from Veco Corp., a now-defunct oil-services company. Williams, a former Veco employee, oversaw the extensive home renovations at the senator's Alaska home. Williams, who left Washington to deal with an unspecified health issue, later told defense attorneys that he did not spend as much time at Stevens's home as has been alleged in court. "I’m concerned that a subpoenaed witness ... was advised to leave the District of Columbia, and assisted in leaving the District of Columbia by the government for reasons not fully explored by defense counsel and the court," Sullivan said....

Delisting endangers wolves It began near here in this high-altitude chaparral. No sooner were gray wolves delisted in March than sportsmen in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming began locking and loading. Wyoming officials declared 90% of the state a "free-fire zone." Hunters from around the state flocked to rural Sublette County to bag a wolf. Rancher Merrill Dana, 57, saw the results right away. Hunters aboard snowmobiles chased wolves across the early spring snow on his sprawling ranch. "The first morning it was opened up, they killed three up here," he said. "Trespassers. We didn't even know they were up here until we heard the snow machines." Dana said he has been offered as much as $2,500 for permission to hunt wolves on his land. He refused. As with many ranchers here, there is no love lost between Dana and wolves. He was mad the interlopers hadn't asked permission to hunt. "I wanted people I know to get them," said Dana, who was among a hunting party that eventually killed a 110-pound male. Through the early summer, an average of a wolf a day was being killed across the region. In all, at least 130 animals died since the delisting, or nearly 10% of the wolf population in the northern Rockies. Then, on July 21, a federal judge stopped the hunt. Last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service capitulated and began the process to relist wolves....

Group wants wolves in Colo. An environmental group wants to see wolves back in Colorado. WildEarth Guardians of Sante Fe, N.M., has filed papers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calling for wolf reintroduction in four Colorado areas. After being exterminated throughout the West decades ago, wolves have been reintroduced to Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. WildEarth Guardians believes Colorado should come next. The group argues that wolves would help thin overpopulated elk herds, which would then lead to more young aspen trees. "We believe that the Southern Rockies needs wolves, and wolves definitely need the Southern Rockies," said Rob Edward, carnivore recovery director for WildEarth Guardians, which also has offices in Denver and Phoenix. Edward told the Aspen Daily News that while solitary wolves from the north and from New Mexico wander into Colorado, no sustainable wolf population is believed to have re-established itself within the state. The group's proposal identifies four Colorado areas for wolf reintroduction -- the Flat Tops north of Glenwood Springs, the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison national forests near Pitkin County's western border, the San Juan Mountains and Weminuche Wilderness in southwestern Colorado, and southern Colorado's Vermejo Park Ranch and Carson National Forest....

Colorado Environmental Film Festival Aims To Educate If you're passionate about the environment and love watching films, check out the third Annual Colorado Environmental Film Festival, running from Oct. 2 to Oct. 5 at the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. 7NEWS Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson will kick off the festival at 6 p.m. on Thursday, followed by four films: "The Story of Stuff", a look at the underside of America's production and consumption; "Opposing Chums", follows the world series of birding; and two short films, "Once Upon A Tide" and "Recycle." The festival will also include a mix of films showing audiences where oil comes from and explaining where old televisions, computers or cell phones end up. Two noteworthy films showing in the festival focus on the impact of oil and gas drilling on Colorado's landscape and the livelihoods of landowners. In all, 22 films will be shown during the four-day event....

Camp Sherman Residents Vent Fire Frustrations With smoke still looming over the treetops in Camp Sherman, the Forest Service found themselves in the hot seat Sunday morning at a public meeting at the Camp Sherman Community Hall. "Were the winds on Thursday forecasted?" "Was someone there watching?" "When you're done with a controlled burn, do they truly work all that well?" The questions are born from frustration. The Wizard Fire, burning five hundred acres just three miles north of Camp Sherman was started by the Forest Service as a controlled burn before getting away and burning up Green Ridge. On Sunday morning more than three hundred people were fighting the fire, the cost already topping $600,000. All for a fire, the Forest Service started to reduce the risk of future fires. "It seems to me there's just a strategic flaw in this whole thing." "I don't care how thick your manual is there on all of these things, the first chapter should be common sense." The meeting came to an emotional peak when one resident stood up and made a demand of Sister's Forest Ranger Bill Anthony. "Is the forest service planning offering a public apology for this mistake. I'm hearing a lot of justification and a lot of explanation but I'm not hearing an apology."....

Congress Approves $910 million in Emergency Fire Funding The Supplemental Appropriations Bill approved today by the Senate includes $910 million in emergency federal fire funding sought by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The bill, approved earlier in the week by the House of Representatives, now goes to the White House to await the President's signature. Senator Feinstein, Chairman of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, has pushed throughout the year for more funding to meet the threat of an unusually active, deadly fire season that has threatened to deplete America's federal firefighting assets. So far this year, wildfires in California burned more than 1.2 million acres and led to 13 firefighter deaths....

Wildlife refuge will shrink The national wildlife refuge at Pathfinder Reservoir is going to shrink by more than 10,000 acres, according to a federal plan that was approved Sept. 18 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Despite objections from the Audubon Society and others, Fish and Wildlife Service planners said a land transfer is needed so popular recreational uses can continue at most of the reservoir and to consolidate the federal migratory bird refuge into one contiguous area of land. The 1997 National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act required each of the country's national wildlife refuges to publish a 15-year "comprehensive conservation plan" by 2012 that outlines management objectives and assesses whether certain recreational uses are compatible with the refuge system's mission to manage for migratory birds. The agency began working on a plan for Pathfinder in 2006 and published its final draft this year. This month the agency found "no significant impact" in the environmental assessment of the plan, which is expected to publish as a final version by the end of the year. The plan calls for about 65 percent of the refuge's lands to transfer to the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, reducing the size of the refuge from 16,806 acres to 5,990 acres....

Marines Still Looking Into Possible Land Acquisition Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) located in Twentynine Palms, CA recently submitted a withdrawal application to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to essentially put a hold on 422,000 acres while it studies those areas for possible acquisition into the base. Uses that are currently allowed in the area will continue, but no new uses or projects will be permitted. A large portion of the Johnson Valley OHV area is located in that study area. Besides taking public comment, the purpose of these meetings is to help people understand both the proposed action and the decision making process. Johnson Valley OHV area is approximately 189,000 acres and is located in the high desert of California, just east of Los Angeles. The area is a Mecca for off-road recreation and is home to many events including off-road racing and competitive rock crawling....

Civil case over Idaho grazing can advance In 2006, a Washington state businessman and environmentalist was the high bidder on six Idaho grazing leases. Now the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says Gordon Younger can proceed with his federal civil rights lawsuit against Idaho officials, who awarded the leases instead to ranchers who offered less money in a competitive auction. Younger is a Seattle packaging business owner and head of Lazy Y Ranch Ltd.. He's a contributor to the Western Watersheds Project, a group seeking to end grazing on public land in the Rocky Mountains on grounds it damages the environment. Western Watersheds Project has long challenged the Land Board in court to secure competitive state grazing leases. With the federal appeals court decision, the case now moves toward a trial.

Taking a Human Approach to Conservation For 11 college students living and studying in the Swan Valley for eight weeks, conservation is more than just science and fieldwork. It involves a lot of socializing: chatting with the locals and immersing themselves in the community. It’s called cooperative conservation. The students are part of a field-semester program called Landscape and Livelihood, which is administered by Northwest Connections and accredited through the University of Montana. They earn 15 credits and the program runs from Sept. 1 to Oct. 29. The goal is to instill in the students a deep-rooted knowledge of the area’s geographical and cultural history by exposing them to a diverse cross section of people and opinions within a rural community. This helps them to better understand the problems facing interdependent ecosystems, and the dynamic relationships created by mix-use lands, including corporate timber, public multiple-use, wilderness and private residential. It’s a complex issue to take on: incorporating cooperative conservation, sustainability and policy, while maintaining a dialogue with the rural community and involving the local people as part of the solution. Throughout the semester, students work alongside biologists, loggers, ranchers, outfitters and homeowners, taking a hands-on approach to examine how rural communities tie back in to their own lives. These are wildlife biologists and natural resource managers in the making....