WWP expands bighorn sheep protection to BLM lands

Today Chief Judge Lynn B. Winmill of the Federal District Court for Idaho ruled in favor of Western Watersheds Project and WWP’s two co-plaintiffs, the Hells Canyon Preservation Council and the Wilderness Society, and halted domestic sheep grazing on the Bureau of Land Management’s Partridge Creek sheep grazing allotment east of Riggins, Idaho. The Judge’s Order is in response to WWP’s legal filings to protect bighorn sheep within the Salmon River Canyon from deadly disease that is transmitted to bighorns from domestic sheep. Previously WWP was successful with similar litigation that stopped domestic sheep grazing on allotments adjacent to the Partridge Creek BLM allotment administered by the U.S. Forest Service. Judge Winmill’s ruling marks the first successful effort to protect Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep from disease spread by domestic sheep grazing on Bureau of Land Management administered public lands...read more

Josh Penry, Mike Coffman Butt Heads Over Pinon Canyon

Long a hot-button political issue in Colorado, the proposed Pinon Canyon Army Base expansion seems now to be dividing Republicans heading into the 2010 election cycle. Don Bendell, a supporter of Gubernatorial Candidate Josh Penry, penned an op-ed piece in the Colorado Springs Gazette defending Penry from criticism he's faced for opposing Pinon Canyon expansion. The article was a direct response to an article written in the Colorado Statesman by Republican Congressman Mike Coffman (CD-6), who accused Penry of putting politics above the interest of the military. Penry's opponent for the Republican nomination, Scott McInnis, who supports expansion of the Army base, was recently criticized by Republican State Senator Ken Kester for his position. Kester told the Pueblo Chieftain "I understand where McInnis is coming from, but I also know that he's on the wrong side of that issue," Kester said. "It absolutely is a property-rights issue, whether Scott wants to admit it nor not."...read more

Shooting of cougar by 14 -year- old justified

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks has determined that the shooting of a cougar by a 14-year-old elk hunter from Anacondawas justified. Game warden Shane Yaskus said the cougar measured about 7 feet long from nose to tail. Eric Boyd was waiting at an outcropping last week while his father tried to drive an elk past him that they had been tracking. Boyd said he heard a twig snap behind him and when he turned he saw the cougar about 25 yards away. He said the two stared at each other for about 20 seconds before the cat started moving forward, and Boyd fired his rifle, hitting the cougar four times. Boyd said he's still hunting but that he's not going to hunt by himself for a while. [link]

Farm Bureau Opposes Cap & Trade Legislation

American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman testified today before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on S. 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Noting AFBF’s opposition to the House companion, bill H.R. 2454, Stallman said the group is similarly opposed to the Senate version. “One of the major failings of H.R. 2454 was that the measure failed to provide a cost-effective blueprint to transition to a clean energy economy,” said Stallman. “S. 1733 exhibits the same shortcoming.” Stallman stressed that cap and trade legislation would result in higher fuel, fertilizer and energy costs to farmers and ranchers. Cost increases incurred by utilities and other providers resulting from climate change legislation would ultimately be borne by consumers. “The impacts of the legislation go far beyond just the farm and ranch community,” said Stallman. “Families will be hit hard with higher energy costs under any cap-and-trade program, an amount that could total up to $200 billion a year for American taxpayers. That will put enormous strain on family budgets.”...read more

U.S. advanced biofuel sector finds lenders wary

U.S. lenders are leery of putting money into cellulosic ethanol and other new-generation biofuels due to the recession and an industry shakeout, Agriculture Department and biofuel leaders said on Thursday. That is one reason near-term production of advanced biofuels is unlikely to meet targets set by a 2007 energy law, said William Roe of Coskata Inc, which has a demonstration-size biomass plant in Pennsylvania. Several witnesses at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on the future of new-generation biofuels pointed to difficulties in securing credit. "Given the current recession and the banking sector's financial difficulties, lending has become scarce in the biofuels space," said Susan Ellerbusch, president of BP Biofuels North America...read more

Classifying Carbon Subsidies in Trade

One area of focus related to agriculture and climate change will come after the United Nations meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, but likely to generate a great deal of debate in coming years: How are carbon incentives or "subsidies" going to be classified under the World Trade Organization? Given that these incentives are going to be far more lucrative in developed countries, carbon incentives are going to a whole new area of fodder for possible WTO disputes and challenges in coming decades, said Tim Josling, a professor emeritus of agricultural policy at Stanford University. Among the first major possible challenges would be likely for any government program involving a direct payment to a producer. Direct payments for carbon sequestration, for instance, would fit there. There are vagaries about the idea of a government certification program that would allow a producer to qualify for a payment on the open market, however. Selling offsets to a non-farm seller may not be a subsidy. There have been no rules spelled out regarding whether free allocation of greenhouse-gas emissions would qualify as a subsidy. Research on climate change could be considered a subsidy if the research is targeted to benefit a specific sector. Classifying a subsidy may be the critical part. Are they "green box" under WTO rules, meaning they are not trade distorting, but providing a public environmental benefit? Josling said farmers may need incentives to join a carbon program, so that would exclude such payments from being green box...read more

More than $18 million in CRP payments going to New Mexico farmers

Salomon Ramirez, State Executive Director for USDA’s Farm Service Agency in New Mexico today announced that USDA has almost completed issuing over $18 million in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) payments to eligible producers in New Mexico. More than $1.7 billion in CRP payments are being made on 31 million acres across the country. The payments announced today are annual rental payments earned on the 568,253 acres enrolled in the CRP, including the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program and Continuous Sign-Up Program fiscal year 2009. Producer’s holding 2,493 contracts on 1,577 farms will receive an average of $11,813 per farm or $32.78 per acre. The number of contracts is higher than the number of farms because producers may have multiple contracts on a single farm...read more

Measure Seeks to Thwart Possible Humane Society Campaign

Ohio voters will cast ballots Tuesday on whether to create a state livestock care board -- a proposal backed by major agricultural groups -- to define animal care standards in the state. The Ohio constitutional amendment Issue 2 will be watched closely by all sides of the animal rights debate, considering that it was backed by Ohio farmer groups as a pre-emptive attempt to head off the Humane Society of the United States. With a simple majority passage, Issue 2 would create a 13-member Livestock Care Standards board specifically to define animal-care standards in the state. The state Department of Agriculture would implement those standards. Unlike Humane Society-backed ballot measures in states such as Arizona and California that won large voter support, Issue 2 does not ban or target any specific livestock practices such as sow gestation crates...read more

Tainted ground beef may be linked to 2 deaths

Contaminated fresh ground beef caused a possible E. coli outbreak that killed two people and sent 16 others to hospitals, federal health officials said Monday. Twenty-eight people may have become ill after eating beef produced by Fairbank Farms of Ashville, N.Y., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. All but three of the suspected infections are in the northeastern U.S. and 18 are in New England, said CDC spokeswoman Lola Scott Russell. Fairbank Farms recalled almost 546,000 pounds of fresh ground beef that had been distributed in September to stores from North Carolina to Maine. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's recall notice, dated Saturday, said the possibly tainted meat had been sold in numerous ways, from meatloaf and meatball mix to hamburger patties...read more

USDA Probing Animal-Abuse Allegations at Beef Plant

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating allegations of animal abuse at Bushways Packing Inc., a Grand Isle, Vermont, beef plant. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he has called on the USDA’s Inspector General to conduct a criminal probe of the alleged abuse captured on video by the Humane Society of the United States. The scenes depict apparent violations of USDA animal-handling regulations, Vilsack said today in an e-mailed statement. “The deplorable scenes recorded in the video” are “unequivocally unacceptable,” he said. The plant is closed pending the investigation, USDA spokesman Justin DeJong said...read more

Shaping the Western tradition

Outdoor types wear the sportsman-style hat. Ranchers don the "Gus," just like the character in "Lonesome Dove." And children like the buckaroo. No matter the style, if it's a custom, Utah-made hat, Jim Whittington of Salt Lake City probably had a hand in making it. For more than two decades, Whittington and his employees at J.W. Hats have made hats for cowboys, ranchers, musicians, poets, tourists and anyone else interested in this classic Western accessory. Each year the business makes between 1,000 and 1,500 new hats, while it cleans or restores hundreds more. Whittington, a native of New Mexico, has worn hats all his life. He didn't make it his livelihood until 1986, when he purchased one of the oldest hat-making businesses in the country. Whittington said the business was started in 1853 by Brigham Young and his personal hat-maker, known only as Mr. Tatton...read more

Horse trainer Jennifer Cunningham facing life’s challenges head-on

Jennifer Cunningham takes her joy from family, her passion from horses and her strength from her faith. But she takes her creed from a children’s film. "One simple motto I like to live by is from the movie ‘Nemo’ — ‘just keep swimming!’” Cunningham said. "I like to say that on tough days — just keep swimming — because that’s all any of us can do. Just keeping moving, just keep trying.” Cunningham has had her share of tough days. Between the births of 6-year-old Keaton and 6-month-old Falyn, Cunningham and husband Ty lost a set of twins and another baby. When Keaton was a toddler Jennifer Cunningham suffered a devastating leg injury while playing softball that required several surgeries. "That took me out for 21/2 years,” she said of the August 2004 injury and ensuing ordeal. "I wasn’t even walking normally again until the middle of 2006.” More than a bit inconvenient for the woman who with her husband supervises Oklahoma State University’s Spirit Riders team. They also are caretakers and trainers of Bullet, the American quarter horse gelding that charges onto the field at Boone Pickens Stadium with every Oklahoma State Cowboy touchdown...read more

Are you livin' the PC way?

Song Of The Day #171

Ranch Radio's tune this morning was recorded by Lefty Frizzel in the early 50's. Here he is singing his classic Always Late.

It's available on the Lefty Frizzel - 16 Biggest Hits CD.

Congress provides Forest Service & BLM with a 17% budget increase

After eight years coming up on the short end of Halloween-like pranks, the Interior Department and Forest Service are getting a treat this year - a $4.6 billion funding increase for 2010. The 16.8-percent increase passed by both the U.S. House and Senate today will provide a much needed boost for a wide range of initiatives including wildfire suppression, climate change research and the National Wildlife Refuge System. The measure now moves to the desk of President Obama, who is expected to sign the measure before the clock strikes midnight on Saturday evening. One of the most important components of the Interior funding bill is the creation of new funds the Department of the Interior and Forest Service will use to cover the wildly escalating costs of fire suppression. The bill also provides approximately $385 million for research and development that will examine the effects of climate change on the U.S. and what else can be done to help the country respond to the problems it poses. The bill also provides: # $90 million for the Legacy Road and Trail Remediation Program, a program that restores healthy watersheds and improves recreational opportunities by decommissioning obsolete roads and maintaining trails. # $75 million for the National Landscape Conservation System, which protects some of the most spectacular scenery managed by the Bureau of Land Management. # $306 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a program that takes revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling to support the conservation of America's lands and waters. "This improved funding level is a step in the right direction, but we do want to see LWCF get the $900 million it is meant to receive each year," Rowsome said...read more

Study: Grazing mitigates fire damage

A 14-year study by federal researchers in Eastern Oregon determined that cattle grazing can protect and help rangelands recover more effectively from fires. Three scientists at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, in Burns, found that grazing can check the growth of native grasses that can fuel more intense wildfires. Grazing can thus impede the spread of cheatgrass and medusahead, invasive non-native grasses that can infect landscapes when fires devastate existing vegetation. These rangelands historically were burned by wildfires every 50 to 100 years, but fire suppression practices in the past century have allowed more dead plant litter to accumulate. In grazed areas, cattle consumed about 40 percent of the available forage, which removed much of the potential litter, according to a news release. The scientists worked with portions of an experimental range, including plots that had not been grazed since 1937. In 1993 they did a controlled burn of a strip of land that included both grazed and ungrazed segments. They then measured vegetation cover, density and biomass production in 2005, 2006 and 2007 and found that cheatgrass had infested a large portion of the ungrazed sites, leaving them more vulnerable to future fires. However, cheatgrass wasn't a problem on the sites that had been grazed. Instead, native bunchgrass cover was almost twice as dense as that on the ungrazed sites...read more

As solar panels proliferate, so do legal questions

Is creating renewable energy more important than saving a tree or an open field? That question and others concerning the environmental-trumping power of solar energy has only recently begun to surface in legal disputes. Though the courts have not yet made a definitive decision on the subject, two decades-old California laws currently tip the odds. The Solar Rights Act and Solar Shade Act both enacted more than 30 years ago were meant to promote the installation of renewable energy systems by removing red tape and obstructions to sun. The Rights Act prohibits cities, counties and other entities from barring or mitigating solar panel installation, and the Shade Act restricts the growing or planting of trees that interfere with access to sunlight. The legislation passed in 1978 has been essentially dormant until recently as more and more incentives to install solar panels come online. Only now are the courts beginning to test the limits of the law, primarily concerning large solar plants. The acts, for example, do not account for impact on natural habitat by photovoltaic panel farms or the CO2-reducing capabilities of trees and other plants...read more

Debate Flares on Limits of Nature and Commerce in Parks

It seems a perfect marriage of nature and commerce. As boats ferry oysters to the shore, pelicans swoop by and seals pop their heads out of the water. But this spot on the Point Reyes National Seashore has become a flashpoint for a bitter debate over the limits of wilderness and commercial interest within America’s national parks. The National Park Service has said it cannot renew the permit to farm oysters in a tidal estuary here, which lapses in 2012, because federal law requires it to return the area to wilderness by eliminating intrusive commercial activity. Kevin Lunny, the owner of the Drakes Bay Oyster Company, says he feels persecuted by the National Park Service and has sought legislation that could allow him to continue operating. He argues that the 70-year-old oyster farm, which predates the park, is part of the historical working landscape of the area — and every bit as in need of protection as the harbor seals and eelgrass that share the bay. Mr. Lunny and his allies also accuse the park service’s regional office of issuing faulty scientific reports exaggerating the threat that the oyster farm poses to baby seals and flora in the estuary — accusations given credence last spring by the National Academy of Sciences. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, has thrown her support behind the oyster farm. A provision she attached to the fiscal year 2010 appropriations bill for the Interior Department, passed by Congress recently, would give Interior Secretary Ken Salazar the option to extend the oyster farm’s lease for 10 more years. By siding with the oyster farm, Ms. Feinstein has symbolically crossed swords with the Obama administration: Jon Jarvis, President Obama’s new director of the National Park Service, supported ending Mr. Lunny’s lease when he oversaw Point Reyes as a regional parks official...read more

Forest Service and BLM Asked to Protect Public Lands in Eastern Arizona From ORV Damage

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Sky Island Alliance asked the Bureau of Land Management Friday to protect the Gila Box in eastern Arizona from continued off-road vehicle damage. The Gila Unit of the Safford Field Office of the Bureau is seeking public input for its travel-management plan in the Gila Box area, which includes the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area. The conservation groups’ main concerns include the protection of threatened and endangered species, including the Gila chub, southwestern willow flycatcher, loach minnow, Chiracahua leopard frog, as well as desert bighorn sheep and the lowland leopard frog. The area also contains one of the most significant riparian zones in the Southwest and is home to several species of vulnerable native fish. Erosion caused by poorly designed roads and off-road vehicle use is a major threat to species, and one that is not adequately addressed in the travel-management plan. The agency used what is known as the Route Evaluation Tree to develop its proposal. A recent court case held that by using the Route Evaluation Tree, the Bureau didn’t comply with legal requirements to minimize damage from off-road vehicle uses. The Center and Sky Island Alliance are concerned that the Gila Box plan, which also uses the Route Evaluation Tree, is similarly flawed and fails to comply with the law or protect water quality, species habitat, and riparian ecosystems...read more

Tribe's environmental fight

A green controversy fueled by coal-fired power plants is raging on America's largest Indian reservation. On one side is Joe Shirley Jr., president of the Navajo Nation, who rejects the notion of climate change even though he recently won an international award for environmentalism. On the other are environmentalists opposed to power plants in Indian Country and to the coal mines that provide their fuel. Caught in the middle are tribal members concerned with economic survival and the protection of sacred lands. The dispute centers on fundamental questions of religion and heritage, as well as tribal finances. The Environmental Protection Agency wants the Navajo Generating Station to install costly air-scrubbing equipment, an expense the tribe and some Arizona utility companies say could lead to the plant's closure. Environmental groups, which have targeted the plant for years because of the emissions-related haze that builds up over the Grand Canyon, applaud the scrubbers...read more