Movie Review: Sweetgrass

The tagline for the wonderful documentary “Sweetgrass,” the first essential movie of this young year, is “the last ride of the American cowboy.” I suppose the word shepherd, with its pastoral evocations of maidens in pantaloons and lads with flutes, doesn’t have the necessary grit or mythic punch. But the quiet and cantankerous men in this movie, mostly in cowboy hats — one of which is charmingly ornamented with a sheep pin on the crown — are keeping and sometimes losing sheep as surely as Little Bo Peep did. Made by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, the movie largely involves the enormous effort, along with the unintentional humor and grim realities, involved in driving some 3,000 sensationally noisy sheep (how do they sleep?) up a mountain for summer pasture. Although the filmmakers shot for a number of years (taking eight in total to finish it), most of the material in the final movie was shot in 2001, when a Montanan rancher named Lawrence Allested became the last person to take his sheep into the Absaroka-Beartooth mountains on a federal grazing permit. Shot in classic observational documentary style, without any on- or off-camera narration to guide you, “Sweetgrass” opens as winter is giving way to spring and the sheep are still at the ranch, being shorn for their wool and giving birth to the year’s lambs. It can be brutal if also caring work...read more

Song Of The Day #216

We'll continue with our Gene Autry-Roy Rogers segment. Since the Roy Rogers radio show was mainly story with a limited amount of music, and since we don't want to get Tom in trouble with Ann, here are two songs by Roy Rogers.

The first is Hadie Brown, a Jimmie Rodgers song he used in his audition for Republic Pictures. The second is the beautiful Blue Shadows On The Trail.

Rogers music is widely available, which you can view here (Some on the list are by the blues singer with the same name).

Sen. Tester's forest bill stirs dissent from ranchers

Rick Sandru fears voices like his aren't being heard in Montana's latest debate about wilderness and logging. Sandru is the president of the Ruby Valley Stock Association, a group of ranchers in western Madison County that runs thousands of cattle in the upper Ruby Valley. As proposed in Sen. Jon Tester's Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, about half the 70,000 acres of National Forest the eight ranches lease for grazing would be designated wilderness -- just a small piece of the 600,000 new acres of wilderness proposed statewide. The bill tries to accommodate ranchers like Sandru by specifying that existing ranch operations in the Snowcrests won't be affected by the bill, but Sandru said he remains deeply skeptical about the plan. "We don't feel that that provision is strong enough," Sandru said. "These things end up in court, and they are thrown out in court." "We're not unreasonable, and we don't hate wilderness," he said. "We just feel this is a bad deal for our livelihoods."...read more

Feds' stewardship abysmal

Ancient pot, meet ancient kettle. A new internal audit says the Department of Interior largely does not know what is in its collection or whether the items were obtained legally. Moreover, the Interior Department does not properly care for many of the items in its custody, according to an inspector general's report released this past week. This would be the same Department of Interior that railed on 24 men and women, mostly Utahns, charged in federal court last summer in the theft and sale of more than 250 American Indian artifacts from public lands in the Four Corners region. At the time, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar cautioned, "Let this case serve notice to anyone considering breaking these laws and trampling our nation's cultural heritage that the BLM, the Department of Justice and the federal government will track you down and bring you to justice." Indeed, unearthing ancient artifacts, and taking them home for personal enjoyment or sale, is wrong. It's illegal and it eliminates the opportunity for experts to carefully excavate these items and learn more how ancient Pueblo people lived. Worse, it demonstrates profound disrespect for items that represented the heritage and sacred beliefs of ancient peoples. To a large degree, however, many of the same conclusions could be drawn regarding the Department of Interior's care of many priceless items in its possession, according to the report...read more

Audit Faults Interior Office's Oversight of Appraisals

The Interior Department office created to oversee billions of dollars of land appraisals is weak and undermined by other bureaus, leaving it unable to function efficiently, the Interior inspector general has found. The Appraisal Services Directorate, or ASD, "is not the strong and independent appraisal organization" envisioned when it was created in 2003 to remedy longstanding appraisal problems, the IG evaluation said. The Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation "remain unconvinced of the need for a consolidated organization and have repeatedly acted to regain control of the appraisal function, thus undermining ASD," the report says. Over the past four years, Interior's appraisers have been responsible for the valuation of nearly 8 million acres of land worth almost $10 billion, the report says...read more

Support builds in Congress, Nevada for mining reform

After years of negotiations between environmentalists and mining interests, the controversial effort to reform the more than century-old law that regulates mining in the United States may finally come to fruition in Congress in 2010. Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say the Nevada Democrat remains committed to ensuring any changes in the 1872 Mining Law is balanced and protects mining jobs in rural communities. Observers say Reid has indicated he could end up offering his own version of a reform proposal. Meanwhile, New Mexico Sen. Jeff Bingaman is spearheading the broadest plan through the Energy and Natural Resources Committee he chairs. Cathy Carlson of the group Earthworks says Bingaman told conservationists who met with him in recent weeks that he hopes to move the bill out of committee in April. AP

US Confirms Plans to ‘Fast-Track’ Solar on Federal Lands in 3 Western States

With the new year, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) reaffirmed its commitment to 'fast-track' the nation's first utility-scale solar energy projects on public lands. The BLM pledged to complete environmental impact studies for 31 of America's "most promising" renewable energy projects by December 2010. Fourteen of these are proposed solar plants — 10 to be built in California and the rest in Nevada and Arizona. The other projects include seven wind farms, three geothermal plants and seven transmission projects. Together, these fast-track proposals have the potential to power 900,000 homes. The hope is to make them eligible for stimulus money under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which expires in less than a year. BLM Director Bob Abbey said the move will help the nation reach its "green energy future."...read more

Wolf death tally passes 500

Gray wolf hunting and killings in response to livestock attacks have pushed the number of dead wolves to a record of more than 500 this year in the Northern Rockies -- just months after their removal from the endangered species list. Officials said it's too early to know if the overall population will suffer. It will be months before they can gauge if wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho are curbing the predators' hunger for livestock. As biologists prepare their 2009 population tally, the results will be closely watched -- both by environmentalists seeking to restore wolves to the endangered species list and ranchers who resent the predators chewing into their livelihood. The regional wolf count was 1,650 at the beginning of the year. Since September, hunters in Montana and Idaho have claimed at least 203 of the animals, with Idaho's hunting season slated to continue through March. Almost 300 more have been killed by government wildlife agents, ranchers defending their livestock, poachers and natural causes...read more

BLM’s grouse plan draws acclaim

Conservationists are hailing a federal plan that would limit oil and natural-gas development in prime sage grouse habitat in Wyoming. On Monday, the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming announced that it would modify its sage grouse management plan to more closely align with the state’s “core areas” approach, which severely limits new industrial activities across large areas of the state. For example, the plan would restrict oil and natural-gas development to one well pad per square mile in sage grouse habitat. Further, the state’s core areas plan requires that potential developers demonstrate how any proposed activities would not diminish grouse habitat or bird populations before the activity is permitted. Previously, the BLM has attempted to make changes in sage grouse management retroactively. Conservationists say it’s a long-awaited move by the BLM and a critical step in possibly avoiding a listing of the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act...read more

Program Aims to Protect Utah Prairie Dog Habitat

A new program to pay farmers and ranchers to protect Utah prairie dogs on their land may help finally push the threatened animals off the endangered species list, according to organizers. About $400,000 in federal funds will pay for a pilot program to buy conservation easements on private land with at least 20 prairie dogs on 40 acres. The landowner could still farm and ranch but not develop the land. Developers elsewhere could then purchase credits to offset their effects on prime prairie dog habitat. The prairie dogs in southern Utah have been federally protected since 1973. They have struggled to recover, partly because about 75 percent live on private land with few guaranteed protections, so they don't count toward the government's population goals...read more

Off-road routes may be closed to protect tortoises

Two popular off-road vehicle routes in the Mojave Desert may be closed to protect the desert tortoise habitat. The Center for Biological Diversity protested a 2008 decision by the Bureau of Land Management to open the off-road vehicle routes in Kern County. Last week, a judge for the Department of Interior's Interior Board of Land Appeals upheld the group's appeal. Ileene Anderson, a spokeswoman for the center, said she hopes it means the roads will be closed soon to protect the imperiled desert tortoise. Desert tortoise populations have declined in recent years and are now protected under federal and state endangered species law. The group filed its appeal after the agency decided to open the roads in connection with a plan on managing the desert that had been struck down in federal court last year...read more

Two mustangs die in Calico roundup north of Reno

Two horses died and a third leaped over a fence and escaped through barbed wire in the first week of a roundup of wild horses in the Black Rock Desert 100 miles north of Reno. The federal Bureau of Land Management, which plans to gather 2,500 mustangs over the next few weeks in areas near the Calico Mountains, verified Monday that two animals died during the roundup. As of Sunday night, 158 wild horses had been captured in the effort the BLM says is necessary to insure the health of the rangeland and horse herds. One elderly mare was shot after BLM officials determined the animal was in failing health, and a 6-month-old foal who died during the roundup was determined by veterinarians to have a congenital heart defect, said Heather Emmons, BLM spokeswoman. "The foal kept falling down and when they went to check on it again it was dead," she said. "The older mare was in terrible shape and wouldn't have made it through the winter. She had to be put down." Emmons said the mortality rate for wild horse gathers is about one-half of one percent...read more

UI professor cleared of scientific misconduct

The University of Idaho said Monday it found no evidence that a sheep researcher committed scientific misconduct when she told a federal court and the Idaho Legislature there was no proof wild bighorns die after catching lung diseases from domestic sheep. Marie Bulgin can resume teaching, research and other duties at the UI's Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center in Caldwell, the Moscow-based school said as it concluded its seven-month investigation. Bulgin, a former president of the Idaho Wool Growers Association, must abide by a plan to address possible conflicts of interest over her advocacy for the sheep industry. Details of that plan weren't released. In June, she was removed from some duties after environmentalists produced documents showing other Caine Center scientists in 1994 concluded two bighorns they examined had contracted deadly lung diseases from domestic sheep while on the range...read more

Citizens of the West: Tom and Rebecca Kourlis

One of this year's two Citizens of the West is Tom Kourlis, the son of a Greek immigrant whose perseverance established one of Colorado's most respected sheep ranches. The other is his wife, Rebecca Love Kourlis, daughter of three-term Colorado Gov. John Love and his wife, Ann — a couple also awarded the Citizen of the West honor — and familiar to Colorado baby boomers who grew up watching her. The Kourlises will be honored as Citizens of the West 2010 by the National Western Stock Show on Jan. 13 during a dinner at the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center. The award is given annually to individuals who a group of community leaders deem "embody the spirit and determination of the Western pioneer, and who are committed to perpetuating the West's agricultural heritage and ideals," according to the National Western...read more

On the edge of common sense: Texas tour brings back memories

I made a trip to Texas last fall and was able to revisit a couple of monumental memories, just to see if they were real. When I was going to veterinary school in Colorado, I worked summers in the feedlots managed by Diamond A Cattle Co. The second year I was hired on at the 50,000-head yard in Thermal, Calif. Yes. Thermal ... a summer job. I was eating greasy tacos, batchin' and renting a room with no air conditioning. Occasionally one of the men on the doctor crew would take me home with him for lunch. I'm sure his wife thought of me as a stray dog ... "Can't you feed him out on the porch, Simon?" But he and I sat at his little kitchen table with bowls of chili colorado, using homemade tortillas she handed hot from the stove, which we used as spoons. It is still one of my finest dining experiences. He moved to Rockport. I went by to see him for the first time in 30 years. It was important to me to let him know that, to this day, I have never forgotten his kindness. I also swung by the little town of Schroeder. Several years after working for Simon, I had fallen on hard times. Red Steagall, western singer and Texas treasure, invited me to go with him to play a dance at Schroeder Hall. It was humbling for me. I was kinda star struck. We loaded in his new Cadillac. During the five-hour drive from Fort Worth, I soaked up his wisdom and companionship. When we arrived at Schroeder Hall, we could have been in Kenya, for all I knew. I'd not paid any attention to the road or the scenery. Red said, "Bax, do me a favor."...read more

Song Of The Day #215

Yesterday I posted an item on how Gene Autry and Roy Rogers are receiving new recognition.

Today we will offer up an edition of Gene Autry's Melody Ranch Radio Show.

My Mom was savvy enough to wash dishes during the show. The only radio was in the kitchen and that is how she would entice me to help her with the dishes. Listening to some of the shows this morning, I all of a sudden wanted to grab a towel and dry the dishes. Mom turned 90 in December and is still plenty savvy.

The program is 30 minutes and may take awhile to download.

Interior head ends 1st year with vows of reforms

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar started on the job a year ago pledging to clean up an agency hit by scandals and assailed by critics as under the sway of the oil and gas industry. Starting his second year as head of the nation's biggest landowner, Salazar said he will announce reforms in how energy leases are issued on federal lands and changes in how endangered species are protected. The Colorado rancher and former U.S. senator's actions on energy and endangered species won him praise and denunciation. The oil and gas industry has accused him of discouraging development on public lands, while conservationists see his second look at leases approved under President George W. Bush as a swing toward balance. Environmentalists are suing to overturn Salazar's decision to remove wolves in the northern Rockies from the endangered species list, a decision proponents believe was warranted as the population grew to an estimated 1,600. "It's been a tough year," Salazar said in a New Year's Eve interview with The Associated Press...read more

No Rise of Airborne Fraction of Carbon Dioxide in Past 150 Years, New Research Finds

Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere. To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and considers the uncertainties in the data. In contradiction to some recent studies, he finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades. The research is published in Geophysical Research Letters...read more

Fight Against Asian Carp Threatens Fragile Great Lakes Unity

Asian carp, the voracious, nonnative fish whose arrival near Lake Michigan is threatening to cause havoc in the Great Lakes, are now setting off strife on land as well. In an urgent effort to close down Chicago-area passages that could allow the unwanted fish to reach Lake Michigan, the State of Michigan is suing the State of Illinois and other entities that govern the waterways here. Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin have filed documents in recent days supporting Michigan’s move, and Indiana says it will soon do the same. The new rift between these Midwestern states, which would reopen a nearly century-old legal case in the United States Supreme Court over Great Lakes waters, comes at a particularly sensitive moment — just as the numerous entities with interests in the Great Lakes had united in what lakes advocates consider some of their most significant progress in decades. In 2008, the eight states that touch the Great Lakes helped push through a federal-state compact that bars diversion of water from the lakes unless all of the states (and the Canadian provinces involved) agree. That Great Lakes Compact, which was years in the making, at last calmed fears that other water-starved regions might tap into the lakes, which make up 20 percent of the world’s freshwater. And this fall, the federal government approved what many saw as the first step in a major restoration for the lakes, long sought in these states. Some $475 million was designated to clean up pollution, protect habitat and fight invasive species in the Great Lakes...read more

Rancher: Property rights are threatened

Private property rights are threatened along streams newly designated by the Bureau of Land Management as eligible for protection as “wild and scenic,” the county commissioners were told on Monday, Dec. 21. The recently released draft eligibility report by the BLM’s Uncompahgre Field Office nominates river and stream segments that pass through private land in Delta County for further study as candidates for possible wild and scenic designation. The BLM’s eligibility designation places the water and a half-mile wide corridor on either side under federal protections, rancher Dick Miller told the county commissioners. “That is the same thing as declaring a private stream and private land as a wilderness study area,” Miller said. When the BLM designates a stretch of stream and a quarter-mile on either side as “eligible” for study and possible designation as wild and scenic, Miller explained, it is the same thing as designating land as a wilderness study area. That land can then be managed as wilderness until Congress decides what to do with it, a process that can take years...read more