Nev. Rancher Loses Bid to Reinstate Grazing Permit

The 9th Circuit upheld the U.S. Forest Service's decision to cancel the grazing permit of a Nevada cattle rancher who repeatedly violated boundary regulations and ignored warnings and suspensions. The judges rejected the rancher's claim that the agency never gave him a fair hearing. Kenneth Buckingham sued the Forest Service in federal court in Nevada after it canceled his grazing permit in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest for repeatedly letting his cattle graze on allotments that were off-limits. Buckingham was first issued a grazing permit in 1983. Five years later, he began repeatedly violating the terms of the permit and ignoring numerous warnings and suspensions, according to the ruling. The Forest Service eventually canceled Buckingham's permit altogether, prompting him to sue the agency for allegedly denying him a fair hearing. Buckingham also argued that the agency failed to issue a permit that clearly defined the boundaries of the off-limit allotments. The district court ruled that Buckingham failed to exhaust his administrative remedies and that his due process rights had not been violated. The three-judge panel in Portland, Ore., agreed. The panel acknowledged that "Buckingham's livelihood depends, at least in part, upon the right to graze his livestock on national forest lands," but said protecting those lands and their resources trumps Buckingham's claims. "Cattle control is a vital aspect of protecting that governmental interest," Judge Milan Smith wrote. The judges agreed that "by the time the administrative appeal process concluded, the Forest Service had given Buckingham sufficient pre- and post-deprivation procedures to satisfy any due process concerns." Courthouse News

Military installations make amends to endangered species

When on-the-ground soldiers, supported by Apache helicopters overhead, creep and clamber through the live-fire area of Fort Hood, they needn't worry about the fate of the endangered golden-cheeked warblers that like to roost there. That's because the Department of Defense, working with researchers from nonprofits and Texas A&M University, has paid off nearby landowners to build up their own nesting grounds to offset the ones lost on Fort Hood. The Fort Hood pilot program, which just got positive marks in a three-year review, is one way that military installations in Central Texas are coping with endangered species on their territory. Military officials say that besides paying for the landowner program, they are reducing the number of trees they cut down to better replicate forest conditions in conflict zones. In the early 1990s, Congress directed the military to obey endangered species laws. Suddenly, large and frequently remote installations found themselves having to figure out how to offset the killing or harassment of endangered species. Camp Bullis, in Bexar County, is also home to the endangered warbler and the black-capped vireo, another songbird, as well as three endangered invertebrates. Last year, the Nature Conservancy announced that it was partnering with the Army to conserve important undeveloped areas of habitat outside of Camp Bullis for the golden-cheeked warbler. Across the country, 420 endangered or threatened species can be found on military installations, according to L. Peter Boice, the Pentagon's deputy director of natural resources. The Department of Defense spent $306 million between 2004 and 2008 on protecting the species, he said...more

A grolar? A pizzly? Scientists confirm grizzly-polar bear cross

An odd-looking bear shot a few weeks ago by an Inuit hunter in the High Arctic is a rare grizzly-polar bear cross, scientists have confirmed. Moreover, the animal -- with the creamy white fur of a polar bear, but with the big head, long claws and ring of brown hair around its hind common to the grizzly -- may be the first recorded second-generation "grolar bear" found in the wild, said the N.W.T. Environment and Natural Resources Department in a news release. "A wildlife genetics laboratory has since conducted DNA testing on the samples, and the results of the testing point to the animal being a second generation hybrid bear which resulted from the mating of a polar/grizzly bear female with a male grizzly bear," said the release. Hunter David Kuptana shot the bear on April 8 while it roamed the sea ice just west of Ulukhaktok, on Victoria Island. Polar bear-grizzly hybrids -- known as either "pizzly" or "grolar" bears -- are very rare. Although several suspected sightings have been made in that past few years, only one hybrid -- shot by a U.S. hunter in 2006 -- had been confirmed in the wild...more

Sixth Wright brother earns championship check

Saddle bronc rider Spencer Wright, competing on his permit, won his first PRCA rodeo April 30-May 1, sharing first place with Frank McKay at the Kern County Sheriff Reserve Stampede Days Rodeo in Bakersfield, Calif., to become the sixth of seven Wright brothers to have secured at least a share of a PRCA rodeo title. Wright, a 19-year-old who goes by the nickname “Red,” won his first PRCA paycheck (for $661) a week earlier at the Auburn (Calif.) Wild West Stampede – at the second professional rodeo he entered. In Bakersfield, Wright scored 76 points on Salt River Rodeo’s Good Night Irene to equal McKay’s effort on JK Rodeo Company’s Jingle Bob, and each man earned $1,157. Red will compete part time this year because he is a senior at Milford (Utah) High School. Cal Wright, a 29-year-old rancher, also competes part time, and it is possible this summer that rodeo fans may see as many as six Wright brothers at the same rodeo. Cody, 33, Alex, 22, and twins Jake and Jesse, 20, are competing full time in saddle bronc riding. Jake leads the PRCA Rookie Standings, while Jesse, the reigning PRCA Rookie of the Year, leads the brothers in the PRCA World Standings in 10th place. Stuart, the youngest Wright brother, is just 13...more

Three Telluride sisters keeping family history alive

When Angie, Pam and Crissy Aldasoro were growing up in the family's single-wide trailer on a mesa outside Telluride, they likened it to being in Antarctica. Peering into the dark in the mid-1960s, they could never see lights. There were no neighbors near the 5,000-acre Aldasoro Brothers Ranch where herds of sheep made the mountain valleys look snow-covered in July. Their outside links were a radio station from faraway Oklahoma City and one TV station that would fade when an antenna was turned in the down-on-its- luck town of Telluride. Fast forward. The Aldasoro girls — now Pam Bennett, Angie Petersen and Cristine Mitchell, or "the sisters," as they are known around Telluride — are the executives in a slew of commercial property-management corporations. Part of their ranch is now the largest star-studded subdivision in this high- dollar region. Another piece is the highest commercial airport in the country. But the sisters are most proud of being the keepers of an agricultural legacy. The 735-acre heart of the ranch that their Basque grandfather bought as prime sheep pasture is still theirs, treasured for its colorful history. The sisters named the roads in homage to Basque ancestors. Joaquin Road refers to Jose Joaquin Aldasoro, who came to the United States from the Pyrenees Mountains of Spain in 1913 to work for a Utah rancher. The family's immigration story nearly ended there. Joaquin was dropped off outside Green River, Utah, and told to walk to his sheep camp 18 miles away. He walked until exhaustion prompted him to bed down in the dark. In the morning, he discovered that if he had kept walking another 200 feet, he would have fallen over a cliff. Joaquin did not just survive. He thrived. He married Cristina Aguirre, another Basque immigrant, and, with his brother Prudencio and cousin Serapio, started buying up homesteads on Deep Creek Mesa, near Telluride, in 1926. By the mid-1950s, they had acquired 12 homesteads and pastured 5,000 head of sheep there...more

Song Of The Day #301

Ranch Radio will continue the week with modern artists that stick with tradition.

Today's selection will slow things down with a western swing ballad, Don't Cry Baby, by the Red Stick Ramblers, a band from southwest Louisiana.

The tune is available on their 12 track CD Made in the Shade from Sugarhill Records.

Go To FileFactory.com

Latest violence spasm claims 25 lives near Mexico-US border

Mexico's bloody drug wars saw a new spasm of killings late Saturday into Sunday, with 25 people fatally shot in the northern state of Chihuahua bordering the United States. Seven of the deaths occurred in violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's murder capital, bringing to 62 the number of people killed in the city over the past week. The 18 other slayings overnight included four people fatally shot by automatic weapons fire in a bar in the town of Camargo, near the state capital Chihuahua City, and two women whose bodies were found stuffed in the trunk of an abandoned car in the same town, prosecutors said. So far this year, more than 850 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million, while more than 2,660 were killed there in 2009, according to official figures...more

News report on rancher's killer irks Cochise sheriff

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever on Monday denounced a news report that said the March murder of southern Arizona rancher Robert Krentz was not random and was committed by an American or a person recently in the United States. Carol Capas, a spokeswoman for the Sheriff's Office, said Dever characterized the story in Monday's Arizona Daily Star as "inaccurate and irresponsible." The newspaper, quoting unnamed, "high-ranking government officials," at first reported that the killer is believed to be an American. That was corrected with an editor's note saying that the nationality of the shooter remains unknown. A subsequent Associated Press story, also based on an unidentified source, said the killer is a Mexican citizen. Still, the Star's report appears to conflict with statements by Dever and others who have speculated that the assailant was an undocumented immigrant working for Mexican drug cartels. Capas said detectives have no leads on a suspect - not even the person's nationality or gender. "The information that we have is still the same as what we released early on," she added. "The investigation is active and ongoing." She said the Sheriff's Office continues working on leads, some of which were generated by a $45,000 reward for information leading to a suspect's arrest and conviction...more

Update From Cochise County, Arizona

Saturday morning the headlines in all the area papers covered the shooting of a Pinal County Deputy by drug smugglers. The reports indicated the officer was ambushed by drug smugglers using AK-47 rifles. How do we know these things? This time the ambush failed and the officer survived. But there is a lot of news in this report that destroys the liberal reports of those grandmothers crossing the border so they can make beds in cheap hotels. First, the Sheriff called it an ambush. This destroys the idea that drug violence has not crossed the border. Next, the drug runners used AK-47s. Last time I checked (and my military training confirmed this), the AK-47 was made in Russia by Kalashnikov. But what happened to all those reports of American guns going south to the drug cartels? Perhaps that is another bit of mass media misinformation...more

Mexico's illegals laws tougher than Arizona's

Mexican President Felipe Calderon denounced as "racial discrimination" an Arizona law giving state and local police the authority to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and vowed to use all means at his disposal to defend Mexican nationals against a law he called a "violation of human rights." But the legislation, signed April 23 by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, is similar to Reglamento de la Ley General de Poblacion — the General Law on Population enacted in Mexico in April 2000, which mandates that federal, local and municipal police cooperate with federal immigration authorities in that country in the arrests of illegal immigrants. Under the Mexican law, illegal immigration is a felony, punishable by up to two years in prison. Immigrants who are deported and attempt to re-enter can be imprisoned for 10 years. Visa violators can be sentenced to six-year terms. Mexicans who help illegal immigrants are considered criminals. The law also says Mexico can deport foreigners who are deemed detrimental to "economic or national interests," violate Mexican law, are not "physically or mentally healthy" or lack the "necessary funds for their sustenance" and for their dependents...more

Obama's Border Breakdown

“The border security implications are frightening,” said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for the front-line officers. Rep. Lamar Smith (R.-Tex.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized the administration’s spending priorities for next year which he says includes no funding for new detention beds, no increase to find and deport immigration fugitives or criminal aliens, no additional special agents to investigate workplace immigration violations, no funding to expand the visa security program, and no funding for new border-fence construction. The administration is looking to eliminate 180 administrative border patrol jobs in the coming year even as violence along the Southwest border continues to escalate -- an Arizona sheriff’s deputy was shot by drug suspects last week, following the murder weeks earlier of an American rancher by border crossers on his own property. “The Border Patrol catches about one-third (of illegal aliens) that come across, that is not border security, that is a joke,” Bonner said. “But to say we are just going to maintain that level of control is unacceptable.” The administration has also proposed cuts for border agents to work overtime, Bonner said. “Weekends and holidays are peak smuggling periods. And if we’re in the middle of a pursuit at the end of a shift, are we just supposed to stop?” Bonner asked. “America deserves and needs far better.”...more

Hearings revive border violence debate as troops requested

Drug violence in Mexico is expected to get a renewed focus in the Senate this week as a bevy of House members from the southwest region push to send more troops to the border. The Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control takes the lead on Wednesday as it holds a long-awaited hearing on the drug trafficking violence in Mexico and the immediate implications for the U.S. At the same time, the Senate Homeland Security Committee is set to examine the government’s crackdown on gun smuggling operations between the U.S. and Mexico during its Wednesday hearing on terrorists and guns. The renewed attention from the upper chamber comes as a bipartisan group of 17 House lawmakers from the southwest region sent a letter last week to President Barack Obama calling on him to deploy National Guard troops to their home states as part of the “swift and decisive” action needed to combat the violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, which “continues to increase at an alarming rate.”...more

Armed Narco-Terrorists Caught on Tape Where Arizona Deputy Shot on Friday

Hidden camera footage captures armed scouts leading a group of drug “mules” toting bales of marijuana through a desert wash 50 miles southwest of Phoenix, Ariz. This stunning video was recently captured in the very area where an Arizona sheriff’s deputy was shot by narco-terrorists last Friday -- about 70 miles north of the border in a well-known drug and human trafficking corridor...more

Here's the video:

A border-area home invasion has forced residents to take action

Howard and Rosie Hunt might be the luckiest people in Arizona—and that's saying something for an elderly couple who lived through a home invasion on Jan. 20. Two young men from Chihuahua, Mexico, one carrying a machete, allegedly pushed their way into the Hunts' home, bound them and searched for valuables. The Hunts live right off State Highway 80, 15 miles south of the Chiricahua Mountains town of Portal, along the notorious smuggling route known as the Chiricahua Corridor. For some time, residents here have been fighting to keep themselves and their property safe from cross-border smugglers and illegal aliens, who—cut off from their groups, lost and desperate—often break into homes. Life around Portal and its sister town of Rodeo, N.M., 12 miles away across the state line, has become a grim litany of cut phone lines, roof vents removed to get inside, barking dogs at night, trucks stolen, half-eaten food in the kitchen and men peering in windows. "Thirty years ago, we had workers moving through, and they'd ask for water and a sandwich," says Nancy Cloudt, who runs Rodeo Grocery and Cafe. "Then they started demanding water and a sandwich. Then they didn't like peanut butter. Then they wanted to use your phone to call New York. "Now, if you hear something at night, you don't even go out to check. It gets worse all the time." On Friday, Jan. 22, Cloudt says, Border Patrol arrested 63 illegals near her store in one shift. Lousy weather brought them out of hiding places in the mountains and washes. They wanted to be captured and sent home. But the Hunt episode has left people here really shaken. Rosie Hunt, 74, was cooking supper at about 5 p.m. when she heard a knock at the front door. When she responded, she saw two men, one an English speaker, who asked if Rosie would drive them to town. Through his booking photo, she later identified the suspect as 21-year-old Eriberto Marquez. She said no to the request, and so did Howard, who'd joined her at the door. Marquez kept asking, and Howard kept saying no. "I says, 'It's only two miles up the road. You can walk.'" When Rosie moved to return to the kitchen, Marquez pushed her into the house. Howard turned to protect his wife and felt a sharp object poking his back. The object was an 18-inch machete held by the second suspect, identified as 19-year-old Martin Chavira-Morquecho...more

Common ground

Ken Salazar was in the neighborhood last week and dropped in to visit with Utah officials and Gov. Gary Herbert's Balanced Resource Council. By all accounts, the Interior secretary, representing President Barack Obama, got along just fine with the Republicans who are so dominant in Utah government. Some might have predicted there could be no such meeting of the minds after the spectacle some Utahns were making a few weeks ago when an Interior Department memo was leaked that included some parts of Utah on a list of possible future national monuments. Some might have been surprised that Salazar would venture into the country's reddest state when anti-government, anti-Democratic feelings have been running so high. The Legislature in March passed a law allowing the state to use eminent domain to take federal land and secure state access to coal and other resources. But Salazar said he got the message from this "message legislation" and will work to open dialogue about access. And he promised to listen to Utahns "on the ground" before designating more national monuments. He said he is willing to collaborate to resolve the question of whether the feds or Utah counties have authority over roads on public lands. "Maybe we can figure out a way to move forward," Salazar said, pointing out he is not only a former Colorado Democratic senator but also a Colorado rancher. Collaboration aside, current law requires local governments to prove their right-of-way claims in court, and that law should stand. It seems Salazar did much to soothe the anger and lay groundwork for Utah and federal agencies to work together on the myriad issues of public-land management. Or, at least, to talk to one another...more

Salazar was doing pretty good till I got to the "collaborate" part. Then to top it off The Salt Lake Tribune editorial pulls out the old "build consensus" pablum, but then shows their true colors by closing with, "Salazar has an obligation to tip the scales back toward environmental preservation."

Wiktionary gives us two definitions for collaborate:

1. To work together with others to achieve a common goal.

Let's collaborate on this dictionary, and get it finished faster.

2. To cooperate treasonably as with an enemy occupation force in one's country.

If you collaborate with the occupying forces, you will be shot.

Wikipedia further instructs us:

Since the Second World War the term "Collaboration" acquired a very negative meaning as referring to persons and groups which help a foreign occupier of their country—due to actual use by people in European countries who worked with and for the Nazi German occupiers. Linguistically, "collaboration" implies more or less equal partners who work together—which is obviously not the case when one party is an army of occupation and the other are people of the occupied country living under the power of this army.

Since the feds occupy 57% of Utah, I'll just let you guess which definition me, Gus and Woodrow would apply in this case.

The primary actor for the state is the Governor. Will Utah's Herbert become a "collaborator"?

Probably so.

I'll have the bullshit detector ready for the next time Herbert & Salazar get together, and for any Trib editorial about it.

Idaho at forefront of collaboration on public land use

Similar collaborations have changed the dynamics of public land management across the American West, speakers said at a conference Saturday convened by the Andrus Center for Public Policy at Boise State University. Successes in the Owyhees and in the Henrys Fork of the Snake River basin, along with ongoing efforts in the Payette and Clearwater national forests and in Lemhi County, are putting Idaho at the forefront of a national shift from confrontational conservation to collaboration. It comes at a time when climate change is causing rapid changes on the land, increasing the call for restoring forests, range and watershed health, said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. "This may be the best opportunity for conservation since (Theodore Roosevelt's) time," Tidwell said. Tidwell was joined Saturday by U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey. Ideas included a state incentive program to help ranchers and other large landowners protect habitat; more funding sources for wildlife management beyond hunters and anglers; and turning federal lands over to the state to manage...more

Lt. Governor Little brought a little caution to the table:

Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little pointed to the state's unsuccessful effort to draft a conservation plan to prevent the listing of the desert plant slickspot peppergrass -- evidence, he said, that collaboration doesn't always work. But in that case, no environmental groups were on board. Little also cited a state and federal agreement with wool growers as part of reintroducing bighorn sheep to Hells Canyon. The Forest Service later reversed itself and forced ranchers to remove domestic flocks from public land. "For collaboration to work," Little said, "people need to know the rules aren't going to change." Little cautioned that the federal conservation dollars that have made collaborative programs possible are drying up because of a rising federal deficit. The Land and Water Conservation Fund, a major source of land protection money, is dependent on offshore oil drilling, which may slow instead of grow after the recent Gulf oil spill...

We're really gonna need Gus and Woodrow's help on this collaboration stuff. It's getting way out of hand. Dally and drag, dally and drag.

Chief Tidwell may be right about this being "the best opportunity" since Roosevelt for the enviros. After all, it was Roosevelt who ripped millions of acres out of the public domain and created 150 national forests. It was also Roosevelt who with the stroke of a pen created 18 national monuments. Kinda makes you see why Tidwell makes the comparison.

Wolves kill horse, calf

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say wolves northwest of Pinedale killed a cow calf and one horse, and injured another horse, marking the first livestock deaths by wolves in 2010 in Wyoming. Wolves from the Black Butte pack killed the cow calf at a ranch in mid-March. Agents with Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services subsequently killed three wolves from the group, a radio collared adult wolf, a pup and a yearling. Black Butte wolves then attacked horses at another ranch last week. “We think there are probably two [wolves] left in this group,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Wyoming wolf management project leader Mike Jimenez said. “We will go back in and take those out.” According to Jimenez, the Black Butte pack is the same pack that was responsible for killing roughly 37 sheep and one steer last summer. The area is prone to wolf attacks. “In this ... area in Pinedale, there’s been a ton of work,” he said. “These ranchers have cleaned up their operations and they don’t leave dead livestock around. But, a lot of these ranchers have had repeated problems.” “In this area [livestock depredations have] been chronic,” Jimenez continued. “All the packs that have been in there have come to the same fate: They’ve killed livestock and we’ve removed them.” This aggressive management of wolves that chronically feed on domesticated animals is a tactic that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf managers said works to keep both livestock deaths and wolf removals down. Jimenez said tough management of chronic livestock killers has the added benefit of maintaining public tolerance for wolves...more

This is what happens when livestock "collaborate" with wolves.

Wyoming GOP Candidates For Governor Square Off

Several speakers at Saturday's Wyoming State Republican Convention in Sheridan emphasized that they would be happy to see any of the current four GOP candidates for governor win the seat. The four GOP candidates for governor this year are: Matt Mead, former U.S Attorney for Wyoming; State Auditor Rita Meyer; Ron Micheli, a former state legislator and former head of the state agricultural department; and House Speaker Colin Simpson. Micheli, of Fort Bridger, stressed the need to reduce the size of state government. Although he didn't mention the abortion issue in his speech, his campaign signs posted in the auditorium stated that he's "Pro-Life & Proud of it." Micheli drew applause from the audience when he quoted former president Ronald Reagan about the need for smaller government. Micheli said the state needs to fight federal intrusion into the state's business on issues such as health care and regulation of carbon emissions...more

Don't know the other three, but do know Micheli is a quality guy. We both served as Secretary of Agriculture for our respective states. When you'd go to a national meeting, Micheli was one of the few "real ones" there. Not just a political appointee, but a bonafide cattlemen. Plenty smart too.

Besides, it would sure stroke my ego. I also served with Rick Perry when he was the Commissioner of Ag in Texas. Would be cool to be friends with two Governors.

Of course, the Governor of NM knows me, but harbors a dislike of the kid. Perhaps that will change in November too.

Judge rules coal bed methane wastewater ponds unconstitutional

State District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of Helena, Mont., this week affirmed that dumping wastewater from coal bed methane development into evaporation pits violates the Montana Constitution. He said such “water impoundments” are not a beneficial use of the billions of gallons of water that are brought to the surface and dumped into pits or into rivers and streams, calling such practices “a waste of one of Montana’s natural resources.” In 2003, the Northern Plains Resource Council, the Tongue and Yellowstone Irrigation District, and other allies sued the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation and Fidelity Exploration and Production Company. The suit alleged that allowing ground water to be wasted by dumping it into evaporation pits violates Article IX, Section 3 of the Montana Constitution. The suit did not challenge legitimate beneficial uses of the water, such as stock watering, wildlife habitat, dust suppression and other uses. In affirming that evaporation pits are unconstitutional, Shylock said, “This Court has no choice but to conclude that such use is not beneficial and, therefore, a waste of one of Montana’s natural resources,” Sherlock said in his decision. “No party to this action has presented any beneficial use that might be gained from causing water to evaporate and be lost from any and all beneficial use.” Fidelity had argued that public trust duties to protect water enshrined in the Constitution only applied to recreational use of surface waters. Shylock rejected that saying, “The constitutional provision specifically refers to all waters of the state.”...more

Grijalva Declines to Answer, Walks Away When Asked If He’s Committed to Sealing Border Against Drug Traffic

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), who represents a congressional district that includes 300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, turned and walked away and did not answer when CNSNews.com asked him whether he was committed to sealing the border against the influx of illegal drugs. “Are you committed to sealing the border against the influx of illegal drugs?” CNSNews.com asked Grijalva, who had stopped for an interview. Rather than answer, Grijalva walked away, eventually shouting back at the reporter that it was “punkish” to ask the question. CNSNews.com interviewed Grijalva as he left a press conference that had been called by a group of congressmen to protest a new Arizona law that requires local law enforcement officers to check whether someone is legally in the United States when they legally come into contact with a person and there is a reasonable basis to suspect the person is an illegal alien. Grijalva has called for a targeted boycott of his own state. “I have not called for a general ‘boycott’ of Arizona,” he said Wednesday, while answering online questions from readers of The Washington Post. “I have called for a targeted ban on conventions and conferences in the state for a limited time. The idea is to send a message, not grind down the state economy...more

Grijalva has actually introduced legislation which would strip the Border Patrol of their authority to waive environmental laws to construct barriers and roads in a limited area along the border.