Navajo Nation mourns passing of Code Talker

Lemuel Bahe Yazzie, a member of the Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, has died. He was 91. Navajo Nation officials said Wednesday that Yazzie, who lived in Whitecone, Ariz., died at his home last Friday. Tribal President Joe Shirley Jr. ordered flags on the Navajo Nation to be flown at half-staff from June 3-6 in honor of Yazzie. Yazzie joined the Marines in September 1944. He served with the 4th and 6th Marine divisions as a radio telephone operator until March 1946. He returned to northern Arizona and was a machinist, rancher and ordained minister. Yazzie is survived by six children, 26 grandchildren and 52 great-grandchildren along with his two brothers and three sisters. Yazzie's funeral is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at the Tse'Bii Osteel Bible Church in Whitecone. AP

Ian Tyson inspired by students' 'powerful song'

Ian Tyson doesn't just collaborate with anybody. Sure, the 76-year-old country-folk music icon broke into the business with his former wife Sylvia Tyson in the '60s, and Ian & Sylvia became giants of that era's folk movement. And, in recent years Tyson has also performed with the CPO and recorded with Corb Lund. But working with grades 1 and 2 students from the arts immersion school Calgary Arts Academy? Nobody saw that coming. Even so, Tyson's latest recording, A Song For Spirit, is a worthy and touching folk anthem and we owe it all to a blinded bird. And to Paul Rasporich, the teacher who made the project happen. Rasporich was inspired when he learned about the story of Spirit, a downed golden eagle that was taken to the Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation in 2007 after it had been shot and left for dead on a gravel road near Lethbridge. The foundation, dedicated to rehabilitating injured birds of prey, nursed Spirit back to health, but the eagle was to reside with the organization permanently because gun shot pellets had left it blind...more

Song Of The Day #325

Emmett Miller, the minstrel singer who performed in black face, first recorded Right Or Wrong in 1929. In 1936 he recorded the song again adding the yodel type phrasing. One year later Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan recorded the song. I think you'll see Miller's influence on their version.

AP Impact: US-Mexico border isn't so dangerous

It's one of the safest parts of America, and it's getting safer. It's the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data obtained by The Associated Press show it actually isn't so dangerous after all. The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report. And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities. The Customs and Border Protection study, obtained with a Freedom of Information Act request, shows 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them. That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff's deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns or knives. In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the border for the first time in seven years. So far this year assaults are slightly up, but data is incomplete...more

Congressman hosts Hidden Gems forums

U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is soliciting feedback from constituents this week in Summit and Eagle counties on the Hidden Gems wilderness proposal, which he has been asked to sponsor. The Hidden Gems wilderness proposal aims to designate about 342,000 acres of forest land in western Colorado as wilderness, including 20 square miles of Basalt Mountain. The proposal has sparked protest from fire officials as well as recreational users, such as snowmobilers and mountain bikers, who are not allowed in federally designated wilderness. The campaign is being led locally by Carbondale’s Wilderness Workshop. Polis kicks off the in-person town halls tonight at the Boulder Public Library, at 5:30 p.m. On Thursday evening, he will be in Edwards at Battle Mountain High School. And Friday afternoon he’ll be at the Community Auditorium at Colorado Mountain College’s Breckenridge campus...more

How refreshing. A Congressman actually holding public forums on a wilderness proposal BEFORE it is introduced as legislation.

Wonder why Senator Bingaman didn't conduct a similar process before introducing his bill?

Nevada Guv says Forest Service must work with counties on road closures

Governor Jim Gibbons today sent a letter to the U.S. Forest Service regarding its proposed plan to potentially close miles of roads in Elko and White Pine counties in Northern Nevada. “Closing these roads limits public access to publicly owned land,” Gibbons said, “Part of the uniqueness of Northern Nevada includes ranchers, farmers and others living in isolated areas. Part of what we love about Nevada is the open space where we can go camping, hiking, fishing and hunting. These roads exist because they are needed and they are utilized.” The U.S. Forest Service issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Mountain City, Ruby Mountains and Jarbidge combined Travel Management Plan in Elko County and a portion of northern White Pine County. Under the DEIS, many miles of rural roads in Northern Nevada would be closed resulting in many “roadless” areas in Elko and White Pine counties. The plan will have devastating economic, cultural and social impacts to these areas. Governor Gibbons requested the U.S. Forest Service grant the request of the Elko County Commission for a six (6) month extension of the comment period to address the proposed Travel Management Plan DEIS as it is currently written. “The federal government must start listening to the people,” Gibbons said, “The voice of Nevadans must be heard. The federal government must work with our local governments first.”...more

It's also refreshing to see a Governor siding with local residents and local government instead of the feds. The Guv's letter can be viewed at the link provided.

5 deadly days for wolves

Fifteen gray wolves from five different packs were killed in Montana for preying on livestock between May 17 and May 21, making it one of the deadliest five-day stretches for Canis lupus this year. So far this year, 64 wolves have died, with the majority — 44 — being shot by federal agents for preying on livestock. The others were killed by cars or property owners or died from unknown causes. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials also have authorized the shooting of at least 18 more wolves from five packs. If successful, that will bring the total to 82 dead wolves in Montana so far this year. “It seems a little heavy handed, when at last count there were only 524 wolves in Montana and a lot more cows,” said Jesse Timberlake with the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife. Liz Bradley, a Missoula-based wolf management specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, readily acknowledges that the state is acting more aggressively this year on control actions because more wolves are on the landscape than have been here in the past decade. It’s part of an ongoing upward trend; in 1999, when about 80 wolves were spotted on Montana’s landscape, 19 were killed for wildlife depredation. Ten years later, with more than 500 wolves in the Treasure State, that number rose to 145 wolves. “More wolves in more places equals more conflicts,” Bradley said. “We’ve seen that trend over the years. We’re still trying to use preventive methods to reduce conflicts, but there are places that hasn’t worked.”...more

Jury Verdict: Living with grizzlies in the Next West

A mid concerns over whether guns being allowed in national parks will increase grizzly bear killings, a Wyoming jury has set an important standard. The jury found Wyoming hunter Steve Westmoreland guilty of illegally killing a grizzly bear while hunting in 2009. Westmoreland had claimed self-defense, a common practice among hunters who have killed grizzlies in the national forests around Yellowstone and Teton national parks for decades. Teton County Attorney Steve Weichman, who prosecuted the case, told the Jackson Hole News and Guide that the jury's conviction was one of the first of a hunter claiming self-defense. Dick Knight, the biologist who studied Yellowstone's bears for two decades, spent thousands of hours around wild grizzlies. He was long a critic of self-defense claims, chiding hunters who went into grizzly habitat with a high-powered rifle expressing fear of bears...more

1st Amendment, YouTube meet on public lands

New media such as Web-based news outlets and technology such as high-performance consumer video cameras are challenging land managers and media producers alike as officials try to decide who should pay for commercial filming and photography permits on public lands. Both the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service have policies that require some photographers and videographers to obtain permits, depending on circumstances. While those covering “breaking news” are exempt from obtaining permits, as contemplated in the Constitution, government bureaucrats, not news editors, are deciding what meets that definition. The issue recently came to a head in Idaho when U.S. Forest Service officials denied Idaho Public Television permission to film a group of students in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. The Forest Service later relented after intervention from Idaho Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter. In Jackson Hole, film and video producers say the permit requirements pose an unnecessary burden on smaller operators that might not have the cash to pay the processing charges and daily fees, which can amount to thousands of dollars for just a few days of filming. Where filming a documentary previously required lots of equipment and personnel, today’s filmmakers can achieve similar results with a single hand-held camera and a tripod, without many of the resource and visitor impacts associated with bigger crews...more

CBD Petitions Forest Service to Protect NM Forest from ORV Abuse

For the second time in two years, the Center for Biological Diversity today petitioned the Santa Fe National Forest to suspend motorized vehicle use on the “Los Utes” road. The Los Utes road, which is located on the Jemez Ranger District near the Dome Inventoried Roadless Area, has seen recurring vandalism and unauthorized motorized vehicle use as recently as this spring. The U.S. Forest Service has refused to control the problems despite a 2009 Center petition requesting additional protections, and despite the Center having presented evidence of ongoing vandalism and unauthorized motorized use at the May meeting of the New Mexico off-road vehicle board. “We’re not going to allow the Forest Service to simply walk away from its duty to protect public lands and habitats,” said Cyndi Tuell of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s time for the agency to step up to unruly off roaders and protect the wildlife and the places that are cherished by the public.”...press release

CBD files suit on endangered species and livestock grazing

The Center for Biological Diversity today sued the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect an endangered species, the Chiricahua leopard frog, from livestock grazing in the Fossil Creek watershed in the Mazatzal Mountains of central Arizona. Approximately 290 cows were released into the Fossil Creek Range Allotment last September, and grazing is ongoing there now. Last year, the Coconino National Forest approved grazing by nearly 500 head of cattle in the 42,000-acre range allotment straddling the Mogollon Rim between Camp Verde and Strawberry. A Forest Service study showed that degraded range conditions due to past grazing and ongoing drought could not support the approved grazing levels, and that adverse effects to the watershed were likely to result from more grazing. The complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Tucson states that the Forest Service violated its management standards by allowing grazing levels in excess of what agency science shows to be the capacity of the land. The Fish and Wildlife Service also violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to identify how many Chiricahua leopard frogs would be harmed or killed by livestock grazing — and by failing to limit that harm and mortality – as cows trample and dewater streams and wetlands...press release

Fire forces evacuations in Jemez Mountains

Here is the KOB-TV video report:



In a later edition KOB-TV reported:

i just got a briefing with the latest numbers from this fire - and it is growing fast- its now about 700 to 800 acres. it's doubled in size since 6- o'clock this evening. earlier today crews were able to battle the fire with some heavy aircraft. we saw at least 1 chopper and 3 air tankers making run after run over the fire burning next to fenton lake. evacuations have been ordered for the 7 springs community and the area around fenton lake. the fire has not burned any structures. crews will be fighting through the night to try and get some containment. people evacuated are hoping the fire stays away from cabins near fenton lake. "there are cabins in there hopefully they haven't gotten any but its still hitting new stuff it keeps coming up black." fire officials say they think an an abandoned camp fire may be to blame... over the memorial day weekend rangers came acros around 7 campfires that weren't properly put out after campers left. again the communities of fenton lake and 7 springs have been evacuated- so far around 70 people... fenton lake state park is temporarily closed. an emergency shelter has been set up at the jemez valley schools campus...

Some wonder about safety of Utah trail

The results of an investigation into the death of a National Park Service employee at Timpanogos Cave National Monument are expected this summer, but a more pressing question looms. How safe is the trail? Rex Walker died May 20 after the trail vehicle he was using somehow veered off the steep cliff that abuts the 1½-mile trail from the visitors center to the series of caves at this Utah County attraction visited annually by as many as 80,000 people. Walker's death came a day after an 11-year-old girl on a school field trip experienced, and survived, a 100-foot fall from the trail. There have been five serious falls over the past seven years, according to Denis Davis, superintendent of Timpanogos Cave National Monument. In September 2006, a young girl stepped off the trail after being distracted. Two men, including a visitor from Russia, tried to save the girl, but the Russian man fell over a cliff and died. "We invite people here. We ask them to pay money to do a tour and that gives us a responsibility to make them as safe as possible," Davis said...more

Baby elk left at Forest Service office

Someone left a baby elk on the U.S. Forest Service's doorstep in La Grande in northeastern Oregon. Officials told The (La Grande) Observer that the baby elk probably was not abandoned, because mother elk regularly leave their babies hiding in tall grass or brush while they lead off a threat, such as a coyote, then return. "Removing a young animal from the wild greatly reduces its chances of long term survival in the wild," said Michelle Dennehy from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "Never pick up or move a young animal unless you know for certain it was orphaned because you saw its mother die." Dennehy said ODFW returned the calf to an area near an elk herd in hopes that the calf will be fostered by another cow elk. AP

Song Of The Day #324

Ranch Radio today will introduce you to Emmett Miller, a black-face minstrel singer. His career peaked in the mid-twenties and was for the most part over by the early thirties.

He is of interest to us because of his hit songs and his influence on performers like Hank Williams, Bob Wills & Tommy Duncan and Eddy Arnold.

Miller first recorded Lovesick Blues in 1925. Three years later he recorded the song again and added the falsetto and yodeling which had such an influence on Hank Williams.

Here are Miller's 1928 version and Hank Williams version recorded 20 years later.

My version of Miller comes from a 1969 album that was issued for jazz collectors because of who was in Miller's band named the Georgia Crackers (Tommy & Jimmy Dorsey, Eddy Lang & Gene Krupa). Many of Miller's recordings are now available on a 20 track CD titled The Minstrel Man from Georgia.

Desert storm: Huge cloud of sand descends on Chinese village

Like a scene from a Hollywood disaster movie, a towering cloud of sand dwarfs the rows of uniform houses as it descends on a small village in central China. Residents hid inside their homes with their windows and doors locked shut as the dust storm swept through the region advancing 70ft a minute...more

Roadless rule stands for another year, ag chief decides

The Obama administration Friday extended for another year the moratorium on most logging and mining in millions of acres of remote and rugged backcountry sections of national forests. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said from Washington, D.C., he wants to continue to give decisions on projects in roadless areas a higher level of scrutiny while waiting for federal courts to resolve the legal issues. The idea of preserving roadless areas for wildlife habitat and clean water came out of the Clinton administration. The Bush administration tried to open them up to more logging and mining by giving states control. Conservation groups and the timber industry both welcomed the moratorium due to the continued questions over the legal standing of the policy. Once those are resolved, conservationists would like to see continued protections for roadless areas, while the timber industry wants more thinning projects to reduce wildfire danger and insect infestations. National forests in 39 states have a total of 58.5 million acres of roadless areas that have been formally placed on an inventory...more

Ore: 3rd wolf-killed calf; rancher has kill permit

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has confirmed the third wolf-killed domestic calf this month in northeast Oregon's Wallowa County. Spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said Friday the kill was reported Thursday. Earlier this week, state officials issued permits to five area ranchers, allowing them to shoot wolves caught in the act of attacking livestock. 1 of the permits went to the rancher whose calf was killed Thursday. The Imnaha wolf pack has been in the area since spring. Dennehy says agencies and livestock producers have tried nonlethal deterrents such as removing any livestock carcasses, aerial hazing of wolves and watching livestock more closely. Wolves have been spreading through Oregon since crossing into the state from Idaho, where they were re-established by the federal government in the 1990s. AP

Charges against feds considered in deaths of wild horses

A Nevada district attorney is considering whether to file criminal charges against federal land managers who are accused by animal rights activists of mistreating wild horses in a roundup. Churchill County Sheriff Richard Ingram said his department began an investigation May 20 after an activist filed a complaint alleging that mustangs were abused and neglected at a holding facility. U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials confirmed that 83 of some 1,900 horses brought there in a government roundup have died. Activists unsuccessfully sued to halt the roundup of the animals from the range north of Reno, branding it as unnecessary and inhumane. The BLM maintains the Calico Mountains Complex roundup was necessary because of overpopulation of the herd, which is harming native wildlife and the range and threatening the mustangs with starvation...more

Wild horse sanctuary proposed

A Nevada rancher and a wild horse advocacy group have proposed creating a mustang sanctuary in the desert hills 160 miles north of Reno and have asked the Bureau of Land Management to release 1,700 captive horses into the sanctuary's care. The proposal comes from the nonprofit Return to Freedom, which runs a horse sanctuary near Lompoc, Calif., and the Soldier Meadows Ranch, a resort and cattle operation 65 miles north of Gerlach. The proposed public-private partnership would hold most of the mustangs on 5,200 acres of private, fenced pastures around the Soldier Meadows property. Jim Kudrna, owner of the Soldier Meadows Ranch and Resort, said if the government approves the sanctuary plan, his cattle operation will be changed to be compatible with a horse sanctuary. "We are also planning to bring in some historic breeds of livestock such as oxen, draft horses and other animals in addition to our high-quality beef cattle," he said. "Visitors will be able to see how the livestock have changed over the last 150 years. It should be a fun thing for the history-minded folks who visit our destination." The proposal suggests a reimbursement rate of $350 per wild horse per year, $131 less per animal than the BLM is now paying for mustangs in long-term holding facilities...more