Program aims to restore Nevada's rangeland

Millions of acres are charred by wildfire. Millions more covered by invading grass. Elsewhere, pinyon-juniper trees are creeping downhill, overrunning a landscape that should be dominated by sagebrush. Nevada's rangeland, simply put, is in trouble. "We've got some pretty big problems on the range," said Lee Turner, a habitat specialist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife. Turner is heading up a new state program to restore Nevada's range, crucial to ranchers and as habitat for wildlife. Born as part of the "war on cheatgrass" declared in 2007 by Gov. Jim Gibbons and the governors of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, the Nevada Partners for Conservation and Development program is designed to build on plans already developed by federal land managers and to achieve large-scale restoration of both public and privately owned range. One of the biggest threats to rangeland is posed by cheatgrass, a non-native annual grass introduced to America through contaminated seed in the 1890s. Cheatgrass, first found in Nevada in 1906, now dominates at least a third of the 48 million acres of Nevada managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Cheatgrass often takes over land charred by wildfire, and in a troubling cycle, the highly flammable grass is prone to fuel future fires once established. Studies show it is 500 times as likely to burn as areas covered with native perennial grasses and sagebrush...more

Ted Turner Bison Herd Infected with Brucellosis

Ted Turner's 4,600 head of Bison on his Flying D Ranch has a Brucellosis problem, according to the Montana State Veterinarian. The bacteria disease has been absent from domestic herds in Montana for the past two years, but has been confirmed in a 7-year old Bison cow and is suspected in two other animals in the Turner herd. Brucellosis occurs in Bison, cattle, and elk. It can cause pregnant animals to abort their fetuses. The infected cow was killed and the two other animals quarantined from the rest of the herd pending test results, according to Marty Zaluski, the state vet. The other two Bison will be put down if the test results come back positive. It is not likely that the menu at Ted's Montana Grill, a 55-restaurant chain covering 19 states with a Bison options, will be impacted by the problem with one herd in Big Sky Country. Turner has 15 ranches with Bison herds that reportedly add up to about 50,000 head. Plus, Brucellosis poises no human health danger. Bison headed for slaughter from the Flying D will nevertheless be tested for the bacteria disease before they enter the food chain...more

Agencies list 'terrifying' N.M. water facts

Tongue firmly in cheek but serious about the facts, a nonprofit environmental group and the state Environment Department said Thursday that issues facing New Mexico water are "terrifying" and won't disappear after Halloween. Environment New Mexico and the Surface Water Quality Bureau of the state Environment Department presented a list of the state's "Top Ten Frightening Facts." "Agricultural runoff, sloppy development, and industrial pollution are all haunting the health of our rivers and streams, as well as us and our children," said Sanders Moore, advocate for Environment New Mexico. Here's the list: 1. Eerie ephemerals: Currently, 88 percent of streams in New Mexico are seasonal and at risk of losing their Clean Water Act protections due to U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The justices in 2006 decided the decades-old law applied only to navigable waters, ones boats can travel. That definition doesn't protect seasonal streams and ponds. Congress is considering legislation to restore protection of all waters under the Clean Water Act. 2. Shrinking water sources: More than 200,000 New Mexicans get their drinking water from sources fed by streams that may no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. These are New Mexicans living within 15 miles of non-navigable streams from which they get their drinking water...more

Song Of The Day #428

Hank Thompson will perform Ranch Radio's selection today which is his 1956 recording of Swing Wide Your Gate of Love.

And look at this. When I copy the embed code for the link to this song, it now automatically provides this music player. Seems to work fine for me.

Bureau of Land Management Covers Its Tracks

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), usually a quiet and somewhat backwater federal agency, has now taken its position as a placeholder for an Obama administration desperate to keep appearances up that the southwest border is secure. In a small but politically divisive move, the BLM last night did an operation in the Casa Grande area of the Sonora National Monument about a mile south of the major east-west corridor Interstate 8. The operation? Not to conduct law enforcement operations, but to replace signage that went from a public warning of illegal alien smuggling and drug trafficking and illegal use of weapons and transportation, to this:

The prior signage was criticized for being a "welcome mat" to illegal aliens and drug cartels by former Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers Wood. Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer even used the signs in a campaign ad that now appears on YouTube, calling them "an outrage" and curtly telling President Obama to "Do your job. Secure our borders." Yet despite the combination of mockery and anger over the signs throughout America – ironically, it was my guide's pictures of the then-brand-new signs that we took the day I was filming "Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border 3: Guns, Drugs and 850 Illegal Aliens" in early June that caused the national stir – all that has been done by the Department of Interior (which owns nearly half the southwest border lands) is to send a man out to replace a sign. No warning about the dangers here in the Casa Grande sector, the most dangerous of the drug corridors to date...more

In case you missed it, here's the previous sign:

Arizona beheading raises fears of drug violence

The gruesome case of a man who was stabbed and beheaded in a suburban Phoenix apartment has police investigating whether the killing is potentially the most extreme example of Mexican drug cartel violence spilling over the border. Martin Alejandro Cota-Monroy's body was found Oct. 10 in a Chandler apartment — his severed head a couple feet away. One man suspected in the killing has been arrested, and a manhunt is under way for three others. Detectives are focused on whether the men belong to a Mexican drug cartel, and they suspect that Cota-Monroy's killing was punishment for stealing drugs. The brutal nature of the killing could be designed to send a message to others within the cartel. "If it does turn out to be a drug cartel out of Mexico, typically that's a message being sent," said Chandler police Detective David Ramer. "This person was chosen to be executed. It sends a message to other people: If you cross us, this is what happens." Decapitations are a regular part of the drug war in Mexico as cartels fight over territory. Headless bodies have been hanged from bridges by their feet, severed heads have been sent to victims' family members and government officials, and bags of up to 12 heads have been dropped off in high-profile locations...more

Four Americans Killed in Separate Attacks in Border City

Four U.S. citizens were shot to death in separate attacks in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexican authorities said Monday. Chihuahua state prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said Edgar Lopez, 35, of El Paso, Texas, was killed Sunday along with two Mexican men when gunmen opened fire on a group standing outside a house. On Saturday, a 26-year-old U.S. woman and an American boy were slain shortly after crossing an international bridge from El Paso. Giovanna Herrera and Luis Araiza, 15, were shot to death along with a Mexican man traveling with them just after 11 a.m., Sandoval said. Sandoval said authorities also identified a 24-year-old woman killed Friday inside a tortilla shop as Lorena Izaguirre, a U.S. citizen and El Paso resident. A Mexican man was also found dead in the store. Sandoval did not provide any information about possible motive in any of the slayings...more

Americans under fire in Mexico: Numbers mount in border towns

One body after another, the number of deaths at the hands of drug gangs is increasing quickly in Mexico. Among the dead are Americans found murdered -- including children. The death and violence is ripping apart families on both sides of the border. In a tiny home on a quiet street, Carmela Armendariz is haunted by regret. "I think, 'Why did I send my daughters with daddy?' But it's too late," she said. She had sent the twin girls, Eveyln and Eileen, to visit their father in Juarez. Hours later, that home would become a crime scene. The girls' father had tried to save them. When he heard gunfire, he quickly put Eveyln under the bed. But before he could hide Eileen, gunmen burst into the house. "We try to talk to her, to help her. She remembers everything," Armendariz said. From under the bed, Eveyln heard the hail of bullets that wounded her father and killed her six-year-old sister, her constant companion and identical twin. Children are among the growing number of U.S. citzens dying in Mexico as drug violence escalates. The border state Chihuahua is the most deadly, with more than 100 U.S. citizens murdered since October of last year. The majority were gunned down in Juarez. Some were caught in the crossfire, while others were clearly targeted. This past weekend, hitmen ambushed a car just minutes from the border. A married couple and teenager from El Paso died in the attack...more

2010 US-citizen killings in Juárez outpace 2009

The killing of a Bowie High School student Saturday in Juárez adds to the dramatic increase in the number of Americans killed there this year. More than 35 Americans died in Juárez between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 of this year, while 39 Americans died there in 2008 and 2009 combined, according to U.S. State Department records. Among those killed in October in Juárez were Bowie High School student (Luis) Jose Carlos Araiza, 15, and Joanna Herrera, 27, of Oregon. The two were shot and killed while traveling in a 2001 black BMW sport utility vehicle near the Zaragoza international bridge Saturday about 11:30 a.m., said an official at the U.S. Consulate in Juárez. The official said October was one of the deadliest months for Americans in Juárez since the cartels began to battle for key drug-smuggling corridors in 2008. Twenty Americans were killed in October, the official said...more

Channel 2 Uncovers Proof Terrorists Crossed Mexican Border

The U.S. Border Patrol has captured thousands of people they say are classified as OTM which stands for "other than Mexican." Documents show many of them are from terrorists nations like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan and Yemen. Federal authorities call those groups SIAs, which stands for "special interest aliens". Federal officials have offered few details about the number of actual terrorists caught along the border. Government officials have denied that terrorists have crossed our open border. Still, Channel 2 Action News has proof they have. Channel 2 Anchor Justin Farmer found documents filed in federal court in San Antonio, Texas, in May. They show an indictment against Ahmed Muhammad Dhakane for allegedly smuggling hundreds of people from Brazil to Mexico, then into the U.S. The federal indictment states it includes some Somalis from the terrorist group Al Shabob. Terrorism experts say the group is responsible for terrorist attacks and suicide bombings worldwide. "To this day we do not know where those 300 Somalis are," said Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas. "We do know they are in the United States." A 2009 Government Accounting Office report confirmed agents have picked up three known terrorists who crossed the southwestern border of the United States. No other information was released. "There are many people not only being apprehended, but slipping through the cracks on our southern flank that are very dangerous," said McCaul...more

Here is the WBS-TV video report:

Suspect Held in Murder of U.S. Consulate Employee in Mexico

A suspect has been arrested in the killing of two American citizens – a U.S. consulate employee and her husband – in this violence-plagued border city, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, or PGR, said in a statement. Miguel Angel Nevarez Escajeda, alias “El Lentes” (Glasses), was detained last weekend on the basis of an anonymous complaint, authorities said. On Sept. 6, the PGR’s Siedo organized crime unit had issued a warrant for his arrest, alleging his direct involvement in the March 13 murders of Leslie A. Enriquez, an employee at the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, a guard at the El Paso County Jail, the statement read. Also on March 13, a Mexican state police officer who was the husband of another employee of that same consulate was also killed in Ciudad Juarez, which lies across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas...more

Debate Continues Over Impact of Supreme Court's Whale Ruling on Enviros' Bids to Halt Projects

Almost two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that the Navy could continue maneuvers off the coast of California despite concerns that the use of sonar could harm whales. Most of the commentary in the immediate aftermath of the 7-2 decision in Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council focused on national security trumping environmental concerns. End of story. But the opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, also had broader implications on the ability of environmentalists to persuade judges to grant preliminary injunctions, which have the effect of putting a stop to potential environmental damage before, from activists' perspective, it is too late. The impact would be felt especially in the nine Western states within the jurisdiction of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which was the court that had ruled in favor of NRDC in the whale case and hears a large number of environmental cases. The whale case came to the Supreme Court because the NRDC had persuaded a federal judge in the Central District of California to impose restrictions on Navy activity because of the potential harm to whales and other marine mammals. On appeal, the 9th Circuit agreed to keep the preliminary injunction in place, a decision the Supreme Court reversed. At the time of the November 2008 ruling, experts said the case would make it harder for environmental groups to get preliminary injunctions because the Supreme Court stated that there needs to be "the likelihood of irreparable harm." Previously, in the 9th Circuit, litigants only had to show the "possibility" of irreparable harm...more

GOP Firebrands in House Ready Assault on Interior

Committee Republicans, hoping to hold the gavel next session, are planning to bring Salazar and other top department officials to their turf for a host of oversight hearings. In the past two years, Republicans have accused Interior of instituting a de facto moratorium on shallow and deepwater offshore drilling, conspiring to unilaterally block development on millions of acres of public lands by creating "secret monuments" and weakening national security by subjecting U.S. Border Patrol agents to overly onerous restrictions on Southwestern wilderness. If Republicans control the committee, they hope to turn those accusations into hearings, and lots of them. Leading the GOP charge is ranking Republican Doc Hastings of Washington. In an interview with E&E Daily, Hastings pledged that his party -- whether Republicans win the House or not -- would continue to advocate an "all of the above" energy plan, including a push for oil and gas drilling, coal and uranium mining, biofuels, hydroelectric power and new exploration off Alaska's coastline. Hastings is backed by a gang of subcommittee ranking members, each of whom has a bone to pick with the Obama team. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) -- ranking member of the National Parks, Forests and Public Lands Subcommittee -- has been fuming since Salazar canceled planned oil and gas lease sales in Utah in 2009. Bishop, whose district is ranked by the Cook Political Report as the 13th most Republican in the country, has also accused Interior of planning to designate more than 10 million acres of federal land as new national monuments and bypassing Congress to do it. The administration has repeatedly promised to confer with Congress and local stakeholders before moving on any monuments, but Bishop has done his best to keep the issue in the news since his office uncovered an internal Interior document discussing possible new monuments in February...more

Republican election impact on climate change

Republicans are poised to make big gains in Tuesday's congressional elections, putting them in position to reverse Democrats' drive for comprehensive climate change legislation. President Barack Obama's Democrats, who largely support legislation requiring the first mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas pollution, currently hold majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. A Republican takeover of either chamber, or even large gains by the party known for opposing climate change legislation, will make it harder, or impossible, for Obama to win legislation imposing mandatory reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes. That's especially true if next year's Senate is populated by more skeptics of human-caused global warming. Democrats in coal-producing states like West Virginia are struggling to win on Nov. 2, partly due to Obama's climate change proposals. Even with tough opposition though, Obama still has the power to shape climate change policy. And Republican bills that stray too far from Obama's energy and environment goals will surely be vetoed. Here are some possible moves to look out for if Republicans do well in the elections...more

Salazar Lauds Private-Public Collaboration on the New Energy Frontier

As part of the Obama Administration’s initiative to encourage the rapid and responsible development of renewable energy on U.S. public lands, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today celebrated the groundbreaking of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, an innovative “power tower” project in San Bernardino County, California. Along with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and representatives from BrightSource Energy, the developer, and the Department of Energy, Secretary Salazar lauded the cooperation that launched the thermal solar technology project that will generate 1,000 construction jobs and provide 370 megawatts of clean, renewable energy for up to 277,500 homes. “Ivanpah is an outstanding example of the progress we are making in building a renewable energy economy,” Salazar said at the groundbreaking. “With private sector initiative and government coordination and encouragement, we are helping to meet the President’s goals for stimulating local economies, creating new jobs for American workers, reducing carbon emissions, promoting energy independence and strengthening our national security.”...more

“With private sector initiative and government coordination and encouragement, we are helping to meet the President’s goals...”

There you have a concise statement of Obamanomics. The President selects the goals for our economy, and then "encourages" the private sector to meet those goals, all of which is "coordinated" by government officials.

Didn't they already try that in Germany and Italy in the 1930s and 40s? How did that work out?

Forest Service Study: Trees Deter Crime

Along with energy conservation and storm-water reduction, scientists may soon be adding crime-fighting to the list of benefits that urban trees provide, according to a study outlined Monday. Researchers with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest and Southern Research Stations have published a new study that suggests that certain types of city trees may help lower property and violent crime rates. Their study — posted online in advance of its appearance in a forthcoming printed issue of the journal Environment and Behavior — is the first to examine the effects of trees and other factors on crime occurrence in Portland. “We wanted to find out whether trees, which provide a range of other benefits, could improve quality of life in Portland by reducing crime, and it was exciting to see that they did,” said Geoffrey Donovan, research forester with the PNW Research Station, who led the study. “Although a burglar alarm may deter criminals, it won’t provide shade on a hot summer day, and it certainly isn’t as nice to look at as a tree,” Donovan said...more

“Although a burglar alarm may deter criminals, it won’t provide shade on a hot summer day, and it certainly isn’t as nice to look at as a tree,”

My, what an insightful comment. Who knew that burglar alarms didn't provide shade? I guess you could, though, sit in the shade of the tree while you tried to describe to the cops what the fellers looked like who just robbed you in your home.

Burglar alarm lovers should be up in arms about these denigrating comments on the alarms' looks. Not as pretty as a tree? As I glance over at mine, leaning in the corner, I just love the looks of the barrels, and the stock, and the trigger...prettier than any damn tree.

It does make you wonder though: At a time when the Forest Service claims they don't have enough dinero for law enforcement, to complete the environment analysis of many projects, etc., why are they spending money studying urban trees? Oh, I see, those urban folks cast a lot of votes, don't they.

Smokey's done gone political. The urban brand is on the land.

Forest officials handled bridge removal poorly

Gallatin National Forest officials may have had good reason to remove a bridge over Swan Creek that is important to snowmobilers. But, at the very least, they handled the situation poorly. The bridge is an important part of the Big Sky Snowmobile Trail, a 55-mile, Bozeman-to-Big Sky route that snowmobilers have used for decades. Forest workers removed the bridge earlier this year, citing safety concerns about the aging structure. And they also said there are no plans - and no money - to replace the bridge before the upcoming snowmobiling season. The bridge removal riled snowmobilers who charged the move was a de facto attempt by the Forest Service to close the trail to snow machines. But a Gallatin Forest spokeswoman denied the charge, contending that safety was the only consideration in the bridge removal. Last week, members the Gallatin Valley Snowmobile Association and Citizens for Balance Use, a group that advocates on behalf of motorized forest recreation, constructed a temporary bridge at the site to provide access to the trail during the upcoming winter. And they did it in a single day, calling into question forest officials' argument that there weren't sufficient resources to construct a replacement bridge...more

The solution is simple. Quit studying urban trees and instead chop them down and build bridges with the timber. Kind of a "bridge" between East and West don't you see.

Will Closing the ‘Snowmobile Loophole’ Lead to Shutting Down All Motorized Rec on Public Lands?

The battle over backcountry access is back on. This time, the Winter Wildlands Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to human-powered snow sports, has taken the lead, filing a petition with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service related to the way snowmobiles are regulated on National Forest lands. Their argument? That over-snow vehicles (aka snowmobiles) should fall under the same oversight rules that govern off-road use in the summer. In other words, they feel it is time to close the so-called “snowmobile loophole.” “This is really about saying, ‘Listen, snowmobiles are off-road vehicles.’ Let’s get rid of this clause that deals with them differently and just manage them like all other off-road vehicles,” says Mark Menlove, executive director of the Winter Wildlands Alliance. “We’re going to be proactive and design areas where snowmobile use is appropriate, but there will be areas of the winter forest that are closed to motorized use just as they are in the summer.” Some 90 other recreation and conservation groups have signed onto the petition, which seeks to amend the Forest Service’s 2005 Travel Management Rule. That rule, according to Menlove, was instituted in an effort to better manage ATV and motorcycle use in the National Forests, but left out specific guidelines for winter management. Not surprisingly, talk like that has snowmobilers worried and has generated some stiff opposition to the petition, especially in the West where snowmobiling is a popular and profitable activity. “The Winter Wildlands group and all the other people that are involved with this petition are just anti-snowmobile,” says Robbie Holman, president of the Montana Snowmobile Association. “The only reason they’re doing this is so that, if it prevails, they can start in on limiting numbers, perhaps like they did in Yellowstone. Eventually the goal is to have no motorized recreation on national lands.”...more

The Colorado River’s Future

Last month, Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, committed $1.5 million to establish a study group focusing on the Colorado River basin. Modest as the dollar amount sounds, this is a very good investment. The study will be the first of three river basin studies — called the WaterSMART program — aimed at measuring the nation’s water demands and resources, including the potential impacts of climate change. Starting with the Colorado River makes sense. Since 1922, its water has been allocated among seven Western states under a legal compact. The amount each state can draw from the river is based on water levels measured in 1922, after several wet years. There is a big gap between the amount of water flowing then — about 16.4 million acre-feet per year — and the actual flow in normal years, which averages about 13.5 million acre-feet. Historical tree-ring samples, whose growth patterns indicate rainfall, suggest that the recent drought is not an anomaly and that drought has been the normal condition in much of the river basin for centuries. And droughts are likely to continue as the climate warms. So far the states have been making do, thanks to water stored in reservoirs along the river. But they are managing a depleted resource with a forbidding future. Lake Mead, near Las Vegas and the largest reservoir on the river, is at its lowest level since it was first filled 75 years ago. The river’s flow is approaching the low-level mark that would allow states in the upper basin to withhold water from states in the lower basin — a change that would hit Nevada hardest...more

Sale of Las Vegas public land to fund Tahoe, Reno restoration projects

About $90 million to fund restoration projects at Lake Tahoe and across Nevada will be funded with money raised from the sale of public land near Las Vegas, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced last week. Revenue raised through the latest round of sales through the South Nevada Public Land Management Act also will provide $1 million for construction of a trailhead and trail system at Ballardini Ranch in southwest Reno, officials said. Round 11 of the land act raised $89.8 million, with $34.6 million going toward projects to restore a troubled environment in the Lake Tahoe Basin, officials said. More than $10 million will finance forest treatment to reduce wildfire danger at Tahoe and the Spring Mountains in Southern Nevada. The Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act became law in October 1998. It allows the Bureau of Land Management to sell public land in Las Vegas to fund restoration projects and education, among other things...more