Decision on Idaho wolf killing petition delayed

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service won't be able to respond to Idaho's petition to kill wolves in the upper Clearwater River Basin in northern Idaho as soon as hoped, an agency official says. Brian Kelly, director of the federal agency's office in Boise, said he recently learned the agency has to conduct a National Environmental Policy Act review of the petition before making a decision. "We are working as expeditiously as possible," Kelly told the Lewiston Tribune. "The intent is to make a decision so the state can do it at a time of year it is more effective to do it." Idaho officials submitted the petition in August to kill up to 50 wolves in the Lolo Zone in northern Idaho with the goal of boosting elk populations. States are allowed to remove wolves if they are harming deer or elk herds. But the state must prove the action is warranted and win approval from the federal government...more

Grizzly kill under investigation

Federal authorities are investigating the killing of a grizzly bear by a hunter in the Madison Valley last month. State officials with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks confirmed Friday that a grizzly bear was shot and killed Oct. 23 in the Madison Valley. The killing came on the same day as the opening of the rifle season for deer and elk and involved a hunter, said Mel Frost, FWP spokeswoman. She said the bear was on the east side of the valley in the Madison Range. The name of the hunter was not released. Grizzly bears in the northern Rockies are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Investigations of bear killings are handled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Terry Thibeault, FWP agent in charge for Wyoming and Montana, confirmed Friday that his agency is looking into the bear's shooting but added he couldn't comment further...more

A Novel Tactic in Climate Fight Gains Some Traction

With energy legislation shelved in the United States and little hope for a global climate change agreement this year, some policy experts are proposing a novel approach to curbing global warming: including greenhouse gases under an existing and highly successful international treaty ratified more than 20 years ago. The treaty, the Montreal Protocol, was adopted in 1987 for a completely different purpose, to eliminate aerosols and other chemicals that were blowing a hole in the Earth’s protective ozone layer. But as the signers of the protocol convened the 22nd annual meeting in Bangkok on Monday, negotiators are considering a proposed expansion in the ozone treaty to phase out the production and use of the industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs The chemicals have thousands of times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas. HFCs are used as refrigerants in air-conditioners and cooling systems. They are manufactured mostly in China and India, but appliances containing the substance are in use in every corner of the world. HFCs replaced even more dangerous ozone-depleting chemicals known as HCFCs, themselves a substitute for the chlorofluorocarbons that were the first big target of the Montreal process...more

UNR study proves: Fall grazing controls cheatgrass

A new University of Nevada, Reno study shows fall and winter grazing can reduce cheatgrass, which in turn could slow range fires and save ranchers money. This study puts to rest theories that cheatgrass was only good for spring grazing, that cows won't eat dry cheatgrass and that dry cheatgrass had no nutritional value for livestock, according to Jerry Smith, district manager for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Battle Mountain District. "Now, an experiment by University of Nevada scientists Dr. Barry Perryman and Dr. Ben Bruce dispels these theories," he said. "Dr. Perryman, who is a member of the BLM's Northeastern Resource Advisory Council, demonstrated that cheatgrass can be significantly reduced with the use of fall grazing," Smith said. UNR funded the study, but "we are excited about the findings and are helping publicize the results," said Schirete Zick, public affairs officer for the Battle Mountain BLM district. "The results clearly demonstrate that cheatgrass can be significantly reduced with the aid of fall grazing," she said. "Cheatgrass presents a hazard from two perspectives," Smith said in the BLM's announcement on the study. "It comes up earlier than most perennial grasses, stealing resources like water and nutrients needed by other grasses, which provide forage for wildlife. Secondly, once cheatgrass dries, it is highly flammable and becomes a fire hazard...more

Turbines Could Tap the Mississippi's Power

Tens of thousands of turbines anchored to the bottom of the Mississippi River could someday provide more than a gigawatt of renewable energy, enough to power a quarter of a million homes. That's the vision of Free Flow Power, a startup based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, that recently received preliminary permits from the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granting it the right to explore energy production at dozens of sites along the lower Mississippi over the next three years. The proposed development is one of a number of "hydrokinetic" projects in the works. Such projects seek to generate electricity from wave movement, tidal flows, or river currents, without the use of dams. The ambitious Mississippi project, however, relies on relatively unproven technology. The only commercial hydrokinetic river-power system operating in the U.S. is a single turbine deployed by Hydro Green Energy close to a conventional hydropower dam on the Mississippi River in Hastings, Minnesota. Free Flow hopes to deploy hydrokinetic power on an unprecedented scale: hundreds of 40-kilowatt turbines, each the size and shape of a large jet engine and attached to pylons jutting out from the riverbed at 88 locations along the Mississippi...more

USDA report says show horses at risk of abuse

A federal report says show horses are at risk of abuse because of lax government oversight. At issue is the illegal practice of soring, which involves irritating the horse's foreleg and hoof to force the animal to walk with a certain gait. Auditors at USDA, which oversees the animals' safety, said in an internal Agriculture Department report released Thursday that inspectors hired by the industry to ward against the practice are often under pressure from their employers to ignore the abuse. The department's inspector general said soring is ingrained in the industry and many do not see it as a serious problem. The report recommended USDA hire independent veterinarians to inspect the animals instead of the industry-sponsored vets. AP

Socorro's territorial saloons - Part 2

Fred Emillio migrated from Lincoln County and arrived in Socorro with his family, in early 1923, to team up with Damian Padilla to operate a pool hall. The Emillio family had long been established in Lincoln County. A portrait of Fred’s grandfather once hung in the Lincoln County courthouse. According to the family, it now hangs in the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. Fred’s son, Willie, recalled riding into town “perched atop the family belongings in the back of his father’s Model T Ford pickup.” Tragically, Padilla’s and Emillio’s pool hall was a short-lived venture due to the bane of many such establishments — fire — which broke out early one Monday morning in March 1923. The fire took out the entire block “extending south from the Plaza to the Sedillo store in the middle of the block facing Court Street on the east.” Only the superhuman efforts of the local hose company succeed in saving Sedillo’s two-story building. The Socorro Chieftain described the ruined block as “one of the old landmarks, being among the first buildings erected in Socorro.” About this same time, Amos Green was seeking another manager for his business and Padilla & Emillio, suddenly available due to the extenuating circumstances, moved across the Plaza. The furniture and fixtures in their pool hall were insured for $1,500 and this no doubt eased the pain of the transition. Judge Green died on Jan. 13, 1925. Fred Emillio remained at Green’s Pool Hall throughout Prohibition and after. It seems that the Green family either continued to sub-let the business as before, or Padilla and Emillio may have purchased their interest after Green’s death. Fred would not permit his sons to work behind the bar prior to their coming of age. He did, however, allow them to do custodial work, clean glasses, and more, but no bar work. The boys “helped out around the place, listening with youthful imagination to the many great tales emanating from the Green Front’s historical past as (they) swept and polished.” Willie Emillio recalled several anecdotal stories from those Prohibition days of polishing and sweeping. Yes, Fred did keep a well-secluded stock of Kentucky’s finest on hand to soothe the parched throats of his more trusted clientele.
“Dad always sought out the very finest of whiskeys and refused to handle the cheap stuff … he bought old stocks of the highest quality ‘bottled-in-bond’ bourbon whenever he could,” he recounted. Willie remembered his dad sterilizing bottles and affixing labels. One label, we’ll call it the “green,” was for the lower priced product and the other, the “black” label, for the “premium.” But the same high-quality spirit went into each! The working class fellows went for the more affordable green, while the upper echelon went for the black “and none of them ever knew the difference.”...more

Song Of The Day #433

Ranch Radio is in the mood for some western swing, so here is Bob Wills' 1940 recording of Blue Bonnet Rag.

EPA policy chief steps down

One of the Obama administration’s most aggressive officials on global warming regulations is stepping down from her post at the Environmental Protection Agency. Lisa Heinzerling, the head of EPA’s policy office, will return to her position as a Georgetown University law professor at the end of the year, said EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan. Within EPA, Heinzerling is one of the more dogmatic proponents of regulating greenhouse gases to the maximum extent possible under the Clean Air Act. There are two camps within the agency on climate, said an environmental advocate who spoke on background. The Heinzerling camp, with the mind-set that, “we have the law on our side; let’s go get them.” In the other camp are Administrator Lisa Jackson and EPA air chief Gina McCarthy, who are trying to maintain the support of the White House and Congress. Heinzerling gained fame in the environmental community for her role in helping to win a landmark 2007 U.S. Supreme Court case that gave EPA the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. At EPA, she’s played a leading role in crafting the agency’s controversial climate policies as Jackson’s senior climate policy attorney and then as the associate administrator of EPA’s Office of Policy. “I think she’s probably the farthest left and most committed of anyone on the team, with the exception of Carol Browner,” on climate change, said an industry attorney familiar with the agency, referring to the former agency administrator and President Barack Obama’s energy and climate adviser...more

Apparently Heinzerling can read not only law books, but also the political tea leaves. So she's back to teaching law at Georgetown. Too bad we don't have a Clean Mind Act to protect the students from the pollution she will be spewing.

Water managers blast federal Everglades cleanup plan

Water managers on Thursday roundly criticized a court-ordered federal plan to speed up and expand the sluggish, repeatedly delayed effort to stem the flow of pollution into the Everglades. In letters to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency and during a news conference, South Florida Water Management District executives ran down a broad list of objections to a federal call to nearly double the vast expanse of marshes used to absorb the troubling nutrient phosphorous. They said the plan unjustly infringed on state rights to set water quality law, set an unrealistically ambitious time frame for massive construction projects (nine years), and would unreasonably saddle South Florida taxpayers with the bill (at least $1.5 billion). They also said the plan was drafted on a tight deadline without public or state review of data, and would bust a district budget declining along with the economy and property tax revenues. Tax revenues for 2011 are projected to be down 12 percent, or $61 million. ``The time frames are an impossibility with our current funding stream, and even with some order or direction from the court to increase our funding stream,'' Ken Ammon, the district's deputy executive director for Everglades restoration, said, raising the specter of a property tax hike mandated by a federal judge. The response from the Water Management District was the latest, and strongest, salvo in a legal battle over Everglades cleanup...more


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/05/1909496/water-managers-blast-federal-everglades.html#ixzz14UgILxli

Saga of Snake Valley: Battling over Utah Water

Dean Baker, a rancher and activist for the protection of water rights in west-central Utah’s Snake Valley, could become wealthy by selling his property to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. THe principal communities in the Snake Valley, from north to south, are Callao, Trout Creek, Partoun, EskDale, Baker, and Garrison. “People don’t understand me,” Baker said, referring to his refusal to sell. What makes Baker’s property valuable is that it is a coveted water source. But after 55 years of ranching, Baker isn’t ready to give up his home or see his agriculture and livestock suffer because of underground pumping. According to the Great Basin Water Network, the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), the water agency for Las Vegas and Henderson, Nev., proposes to pump up to 200,000 acre-feet annually from eastern Nevada and western Utah and send it through 300 miles of pipeline to support larger cities. This comes to about 65 billion gallons of water per year. Ecologists and hydrologists estimate the water table will drop as much as 100 feet in the first 10 years of the pipeline, killing the current vegetation and wiping out the wildlife and livelihoods of the rural communities including the Snake, Spring, Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar valleys. “I think that is what the SNWA in Vegas thinks they can do, just pay people off to leave the area,” said Gary Perea, White Pine County Commissioner in Nevada...more

Drying Lake Mead worries water users in Colorado

Currier is a farmer and rancher whose livelihood, and that of his industry, is directly tied to water. He is involved with water issues within the state as a member of the Colorado Basin Roundtable and as its representative on the statewide Interbasin Compact Committee. When he hears that Lake Mead’s water level is at a historic low, he worries about the degree to which Powell may be relied on to stabilize Mead’s water supply. That Lake Powell supply is water that Colorado and other states in the upper basin of that Colorado River scarcely can afford to let go, Currier said. Currier and others involved in water policy in western Colorado see Lake Powell as a bank account for upper basin states, ensuring their ability to fulfill their water delivery obligation to lower basin states under the terms of the 1922 Colorado River Compact. Lower basin states are using more Colorado River water than they are entitled to under the compact — a rate that has proven to be an unsustainable during a decade of drought and has drawn down Lake Mead. “If we are required to allow too much water to meet the needs of the lower basin … and those that benefit from Lake Mead, well, that puts us in jeopardy of lowering Lake Powell too much and getting us in real trouble if we do have another severe drought like 2002,” Currier said...more

Oklahoma vs. the West

The biggest piece of environmental legislation in decades -- the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009 -- might have been "of 2008," or been passed in various forms even earlier, were it not for Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn. The Omnibus Act bundled 164 conservation efforts into a massive package that designated 2 million acres of new wilderness and increased the wild and scenic river system by 50 percent. It helped enable buyouts of oil and gas leases in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest and ratified wilderness deals that were negotiated on the ground in Idaho's Owyhee County and Utah's Washington County. Many Western environmentalists, ranchers, county officials and other stakeholders were involved in creating the Omnibus. But the act itself can be blamed on Coburn, which is why it's known around Capitol Hill as "Tomnibus." "What he did was put holds on virtually every bill that came out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee," says Paul Spitler, a high-ranking Wilderness Society staffer based in Washington, D.C. Coburn blocked so many individual bills in 2008 that supporters decided to lump them together into the omnibus package in early 2009, hoping to pass all 164 measures at once. They succeeded, but not without a fight. At Coburn's insistence, the Omnibus Act was "read (on the Senate floor) until the wee hours of the morning, which dragged out the timeline for an extra day," says Spitler. "And at that point, he said, ‘OK, you guys can go home now.' " Coburn again drew the ire of Western environmentalists in September, by holding up passage of five popular wildlife-protection bills, one of which -- the Crane Conservation Act -- was sponsored by a fellow Republican, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo...more

New toxic air data from oil and gas operations, this time from the Four Corners

Recent air sampling from the Four Corners region in New Mexico and Colorado has found harmful levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the region’s air. The air sampling was conducted by neighbors of natural gas development operations who formed a "Bucket Brigade" of citizen scientists taking scientifically credible samples using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved methods and laboratories. Air samples were taken near natural gas refineries and processing facilities, a surface waste disposal facility, and a natural gas well and compressor site. Three air samplings detected more than 20 different toxic chemicals. Local rancher Tweeti Blancett made an excellent point: “We know there are win-win solutions available to solve these problems, yet industry is clearly not using them..." There are over 35,000 natural gas wells, and associated compression and refining in the Four Corners region...more

Pronghorns' disappearance a mystery

As Bill Miller looks across his ranch that spreads out under the vast West Texas sky, a once-common sight has became a rarity: the pronghorn. “They’re just part of the landscape,” Miller said. “They should be there, and they’re not.” A symbol of the West, pronghorn have a body type somewhat like a deer with distinctive white stripes on their faces and necks and white markings that come halfway up their sides. The flash of white hair on their behinds stands on end to signal danger. The fastest land animal in North America, they can reach speeds close to 60 mph. And in West Texas, where desert grasslands give way to mountain ranges, their numbers are dropping, and researchers don’t yet know why. Miller can remember when as many as 100 pronghorn made their home on parts of his 33,000-acre ranch west of Valentine. This year, he estimates there are about 12. Pronghorn numbers in West Texas are at about 4,700 this year, down from about 6,000 last year, when good rains indicated that the numbers should have increased. After noticing the decline, researchers started talking to ranchers, who reported finding the majestic animals dead for no apparent reason...more

On a Flint Hills ranch, tradition falls victim to the recession

Slowly, over the horizon, the last cattle drive slips into sight. There are no thundering hoofbeats. The sound is almost a whisper, like a gentle stirring of the wind. Horses neigh and cowboys occasionally whistle and "yip-yip" encouragement to the herd. It is the last drive for the Cedar Creek Ranch. The effects of a tough and long recession are cutting deep into Flint Hills traditions. The 300 cows owned by Mike and Jayne Mayes and their son, Josh, will be shipped next week to range land in Oklahoma, where it is cheaper to graze year-round and the winters aren't as tough. It costs roughly $215 a cow to graze over the summer on Flint Hills grass. The Mayeses were able to strike a better deal in Oklahoma, at roughly $300 a cow to graze year-round. For eight years, friends and neighbors have helped the Mayeses drive the cattle each fall from their summer pastures at the Baileys, 17 miles east of Cassoday in Greenwood County, to the Mayeses' winter pastures near Matfield Green in Chase County. In the sea of grass and cattle, three pink coats stand out: Annette, 17; Jesse, 14; and Ellen Jones , 11 — all members of 4-H, sisters who are growing up with the ranching lifestyle. That pleases their mother, Wendi Jones, who drove the chuck wagon for the cattle drive. Seeing the cattle come over the horizon, she said, was reward enough. "My heart is so full," she said. "The animals are happy and healthy. Nobody is scared or hurt. They always talk about how the rancher is destroying this. You see these cattle out here that have lived and will continue to live a really nice life — it is just beauty." She wants her daughters to see this way of life. Ellen Jones is the youngest rider on the drive. "I feel kind of special that I am going to be part of something that is probably never going to happen again," she said...more

Cowboys put on downtown show

Clacking hooves echoed off the glass walls of downtown Edmonton’s high rises for the first time in six years Saturday. “It’s really scary. You don’t want to run over anybody, first off. That’s a little tricky,” said a beaming cowboy named Dave, who helped wrangle a couple dozen head of steers down 102 Avenue. A third generation rancher, he’s used to having a bit more room to work mounted on horseback, and fewer manholes to trip over. “If this was at home, that many cattle there, they’d be strung out probably 10 times further than they were here today.” The rancher’s efforts were rewarded with thousands of smiles from people lining the sidewalks along the avenue in a nearly unbroken chain from 108 Street to Churchill Square. Brian Match brought two tots out to see the show, and they were pressed to the steer pen’s gates outside the Art Gallery of Alberta. “I think it’s pretty important because it’s sort of what Albertans are,” he said. The last River City Roundup was six years ago and began as a way to help support farmers through the BSE crisis. It’s still a tool for raising the profile of agriculture in Alberta, said cowboy Dave. “It’s 100% part of our heritage, part of Alberta’s heritage. It’s still a way of life for many Albertans and it’s an important part of our economy,” he said...more

Did a mummy prove the Wyoming legend?

The Little People fabled to live in the Wind River Range are good, as long as you don't make them mad. Eastern Shoshone elder Morning Starr Moses Weed knows what happens if you cross them. As the story goes, his father-in-law rode up a thin trail into the Wind River mountains many years ago to check on his cattle. One of the Little People appeared, standing no more than knee high, though otherwise looking like a normal human. He told Weed's father-in-law that it was his trail, and the rancher couldn't use it anymore. But Shoshone rancher had cows up the hill. He went ahead anyway. The Little Person shot Weed's father-in-law with a poisonous arrow, making his arm useless. But they're not all bad, Weed says. He knows other stories in which the Little People save lives or help Shoshones find their way back home. The Shoshones aren't the only people to describe a race of Little People. For centuries, other American Indians have had variations of their own. George Gill, a forensic anthropologist, speculates that white settlers to the Wind River area believed the stories to simply be myths. Until the mummies were found...more

Tom Selleck Is Still The Man

Tom Selleck doesn't casually sit down at a table; he takes ownership. At a larger-than-life 6 foot 4, absurdly handsome in a corduroy shirt, jeans, and boots, he looks like a cowboy trimmed and tidied for a day off from the ranch. When he pulls up a chair at a Los Angeles bistro, everything from the silverware to the stemware appears to shrink. But it's more than just a physical impression--there's a warmth, a presence, a glow of easy confidence. The truth is, the 65-year-old star with the 1000-kilowatt Thomas Magnum smile is indeed spending a day away from his ranch. When he's not acting, Selleck kicks back--and clears brush--on the 63-acre spread near Santa Barbara he shares with his wife of 23 years, British actress Jillie Mack. With its 1920s Spanish-style house, 20-acre avocado grove, and barns housing five horses--including 25-year-old Spike, from Selleck's 1990 film Quigley Down Under--it's the perfect retreat for a gentleman rancher with a lifelong love of Westerns, a place to "dig a hole or plant a tree and get my mind off stuff," the actor says. But today his mind is on his new CBS series, Blue Bloods, in which he plays New York City police commissioner Frank Reagan, a man who commands respect at both City Hall and the Sunday night dinner table, where he anchors a three-generation NYPD family...more

Socorro's Territorial Saloons — Part 1

During the territorial boom decades of the 1880s and 1890s, Socorro was home to dozens of saloons — "sampling rooms," "billiard halls," and "resorts" — all of which were synonymous with today's bars and taverns. Only one sole survivor, the Capitol Bar, can trace its lineage directly back to those territorial days and it, along with many of its numerous and long-gone neighbors, as well as a few of their colorful proprietors, are the focus of this two-part story. Due to the lack of period newspaper coverage, we may never know the name and exact location of Socorro's first territorial "saloon" — if, indeed, it could be called that. But it certainly predated 1880, since that was the year when two major events occurred in Socorro's history: the arrival not only of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, but the establishment of the Socorro Sun, our first newspaper. No less than eight wholesale and retail liquor establishments advertised in the 1880 Sun. One clue is offered by Mrs. Sadie Abernathy, as quoted in Father Stanley Crocchiola's book, "Socorro, The Oasis." Abernathy related: "When I came to Socorro in 1876, the little town was a paradise. Lots of fruit trees, grape vines, (and) gardens… (There were) no groceries or dry good stores except for one run by J.J. Baca Sr. And, all he had was a few pounds of green (not roasted) coffee, a little brown sugar, some calicos of the cheapest kind — and he sold whiskey and wine by the drink at the counter ..." Pete Kinsinger, credited with being the first to discover ore in the Magdalena area during the Civil War, was an early proprietor of the well-known Park House (soon to become the famous Park Hotel), where he regularly hosted the mining fraternity. During inclement weather, they retired to "Armstrong's nearby saloon." These pioneer "saloons" were, by necessity, sparsely stocked, even by the standards of the early 1880s. Their bill of fare was limited to non-perishables, such as wine and whiskey. Beer, if it could be called that, was certainly available in the territory as far back as the 1860s, particularly in areas served by wagon trains coming in over the Santa Fe Trail. William Carl, proprietor of the "Western Brewery" advertised in the May 5, 1869, Santa Fe New Mexican: "The undersigned will keep constantly on hand at their Brewery, on the Fort Union road, a supply of beer in bottles or kegs as may be required." Since the pasteurization of beer wasn't applied to any degree until about 1876, William Carl's product was probably pretty vile stuff...more