NEWS ROUNDUP

Are homes in the future for Steens? Just past a busted "Private Property" sign beside the wide washboard road that climbs the western slope of Steens Mountain is a shallow blue lake ringed by rocky hills and white bark aspens shaking loose the last leaves of fall. For 40 years Dan Jordan has owned these 640 acres in the middle of one of the most popular recreation areas on the 9,700-foot southeastern Oregon mountain, letting the public camp there and grazing sheep on the bunchgrasses during summer. But now he's asked Harney County for the right to build up to 640 homes on his land -- one per acre -- or to have the county pay him $6.4 million under Measure 37, the property rights law passed by Oregon voters two years ago. Jordan's land is next to the popular Fish Lake campground as well as wilderness study areas and some private land, all within the 425,500-acre Steens Cooperative Management and Protective Area. Congress created the patchwork district of public and private land in 2000, overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with input from a citizen advisory council....
Oregon ranchers fear return of the wild wolf Wild wolves have not roamed eastern Oregon since the 1930's, but already some unconfirmed sighting have ranchers and environmentalists ready for a fight. Longtime rancher Rod Childers is bracing for change. “The wife and I moved here in 1977,” said Childers. Originally from southern Idaho, Childers now owns and operates family style ranches in Wallowa County. “You know in the ranching deal, you do it because you love it, because you don't make a lot of money at it." While Childers has faced challenges before there is an enemy this generation of ranchers has never seen. “Do wolves scare me? Absolutely," said Childers. For more than 70 years herds roamed Wallowa County without fear of the wolves." While wolves may restore the environment, many ranchers fear the consequences. "If we go with what the federal government agencies or the environmentalists, you're looking at the last generation that will be out here on the land," said Childers....
Nature taking a toll on El Morro In the next few years El Morro National Monument Superintendent Kayci Collins said she will be facing a difficult decision. Part of the ancient and historical inscriptions on the sandstone cliff are on the northeast face of the site on the 1,278 acres of the monument. It is from this direction that the elements heat, cold, wind, rain, sleet, hail and snow batter the cliffs year round. "Erosion is the biggest enemy," she said, about preserving the inscriptions for future generations. "I may have to decide, or some future superintendent at some point whether to remove the inscriptions and put them in a museum, or allow them to erode," she said. "Putting the inscriptions in a museum does not give the public the impact it does in the natural setting," Collins said. Some of the inscriptions and petroglyphs date back to between 1100-1200 A.D., Collins said. And, there are the historical inscriptions of the Spanish explorer Don Juan de Oate, in 1620, who eventually reconquered New Mexico....
Lansford lion surprises hunter Kent Ferguson and his pair of yellow labradors were hot on the trail of some rooster pheasants Wednesday evening. However, rather than have a rooster cackle skyward, the hunt turned into a close encounter with a snarling mountain lion. The Mohall man was hunting about three miles west of Lansford when he was taken by complete surprise. “We saw some pheasants run into the cattails so we started working them,” recalled Ferguson. “My 1 1/2- year-old yellow lab went into the cattails and I heard a growl and a yelp. She came flying back with blood on her nose. About that time I saw the cat walking through the cattails and threw three shots at it right away.” ince Ferguson was hunting pheasants, his 12-gauge shotgun was loaded with 2 3/4-inch 4-shot. That’s a pretty efficient load for pheasants but not at all what you’d consider using if you were hunting mountain lions. However, at close range, it was enough to stop the big female lion that measured 6 1/2 feet from nose to tail....
Collaborative Appoaches to Western Problems Marianne Roose, a county commissioner in Lincoln County in Northwest Montana, has no small set of problems to cope with. The county is reeling from the decline of the lumber industry - as well as the asbestos crisis in Libby - and there is a lot of bitterness towards environmentalists who are perceived by many to be the source of the woes. Almost 80% of the county is National Forest land, and the locals don't like that much either. Growth and development is coming in some areas, namely Eureka, but a future as a bedroom community to Whitefish doesn't seem to appealing. It's not exactly an environment given to healthy, collaborative decision-making. But Roose, the daughter of a logger and a self-described Pollyanna who gave a talk at the Placematters06 conference here in Denver, thought the depth of the problems actually represented an opportunity: continued confrontation wasn't getting anyone anywhere, and maybe the time was ripe for some bridge-building. So she spear-headed a collaborative process to bring together the natural resource industry, envrionmentalists, economic development folks, hunters, hikers and indeed anyone in the community who wanted to take part. She sat them all down at a very small table in her office - small tables make it harder to people to be nasty, she noted - and the result was a non-profit community group devoted to collaborative solutions to the issues facing the county, and especially its national forest lands....
Don't just blame the bugs The link between fire risk and the pine beetle epidemic sweeping through Colorado forests may not be as conclusive as generally assumed, according to Forest Service research. Based on a recent review of relevant studies, Forest Service scientists said there is no large amount of evidence suggesting that insect outbreaks significantly increase the fire risk in a given area. Other factors, including the presence of ladder fuels, are equally important. However, large areas of recently dead trees still carrying red needles can result in a more intense fire and enable such a blaze to spread more rapidly. The biggest risk to long-term forest health may come from super-hot, earth-baking fires 20 to 30 years after a bug infestation, when the trees are dead on the ground. And even then, it's important to remember that lodgepole forest ecology is marked by episodes of destruction and renewal....
Preserving pristine ecology But their excitement really begins when they hit the bottom of the rock pile about two-thirds of the way up the ridge. Standing near a 400-year old larch - with its unusual mix of western and alpine larch characteristics - the scientists are filled with wonder. "I'm in awe every time I come in here," Carlson said. "It's such a different piece of real estate than anywhere else. It's very, very unique." From this viewpoint, the men can pick out alpine larch already turning brilliant gold growing in amongst the pale green, heavily barked western larch. But there's more. Scattered here and there are trees that carry the characteristics of both species. While there are a few other places in the world where the two species of larch crossed traits over centuries, Carlson said this place marks perhaps the only spot where the hybridization occurred in well developed soils. Unlike most of the other rock-capped peaks in the Bitterroot Range, Carlton Ridge escaped being scraped clean during the era of glaciers. As a result, the ridge is covered in a relatively deep soil. "This hybridization appears to have occurred over thousands of years," Carlson said. "This isn't something that happened overnight once you get this crossover, the genetics get really complex. It's fascinating."....
2 men, 1 mountain, and endless determination It was an adventure four years in the making. Many day hikes, aerial reconnaissance and hours of research finally led Doug Shepherd of Anacortes and Dave Hess of Bow around Washington's Mount Baker. The two began what turned into a 71-mile, 11-day ordeal around the mountain on Aug. 22. They may have been the first to ever make such a trip. "We want to make sure and state that as far as we know nobody has ever hiked around Mount Baker," Shepherd said, "The Forest Service doesn't have any record, nor is it aware of anybody who has done this. I really want to stress that people should not try it, however." And for good reason. The trek was brutal. Both men pushed themselves to the edge of their mental and physical limits as they gained and lost about 60,000 feet in elevation over the 11 days. To say they were tested is an understatement. "This is no walk in the park," Shepherd said. "There were several places where we came out of the woods and were above sheer cliff faces. We got lucky. Most of the time, we came out perfect when it came to route finding."....
Eyeing Uranium With the price of uranium on the rise, Urex Energy wants to take a closer look at exactly what lies beneath the 2,740 acres it recently acquired full rights to on the La Jara Mesa of Cibola National Forest. The Reno, Nev., company has a request to explore the site before the U.S. Forest Service, which will be accepting written comments on the proposal until Nov. 6. Today's technology and tougher government regulations, Urex officials say, would spare the area from the widely acknowledged environmental fallout of uranium mining operations past. Unconvinced, American Indian groups opposed to the company's designs fear that renewed mining will only further contaminate their land and people and desecrate a sacred site. What Urex proposes to do, exactly, is drill 21 "exploratory holes," each one six inches in diameter and 1,200 feet deep, on the site, which lies a dozen or so miles northeast of Grants....
An argument for logging On the third, full weekend of June Encampment Wyoming hosts the annual Rocky Mountain Champion Lumberjack Completion where loggers come from all over the country to compete for the coveted title. Chips fly during this competition using chain saws, axes and hand saws, the men and women competitors cut down trees competing in events that include: Tree Felling, two-man handsaw tree felling, two-man handsaw, two-woman handsaw, power saw log bucking, one-man handsaw, man & woman handsaw team, choker setting, axe chopping, pole throw, axe throw, power saw log bucking, power saw log bucking, and the mad loggers chainsaw throw. It is refreshing to hear that this proud profession is still celebrated despite its vilification by America’s tree huggers who have turned a blind eye to their need for timber products in their crusade to reserve our forests for the Bark Beetle and fire. Proof that Patrick Moore’s approach is bearing fruit is the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), a comprehensive system of principles, objectives and performance measures developed by foresters, conservationists, and scientists that combine the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the long-term protection of wildlife, plants, soil and water quality. There are currently over 150 million acres of forestland (equaling 24 Yellowstones) in North America enrolled in the SFI program, making it among the world's largest sustainable forestry programs. Here in eastern Idaho and western Wyoming it is a shame that logging has come to a screeching halt. Due to our overabundance of squeaky wheels here in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem our forests are being managed for recreation only. This has triggered the death of our forest products industry which dates back to the time of our settlers....
Elk warning system first in United States On the Town of Star Valley's logo, a picture of an elk is prominently displayed because the animal is a common sighting within the town. Unfortunately, elk are also a common sighting on the highway that runs through Star Valley as well, creating a hazard for motorists. The Arizona Department of Transportation knew of the elk population in Star Valley well before that logo was created. ADOT has been working on a system to warn motorists traveling on Highway 260 when elk or other large animals are present on the outskirts of Star Valley. The alarm system will be placed about one mile east from the Diamond Points Shadow restaurant. Tom Goodman of ADOT is in charge of this project, and believes it will be completed sometime in November. The project includes two large, infrared cameras, a video grid system and other controls. The project will cost about $700,000 and is being funded by the Federal Highway Administration....
Wild Horse and Burro Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service are charged with managing wild horses and burros as an integral part of the natural ecosystem of public lands. The BLM has custodial responsibility for approximately 45,000 wild horses and burros living on more than 35 million acres throughout the western U.S. The BLM is presented with both the opportunities of managing a national symbol that holds a special place in the public's heart and ideals, and the challenges of maintaining those ideals in a manner that achieves and maintains a thriving natural ecological balance on public lands.2 The management of wild horses and burros also presents the equine practitioner with opportunities and challenges. Veterinarians can partner with adopters during the transition of wild horses and burros to domesticated life by sharing their knowledge of equines and providing quality veterinary care. The challenges--and there are many--involve working with a wild animal still unsure of its relationship with humans, and adopters whose experiences with horses and burros might be limited. This article will help horse owners understand how those equids came to be in wild horse herds--and thus in adoption programs--and the requirements imposed on an adopter for their care....
Shell is going to the wall for oil In an arid, sage-dotted valley here, Shell Exploration & Production Co. has begun work on what could be the final technological challenge to large-scale production of oil from shale. Shell already has figured out how to melt kerogen - the oil-like substance - from underground shale deposits with electric heaters to produce oil from one of the world's largest potential petroleum sources. Oil-shale deposits in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming have technically recoverable reserves of 500 billion to 1.1 trillion barrels of oil, according to a study last year by the Rand Corp. for the Department of Energy. The midpoint of the Rand estimate - 800 billion barrels - is three times the size of Saudi Arabia's reserves and enough to meet 25 percent of current U.S. oil demand for 400 years. Eager to tap into that possibility, Shell is spending $30 million to create and test a massive "freeze wall" that would extend from the surface to 1,700 feet below the ground. The walls would be 30 feet thick in a shape 300 feet wide by 350 feet long. It is designed for a dual purpose: to keep groundwater from infiltrating Shell's oil-shale wells, and to prevent produced oil from contaminating nearby groundwater....
What's good for Wyoming is great for the Michiganders Two families who squeezed into an apartment here waited months for permanent housing. Day-care centers are so packed that expectant mothers must put their names on waiting lists for their unborn child. A Quiznos sandwich shop can't keep workers at $9.50 an hour because of a labor shortage that sometimes shuts down the store. Ed Lambert couldn't be happier. He watched his homebuilding business in Flint, Mich., die as downsizing in the auto industry sucked the life from the local economy. Lambert and three of his employees drove 1,300 miles west in June, trading Michigan's shimmering lakes and dismal prospects for Wyoming's dry plains and sizzling economy. "We got in on a Sunday, and we were framing a house on Monday. It has been nonstop," said Lambert, 33, his sandy hair topped by a dusty Detroit Tigers baseball cap. "This building boom won't stop here for a good five years." With energy demand soaring, resource-rich Wyoming is struggling to find employees to work its mines and natural-gas and oil fields - and to staff a service industry scrambling to keep up with a booming population. The Bureau of Land Management estimates that by 2020, as many as 15,000 new jobs will be created in the coal-rich Powder River Basin that includes Campbell County and Gillette. The city's population last year of 22,685 is expected to reach nearly 30,000 by 2010....
The future Front Chuck Blixrud insists he’s not an activist. He’s an outfitter, a man who has made a living for almost 50 years taking tourists and hunters into his back yard, which just happens to be the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. But the gentle smile tightens on the lanky, soft-spoken man’s well-weathered face as he considers the future of the long, narrow strip of national forest between his home and the Bob: the 390,000-acre Rocky Mountain Front. Blixrud and others are worried that temporary measures in place to limit gas and oil exploration and hard-rock mining on the Front may be too easily erased. So he’s stepped forward as one of the local advocates in this small community, hoping to convince others of the need to create the first new wilderness designation in Montana in more than 20 years for small portions of the Front. “We need to carve out our destiny,” Blixrud said, relaxing for a brief moment recently on a couch in his guest lodge. “We’re the gateway to the Rocky Mountains. Look at the sign as you pull into town (Choteau). You don’t see oil rigs on any signs. That just doesn’t go with the Montana mystique.” Blixrud’s stance on expanding the wilderness area is by no means universal here in Choteau, where “wilderness” is a dirty word to many. Blixrud has angered some in Choteau who believe additional wilderness would limit such activities as grazing or oil and gas drilling....
Groups say leave Otero Mesa alone Once upon a time the Butterfield Stage provided public transportation across a lonely and wild west, the aplomado falcon winged its way across grassland skies and ancient people left messages on the rocks for those who followed them. Today, long after those living presences are gone, the setting remains much the same. It's called Otero Mesa and is the focus of ongoing controversy in southern New Mexico. Now, the Wilderness Alliance has reviewed the impact of potential oil and gas wells on Otero Mesa in a new study they have done dubbed "Too Wild to Drill." Meanwhile, a coalition of business owners brought together by the Southwest Environmental Center is calling on the federal government to take action and protect Otero Mesa. In a related development, 50 business owners in southern New Mexico have written to Sen. Jeff Bingaman last week, calling on the senator to ensure the area is protected. Half of those businesses are located in Las Cruces, with another six in Mesilla. The remainder are in Truth or Consequences or Silver City. None of the 50 are in Otero County. The letter takes BLM to task for allegedly disregarding the historical and environmental importance of the area when it decided to open Otero Mesa to drilling....
BLM plan calls for land sales Following a federal trend of selling small, isolated tracts of difficult-to-manage public lands, the Bureau of Land Management wants to mark for sale or trade about 200,000 acres it manages in Platte, Converse and Goshen counties. But in this case, many of those tracts are accessible by public roads, state lands and national forest lands, although the BLM contends they offer little or no public access or recreational value. The BLM released a draft resource management plan and environmental impact statement for the Casper Field Office, which takes care of holdings in Natrona, Converse, Platte and Goshen counties, in July. That document, once approved, will guide management for the next 15 to 20 years on 1.4 million acres of BLM land. In draft form, the plan describes five alternative ways the BLM could manage lands and resources. The agency’s preferred alternative calls for making eligible for disposal all BLM holdings in Goshen and Platte counties, and most of its land in Converse County. The BLM manages 25,180 acres in Goshen County, 81,965 acres in Platte County, and 129,947 acres in Converse County....
Burning Man attracts record crowd to desert This year's Burning Man set a number of records, starting with the population of Black Rock City: 39,100 in the Black Rock Desert north of Gerlach at midnight on Sept. 1. "This year's population grew by about 3,360, or 9.4 percent, over last year's maximum of about 35,740," said Rodger Bryan, associate field manager for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Winnemucca Field Office. In addition, as daytime incident commander for this year's Burning Man, Bryan added, "Everyone involved in the administration of the event agrees that this was the smoothest running Burning Man so far." The 17th consecutive festival of art and self-expression operated under terms of a permit issued by BLM's Winnemucca Field Office. It began Aug. 28 and ran through Sept. 4....
On Ted Turner's ranch, preservation and profits comfortably coexist There are no Ted's Montana Grill restaurants in Montana. Fifty of them have opened nationwide, but you won't find one in Montana. Partly that's because the word "Montana" has less marketing mystique for Montanans, who don't need the manufactured atmospherics. Partly, one suspects, it's because the owner of the chain, media mogul Ted Turner, remains a polarizing figure there even years after becoming one of the state's biggest landowners and most famous celebrity transplants. Montanans wouldn't necessarily boycott a chain with Turner's name on it, but they might shun it, given the lingering suspicion many old-timers have not just of the left-leaning, green-hugging Turner, but of the army of wealthy invaders that threatens to Aspenize the state. Turner runs bison on his ranches and embraces the re-wilding of the land with wolves, neither of which sit well with traditional cattlemen. Turner politically leans left, styles himself an environmentalist and pumps money into causes many Montanans, outside the college town of Missoula, see as radical. So imagine my surprise, during a recent visit to one of Turner's ranches, the 113,000-acre Flying D, to find that he's striking a sensible balance there between preservation and profit-making - proving the two can comfortably coexist. The Flying D provides lessons from which all sides in the public land wars might learn something, if they would put down their battle axes and pay attention....
The last Sierra shepherds Yips and yells pierce the air as a flock of 1,400 sheep trample their way through a talcum-colored haze near Prosser Reservoir, west of Truckee, Calif. Silhouetted by the rising sun, two shepherds wielding long staffs emerge from the dusty din stirred up by a cloud of agitated sheep and darting sheep dogs. Each of the shepherds' cries drive the herd closer to its destination - a white livestock trailer. The woolly throng slowly resigns itself to the direction of Piolin, Oso and Apache - three pointy-eared border collies. Soon four shepherds are working the flock, darting into clumps of wool and bucking legs to snare pregnant sheep identified by a streak of red paint between their eyes. It's an unlikely spot to happen upon a bustling sheep rodeo. Less than a minute away from where backhoes, dozers and dump trucks are busy molding 750 acres of forest into Truckee's latest golf course and luxury home development, the 150-year-old tradition of Sierra Nevada shepherding carries on in full force....
1881 book influenced cattlemen to overgraze Those of us who write for the public need to be aware of the impact of our words. (Take note, New York Times!) James S. Brisbin wrote a book in 1881 that had a tremendous effect on the U.S. cattle industry during the following decade. His book was The Beef Bonanza; or, How to Get Rich on the Plains. Readers have heard of “get rich quick” schemes today. Well, folks followed them a century and more ago as well. What is unusual about Brisbin and his book, however, is that I believe that he was sincere. He didn’t realize that overstocked ranges and an extremely cold winter would coincide. Who would have, back then? Brisbin, a general in the U.S. Army, served for many years in the West. He saw ranchers purchase young steers for $8 to $10 each, fatten them up for a year or two, and then sell them for $25 to $30. Often the cattlemen sold beef to the military posts or even provided the animals as part of the annuity payments that the government delivered to Indians. Government contracts proved lucrative then as they often do now. The reason Brisbin made a big splash with this book, and changed history even, was that many British upper-class folks read it as well. The eldest son of a titled lord inherited everything, so all of the younger sons had to look for careers. Some went into the army or the church; others worked for the British East India Tea Company and returned to England as wealthy nabobs. Brisbin’s book opened a door for the young Britishers in the American West. What Brisbin realized was that many a rancher who went up the trail from Texas could make thousands of dollars of profits in a season of trailing longhorns. One did not have to be a rancher, either. He could just buy the cattle in Texas cheaply (borrow the money if he had to) and sell for a lot more at the end of the trail. Let me cite the money that Texan C.C. Slaughter and his father G.W. made over several years: 1868, 800 head, $32,000; 1869, 2,000 head, $90,000; 1870, 3,000 head $105,000....
Story of bloody feud still told in Young Marie and Jim Petroff, members of the Pleasant Valley Historical Society gave a tour to Gila County Cooperative Extension agents that included a visit to Boot Hill, the old Tewksbury cabin in Young and the historic home of Ola Young, the town's first postmaster. These places are generally only open to the public on Pleasant Valley Day, the second Saturday in July. The first two sites are important because they are the part of Arizona's history known as The Pleasant Valley War. "Twenty-eight people died and another 50 associated people died or disappeared in the war," Jim Petroff told the extension agents. "The story starts in 1879 when James Tewksbury and his four sons moved to Pleasant Valley with the idea of starting a horse breeding ranch." But they actually made more money from selling pigs and cattle rustling than breeding horses. In 1882, the Tewksburys met Tom Graham and his three brothers and convinced them that Pleasant Valley was a good place to start a cattle ranch. The Grahams were not prepared for winter and the Tewksburys cared enough to see them through it. Also located in Pleasant Valley was the large Stinson Ranch. When summer came, the Grahams contracted with Stinson, the absentee owner, to stop area cattle rustlers. "Of course, the Grahams were some of the major rustlers," Jim said. "They brought charges against their competitors the Tewksburys."....
Torn over Tombstone You can't get Wyatt Earp to say anything bad about Terry "Ike" Clanton. One hundred and twenty-five years after animosity between the Clantons and the Earps sparked the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, their descendants are friends. But that doesn't mean they agree about who is to blame for the 30-second gunfight that left three men dead and changed the lives of the survivors and their descendants. "I've always said it was the first form of police brutality in America," says Clanton, a cousin of the infamous Clanton clan. "It's amusing," says Earp, a nephew of the storied lawman. "(Clanton) talks about the Clantons and McLaurys as not being bad guys. Oh, boy. I know better." Thursday will mark the 125th anniversary of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. On Oct. 26, 1881, building tension between the Earps, who represented law and order in Tombstone, and the Clantons and McLaurys, cattle rustlers and outlaws, erupted into a bloody confrontation. The legacy of the men who fought that day has become the economic backbone of modern Tombstone and an integral part of the lives of Clanton and Earp....
The Franklins: The Family and The Legacy Urbane yet impulsive, a smooth-talker with a penchant for making deals and taking calculated risks, Harris Franklin was a born capitalist. A Jewish immigrant who grew up in central Europe before coming to the U.S. as a teenager, Franklin was born a Finkelstein, but like many naturalized citizens, he remarketed himself with a new family name. He parlayed his skills into a multi-million-dollar personal empire that would come to dominate Deadwood’s business world. The Franklin family fortune may have started with a vibrant cigar and liquor business, but it didn’t end there. Franklin amassed holdings in the mining, banking and cattle ranching industries, and rubbed elbows with powerful families in Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. As their influence grew, the Franklin family began to use their power to shape Deadwood, both politically and economically, as it entered the 20th century. Though the last of the Franklins left Deadwood in 1920, their legacy remains. Traces of their once-proud empire still flavor almost every corner of the city today, from its Victorian neighborhoods to the now-restored business district. With little wonder, then, the Franklins remain one of Deadwood’s most celebrated founding families....
Cuero hoping to take cowboy legacy to bank For more than 100 years, South Texas cattle ranchers have taken an extra measure of pride in their heritage, knowing that their 19th-century predecessors helped make the Chisholm Trail the stuff of cowboy legend. The cattle-drive route stretching north to Kansas was used by an estimated 6 million head of Texas livestock from 1866-84 in the rough-and-tumble era after the Civil War but before the proliferation of barbed wire and railroads. Until recently, however, Cuero, whose very name means "rawhide" in Spanish, hasn't fully explored — or exploited — its part of that legacy. But that's about to change. Backed by dozens of benefactors throughout Texas, area ranching families and others have launched an ambitious $3.75-million campaign to secure Cuero's place in history by establishing a Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum in early 2009....
HAWAII'S COWGIRL The notion of an American cowgirl is specific. They must be able-bodied and strong-willed. It helps if they can rope and ride. They must stand toe-to-toe with the men in the face of bad weather, smelly stock and economic hard times. Rose Cambra Freitas, one of this year's inductees into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame, has done all of that. And she has done it in an unusual setting. Freitas is from Hawaii, where sprawling sugar-cane fields were her frontier. She doesn't remember the first time she rode a horse, but she does know she has been around them ever since. She was born to be a horse lover -- her grandparents were horse people who moved to the islands to find a better life working on the plantations. Her father, Louis DeCambra, was a cane-harvesting boss at the Puunene sugar plantation, and his daily work was done entirely on horseback. Freitas will be inducted into the Cowgirl Hall on Thursday, along with rancher Minnie Lou Bradley, women's suffrage leader Esther Hobart Morris, barrel racing champion Sharon Camarillo and legendary bronc rider Bonnie McCarroll....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Animal survivors: Next reality TV fad? In our effort to plumb the depths of humiliation and bad taste, television producers have now invented a reality show based on pitting races against each other. They have chosen whites vs. blacks vs. Asians vs. Latinos, leaving out the obvious: cowboys vs. Indians vs. French vs. cows. I can see spinoffs in the agricultural world: HEREFORD BREEDERS VS. ANGUS BREEDERS: It would be billed as "Cancer eye vs. Prolapsed sheath!" Contestants would be forced to mouth, preg check and cull purebred look-alikes from the Nacogdoches sale barn, and the audience would pick the winner! HORSE PEOPLE VS. MULE PEOPLE: The overconfident vs. the true believers! This reality show would force mule people to beat horse people in every possible contest. Then the horse people would have to try and explain why the horse really won. STOCK DOG BORDER COLLIES VS. CITY PARK BORDER COLLIES: Sheep police vs. Frisbee catchers! Sheepmen would order their border collies to herd ducks, old ewes, baby calves, kindergarten classes, or intransigent Pomeranians through an intricate obstacle course to display their natural ability and intelligence. City border collies would respond by jumping hurdles, catching balls and running through culverts, displaying their usefulness in case of a Presidentially Declared State of Hurdle, Ball and Culvert emergency! HOUSE CATS VS. BARN CATS....

Wolf #806 on mainstreet, Luna N.M.

From: Jess Carey

Hi all, I responded to a complaint of a wolf sighting (at 0910) in the center of Luna today. I took statements from two of the eye witnesses, there were five people who saw it and probably more that drove by. Wolf #806 showed up on the north side of US 180, just east of the gas station, it then walked across the road south in between the houses, then went southeast towards the bridge by Phil Swapps house, then it turned back traveling south of US 180 below all the houses, then crossed US180 again and went up over the mountain. I went with USFWS John Oakleaf to track and locate the wolf, it went into Dillman reek..northwest of Luna. A hunter on Dillman creek saw the wolf. There was a wolf pup, about six months old (about 30 pounds) with wolf #806, but now it appears it is no longer with #806, its location is unknown. When I arrived, I talked to one of the USFWS volunteers, she told me she had been monitoring wolf #806, also someone else monitored this wolf a day or so before just north of Luna. One of the locale people in Luna told me "If the USFWS knew this wolf was in Luna, around the homes, why didn't they tell the residents, why did they fail to warn us". Also who could we complain to. I told them, I don't know why they did not let people know and for them to contact our congressional representatives, they are the only ones that can do anything about these problems. The USFWS will be monitoring the location of wolf #806 to try to keep it out of Luna by hazing. Wolf #806 is part of the Meridian pack that was released in Arizona. The Meridian female was shot by a bow hunter in Arizona, one of the pups died also, it is suspect that the second Meridian pup (that was with #806) is also deceased. All you Luna folks please call your neighbors and let them know #806 is in the Luna Area, watch your children, keep your pets up and watch your cattle and farm animals.

FINDLAW CASE SUMMARIES

U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals

KY Res. Council, Inc. v. Envt'l Prot. Agency (10/20/06 - No. 05-4349)
The EPA's final rulemaking action approving revisions to Kentucky's State Implementation Plan (SIP) involving air quality standards, under which the state was allowed to move its vehicle inspection and maintenance program for certain counties from the active or “regulatory” portion of its SIP under the Clean Air Act to the contingency measures portion of the Kentucky SIP, is affirmed as the EPA’s action was entitled to deference.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/6th/054349p.pdf

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. Kempthorne (10/18/06 - No. 04-16563)
Summary judgment in favor of defendants, agency officials, in a suit under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is reversed where defendants' challenged decision, regarding listing the Sierra Nevada Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog as an endangered species, standing alone, failed to make the determinations required by 16 U.S.C. section 1533(b)(3)(B) for a “warranted but precluded” finding.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0416563p.pdf

U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals

Env. Def. Fund v. Env. Protection Agency (10/20/06 - No. 04-1291a)
Petition for review brought by environmental groups challenging three sets of regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) governing how states are to bring their transportation plans into conformity with the requirements of the Clean Air Act is: 1) denied for one set of regulations where the court does not have jurisdiction since the period for review has passed; 2) granted for one set where it is inconsistent with the Act’s requirement that activities that emit pollutants comply with an approved transportation implementation plan; and 3) denied for the final set where the Act does not require that activities involving transportation actually reduce pollutants, but merely that they not frustrate an implementation plan’s purpose to reduce overall emissions.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/041291a.pdf

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER


Good neighbor Don

By Julie Carter

The old saying that "good fences make good neighbors" should have another list attached that outlines some of those neighboring attributes.

In ranch country, "neighbor" is a relative term that does not necessarily mean "next-door dweller." Next door is likely many miles down a dirt road, but the concept is the same. Bein' neighborly developed out of necessity for social and economical reasons.

Helping with farming, ranching or birthing babies, the neighbor's role is important in the western culture. And it's a two-way dirt road for rural dwellers. The opportunity for life-long friendships is cultivated through trust and simple "good people" attributes. The sure-fire chance of unlimited entertainment is also readily available.

Don is one of those neighbors that provides a lifetime of stories that, you've heard me say it before, you just can't make this stuff up. Don lives in the far north part of Montana where, come fall, the hills are gold with ripened grain. According to Ernie, his friend and neighbor, Don is a walking testimonial to creative thinking leading to disastrous results.

Don's most recent story was about the slab they poured last week for a new hopper bottom bin. The small 12 foot by 12-foot slab needed a proper trowel to get a proper finish. This would be with a large engine-powered trowelling machine, not a hand trowel.

After the trowelling was complete, Don and his carbon-copy son decided the easiest way to clean the trowel was the "cowboy way" which was to set it off on the grass and let the trowel run, expecting the grass to wipe the blades clean of concrete.

With this good idea sparkling in their eyes, the son opened the throttle and away the trowel went, made about two revolutions and hooked a big clump of grass pulling the handle out of the lad's hands.

Undaunted the machine continued unmanned. Round and round it went, blades frozen still but the engine racing and the handles rotating around faster and faster.

After a few futile attempts to grab the fast-moving handles and getting beat up a bit for their trouble, they decided to let the machine run out gas but when son said to dad, "it might take a couple hours," Don came up with another plan.

Being a quick thinker, good neighbor Don walked over to his pickup to get his rope. After a few well-aimed throws, his loop catches the handles, which are somewhat "horn-like." Immediately upon the "connect" the rope pulled tight and pulled right out of Don's hands as it wound down the handle of the spinning machine.

Some serious creative thinking was in order. It was a borrowed trowel, so he said, "I couldn't shoot the damn thing," but did finally manage to get a hold of the spark plug wire with the cement rake and get it shut down.

The entire event was described as just another "mundane day for good neighbor Don." A man you just can't help but think the world of but know that he is pure creative hell on borrowed equipment.

© Julie Carter 2006


Of the People

By Larry Gabriel

It is about time for the people to have their voice in the affairs of government in two ways--one voice is the regular vote to elect leaders, the other is a limited power to make law directly.

Despite President Lincoln's famous words "of the people, by the people, for the people" spoken so eloquently by him at Gettysburg on Nov. 19, 1863, not all people are free to participate in our system of self government. Only registered voters can vote and not all people are allowed to register. Minors and felons are "of the people", but not allowed to vote. In 1863, women were not voters.

The second voice, commonly called rights of referendum and referral, are even more restricted. That power arose from the early farm movements such as the Grange Society which laid the foundation for the farmer-led populist movement of the late 1800s. The Populist Party national convention in Omaha is said to have come up with the name "populist".

In 1896, the movement gained enough influence in the Democratic Party to nominate William Jennings Bryan for president. In 1897, South Dakota put the power of initiative and referendum into the South Dakota Constitution, reserving that power to "qualified electors".

Not everyone was happy about that. Eight times since 1897, the electors of South Dakota were asked to change that section of the South Dakota Constitution. Eight times the voters refused to do so. Finally in 1988, one small amendment was made which deleted a provision requiring the legislature to enact proposed measures.

South Dakota constitutional power of initiative and referendum applies to only two kinds of law, state law and municipal government. The power to make law is not the same as the power to reverse administrative decisions.

The executive branch makes administrative decisions. The legislative branch makes law.

Our legislature later extended a limited version of initiative and referendum to county voters, where the distinction between administrative functions and legislative functions seem to be lost on many. The granting of power to voters of a county is not a "right", but a mere privilege created by statute. It can disappear with a statutory revision.

The initiative and referendum process became popular about the time western states were created. It is largely unheard of in the east. Proponents call it "direct democracy".

Thanks in part to this direct democracy, South Dakota voters face the challenge of deciding eleven different ballot issues this November.

There is another limiting factor in this system--you have to show up. Only those who show up get a voice, and a majority of them will make law for the rest of us.

If you did not register to vote by Oct. 23rd or fail to show up on Election Day, you’re stuck with the decisions of others.

That's the system we have, at least until "the people" change it.

Larry is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture

OPINION/COMMENTARY


Edgy Arizona Ad Campaign Exposes Deceptive Animal Activists

As animal rights extremists descend on the Grand Canyon State to promote the equality of rats and pigs with human beings, a new advertising campaign from the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is giving Arizonans the tools to fight back. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) are spending enormous amounts of money in Arizona. CCF, an animal-rights watchdog, is exposing their dangerous agenda with a series of newspaper, television, and outdoor placements. The campaign began with full-page ads in The Arizona Republic, the state's largest newspaper. Some highlights from those ads: * PETA president Ingrid Newkirk has admitted her group would oppose medical research using animals "even if it resulted in a cure for AIDS." * Despite the deceptive "Physicians Committee" name, less than 4 percent of the group's members have gone to medical school. * HSUS raises over $100 million every year. Although this is enough to run successful pet shelters in every state, HSUS doesn't run a single one anywhere. And it is not affiliated with any local "humane society."....


THE WAR ON OIL

Proposition 87 is in some ways a murky proposal -- it's not clear exactly how its tax formula would be applied and how much it would raise -- but there's no mystery about its potential impact, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD).

By slapping a substantial new levy on oil being pumped in California, it would reduce the state's oil output. This is just basic economics: If you want less of something, raise the tax on it.

Applied to California crude, Proposition 87 would have the further effect of increasing demand for imported oil -- exactly what it claims not to be doing.

* Virtually all the crude extracted in California is refined and consumed in that state, but it's not enough to meet demand.
* California relies on foreign suppliers, such as Saudi Arabia, for more than 40 percent of its oil.

And what happens when the price of in-state crude suddenly gets kicked up a notch? The imported crude will get relatively cheaper, and refiners in the state will switch to it. Result: Imports up, domestic production down, says IBD.

That may be fine for those who don't care about further enriching oil states in the Mideast -- and whoever else in that part of the world gets a hold of our petrodollars. But then they shouldn't talk about energy security, which (among many other things) requires robust production of oil in the United States for the foreseeable future, says IBD.

Source: "The War On Oil," Investor's Business Daily, October 18, 2006.

For text (subscription required):
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&


Inhofe correct on warming

Sen. James Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, has been taking a lot of heat lately for his skeptical stance on global warming. He's been called a "social dinosaur" for his failure to accept the politically correct view. Yet Mr. Inhofe is absolutely correct to be skeptical. As the Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot said, "Skepticism is the first step toward truth." I'm a geophysicist who has conducted and published climate studies in top-rank scientific journals. My perspective on Mr. Inhofe and the issue of global warming is informed not only by my knowledge of climate science but also by my studies of the history and philosophy of science. The media hysteria on global warming has been generated by journalists who don't understand the provisional and uncertain nature of scientific knowledge. Science changes. For years we were told drinking coffee was bad for our health and would increase our risk for heart disease. But more recent studies have shown that not only is coffee safe for our hearts, it can decrease the risk of liver cancer and is chock full of healthy antioxidants. It is frequently reported that temperatures are now higher than at any time in the last 12,000 years. The fact that the thermometer wasn't invented until the year 1714 ought to give us pause when evaluating this remarkable claim. Reconstructions of past temperatures are not measurements, but estimates based on innumerable interpretations and uncertain assumptions, all invisible to someone who only reads the headline. Better studies -- completely ignored by the major media -- have shown that late-20th-century temperatures are not anomalous or unusually warm....


Putting the "con" in consensus

Celebrities, politicians, and media pundits often speak of the scientific consensus on the issue of global warming. But this presumed consensus is not what some might have us believe. Most of the climate-science community is indeed united on one particular component of the issue: there is global climate change. There has always been climate change, which is what makes this issue simple to agree on. But there is far from unanimous agreement on whether modern climate change is more extreme than normal - or even on how best to define "normal" given the uncertainty in measuring long-past climate from secondary measures such as ice cores and tree rings. There is even less agreement on the extent to which current and projected climate change is human-induced. Still, the scientific "consensus" is often presented as indisputable fact. In support of the consensus theory, many in the public spotlight point to a study by science history professor Naomi Oreskes, in which she reviewed the abstracts of 928 scientific papers published since 1993 with the keywords "global climate change" and found that none of them disagreed with the "consensus position" that the earth's climate is being affected by human activities. Less frequently reported are the problems with Oreskes' study. An independent review by British social scientist Benny Peiser repeated Oreskes' process but found that only 13 of 905 articles expressly supported the "consensus" view, and several actually opposed it. Further, 23 articles had no available abstract, meaning that the findings of those papers could not be concluded from this procedure....


EPA’s Power Mower Power Grab

Nine years ago, I predicted that lawn mowers would one day fall victim to onerous and unnecessary EPA air pollution standards, despite Clinton EPA administrator Carol Browner having stated in sworn testimony to Congress in 1997 that such regulations are "not about outdoor barbecues and lawn mowers." Frank O'Donnell, then-executive director of the Clean Air Trust, called talk of regulating lawn mowers "crazed propaganda." Today, however, EPA openly seeks implementation of pollution standards for lawn mowers that would supposedly cut smog-causing emissions by 35 percent. As for O'Donnell, he's now president of Clean Air Watch where he's working hard to implement that "crazed propaganda." So what else is new? The EPA and green groups lie because they're on a mission: Where you might see a freshly-mowed lawn, they see an opportunity to extend another regulatory tentacle. But the EPA's clean air standards are based on false claims and shaky science. Lawn-mower emissions comprise perhaps 3 percent of all EPA-monitored air pollutants, according to the agency's National Emissions Inventory. Meanwhile those overall emissions are less than half of what they were in 1970. Thirty-five percent of 3 percent of 50 percent of what we breathed a generation ago is essentially equivalent to a hair on a flea's leg. A small flea. But the EPA and greens persist in making spectacular-sounding but misleading claims, including that lawn mowers produce 93 times more smog-forming emissions than automobiles. They derive this figure by using an absurd per-hour comparison – without noting that the average car is driven 11,000 miles a year while the average lawn mower is used perhaps an hour a week during the growing season....

RECENT CASE SUMMARIES:

CTR. FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY V. KEMPTHORNE
9th Circuit

Summary judgment in favor of defendants, agency officials, in a suit under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is reversed where defendants' challenged decision, regarding listing the Sierra Nevada Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog as an endangered species, standing alone, failed to make the determinations required by 16 U.S.C. section 1533(b)(3)(B) for a “warranted but precluded” finding.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0416563p.pdf


AMERICAN CHEMISTRY COUNCIL V. DEP'T OF TRANSP.
D.C. Circuit

Petitions for review filed by plaintiff associations of hazardous materials manufacturers, shippers, and transporters challenging defendant's rule defining when hazardous materials are being loaded, unloaded, or stored incidental to their movement, are dismissed as plaintiffs have not demonstrated Article III standing under the U.S. Constitution to bring their challenge.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/031456a.pdf

US congressmen push to allow hunting of salmon-hungry sea lions

Fishery officials have tried just about everything to keep California sea lions from munching on threatened salmon migrating up the Columbia River - from yelling at them to setting off firecrackers. But nothing has worked. On Monday, two Washington state congressmen announced at Bonneville Dam, Washington - where the pesky and portly pinnepeds have been doing most of their munching - that they are going to enlist Congress for help. Sea lions are protected by federal law. But Republican Doc Hastings and Democrat Brian Baird said they will introduce a bill that would let officials from the two U.S. states, as well as American Indians, quickly obtain permits to kill a limited number of sea lions that are going after salmon in the Columbia. "These sea lions have bellied up to an endangered salmon buffet and they will be eating thousands and thousands of fish right here this spring if we don't do something about it," Hastings said. They say numerous attempts to scare the sea lions off, including yelling at them, shocking them and exploding fireworks, have failed. When the Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972, there were about 50,000 California sea lions. Oregon officials say their numbers have grown to 300,000....

Colorado Water Wars Include Spy Campaign

If some farmers in eastern Colorado felt like they were being watched this summer, they had good reason. Private investigators hired by some of Colorado's fastest-growing communities spent weeks spying on them, trying to determine if they were illegally pumping water for their crops, The Associated Press has learned. The investigators put together an elaborate database on 50 plots of land in eastern Colorado, noting things like "puddles around sprinkler perimeter" and "lush corn," and turned it over to state engineer Hal Simpson, who is investigating the claims. "There was one man taking pictures. My wife asked if she could help him and he sped off," said Steve Bruntz, who recently joined other farmers at a Wiggins gas station to talk with a reporter. Behind the fight are farmers who depend on irrigation, on one side, and cities that rely on water from the South Platte River, on the other. State water law guarantees that those with higher-priority rights get their share first. The water crisis came to a head in May when the state engineer told farmers along the South Platte to turn off 440 wells after forecasting lower-than-average river flows and well owners were unable to devise plans to replace the water they were using. Millions of dollars worth of wheat, corn, sugar beets and melons were left to die after some farmers and three cities - Sterling, Boulder and Highlands Ranch - rejected an emergency plan that would have allowed well owners to continue pumping. Water attorney Tim Buchanan, who represents farmers with senior water rights, said he ordered the spying campaign because he suspected some well owners were continuing to pump water....

NEWS ROUNDUP

‘Roadless' advisory panel keeps working Despite a recent court ruling reinstating a 2001 rule that put millions of acres of national forest off limits to development, the Bush administration still supports an alternate - more permissive - rule established in 2005 and will work to defend it or remedy it to meet court approval, an official said Wednesday. And a federal advisory group set up to make recommendations under the 2005 rule decided Wednesday to continue its work and, in fact, to expand its scope somewhat. With numerous lawsuits pending on the roadless issue in different states, the administration will take a consistent approach in its response, said Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey. “We'll be telling the courts, whichever courts that we're appearing before, that we think the 2005 rule is a better approach, and we need to either defend it or remedy the flaws that (U.S. District Court Magistrate) Judge (Elizabeth) Laporte found in it,” Rey said. Rey made the comments to a meeting of the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee, whose members were trying to decide whether and how to proceed in light of the ruling. Rey encouraged the group to continue its work advising the department on state petitions on roadless areas, saying they could use a different authority rather than the 2005 rule to proceed....
Western oil, gas drilling will double, analysis says The number of producing oil and gas wells on Western public lands will double over the next 20 years, according to a new analysis of federal actions authorizing new drilling. In its new report "Too Wild To Drill," the Wilderness Society estimates 118,000 new wells will be drilled on public lands in Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and Montana by 2026. Group officials say the estimate is conservative because it didn't include drilling plans still being crafted by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. "We are about to see gas drilling at a magnitude greater than anything we've ever experienced, and it threatens to forever damage many of our most treasured Western places," said William Meadows, president of the conservation group. Industry officials said the number of surface acres disturbed on federal lands by oil and gas development amounts to just a fraction of the total acreage. According to 2003 public-land statistics, less than 1 percent of the more than 261 million surface acres BLM manages is disturbed by oil and gas development....Go here to read the report.
Grassland to support, control prairie dog Pawnee National Grassland officials will allow up to more than eight times the amount of prairie dogs currently allowed on its land but will take measures to control them too, according to a decision released Wednesday. The Grassland will keep at least 200 acres, but allow up to 8,500 acres of prairie dog colonies, said Beth Humphrey, Grassland wildlife biologist. The number equals roughly 5 percent of the shortgrass prairie on the land and shouldn't affect the grazing land. That should help conserve not only the black-tailed prairie dogs but other important species, including burrowing owls, mountain plovers and ferruginous hawks. Both landowners and environmental groups weren't entirely happy with the decision. Some landowners said controlling the population might be difficult, given that the allowed amount is more than twice the number of acreage reached by the prairie dog population even at its peak a couple of years ago. Environmental groups said 200 acres was far too low....
Henderson moving to annex slice of south Las Vegas Strip The city of Henderson is moving to acquire a Las Vegas Strip address. After more than a year of negotiations with Clark County and the federal Bureau of Land Management, Nevada's second-largest city took a step Tuesday toward annexing almost 5.4 square miles of unincorporated land, including a three-quarter mile piece of south Las Vegas Boulevard. The Henderson City Council held a public hearing on the plan to add to the city some 3,455 acres now controlled by the federal government south of Saint Rose Parkway and east of Interstate 15. The area is more than 8 miles south of McCarran International Airport. The annexation could gain final City Council approval Nov. 6. It would mark the largest expansion of the 70-square-mile city since 2000, when it added 5,473 acres to its southwestern edge. Henderson had a population of about 175,000 at the time. It now has about 250,000 residents. Juan Palma, a federal Bureau of Land Management field manager, said Henderson agreed not to annex federal land that hasn't been identified for auction, and not to seek land within 800 feet of the existing I-15 right of way. Clark County wants to preserve that north-south swath of land as a transportation and utility corridor between Las Vegas and the site of a proposed Ivanpah regional airport south of Sloan....
Endangered Amphibian Species Leaps to a Minor Legal Victory A species of endangered amphibians, the Sierra Nevada Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog, leapt to a legal victory in a federal appeals court yesterday, but advocates for the frog warned that the advance could be short-lived. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Interior Department's decision to defer formally listing the frog as an endangered species. However, the three-judge panel left the door open for the agency to stall the listing again if it meets certain procedural requirements. "The decision itself was a victory for the frog, but it was decided on a fairly narrow, technical interpretation of the statute," the lawyer who argued against the government, Michael Sherwood, said. Mr. Sherwood, who works for an Oakland, Calif.-based environmental law group, Earthjustice, said the frog species lives only in high elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He said listing the frog as endangered could limit grazing or timber rights in the frog's habitat, but developers are not likely to be interested in the lands where the frog is found....
Las Vegas reaching for rural water Rancher Dean Baker picks his way through greasewood and sedge to a shallow dirt depression that was once a small pond fed by a natural spring. Both have been dry for years, casualties, he says, of pumping that draws underground water to the surface to irrigate fields and water livestock. Over a half-century, agriculture's needs have lowered the water table, Baker says, but it's nothing compared to what may be in store for this arid, sparsely populated, mile-high desert near the Utah border. The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to pump vast quantities of groundwater from rural eastern Nevada valleys and pipe it 250 miles south to Las Vegas, the nation's fastest-growing major metro area, a tourist mecca with a limited water supply strained by population and prolonged drought. After hearings last month, a decision rests with State Engineer Tracy Taylor. More hearings on plans in other valleys are pending. The water authority aims to build a pipeline by 2015 and pump nearly 30 million gallons a year from 19 wells in Spring Valley alone. At stake, ranchers say, are livelihoods and a delicate ecological balance on a landscape cursed with, at most, 8 inches of rain and snow a year....
Farmers say "whoa" to powerline A Canadian company that proposes to construct a power line from Alberta to Great Falls through eastern Teton and Pondera counties is putting the cart before the horse, say farmers along the right of way. Montana Alberta Tie Ltd. of Calgary, Alta., sent letters on Sept. 21 to property owners along the proposed route stating that its agent, SNC Consulting, has the right under the state's eminent-domain law to enter their lands to survey for a 230-kilovolt power line. Helena attorney Harley Harris signed the letters. According to state law, the right of eminent domain may be exercised for electrical energy lines, but it is silent on whether a private company that would benefit four wind farms has the same rights as a public utility. The law states, "The use must be located in the manner that will be most compatible with the greatest public good and the least private injury. Š The state or its agents in charge of the public use may, after giving 30 days' written notice to the owners and persons in possession of the land, enter upon the land and make examination, surveys, and maps of the land." A growing number of landowners are irked at the way MATL has dealt with them since it announced the $80 million project last January. The landowners say the surveyors should be cited for trespassing....
Anatomy of a Wolf Attack "Wolves are not the most efficient killers," says Nadeau. What he means is that wolves are not the cleanest killers. Mountain lions or cougars have the reputation of killing with efficiency and, if there are such things in the high desert food chain, some mercy and grace. The big cats keep bloodshed to a minimum and they kill quickly. Wolves employ far sloppier methods in their hunts. A cow might take her last breath of air amid a scene of flattened brush, trampled ground, drag marks and smears of blood--lots of blood. Nadeau calls such scenes "struggle sites." These sites can stretch hundreds of yards--a seasoned crime scene investigator might call the scene "gruesome" and the cause of death "brutal." Deb Lord found Wolfy amid such a scene. But one thing about the site was very atypical: The calf was still alive. The Lords brought who would later be called Wolfy to a vet. That's when their 14 year-old daughter, Blas, insisted that she become the wounded calf's caregiver. Blas, an all-around athlete at Mountain Home High School who had to give up showing and raising her own farm animals because of the time-consuming responsibilities that come with prep sports, describes her nursing in very G-rated terms. She cleaned Wolfy's wounds and removed the dead flesh that had accumulated around bite until the injury healed. Wolfy accepted the treatment without agitation, because, as Blas recalls, the wound was surrounded by so much dead muscle that the calf couldn't feel the pain that would normally accompany scrubbing wounded flesh....
Ag wins, loses in water debate Agriculture and energy interests won significant and conflicting victories Wednesday morning before the Wyoming Water and Waste Advisory Board, which sends its recommendations to the state Environmental Quality Council for further action. Ag interests won a point when the board endorsed bottomland protection from damages caused by coal-bed methane water contamination. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality currently protects agricultural fields irrigated by artificial methods. Over industry protests, the board agreed to provide similar protection to naturally irrigated fields, also called bottomlands, from damage-causing salts carried in some coal-bed methane discharge water. Board member Joe Olson, an industry representative, said during the advisory board's meeting in Casper Wednesday that protecting bottomlands would be an excessive expansion of protected lands. He said many previously approved coal-bed methane permits wouldn't be granted had there been bottomland protections before. He also contended that coal-bed methane water benefits wildlife and livestock. This bottomland protection, however, would be limited to naturally irrigated lands at least 20 acres in size and 50 feet in width. DEQ officials argued that it would be too difficult to identify smaller bottomlands, but that smaller bottomlands can be identified through aerial, infrared photography. If landowners want protection for smaller bottomlands, said a DEQ official, that can be addressed in the permit-writing process, or on direct appeal to the EQC. Board member Bill Welles said many ranchers in the Powder River Basin have never used artificial irrigation, but are extremely dependent on forage grown in naturally irrigated bottomlands....
'Nobody's Horses' find home in book In the new book, "Nobody's Horses," by veterinarian Don Hoglund you'll read about how one man accepted responsibility, which reaffirmed his love for horses and for his chosen career. Well over a hundred years ago, many ranchers kept their horses on a free-range basis. The best horses were culled for work while the rest went back to the herd and eventually became untamed. Hoglund says nearly two million horses roamed western ranges in the 19th century. During World War II, the U.S. government "borrowed" lands in New Mexico for arms testing, and ranchers living on those lands were asked to leave. Some abandoned their livestock, and those animals joined wild herds. Eventually, the land became the White Sands Missile Range. It was fenced, with hundreds of wild horses inside. In 1994, a drought hit the area and 122 horses suffered gruesome and highly-published deaths. The government decided that the remaining horses needed to be moved or destroyed. Hoglund was called in to work with ranch hands, soldiers, and cowboys to move the horses to safety and adoption. Almost immediately, he became responsible for the steeds and the project....
Some say animal ID program threatens farmers, ranchers A federal program aimed at tracking livestock disease has some in the agricultural industry questioning everything from the cost of the program to the government's motive for creating the National Animal Identification System database. Judith McGeary, an Austin attorney and executive director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, disputes the claim that the main goal is to track and control disease. “NAIS does not address cause of disease; it does not address how disease is spread; and it does not address disease prevention or treatment,” said McGeary. “It does nothing to improve food safety; it plays on our fears of bioterrorism; it invades privacy; and its databases are not secure, and are a target for hackers.” McGeary also disputes NAIS claim that the program will not be expensive. “There has been no cost analysis,” said McGeary. “The costs will be higher for smaller farms and ranches because of economies of scale.” She gave examples of the costs for similar programs in other countries. For instance, in Australia the cost is about $37 to $40 per head; and, according to the British Parliamentary Report, the cost per animal is $69. According to McGeary, if and when compliance becomes mandatory, penalties for non-compliance will include fines of $1000 per day, risk of losing the business, and possible criminal charges....

NEWS ROUNDUP

BREAK IN CATTLE POACHING CASE There has been a break in the cattle poaching case in Madison County. After years of what seemed random poaching of cattle east of Rexburg, sheriff's deputies say they have a good lead on who might be responsible and need your help. Aaron Kunz reports on what gave them their new lead in this case. Over the last few years, many ranchers started patrolling their land, and today a rancher believes he saw the man responsible for killing yet another cow. Chief Deputy Ryan Kaufman is looking at the carcass in the most recent killing, a cow shot Monday morning has given them the best lead they've had since starting this investigation. Chief Dep. Ryan Kaufman, Madison County Sheriff's Office: "The vehicle that we have the description given to us by the hunter is an older 80s to 90's grey Jeep Cherokee. The gentleman driving it was described as a older Hispanic male, round face with a goatee and shorter black hair." There have been dozens of cows killed, most shot from the road by poachers in Madison County. Each killing is a felony offense, because each cow is worth around two thousand dollars....
Hearing tomorrow on Navy land plan The Navy wants to double the size of a training area in the backcountry where air crews and special-operations forces practice how to survive when trapped behind enemy lines. The Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape – SERE – school uses 6,158 acres in and near the Cleveland National Forest covered mostly with shrubs and light forest, said Steve Fiebing, a Coronado Naval Base spokesman. Under the proposal, the Pentagon would return about 1,700 acres to the forest service but add about 8,000 acres south and west of the existing school, Fiebing said. The new site would grow to 12,544 acres. He said no new roads or buildings are planned. Nearly all the land would be left as a wilderness, where troops would practice basic survival, navigation and reconnaissance skills....
Critics decry U.S. failure to replant burned tracts On one side of the property line, a new forest is taking root _ a glassy-green sea of waist-high pine planted by a timber company after a massive wildfire swept through six years ago. On the other side, on public land managed by the Lassen National Forest, dense mats of brush cling to a landscape dominated by charred dead trees, some standing, others not. "Nobody on the Lassen is proud of that land line," said Duane Nelson, who manages reforestation for the Forest Service in California. "We actually refer to it as our wall of shame." Reforestation _ the planting and natural regeneration of trees _ is the most critical part of forest management. But across the West, vast parcels of Forest Service land scorched by increasingly catastrophic wildfires have not been replanted. The consequences may linger for centuries. Imagine a Sierra Nevada that yields not gin-clear snowmelt but coffee-colored torrents from eroding canyons. Imagine shrub fields that stretch for miles, so dense that even birds and backpackers avoid them. That is the future Doug Leisz _ a former associate chief for the Forest Service _ envisions unless the agency replants more quickly....
Use roads or close them? A management plan for roads in the Medicine Bow/Routt National Forest, scheduled for release next month, will call for almost 100 miles of unauthorized roads to be approved for motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle use. Clint Kyhl, Laramie District ranger, said the plan would not affect some 785 miles of authorized roads in the forest. However, it would put about 100 miles out of the 265 miles of unauthorized roads to use. "We have a variety of unauthorized roads we needed to decide to use or close," Kyhl said. "(And) we have zero miles of motorized trail in the district right now. We want to provide that opportunity as well, and use some of these roads to do it." Rick Woodard, an ATV rider from Cheyenne, said he was glad to hear about the plan. "That's great that they're actually starting to make an attempt to get some trails opened up," he said. "Because right now, throughout the whole state, there are only a few trails you can go on. And the only other places you can ride are in national forests on regular vehicle roads."....
The Post-Burning Question: Log It or Leave It? Three government SUVs guarded a road to nowhere. Nearby, a middle-age couple camping out in a trailer manned a round-the-clock checkpoint next to a locked gate, on the watch for environmental protesters. A few miles beyond, the drone of chain saws rose from a deep ravine while a hovering helicopter plucked blackened logs from the floor of the burned forest and carried them to the nearest road. Begun in August, the logging is the first in the country on nearly 60 million acres of remote national forest protected by a Clinton administration decree that was set aside last year by the Bush administration. The operation was too far along to be stopped by a Sept. 19 federal court order reinstating the Clinton edict. Ever since a huge 2002 fire called Biscuit swept across the outback of southwest Oregon, burning a swath of forest the size of Orange County, this prized landscape has been at the forefront of conflict over Bush administration forest policies dealing with roadless backcountry and wildfire. One of the most contentious issues is whether government should leave a forest alone after it has burned, letting the trees decay to nurture a gradual rebirth, as conservationists advocate; or log the commercially valuable dead timber and replant, as the Bush administration desires....
Forest's old uranium mine undergoes testing Radioactive testing is now under way at an abandoned high-country uranium mine on the Stanislaus National Forest. For the past three days, contractors from Placer County have been taking soil samples from one of three waste piles at the former Juniper Uranium Mine. While the mine was active between 1956 and 1966, it produced about 500 tons of uranium ore. The 33-acre mine site is just west of Sardine Meadow at an elevation of 8,500 feet. Twenty years after the mine closed, the U.S. Forest Service took it over. Public access to the mine site was blocked in June 2003 after tests showed that erosion had elevated the radioactive exposure. Next to the 175-foot-deep mining pit are three waste piles of rock and dirt totaling 45,000 cubic yards. Each pile has a different level of radioactivity. The third pile, the one being tested, has the least because it was the original top layer of soil when the mine was dug, said Stanislaus National Forest spokesman Jerry Snyder. The Forest Service plans to put the most radioactive of the material back in the mine first. Once covered, plants and trees will be planted to make the mine area blend in and help prevent erosion....
Bush OKs wilderness protection The remote "Lost Coast" of Humboldt County, a salmon-rich river in Mendocino County and a rare cedar forest in Napa County will receive new protections under a law signed by President Bush on Tuesday, the largest federal wilderness protection measure in California in 12 years. The bill designates 273,000 acres for wilderness protections, an area 10 times the size of San Francisco. The lands affected are owned by the federal government, and are managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Now however, commercial logging, mining and motor vehicle use will be banned. "After more than five years of hard work and tremendous support from hundreds of environmentalists, outdoor enthusiasts, businesses and government officials, this beautiful and unique land has received the highest protection the law allows," said U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa, the author of the bill....
BLM will cite defiant ATV rider Richard Beardall is getting exactly what he wanted: a trespassing ticket from federal land managers for ignoring the rules and riding his ATV on a closed road in the San Rafael Swell. Beardall, three other ATV riders and a Jeep, moved a 10-foot barricade near an old uranium mine and made a half-mile roundtrip along the access road to the Muddy River on Saturday. The Bureau of Land Management closed the area to recreational vehicles in 1993 due to riparian damage, said Price, Utah-based BLM manager Roger Bankert. Beardall, president of the Americans with Disabilities Access Alliance knows that, but he and others are angry over the closing of public lands, Bankert said. "He wants the ticket to go to court and challenge the closure," said Bankert, who is in his fourth week on the job....
Supervisors move to save desert plan San Bernardino County supervisors announced Tuesday that they voted in closed session to join in defending a desert wildlife habitat-conservation plan from an environmental lawsuit. If the U.S. District Court in San Francisco allows the county to participate in the suit, San Bernardino County would have the right to argue in front of the court and participate in any future settlement talks on the West Mojave Plan. Stopping the suit is critical to allowing road maintenance, public-safety access and waste disposal in areas covered by the plan, said Robin Cochran, a deputy county counsel. The West Mojave Plan is the largest habitat conservation plan in the nation, regulating activities on 3.3 million acres. In return for some parts of the desert being reserved as critical wildlife habitat, the plan reduces environmental restrictions in less sensitive areas. San Bernardino County was a lead agency in the plan's design. Approved in March, the plan failed to protect the desert tortoise and several plant species, several environmental organizations have argued. In a suit filed in August, the Center for Biological Diversity alleged the plan illegally permitted disastrous amounts of off-highway-vehicle use and asked for an injunction barring the federal Bureau of Land Management from "issuing any permit, approval, or other action" for any activity that would adversely affect the desert tortoise or three plant species....
BLM expects an appeal on Over the River decision Whichever way the Bureau of Land Management rules on the Over the River project, the issue will likely end up in appeals court, BLM Field Manager Roy Masinton told Chaffee County Commissioners Monday. Masinton, delivering a report on BLM issues affecting Chaffee County during a work session in Salida, said both the artists and the opposition group are prepared to appeal if the BLM decision doesn't go their way. "I anticipate, no matter what decision is made, we'll go to court on it," Masinton said. Artists Christo and Jeane Claude are attempting to gain approval to stretch fabric over the Arkansas River in sections from Salida to Cañon City in a public art display. A group centered in Howard called Rags Over the Arkansas River is leading the opposition....
Conservation Groups Defend California's Right to Regulate Gold Mining Today, Sierra Club and Earthworks, represented by Earthjustice and the Western Mining Action Project, filed a submission opposing the Canadian gold mining company Glamis Gold's efforts to use an international trade panel to force the United States to pay $50 million for mining restrictions that protect the environment and Native American cultural resources. "This is about a foreign-owned company using a NAFTA trade panel to bully the state of California and the United States into letting them destroy public lands," said Margrete Strand Rangnes, with Sierra Club's Responsible Trade Program. "This case should be a wake-up call to the Bush administration as it negotiates new trade agreements." The trade panel, created under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), is considering the case involving a series of open pit gold mines in the California desert roughly 45 miles northeast of El Centro, California. The land is sacred to the Quechan Indians, a Colorado River Indian tribe living near the California-Arizona border. The Canadian mining company filed a proposed plan of operations with the federal Bureau of Land Management to mine 1,600 acres in 1994. In 2001, Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt refused to approve Glamis's mining plan because it would have destroyed the sacred tribal lands. California later passed a law requiring open pit mines to be refilled after mining was completed, a process the company argues is too expensive to make the mine profitable....
Bill Fighting Mine Not Intended to Pass Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon may have introduced a bill aimed at crippling a planned cement mine in Soledad Canyon several months ago, but he never intended to see it passed this year, a spokesman said. Introduced late last spring by McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, the "Soledad Canyon Mine Leases Adjustment Act" would cancel the Cemex Inc.'s leases - providing the company with other mining options instead - and prohibit the federal Bureau of Land Management from re-leasing the land except at historic extraction levels of about 300,000 tons per year. Since 1999, Santa Clarita has been locked in a legal battle over the Mexican cement giant's proposed 20-year mine, which - starting in 2008 - would extract some 69-million tons of sand and gravel from the mine in Soledad Canyon, about one mile from some Canyon Country housing tracts. The city owns the unincorporated county property, but the company has been granted federal mining permits. The intention was never to see the bill passed this year, McKeon spokesman Scott Wilk said. Rather, it was introduced this year "to see what kind of red flags it may have generated" among the members of Congress....
Gas firm positive about meeting standards EnCana Oil and Gas USA, the main natural gas producer on Wyoming's Jonah Field, says it's confident it can comply with new, more stringent federal air quality regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency last month tightened its regulation of "PM 2.5s," meaning particles that are 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter. Officials say such small particles cause health problems and are a component of smog. Previous federal air quality regulations enacted in 1997 allowed emissions of up to 65 micrograms per cubic meter of PM 2.5s in a 24-hour period. The new EPA standards reduce the allowable amount to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the maximum concentration of PM 2.5s during the operation of the Jonah Field project would be 44 micrograms per cubic meter. During the early stages of development, the agency predicts that emissions from the field would be 49.2 micrograms per cubic meter. Combined with other emissions, the total maximum would be 69.2 per 24-hour period - nearly double the maximum acceptable level under the new standard....
DeGette, 14 groups protest BLM plans for Roan Plateau A management plan for western Colorado's Roan Plateau promoted by state and federal officials as balancing demands for energy with protecting the environment drew protests Monday from Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and 14 conservation, hunting and fishing groups. The formal protests filed with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will be considered as the agency finalizes the decision on managing the 73,602 acres of federal land on and around the plateau. The plateau, which straddles Garfield and Rio Blanco counties, is rich in natural gas and oil shale. It's also home to a variety of wildlife - elk, deer, mountain lions, peregrine falcons, bears and rare, native Colorado trout. Several area communities, hunters, anglers and environmentalists have urged the BLM to keep drilling off the top of the plateau....
New blood for the breed Big eyes, Big ears, Big teeth. Five Mexican gray wolf pups are coming to Heritage Park Zoo. Executive Director Kim Disney said Sunday afternoon that the Mexican Wolf Species Survival Plan designated Heritage Park Zoo as a "premier designation for wolves" in the survival program. "I am thrilled to announce that we have been awarded five young pups from Columbus, Ohio. The pups are about 1 year old. Hopefully, we can keep them comfortable and introduce them into the breeding pool. The pups are some of the most genetically pure Mexican gray wolves in the country," Disney said. Mexican gray wolves are among the most endangered mammals in the world. They are smaller than their cousins, the gray wolf. Currently, about 300 Mexican gray wolves exist in captive programs and experts believe only 37 exist in the wild....
Pombo keeps species act in his scope Tracy Republican Richard Pombo took office vowing to change the Endangered Species Act. In the 14 years since, he has delivered speeches, staged events and written bills. He has enjoyed perfect positions to pursue his signature issue, including, for the past four years, chairmanship of the House Resources Committee while his party has controlled the House and Senate. The Endangered Species Act, though, remains unchanged since the day Pombo took office in January 1993. The same 22,300 words in the U.S. Code are intact. Which raises the fundamental election-year question: What does failing to revise the Endangered Species Act say about Pombo's legislative skills? The answer is complicated, in part because the question can validly be asked in another way: Why is it so hard to change this 1973 law, when so many people want it updated? "It's the sacred cow," Pombo said. "It is the big environmental law; that takes precedence over everything."....
Model San Diego Multiple Species Plan Doesn't Conserve Rarest Species In a precedent-setting ruling, a federal judge has agreed with conservationists' contentions that a San Diego regional habitat conservation plan does not do enough to protect endangered and threatened species that depend on a type of wetland that has nearly vanished from southern California. Late on Friday October 13, District Court Judge Rudi Brewster, a Reagan appointee, released a 61-page opinion halting damage to wetlands in undeveloped areas within the city of San Diego. The ruling criticizes the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan for its failure to conserve seven imperiled vernal pool wetland species including two fairy shrimp and five plants. The ruling also rejects a related lawsuit by developers and sends the plan back to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the agency to try again....
Looking Back: Sage Grouse Studies (1942)-Predation and the Sage Grouse: A Sage Grouse Nesting Study The Wyoming Game & Fish Department has been publishing their magazine, Wyoming Wildlife, monthly since 1935. The early editions offer interesting insight into wildlife issues faced by managers and biologists over the years in Wyoming. We found a copy of several Wyoming Wildlife issues from 1942. Below is a reprint of an article entitled “Predation and the Sage Grouse: Sage Grouse Nesting Study” written by Warren J. Allred, Wyoming Pittman-Robertson Range Specialist. Many of the same issues and concerns mentioned in this article studying sage grouse nesting in the Big Piney area more than 65 years ago are similar to what are being discussed today....
Hispanics Show Growing Clout in Environmental Debate Maria Valdez didn’t consider herself an environmentalist when she pressed this city east of Los Angeles to buy land ringed with factories and railroad tracks for a new neighborhood park. The trash lot is now on its way to becoming a green oasis with a butterfly sanctuary and community garden _ and Valdez is undergoing a transformation of her own. Next month she will be sworn in as president of the El Monte chapter of Mujeres de la Tierra, a two-year-old environmental group that caters to Hispanic immigrants and translates as “Women of the Earth.” “When you get involved and you know that you could make it happen, it feels good,” said Valdez, a stay-at-home mother of six. “I’m interested in the water, the air _ for our kids.” Spurred by high rates of asthma and lead poisoning among their children, Hispanic immigrants such as Valdez, a U.S. citizen who left Mexico as a child, are embracing green values like never before _ on their own terms. Hispanic activists and politicians talk openly about building a unique green movement that distances itself from mainstream environmental groups, even as those organizations hope to tap into newfound Hispanic political clout....
Walk-In to the Western Slope One of the state’s most popular hunter access programs is expanding to the Western Slope. The Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Walk-In Access program, which pays farmers and ranchers to open private land to public hunters, this year offers participants more than 200,000 acres along the eastern plains to hunt pheasants and scaled quail, starting on the season opener, Nov. 1. Now, a sister program targeted on goose hunting is about to open in western Colorado
Despite an initial hesitation by landowners in signing up for the program, local DOW officials said a handful of farms have agreed to allow waterfowl hunters on their property once the season begins Nov. 1....
No more cows: Giacomini sells the herd About 250 head of cattle from Rich and Darlene Giacomini’s dairy in Point Reyes Station were loaded onto semi trucks last Wednesday morning, then driven to their new owners at Tavares Dairy in Merced. On early Thursday morning, the trucks were back to continue the operation. Five hundred fifty acres of the prosperous dairy ranch was sold to the Park Service in 2000 for $4.5 million. Under the terms of the sale, the Giacomini family held on to several properties at the ranch’s periphery. The lease allows operations to continue until March 2007, said National Park Spokesman John Dell’Osso. At that time, the park hopes to begin restoring the pastures to tidal marshland. “As an organization that is trying to help preserve agriculture as a viable industry in West Marin, we’re sorry to see the dairy close,” said Robert Berner, Executive Director of Marin Agriculture Land Trust. “The dairy has been one of the most productive in the county. “Part of the historic identity of the town is being lost and there is something to regret about that,” said Berner....
Conservation partners protect critical block of South Dakota breeding grounds More than 10,300 acres of South Dakota native prairie grasslands and wetlands have been permanently protected with a nearly $3 million grant. This is thanks to the efforts of a broad coalition of conservation partners including Ducks Unlimited (DU), the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the North American Wetland Conservation Act (NAWCA) and 13 private landowners in central South Dakota. DU received a grant from NFWF that provided a springboard to purchase grassland easements on native prairie grassland and wetland complexes that supply critical breeding habitat for a diversity of grassland birds including waterfowl, shorebirds, raptors and songbirds. The native prairie and wetlands of Hand County have long been recognized as a prime breeding area for a diversity of bird species but, unfortunately, these populations are increasingly threatened by conversion of the grassland to cropland....
Land-use measure tackles 'eminent domain' debate When the U.S. Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, said last year that a city could force people to sell their property so that the government could turn it over to another private owner, activists and legislators across the country cried foul. More than two dozen states moved to enact laws prohibiting such use of the government's condemnation powers, but bills introduced in the California Legislature failed last spring. On Nov. 7, California voters will have a chance to restrict such government actions when they decide on Proposition 90. But Proposition 90 does not just address the court's landmark decision on ``eminent domain,'' the type of reform that even opponents of the ballot measure concede has popular appeal. Proposition 90 -- which largely has been financed by a New York real estate magnate and libertarian activist -- also contains a broad restriction on the ability of local and state agencies to enact regulations on the use of property, including common zoning rules that might have wide community acceptance....
Water fees prod action from farmers In a state where water disputes often have played out like old Sunday morning Westerns, Kevin Taylor is one of those who tries to keep the peace. Taylor, a government "water cop," enforces court-decreed water rights under the state watermaster program. But his job and the program itself may be in for big changes as farmers and ranchers faced with the prospect of soaring water-use fees fight to wrest control from the state and put it in the hands of individual counties. "I'm not against people looking to save money, but I'm not sure if they realize how complicated this can be," said Taylor, a watermaster in Northern California. "When you regulate water, you are taking food off a man's table and clothes off his kids' backs." The effort is a response to one of several recent attempts by the state Department of Water Resources to create revenue through consumer-financed programs....
USDA and EPA Ink Deal on Water Quality USDA Natural Resources and Environment Under Secretary Mark Rey and Benjamin Grumbles, Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water, signed a partnership agreement Friday to establish and promote water quality credit trading markets through cooperative conservation. The agreement features a pilot project within the Chesapeake Bay basin to showcase the effectiveness of environmental markets. "Water quality credit trading is a flexible, cost-effective approach for implementing conservation practices that reduce runoff, help producers meet water quality standards, and pursue water quality improvement goals in watersheds," Rey said. "We believe that voluntary, incentive based approaches are the most effective way to achieve sound resource management and conservation on private lands." "Trading for upgrading water quality is the wave of the future," said Grumbles. "We are committed to giving good stewards credit and partnering with agriculture to accelerate restoration and protection. This agreement is a big step forward." Water quality credit trading uses a market-based approach that offers incentives to farmers and ranchers who implement conservation practices that improve water quality. While reducing pollution, they can earn credits they can trade with industrial or municipal facilities that are required by the Clean Water Act and other laws to reduce the amounts of pollution in wastewater....
Time to cash in? Over the years, Wyoming's agricultural industry has proven to be at least resilient in the face of increasing development pressures. Agriculture continues to be the third-leading industry in Wyoming, generating $1.5 billion annually in economic revenue. Because agriculture is the dominant private land use in Wyoming -- controlling more than 95 percent of the private land in the state -- much of the concern about maintaining open spaces focuses on private ranchlands and farms. Those lands often include bottom lands along rivers and other important areas for wildlife habitat, especially during winter. The future of a vast majority of the state's open spaces will depend to a large extent on the retention of agricultural land in Wyoming. But more and more, agricultural land is being subdivided and developed. Escalating land values and marginal returns from agricultural endeavors are making it harder for ranchers and farmers to operate. And many ranchers are facing retirement but find it difficult to pass their ranches down within the family. It took Preston, for example, about 15 years to pay off the inheritance tax when he assumed ownership of the ranch....
Eastern ranchers feel pinch, too People once looking to live in city centers for the amenities are now looking for a more rural experience, and living 30 miles away from towns is more appealing. That far-away land was once a haven for ranchers, but now is a haven for homeowners, too. Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust executive director Glenn Pauley noted that just in the past year, 13,000 acres within unincorporated Laramie County have been bought and sold in 35-plus-acre tracts. By contrast, just over 9,000 acres were split up and sold between 1995 and 2004. And a recent University of Wyoming study found that more than 145,000 acres of ranchlands in Sublette County and more than 218,000 acres of ranchlands in Fremont County changed hands between 1990 and 2001. Since beginning his work as director of the wildlife trust fund board a year ago, Budd has traveled to all corners of the state. He has been helping evaluate requests for funding from the new state trust fund, intended to protect and improve habitat for wildlife -- much of it on private ranchland. While vast expanses of sagebrush still cover most of the state, Budd said he also has noticed significant residential development in many areas. There's "overflow" from South Dakota's Black Hills in the northeast corner, from Colorado in the southeast. Areas around Casper, Cody, Lander, Dubois and Pinedale are also seeing major growth....
Canadian farmer launches mad cow class action lawsuit A Quebec farmer asked a court for permission to launch a class action suit against the Canadian Government and an Australian feed producer, saying their negligence sparked a recent mad cow crisis in Canada. If approved, the case would be the first in Canada since a case of mad cow disease was discovered in Canada in May 2003, prompting more than 30 countries to ban Canadian beef imports. It could also lead to similar lawsuits across the country. Rancher Donald Berneche said in court documents that embargoes on Canadian beef cost him about $C100,000 ($A116.4). Some 20,000 Quebec farmers likely to be represented in the suit could claim as much as $C20 billion ($A23.29 billion). Mr Berneche blames Canada's agriculture ministry and Ridley, which makes animal feed from bone meal and brain meal in North America and is a subsidiary of Australia's Ridley, for "their inaction and their negligence". He laments that Canadian authorities waited until August 1997 to ban brain or spinal tissue from other cattle or ruminant animals in feed, while several European countries took this step in the early 1990s. For its part, Ridley continued to sell feed that contained brain or spinal tissue in Canada until August 1997, even though in Australia, the parent company conformed to stricter feed production practices as of May 1996....
FDA may OK meat from clones The government said Tuesday it is moving closer to approving meat and milk from cloned animals, drawing protests from consumer groups. The Bush administration is currently reviewing Food and Drug Administration plans to regulate cloned animals and food derived from them, the agency said in a statement. A draft of the plans should be released by the end of the year, FDA said. The agency has "studies that show that the meat and milk from cattle clones and their offspring are as safe as that from conventionally bred animals," the FDA statement said. The biotech industry says cloning lets breeders do what they've always done: select the best animals from the herd for reproduction....
Amarillo artisan honored for saddle craftsmanship The sweet smell of leather permeates Bob Marrs' Amarillo garage, an artisan's workshop packed with fond memories, great stories and the well-worn tools of a dedicated craftsman's trade. For decades, Marrs has handcrafted saddles for cowhands, world champion steer ropers Shoat Webster and Tuffy Thompson, country-western singer Randy Travis and "Hank the Cowdog" author John Erickson. He even did bridle work for famed Western actor Ben Johnson. Sandra Herl, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Western Artists, an organization dedicated to preserving and promoting Western heritage, said Marrs' legendary saddles earned him the academy's Don King Lifetime Saddlemaker Award last month. "I've been making saddles over 50 years," he said. "It was really a surprise to me because I had no idea. It was an honor for them to do that." The academy honored Marrs at its 11th annual Will Rogers Awards and handed him its trademark figurine, a white statue of Oklahoma's adored humorist. It was Marrs' second academy award. He won the academy's annual saddlemaker award in 1996....
It's all Trew: Fires have some quirks Since the range fires of March, most everyone in the burned areas have spent a lot of time hauling off burned fences and other charred items. At the Trew Ranch, we have carried the “essence of smoke” odor in our nostrils, hair and clothes everywhere we go. Those driving the blackened ranges have to service the air cleaners on their vehicles and equipment to remove the particles of blowing sand and embers. Others old enough recall the dirty days of the Dust Bowl when howling winds brought dark clouds of dust from dawn to dusk. Those dark clouds, like the heavy smoke of the range fires, reminded all that the end could be near. In looking back and visiting with neighbors, we find there are many quirks of circumstance happening during the raging firestorm. While some homes and many outbuildings were destroyed totally, nine homes of neighbors in the exact path of the fire were spared. One home totally surrounded by cedar trees and heavy brush was spared, yet our shop and gallery with only one lonely cedar tree at the front caught fire and burned to the ground....