SHERYL CROW, TOILET PAPER & KARL ROVE
Singer Sheryl Crow is blogging while on her two-week Stop Global Warming Tour. The Washing Post has printed some excerpts , one of which follows:
Crow (4/19, Springfield, Tenn.): I have spent the better part of this tour trying to come up with easy ways for us all to become a part of the solution to global warming. Although my ideas are in the earliest stages of development, they are, in my mind, worth investigating. One of my favorites is in the area of forest conservation which we heavily rely on for oxygen. I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required.
Apparently the earth got a little warmer when Crow and her cohorts had a little dustup with Karl Rove at the annual White House correspondent's dinner.
UPDATE: Drudge says Crow is trying to "wipe out" global warming.
Monday, April 23, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Utah fighting the laws of the land It's a small gesture of defiance — a narrow metal bridge that allows off-road vehicles illegal access to this archeologically rich canyon. But the modest structure, built by San Juan County officials on U.S. government land, is a symbol of the widespread local resistance to federal authority across much of southern Utah's magnificent countryside. Historically, people in the rural West have challenged federal jurisdiction, claiming ownership over rights of way, livestock management and water use. But nowhere is the modern-day defiance more determined, better organized or more well-funded than in Utah, where millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent fighting federal authority, and where the state government is helping to pay the tab, much of it, critics say, without oversight. For the last decade the Utah Legislature and two state agencies have been funneling money to southern Utah counties to bankroll legal challenges to federal jurisdiction. Most recently, a state representative persuaded the Legislature to provide $100,000 to help finance a lawsuit by ranchers and two counties seeking to expand cattle grazing in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. n addition, the Constitutional Defense Council, established to protect state and county interests on federal land, has paid out more than $10 million, much of it to assist southern counties in legal battles against the BLM and the National Park Service. The 2-year-old Public Lands Policy Coordination Office last year offered each county in Utah $10,000 to fight for rights of way across federal land and is funding a $1-million study on the economic impact of large federal holdings in the state....
Pipeline project underway A pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Colorado's Front Range is past the proposal stage and the project is moving forward, project developer Aaron Million said Wednesday. "The Green River runs above average 25 to 30 percent of the time when Colorado's rivers are running below average," said Million of Fort Collins. "Water taken out of the reservoir would be charged to Colorado. It would benefit agriculture that is getting decimated on the Front Range." His words came during the Yampa/White Basin roundtable at the Holiday Inn of Craig. Flaming Gorge Reservoir straddles the Wyoming/Utah border, just east of where the two states and Colorado come together. The plan entails sending 165,000 acre-feet of water annually to eastern Colorado via a pipeline running through southern Wyoming with pumps powered by natural gas turbines along the route. The project will be privately financed and carries a three-to-five year timeline for completion. Million noted that Flaming Gorge Reservoir is larger than all the reservoirs in Colorado combined, and Colorado is allowed access to water as the Green River flows through the northwest part of the state, in an area with nearly no consumptive use....
What lies beneath What began as a small gas seep nearly a year ago has morphed into several larger ground disturbances in two different areas of the eastern Red Desert. These odd-looking features along Wild Cow Creek near the confluence of Deep Gulch and Cow Creek are methane springs, with hot water and gas spurting from underneath the earth, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The "mud pots" have appeared as the nearby Atlantic Rim area is being developed for coal-bed methane production by Double Eagle Petroleum Company and Anadarko Petroleum. They are similar in appearance to mud pots that have appeared in Yellowstone National Park, and their presence has surprised long-time residents of the area. Savery rancher Pat O’Toole described one of the features as 30 feet wide with gas and water spurting a foot high. When standing nearby if you “just ... close your eyes and listen, it’s graphic,” O’Toole said. “These things are rolling and boiling,” Little Snake River Conservation District Supervisor Larry Hicks said....
'Drilled full of holes?' Phyllis Boye has one of the best views in Wyoming. Perched atop a ridge, where she has lived since 1980, Boye, nearly 80, can look out to 30 head of deer in her yard in the morning, or the majesty of the Wyoming Range in the near distance. "I just love everything about it," Boye (pronounced Boy-ay), said. "I love the scenery, I love the animals up there. Basically I really love Wyoming and I hate to see it drilled full of holes." It is her neighborhood around the Hoback Ranches that's now being eyed for energy development. An energy company out of Houston has applied to drill three exploratory wells from a single pad just on the other side of Picnic Ridge in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The ridge sits right next to Boye's home. It's a new wrinkle in the ongoing push and pull between land managers who are processing more and more drilling permits in areas more and more sensitive to wildlife -- and now, in Hoback Ranches -- to people. There are about 140 homes in Hoback Ranches. Most who live there are seasonal, summer-time residents. For year-round residents like Boye, winter access is generally by snowmobile....
Lawsuit targets Interior official In the middle of the debate over the future of the Gunnison Sage-grouse is Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald. MacDonald oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's operations, including Endangered Species Act reviews. A lawsuit by nine environmental groups and San Miguel County contends the Bush administration - through MacDonald - made a political, not scientific, decision to keep the Gunnison grouse off the endangered-species list. "MacDonald reached out and interfered with the biologically based decisions by staff in Colorado," said Amy Atwood, attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center. MacDonald appears to have been involved in the process based on some of the 500 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documents obtained by the environmental group Sagebrush Sea Campaign. A July 2005 e-mail shows that after a call from a governor's office, MacDonald made inquiries about the grouse. In December 2005, handwritten notes by an FWS Colorado supervisor indicated that it was decided Washington would handle the first draft of the findings. An April 2006 e-mail states that "JM" asked for an electronic copy of the decision to "do some editing." Environmental groups say their opposition to MacDonald has been bolstered by an investigation by the Department of Interior's Inspector General....
Rare bird fights for survival Morning sun crested over the Fossil Ridge Wilderness, illuminating dozens of Gunnison Sage-grouse performing their age-old breast-puffing mating ritual - what some call a dance on the edge of extinction. The birds strut, fight and strike Kabuki-like poses in a rite as wild and natural as the sagebrush around them. But even on this remote and vacant land, the wild birds have not escaped the impacts of humans. Grouse habitat has been destroyed, the bird's population cut, and its future is being litigated and regulated. "A single species becomes a symbol for a much larger issue about the degradation of land," said Jessica Young, a biology professor at Western State College in Gunnison. The Gunnison grouse is one of the country's most endangered birds, according to the Audubon Society and the World Conservation Union. Yet after the grouse's six years as a candidate for federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006 removed it from consideration for the endangered-species list. The decision relieved ranchers and outraged conservationists. Faced with federal regulation of the land, Gunnison ranchers and local officials a decade ago began a homegrown effort to protect the grouse. More than $11 million in public funds has been spent to preserve 17,000 acres and enhance the bird's habitat....
N. Ariz. off-roaders fear a near-ban Coconino National Forest officials are considering closing almost all off-road trails used by motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles by September 2009. The near-ban is part of a national proposal designed to cut back on motorized cross-country travel in national forests, and it could be modified once existing trails are mapped, U.S. Forest Service officials told riding groups. A briefing for nearly 200 motorbike and ATV enthusiasts at a Flagstaff motorcycle shop last Wednesday brought a swift reaction from riders, who complained that closing the forest to off-road use and then selectively reopening some trails would leave them without a recreation spot. "They see a legitimate problem, but their management is, 'Close it,' " said Keith Greenwalt, a member of the Coconino Trail Riders group. The Trail Riders have been asking for multiuse trails that include dirt bikes and ATVs for the last 30 years to eliminate damage from cross-country travel, Greenwalt said. Scars across the land tarnish the image of responsible riders, he said....
Forest Service rule prohibits over-snow traffic in ski town A new Forest Service rule has angered residents of Alta who say their winter travel will be too restricted. Homeowners in Alta rely on Snowcats, snowmobiles and skis to reach their homes during winter because many roads are unpaved. The Forest Service rule would ban so-called over-snow vehicle travel between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily during ski season. The rule is meant to boost skier safety at Alta Ski Area. About 21 homes would be affected. The Forest Service says the travel ban has been in place since 1982. It's just never been enforced. But residents say when the resort expanded in 1981 they were promised that it would not impede access to their homes....
2 off-roader events win BLM approval Federal land managers this week approved permits for a pair of off-highway vehicle events in San Juan County's Arch Canyon, the current hotspot in the ongoing debate over motorized versus non-motorized activities in Utah's backcountry. But the Bureau of Land Management, in approving the OHV event permits, spurned a draft environmental assessment that called for up to eight such events yearly. The first event, a Jeep jamboree, is scheduled for this weekend. Sandy Meyers, field manager of the BLM's Monticello Field Office, said Friday that scaling back the proposal was largely done in a bid to bring opposing factions to the table to discuss the future of motorized uses in the canyon. "We could have approved eight events; it probably wouldn't have any more impact than two events given how closely these things are guided and monitored. But we're trying to get some consensus as far as a general management plan goes," Meyers said....
Bill would create new wilderness Conservationists say U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's plan to designate 2.4 million acres of California mountains as wilderness ---- including areas in San Diego and Riverside counties ---- would preserve a back-country treasure for future generations. But off-road enthusiasts say Boxer's new wilderness bill would lock up that treasure forever so that only a privileged few could use it. California already has one of the nation's most extensive wilderness systems, one that covers more than 14 million acres or 13 percent of its sun-splashed lands. But Meg Grossglass, a spokeswoman for the Bakersfield-based Off-Road Business Association who resides in the French Valley community near Temecula, said enough land has been preserved already, and the bill would have the effect of putting a padlock on places people would otherwise visit. That, she said, is because many prefer not to recreate on foot or horseback, the only permitted methods of travel in most wilderness areas....
CO poisoning linked to Lake Powell deaths An invisible killer stalked the waters of Lake Powell for years, causing nearly half of the "drownings" reported there. But they were not simple drownings. They were part of a mystery that saw excellent swimmers unexpectedly sink and die, sometimes after just moments in the water. Their real killer was carbon monoxide (CO) from the exhaust of engines and houseboat generators, sometimes found in concentrations so high behind boats that lethal amounts could be inhaled literally in seconds, making victims fall unconscious and drown or die from CO poisoning itself. Stubborn detective work identified the problem and made initially reluctant agencies act to correct boat design. But continuing work begun at Lake Powell suggests carbon monoxide still may be an unrecognized mass killer nationwide. "There could be as many as 250 boat-related drownings per year (nationally) that are carbon monoxide poisoning first," says Jane McCammon, one of the scientists who identified the problem. "But that is a big guess," she adds, saying other areas often do not test for carbon monoxide poisoning in blood of "drowning" victims as doctors at Lake Powell have learned to do. So she extrapolates from work at Powell and by tracking a growing list of accidental drownings nationwide that show signs of CO poisoning....
Cattle get reflective ear tags to prevent collisions Cattle grazing on the open range along State Route 95 in San Juan County are sporting new ear tags. Made from the same material as road signs, the tags are designed to prevent motorists from hitting cows at night. Rancher Sandy Johnson, who has grazing permits along State Route 95, said he lost about 10 cows in a year to collisions with cars but has not lost any since November, when he began putting the tags on his cattle. Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Eldredge, who polices San Juan County, said he came up with the idea five or six years ago and delivered some to a rancher a with range between Bluff and Montezuma Creek. He began delivering new batches to Johnson last year after a series of accidents with his herd, which numbers about 350. Many of the vehicles striking cows are thought to have been crammed with undocumented immigrants. “We'd just find an abandoned van, a dead cow and no one around,” Eldredge said....
FDA Was Aware of Dangers To Food The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show. Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents. Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply. FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode. Last week, the FDA notified California state health officials that hogs on a farm in the state had likely eaten feed laced with melamine, an industrial chemical blamed for the deaths of dozens of pets in recent weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether the chemical's presence in the hogs represents a threat to humans....
New Book Tells a Horsewoman's True Story of the Curly Horse of America Nevada's Mystery Horse by Carol L. Erickson investigates a real 21st century mystery--the origins of curly-haired horses, a breed which managed to survive against incredible odds. Most people have never seen a curly-haired horse, and their origins remain a complete mystery. Yet fourth generation rancher Carol L. Erickson fell in love with these strange curly-haired horses the moment she saw a photo of them. Nevada's Mystery Horse is her gripping account of how one very special woman came to champion a very exotic breed, and how careful breeding saved them from extinction. Erickson journeys back to the 1930s to describe how these mesmerizing animals were initially destroyed because ranchers believed they were sick. Originally, less than 300 of these creatures were alive, but because of increased interest and the formation of a curly-haired horse registry, they are now 3000 strong and growing. This is a fascinating story for anyone who loves horses, cares about preservation, or just loves a galloping good mystery. Told with warmth, wit and a keen love of animals, Nevada's Mystery Horse is a winner to be enjoyed by all....
Museum in north Texas trying to preserve collection of 500-plus hats For more than 50 years, Nat Fleming's western wear store didn't just sell cowboy hats — it became a shrine to them. The hundreds of worn hats nailed to the wooden rafters actually were a tribute to his customers — the ranch hands, wealthy oil investors and businessmen who gave him their old hats when they bought new ones. He even had one from Gene Autry, although it was stored in a glass case and on loan from the collector who owned it. But Fleming, 85, closed the Cow Lot when he retired late last year in this North Texas city. Now the Museum of North Texas History wants to preserve the 511-hat collection and has raised about a third of the $40,000 needed to build the display room. Some, like the white hat owned by Fleming's wife, look pristine. A Kansas game warden's straw hat also appears new. Others are a bit worn, the gray or tan felt brims stained brown from sweat, dirt and oil off the farmers' and workers' hands so many decades ago. "I'm so proud of every one we got in because everybody that came in the store had a different one," Fleming said. Soon after Fleming opened his store in 1952, his brother gave him a dark brown 10-gallon hat with a bullet hole in the back brim. So Fleming decided to hang it on the wall, never anticipating the trend he would start....
Cowboys, Lassos and Spurs: Photographing the Old West The New Mexico Photography Field School, New Mexico's Premier Photography Workshops, Is pleased to announce "Ranchers, Ramblers & Renegades: Portraits of the Old West", July 8-14, 2007. During this workshop participants will be photographing people who make their living ranching, training horses, raising cattle — these individuals aren't models “pretending” to be Ranchers, Ramblers and Renegades — they're the real deal. Because The Field School has established personal relationships with the owners of ranches and haciendas where we will be photographing, participants will be able to have unique experiences unavailable to “tourists” at the best times of the day. The workshop will focus on environmental portraiture and understanding how to make great images utilizing the quality and direction of natural light. Participants will also gain experience in using reflectors and translucent panels to enhance the quality of their photography. There will also be frequent feedback sessions so participants can receive constructive comments about their work....
Utah fighting the laws of the land It's a small gesture of defiance — a narrow metal bridge that allows off-road vehicles illegal access to this archeologically rich canyon. But the modest structure, built by San Juan County officials on U.S. government land, is a symbol of the widespread local resistance to federal authority across much of southern Utah's magnificent countryside. Historically, people in the rural West have challenged federal jurisdiction, claiming ownership over rights of way, livestock management and water use. But nowhere is the modern-day defiance more determined, better organized or more well-funded than in Utah, where millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent fighting federal authority, and where the state government is helping to pay the tab, much of it, critics say, without oversight. For the last decade the Utah Legislature and two state agencies have been funneling money to southern Utah counties to bankroll legal challenges to federal jurisdiction. Most recently, a state representative persuaded the Legislature to provide $100,000 to help finance a lawsuit by ranchers and two counties seeking to expand cattle grazing in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. n addition, the Constitutional Defense Council, established to protect state and county interests on federal land, has paid out more than $10 million, much of it to assist southern counties in legal battles against the BLM and the National Park Service. The 2-year-old Public Lands Policy Coordination Office last year offered each county in Utah $10,000 to fight for rights of way across federal land and is funding a $1-million study on the economic impact of large federal holdings in the state....
Pipeline project underway A pipeline from Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Colorado's Front Range is past the proposal stage and the project is moving forward, project developer Aaron Million said Wednesday. "The Green River runs above average 25 to 30 percent of the time when Colorado's rivers are running below average," said Million of Fort Collins. "Water taken out of the reservoir would be charged to Colorado. It would benefit agriculture that is getting decimated on the Front Range." His words came during the Yampa/White Basin roundtable at the Holiday Inn of Craig. Flaming Gorge Reservoir straddles the Wyoming/Utah border, just east of where the two states and Colorado come together. The plan entails sending 165,000 acre-feet of water annually to eastern Colorado via a pipeline running through southern Wyoming with pumps powered by natural gas turbines along the route. The project will be privately financed and carries a three-to-five year timeline for completion. Million noted that Flaming Gorge Reservoir is larger than all the reservoirs in Colorado combined, and Colorado is allowed access to water as the Green River flows through the northwest part of the state, in an area with nearly no consumptive use....
What lies beneath What began as a small gas seep nearly a year ago has morphed into several larger ground disturbances in two different areas of the eastern Red Desert. These odd-looking features along Wild Cow Creek near the confluence of Deep Gulch and Cow Creek are methane springs, with hot water and gas spurting from underneath the earth, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The "mud pots" have appeared as the nearby Atlantic Rim area is being developed for coal-bed methane production by Double Eagle Petroleum Company and Anadarko Petroleum. They are similar in appearance to mud pots that have appeared in Yellowstone National Park, and their presence has surprised long-time residents of the area. Savery rancher Pat O’Toole described one of the features as 30 feet wide with gas and water spurting a foot high. When standing nearby if you “just ... close your eyes and listen, it’s graphic,” O’Toole said. “These things are rolling and boiling,” Little Snake River Conservation District Supervisor Larry Hicks said....
'Drilled full of holes?' Phyllis Boye has one of the best views in Wyoming. Perched atop a ridge, where she has lived since 1980, Boye, nearly 80, can look out to 30 head of deer in her yard in the morning, or the majesty of the Wyoming Range in the near distance. "I just love everything about it," Boye (pronounced Boy-ay), said. "I love the scenery, I love the animals up there. Basically I really love Wyoming and I hate to see it drilled full of holes." It is her neighborhood around the Hoback Ranches that's now being eyed for energy development. An energy company out of Houston has applied to drill three exploratory wells from a single pad just on the other side of Picnic Ridge in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The ridge sits right next to Boye's home. It's a new wrinkle in the ongoing push and pull between land managers who are processing more and more drilling permits in areas more and more sensitive to wildlife -- and now, in Hoback Ranches -- to people. There are about 140 homes in Hoback Ranches. Most who live there are seasonal, summer-time residents. For year-round residents like Boye, winter access is generally by snowmobile....
Lawsuit targets Interior official In the middle of the debate over the future of the Gunnison Sage-grouse is Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald. MacDonald oversees the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's operations, including Endangered Species Act reviews. A lawsuit by nine environmental groups and San Miguel County contends the Bush administration - through MacDonald - made a political, not scientific, decision to keep the Gunnison grouse off the endangered-species list. "MacDonald reached out and interfered with the biologically based decisions by staff in Colorado," said Amy Atwood, attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center. MacDonald appears to have been involved in the process based on some of the 500 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service documents obtained by the environmental group Sagebrush Sea Campaign. A July 2005 e-mail shows that after a call from a governor's office, MacDonald made inquiries about the grouse. In December 2005, handwritten notes by an FWS Colorado supervisor indicated that it was decided Washington would handle the first draft of the findings. An April 2006 e-mail states that "JM" asked for an electronic copy of the decision to "do some editing." Environmental groups say their opposition to MacDonald has been bolstered by an investigation by the Department of Interior's Inspector General....
Rare bird fights for survival Morning sun crested over the Fossil Ridge Wilderness, illuminating dozens of Gunnison Sage-grouse performing their age-old breast-puffing mating ritual - what some call a dance on the edge of extinction. The birds strut, fight and strike Kabuki-like poses in a rite as wild and natural as the sagebrush around them. But even on this remote and vacant land, the wild birds have not escaped the impacts of humans. Grouse habitat has been destroyed, the bird's population cut, and its future is being litigated and regulated. "A single species becomes a symbol for a much larger issue about the degradation of land," said Jessica Young, a biology professor at Western State College in Gunnison. The Gunnison grouse is one of the country's most endangered birds, according to the Audubon Society and the World Conservation Union. Yet after the grouse's six years as a candidate for federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2006 removed it from consideration for the endangered-species list. The decision relieved ranchers and outraged conservationists. Faced with federal regulation of the land, Gunnison ranchers and local officials a decade ago began a homegrown effort to protect the grouse. More than $11 million in public funds has been spent to preserve 17,000 acres and enhance the bird's habitat....
N. Ariz. off-roaders fear a near-ban Coconino National Forest officials are considering closing almost all off-road trails used by motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles by September 2009. The near-ban is part of a national proposal designed to cut back on motorized cross-country travel in national forests, and it could be modified once existing trails are mapped, U.S. Forest Service officials told riding groups. A briefing for nearly 200 motorbike and ATV enthusiasts at a Flagstaff motorcycle shop last Wednesday brought a swift reaction from riders, who complained that closing the forest to off-road use and then selectively reopening some trails would leave them without a recreation spot. "They see a legitimate problem, but their management is, 'Close it,' " said Keith Greenwalt, a member of the Coconino Trail Riders group. The Trail Riders have been asking for multiuse trails that include dirt bikes and ATVs for the last 30 years to eliminate damage from cross-country travel, Greenwalt said. Scars across the land tarnish the image of responsible riders, he said....
Forest Service rule prohibits over-snow traffic in ski town A new Forest Service rule has angered residents of Alta who say their winter travel will be too restricted. Homeowners in Alta rely on Snowcats, snowmobiles and skis to reach their homes during winter because many roads are unpaved. The Forest Service rule would ban so-called over-snow vehicle travel between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily during ski season. The rule is meant to boost skier safety at Alta Ski Area. About 21 homes would be affected. The Forest Service says the travel ban has been in place since 1982. It's just never been enforced. But residents say when the resort expanded in 1981 they were promised that it would not impede access to their homes....
2 off-roader events win BLM approval Federal land managers this week approved permits for a pair of off-highway vehicle events in San Juan County's Arch Canyon, the current hotspot in the ongoing debate over motorized versus non-motorized activities in Utah's backcountry. But the Bureau of Land Management, in approving the OHV event permits, spurned a draft environmental assessment that called for up to eight such events yearly. The first event, a Jeep jamboree, is scheduled for this weekend. Sandy Meyers, field manager of the BLM's Monticello Field Office, said Friday that scaling back the proposal was largely done in a bid to bring opposing factions to the table to discuss the future of motorized uses in the canyon. "We could have approved eight events; it probably wouldn't have any more impact than two events given how closely these things are guided and monitored. But we're trying to get some consensus as far as a general management plan goes," Meyers said....
Bill would create new wilderness Conservationists say U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer's plan to designate 2.4 million acres of California mountains as wilderness ---- including areas in San Diego and Riverside counties ---- would preserve a back-country treasure for future generations. But off-road enthusiasts say Boxer's new wilderness bill would lock up that treasure forever so that only a privileged few could use it. California already has one of the nation's most extensive wilderness systems, one that covers more than 14 million acres or 13 percent of its sun-splashed lands. But Meg Grossglass, a spokeswoman for the Bakersfield-based Off-Road Business Association who resides in the French Valley community near Temecula, said enough land has been preserved already, and the bill would have the effect of putting a padlock on places people would otherwise visit. That, she said, is because many prefer not to recreate on foot or horseback, the only permitted methods of travel in most wilderness areas....
CO poisoning linked to Lake Powell deaths An invisible killer stalked the waters of Lake Powell for years, causing nearly half of the "drownings" reported there. But they were not simple drownings. They were part of a mystery that saw excellent swimmers unexpectedly sink and die, sometimes after just moments in the water. Their real killer was carbon monoxide (CO) from the exhaust of engines and houseboat generators, sometimes found in concentrations so high behind boats that lethal amounts could be inhaled literally in seconds, making victims fall unconscious and drown or die from CO poisoning itself. Stubborn detective work identified the problem and made initially reluctant agencies act to correct boat design. But continuing work begun at Lake Powell suggests carbon monoxide still may be an unrecognized mass killer nationwide. "There could be as many as 250 boat-related drownings per year (nationally) that are carbon monoxide poisoning first," says Jane McCammon, one of the scientists who identified the problem. "But that is a big guess," she adds, saying other areas often do not test for carbon monoxide poisoning in blood of "drowning" victims as doctors at Lake Powell have learned to do. So she extrapolates from work at Powell and by tracking a growing list of accidental drownings nationwide that show signs of CO poisoning....
Cattle get reflective ear tags to prevent collisions Cattle grazing on the open range along State Route 95 in San Juan County are sporting new ear tags. Made from the same material as road signs, the tags are designed to prevent motorists from hitting cows at night. Rancher Sandy Johnson, who has grazing permits along State Route 95, said he lost about 10 cows in a year to collisions with cars but has not lost any since November, when he began putting the tags on his cattle. Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Eldredge, who polices San Juan County, said he came up with the idea five or six years ago and delivered some to a rancher a with range between Bluff and Montezuma Creek. He began delivering new batches to Johnson last year after a series of accidents with his herd, which numbers about 350. Many of the vehicles striking cows are thought to have been crammed with undocumented immigrants. “We'd just find an abandoned van, a dead cow and no one around,” Eldredge said....
FDA Was Aware of Dangers To Food The Food and Drug Administration has known for years about contamination problems at a Georgia peanut butter plant and on California spinach farms that led to disease outbreaks that killed three people, sickened hundreds, and forced one of the biggest product recalls in U.S. history, documents and interviews show. Overwhelmed by huge growth in the number of food processors and imports, however, the agency took only limited steps to address the problems and relied on producers to police themselves, according to agency documents. Congressional critics and consumer advocates said both episodes show that the agency is incapable of adequately protecting the safety of the food supply. FDA officials conceded that the agency's system needs to be overhauled to meet today's demands, but contended that the agency could not have done anything to prevent either contamination episode. Last week, the FDA notified California state health officials that hogs on a farm in the state had likely eaten feed laced with melamine, an industrial chemical blamed for the deaths of dozens of pets in recent weeks. Officials are trying to determine whether the chemical's presence in the hogs represents a threat to humans....
New Book Tells a Horsewoman's True Story of the Curly Horse of America Nevada's Mystery Horse by Carol L. Erickson investigates a real 21st century mystery--the origins of curly-haired horses, a breed which managed to survive against incredible odds. Most people have never seen a curly-haired horse, and their origins remain a complete mystery. Yet fourth generation rancher Carol L. Erickson fell in love with these strange curly-haired horses the moment she saw a photo of them. Nevada's Mystery Horse is her gripping account of how one very special woman came to champion a very exotic breed, and how careful breeding saved them from extinction. Erickson journeys back to the 1930s to describe how these mesmerizing animals were initially destroyed because ranchers believed they were sick. Originally, less than 300 of these creatures were alive, but because of increased interest and the formation of a curly-haired horse registry, they are now 3000 strong and growing. This is a fascinating story for anyone who loves horses, cares about preservation, or just loves a galloping good mystery. Told with warmth, wit and a keen love of animals, Nevada's Mystery Horse is a winner to be enjoyed by all....
Museum in north Texas trying to preserve collection of 500-plus hats For more than 50 years, Nat Fleming's western wear store didn't just sell cowboy hats — it became a shrine to them. The hundreds of worn hats nailed to the wooden rafters actually were a tribute to his customers — the ranch hands, wealthy oil investors and businessmen who gave him their old hats when they bought new ones. He even had one from Gene Autry, although it was stored in a glass case and on loan from the collector who owned it. But Fleming, 85, closed the Cow Lot when he retired late last year in this North Texas city. Now the Museum of North Texas History wants to preserve the 511-hat collection and has raised about a third of the $40,000 needed to build the display room. Some, like the white hat owned by Fleming's wife, look pristine. A Kansas game warden's straw hat also appears new. Others are a bit worn, the gray or tan felt brims stained brown from sweat, dirt and oil off the farmers' and workers' hands so many decades ago. "I'm so proud of every one we got in because everybody that came in the store had a different one," Fleming said. Soon after Fleming opened his store in 1952, his brother gave him a dark brown 10-gallon hat with a bullet hole in the back brim. So Fleming decided to hang it on the wall, never anticipating the trend he would start....
Cowboys, Lassos and Spurs: Photographing the Old West The New Mexico Photography Field School, New Mexico's Premier Photography Workshops, Is pleased to announce "Ranchers, Ramblers & Renegades: Portraits of the Old West", July 8-14, 2007. During this workshop participants will be photographing people who make their living ranching, training horses, raising cattle — these individuals aren't models “pretending” to be Ranchers, Ramblers and Renegades — they're the real deal. Because The Field School has established personal relationships with the owners of ranches and haciendas where we will be photographing, participants will be able to have unique experiences unavailable to “tourists” at the best times of the day. The workshop will focus on environmental portraiture and understanding how to make great images utilizing the quality and direction of natural light. Participants will also gain experience in using reflectors and translucent panels to enhance the quality of their photography. There will also be frequent feedback sessions so participants can receive constructive comments about their work....
Dear Frank,
I just wanted to let you know about a unique writing workshop I will be teaching again in June, which may of be some interest to you and your blog readers. For the second summer in a row, the workshop will take place at Granite Creek Ranch in Eastern Idaho. It went marvelously last summer—a truly amazing week spent on horseback, writing in the field, close reading Western American Fiction, and creating an intimate workshop space in the barn with the swallows flying above us. Due to the success of last summer, I am offering the workshop again this year but limiting the number of participants to only eight in order preserve the intimate nature of the workshop.
I am attaching the workshop announcement. Could you perhaps print an announcement for this workshop on a community events listing or calendar?
Please email if you have any other questions. Thank you.
Best,
Reif Larsen
Columbia University
Writing the High Country: A Fiction Workshop Retreat on a Western Cattle Ranch
Have you ever wanted to spend the morning on horseback and the afternoon writing about the quiet pull of a mountain range?
Here’s your chance: a week long fiction workshop intensive located on a working cattle ranch near the Snake River in the Idaho Tetons. We will read a selection of classic and contemporary western writing, discussing both the legacies of the mythical “old west” and the realities of the “new west” as they play out in literature. Ranching activities, including a round-up and a branding of the calves, will be interspersed throughout the workshop schedule. We will also attend a mid-week rodeo in Jackson Hole. Each participant will emerge from the week with a piece of short fiction. Readings from Wallace Stegner, William Kittredge, Richard Ford, Cormac McCarthy, Tom McGuane, Barry Lopez, and Annie Proulx, among others.
The Location: This is the second year the workshop will take place at the Granite Creek Ranch, a working cattle ranch located in the Snake River valley in Ririe, Idaho, halfway between Jackson Hole, WY and Idaho Falls. Yellowstone & Teton National Park are nearby. Accommodations are in rustic cabins. For more info go to: www.granitecreekranch.com.
Dates: June 17th-23rd, 2007. Space is limited to eight participants.
Cost: $1375. (The cost of the workshop includes all meals, lodging, horseback rides, and activities. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to the ranch.)
Testimonials from past participants:
- "Every single element has been helpful... the writing exercises have been a critical point of differentiation from other workshops I've taken... they have changed the way I view my writing process."
- "Before I came here, I didn’t see how I could write a short story by the end of the week, but because we were given the tools to do so through the writing activities, it was easier than I imagined… I was satisfied completely."
-"I'm truly in awe of this experience... there's been magic, amazing grace, wisdom in all present... this experience was sacred."
About the Instructor: Reif Larsen is a writer, filmmaker, and teacher. He has taught writing workshops in Idaho, South Africa, the UK, and New York City. He currently teaches writing at Columbia University.
For more information and an application, please email: ril2104@columbia.edu.
I just wanted to let you know about a unique writing workshop I will be teaching again in June, which may of be some interest to you and your blog readers. For the second summer in a row, the workshop will take place at Granite Creek Ranch in Eastern Idaho. It went marvelously last summer—a truly amazing week spent on horseback, writing in the field, close reading Western American Fiction, and creating an intimate workshop space in the barn with the swallows flying above us. Due to the success of last summer, I am offering the workshop again this year but limiting the number of participants to only eight in order preserve the intimate nature of the workshop.
I am attaching the workshop announcement. Could you perhaps print an announcement for this workshop on a community events listing or calendar?
Please email if you have any other questions. Thank you.
Best,
Reif Larsen
Columbia University
Writing the High Country: A Fiction Workshop Retreat on a Western Cattle Ranch
Have you ever wanted to spend the morning on horseback and the afternoon writing about the quiet pull of a mountain range?
Here’s your chance: a week long fiction workshop intensive located on a working cattle ranch near the Snake River in the Idaho Tetons. We will read a selection of classic and contemporary western writing, discussing both the legacies of the mythical “old west” and the realities of the “new west” as they play out in literature. Ranching activities, including a round-up and a branding of the calves, will be interspersed throughout the workshop schedule. We will also attend a mid-week rodeo in Jackson Hole. Each participant will emerge from the week with a piece of short fiction. Readings from Wallace Stegner, William Kittredge, Richard Ford, Cormac McCarthy, Tom McGuane, Barry Lopez, and Annie Proulx, among others.
The Location: This is the second year the workshop will take place at the Granite Creek Ranch, a working cattle ranch located in the Snake River valley in Ririe, Idaho, halfway between Jackson Hole, WY and Idaho Falls. Yellowstone & Teton National Park are nearby. Accommodations are in rustic cabins. For more info go to: www.granitecreekranch.com.
Dates: June 17th-23rd, 2007. Space is limited to eight participants.
Cost: $1375. (The cost of the workshop includes all meals, lodging, horseback rides, and activities. Participants are responsible for their own transportation to the ranch.)
Testimonials from past participants:
- "Every single element has been helpful... the writing exercises have been a critical point of differentiation from other workshops I've taken... they have changed the way I view my writing process."
- "Before I came here, I didn’t see how I could write a short story by the end of the week, but because we were given the tools to do so through the writing activities, it was easier than I imagined… I was satisfied completely."
-"I'm truly in awe of this experience... there's been magic, amazing grace, wisdom in all present... this experience was sacred."
About the Instructor: Reif Larsen is a writer, filmmaker, and teacher. He has taught writing workshops in Idaho, South Africa, the UK, and New York City. He currently teaches writing at Columbia University.
For more information and an application, please email: ril2104@columbia.edu.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Cowgirl Sass and Savvy
The jingle of the spur
By Julie Carter
There are several items of a cowboy's life that he treasures highly, sometimes more than life itself.
Right at the top of the list are his spurs.
Spurs are a standard part of a cowboy's day-to-day working equipment and, usually, they never come off his boots.
Understanding that cowboys seldom remove their spurs will dictate the type of furniture, carpet or other flooring in the house he lives in.
It is also a reassuring sound late at night when the work has gone long past sundown, to hear the familiar jingle come through the back door.
Spur jingles are as recognizable to a ranch wife as the sound of the ranch pickup to the resident dog.
Spurs are a point of pride for the cowboy. They regularly are handmade, inlaid with silver, embossed with initials, brands and good luck totems.
A spur can reveal a cowboy's geographic origin, riding philosophy, ego or intelligence quotient.
Foot jewelry will include bells, jingle bobs, pizza cutter rowels, tooled straps, and silver buckles. Whatever they look like, it can be and often is, a topic of regular conversation.
By nature and more often by necessity, cowboys are frugal. All sorts of items will be recycled until safety becomes an issue and even then it is a debatable moment.
Case in point, one cowboy I know owns a tie-down strap, homemade from material he and his buddy partnered on when they were in college 30 years ago.
That strap, a mark of frugality, ties to a new $3,000 saddle set on a very expensive horse to go to some high-dollar ropings.
But he sees no reason to replace it as long as it still does the job.
He is sure that strap is the reason his horse can stay on course when he's after a triple-A running steer.
This same frugal cowboy shares the story about another cowboy, a very economy-minded individual, who needed to replace his worn-out spur rowels.
In his mind, the store-bought rowels were simply too expensive. So he decided quarters would work just as well. He could put them in himself and avoid the saddle-shop labor component.
The next time these two models of frugality met, the former 25-cent spur-roweled cowboy was wearing nickels for spur rowels. He said he had saved 40-cents that way and the horse didn't know any different.
The rest of story was that it took a week for him to figure out how much he'd save before he could determine if it was worthwhile.
Bill, a Texas Panhandle short-grass rancher, had a cowhand working for him who was especially proud of his spurs. The cowboy wore them all day, every day and even presumably at night for a number of years while working for Bill.
At one point, the cowboy needed a loan. He needed $600 for some undisclosed emergency and to prove his sincerity, he offered to put up his beloved spurs for collateral.
Bill felt like nothing short of threats of life and bodily harm would part that man from his spurs, so he loaned him the $600.
Whatever the emergency was, the cowhand skipped the country with Bill's money.
The spurs are now a family heirloom, known to all the extended cousins down the line as "the $600 spurs."
Check back to the website –new additions to the blog—leave your comment!
© Julie Carter 2007
The jingle of the spur
By Julie Carter
There are several items of a cowboy's life that he treasures highly, sometimes more than life itself.
Right at the top of the list are his spurs.
Spurs are a standard part of a cowboy's day-to-day working equipment and, usually, they never come off his boots.
Understanding that cowboys seldom remove their spurs will dictate the type of furniture, carpet or other flooring in the house he lives in.
It is also a reassuring sound late at night when the work has gone long past sundown, to hear the familiar jingle come through the back door.
Spur jingles are as recognizable to a ranch wife as the sound of the ranch pickup to the resident dog.
Spurs are a point of pride for the cowboy. They regularly are handmade, inlaid with silver, embossed with initials, brands and good luck totems.
A spur can reveal a cowboy's geographic origin, riding philosophy, ego or intelligence quotient.
Foot jewelry will include bells, jingle bobs, pizza cutter rowels, tooled straps, and silver buckles. Whatever they look like, it can be and often is, a topic of regular conversation.
By nature and more often by necessity, cowboys are frugal. All sorts of items will be recycled until safety becomes an issue and even then it is a debatable moment.
Case in point, one cowboy I know owns a tie-down strap, homemade from material he and his buddy partnered on when they were in college 30 years ago.
That strap, a mark of frugality, ties to a new $3,000 saddle set on a very expensive horse to go to some high-dollar ropings.
But he sees no reason to replace it as long as it still does the job.
He is sure that strap is the reason his horse can stay on course when he's after a triple-A running steer.
This same frugal cowboy shares the story about another cowboy, a very economy-minded individual, who needed to replace his worn-out spur rowels.
In his mind, the store-bought rowels were simply too expensive. So he decided quarters would work just as well. He could put them in himself and avoid the saddle-shop labor component.
The next time these two models of frugality met, the former 25-cent spur-roweled cowboy was wearing nickels for spur rowels. He said he had saved 40-cents that way and the horse didn't know any different.
The rest of story was that it took a week for him to figure out how much he'd save before he could determine if it was worthwhile.
Bill, a Texas Panhandle short-grass rancher, had a cowhand working for him who was especially proud of his spurs. The cowboy wore them all day, every day and even presumably at night for a number of years while working for Bill.
At one point, the cowboy needed a loan. He needed $600 for some undisclosed emergency and to prove his sincerity, he offered to put up his beloved spurs for collateral.
Bill felt like nothing short of threats of life and bodily harm would part that man from his spurs, so he loaned him the $600.
Whatever the emergency was, the cowhand skipped the country with Bill's money.
The spurs are now a family heirloom, known to all the extended cousins down the line as "the $600 spurs."
Check back to the website –new additions to the blog—leave your comment!
© Julie Carter 2007
OPINION/COMMENTARY
Don't believe the hype-- at least not all of it President Bush has called upon consumers to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years, and he’s counting on ethanol to be a big part of that reduction. Ethanol certainly carries some promise. It’s a renewable resource, unlike oil. It can be produced right here in the United States, boosting local economies and reducing the need for imported fuel. And it’s more environmentally friendly than gasoline. But these benefits don’t come cheaply. Over the last year, a gallon of blended ethanol fuel has cost 50 cents to a dollar more than regular gasoline. That means consumers of ethanol fuel pay between $7.50 and $15 more each time they fill up at the pump. Why the higher cost? Many levels of government — local, state and federal — mandate a certain amount of ethanol for each gallon of fuel. As a result, there’s an artificially high demand for ethanol, which drives up the price. Unfortunately, those government mandates don’t simply increase the price of ethanol. They also put upward pressure on the prices for ethanol ingredients — which in turn inflates the prices of goods that use the same ingredients. Livestock farmers and food producers now have to pay a premium for corn. We feel the impact as prices for beef and cornflakes go up. Also, the benefits of ethanol are frequently exaggerated. Cars usually get 30 percent fewer miles per gallon with an ethanol blend than they do with regular gasoline. Burning more fuel, even if it’s slightly cleaner, will have very little, if any, positive effect on the environment. In fact, one prominent Australian study concluded that burning ethanol creates more pollution than burning gasoline....
ETHANOL VEHICLES A HEALTH HAZARD Ethanol advocates say that it's a clean-burning fuel that is friendly to the environment. But a study by Stanford University atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson found that if all U.S. vehicles ran on ethanol, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase. Jacobson's work, reported in Environmental Science & Technology, involved the simulation of atmospheric conditions throughout the United States in 2020, with a special focus on Los Angeles. According to Jacobson: * Research found that E85 vehicles reduce atmospheric levels of two carcinogens, benzene and butadiene, but increase two others -- formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. * As a result, cancer rates for E85 are likely to be similar to those for gasoline; However, E85 significantly increased ozone, a prime ingredient of smog. * The simulations revealed that E85 would increase ozone-related mortalities by about 4 percent in the United States and 9 percent in Los Angeles. * In addition, the deleterious health effects of E85 will be the same, whether the ethanol is made from corn, switchgrass or other plant products. ''Today, there is a lot of investment in ethanol,'' Jacobson said. ''But we found that using E85 will cause at least as much health damage as gasoline, which already causes about 10,000 U.S. premature deaths annually from ozone and particulate matter." Source: "Ethanol Vehicles A Health Hazard," Science A Go Go, April 18, 2007. For text: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070318010112data_trunc_sys.shtml
GREEN BUT UNSAFE Whatever the European Union's (EU) green vehicle plan's effectiveness is in slowing the pace of global warming, the regulatory impact assessment now being drawn up will need to consider a factor that is often overlooked: the safety of motorists. Says John D. Graham, dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School. Nowhere in Brussels' 13-page plan is the word "safety" even mentioned. There are lessons the EU could learned from U.S. regulatory mistakes: * In 1974, Congress mandated a doubling in car fuel efficiency to 28 miles per gallon from 14; the rules duly led to a cut of fuel consumption. * However, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences estimated that they also resulted each year in 2,000 additional traffic deaths and 30,000 nonfatal injuries. Consequently, the United States suspended these fuel-economy rules in the 1990s for more than a decade. Brussels can avoid a similar debacle by trying to anticipate the auto industry's response to regulation, says Graham: * When a car maker is subjected to carbon-emission or fuel-economy constraints, it will often begin offering smaller vehicles (since lighter cars consume less fuel) to comply with environmental rules. * Given that Europe's car fleet is already much smaller than the U.S. fleet, downsizing could have even more severe consequences in Europe than it had across the Atlantic. More motorists die when two small cars collide than when two large cars collide. If both small and large cars are reduced in size, the decline in crush space adds risk for occupants in both vehicles, says Graham. Downsizing only the large cars is safer for the small cars, but it puts the occupants of large cars at greater risk in single-vehicle impacts (for example, when crashing into guardrails and trees) and in collisions with heavy trucks. Source: John D. Graham, "Green But Unsafe," Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2007. For text: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117685153371073226.html
Most mass transit riders in 50 years: Good news or bad? A few weeks ago I noticed a startling story in the “Money” section of USA TODAY. The main head announced purportedly good news: RIDERS CROWD PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS, and then came that surprising subhead: HIGHEST USE SINCE THE 1950’s AT MORE THAN 10 BILLION TRIPS. Sure enough, the body of the article explained that the American Public Transportation Association reported that ridership rose in 2006 some 2.9%, to reach the highest levels since 1957. Did you know that there were more people using mass transit during the ‘40’s and early ‘50’s than there are today? I most certainly did not. This is an astonishing revelation when you think about it. First of all, the population of the country was barely half what it is today—and yet more people rode mass transit. Moreover, during the last 50 years we’ve poured literally hundreds of billions of dollars into the most expensive, glitzy, ambitious mass transit projects in history--- BART in San Francisco, MARTA in Atlanta, MetroRail in LA, plus impressive new projects in Minneapolis, Portland and Washington DC, and nearly everywhere else. With all these elaborate new systems, with high-tech buses, with propaganda about global warming and government policies designed to force you out of your car, it’s astonishing to think that more people used mass transit when America had half the people it has today – and none of the high-tech, new rapid transit systems....
Freeing the Farm: A Farm Bill for All Americans Agricultural policy in the United States is interventionist, expensive, inequitable, and damaging to American interests abroad.Over the last 20 years, the opportunity cost to American consumers and taxpayers of supporting agricultural producers has totalled over $1.7 trillion.The harm to agricultural producers abroad, including many developing countries, does not help U.S. foreign policy. American intransigence over reducing farm subsidies is a significant impediment to a successful conclusion to the Doha round of world trade talks. It is time for the government to get out of the business of managing agricultural markets and supporting the incomes of farmers, many of whom are relatively well-to-do. Removing barriers to agricultural imports will provide cheaper food for consumers and inject competition and dynamism into agricultural markets. Democrats took Congress partly by criticizing fiscal irresponsibility. Dismantling farm income support programs is a perfect opportunity to make good on the promise to make changes for the better. Because the first-best solution of completely ending farm programs as of September 30, 2007—with no compensation or transition payments—is politically infeasible, we advocate that the government buy out the damaging and expensive support for farmers by paying them a fixed amount of money, which they would be free to spend as they wish. Although it would require large up-front outlays, a politically expedient buyout of agricultural subsidies and trade barriers, with concrete steps to ensure the changes are permanent, would be a worthwhile investment. The 2007 Farm Bill provides an opportunity for less government interference with rural America....
Plight of the Bumblebee Beekeepers in at least 24 states are reporting a huge number of empty honeybee hives this spring. Strangely, few dead bees are being found in the hives, so it appears that the hives are empty because bees are not returning from foraging. Since honeybees are the hard working pollinators of a lot of American crops, this is really bad news. But the cause for what is being called "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) is not at all clear. Unfortunately, honeybees in the United States have been under pressure in recent years by new infestations of parasites, especially the varroa mite. The varroa mite, which sucks bee blood and which may pass along infectious diseases, was first identified in Java in the early part of the 20th century. The mite has been spreading around the globe and apparently made its way to Florida around 1987. Mites are now found throughout the United States and controlling them has become a major concern of beekeepers. In their sadly predictable knee-jerk fashion, environmentalist ideologues cannot resist making biotech crops the bogeyman in this unfolding agricultural tragedy. The Sierra Club recently launched a letter writing campaign to Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) hinting that biotech crops may be responsible for CCD. The Sierra Club writes: "The cause of CCD is unknown. Although factors being considered include pesticides, mites, microbial disease and habitat decline, there's a possible link that's not being investigated. Highly respected scientists believe that exposure to genetically engineered crops and their plant-produced pesticides merit serious consideration as either the cause or a contributory factor to the development and spread of CCD. In searching for the cause of massive honey bee losses nationwide, we must leave no stone unturned to find the answer." The vast majority of current biotech crops are enhanced with genes for herbicide tolerance (to ease weed control) and B.t. toxin to kill caterpillar pests. In its anti-biotech letter, the Sierra Club lists a number of studies that it suggests will show that biotech crops are harming bees. It either has not read the studies it cites or it's hoping nobody will actually read them. For example, the first study from the "highly respected scientists" the Sierra Club cites actually contradicts the notion that biotech crops hurt bees....
Supreme Court Goes Nuclear Who are the big winners and losers in Monday's monumental Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA? A sharply divided 5-4 decision found that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles -- most notably carbon dioxide -- despite the fact Congress has considered and rejected such proposals in the past. Taking its judicial activism one step further, the Court ruled the agency must provide a sound scientific rationale if it chooses not to regulate them in the future. Press accounts naturally touted this ruling as a profound victory for environmentalists. Indeed, a number of well-known environmental organizations were plaintiffs along with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The media also spun the ruling as a defeat for the Bush Administration, the Big Three automobile manufacturers, and even the coal industry, since the ruling appears to make inevitable the sort of federal regulation of carbon dioxide emissions that Congress earlier passed on. Indeed, though the scope of Massachusetts v. EPA was confined only to automobile emissions, the case was considered a stalking horse for regulating all greenhouse gas emissions. The ruling left environmental activists ecstatic. A representative for the Sierra Club, one of the co-plaintiffs, said the decision "sends a clear signal to the market that the future lies not in dirty, outdated technology of yesterday, but in clean energy solutions of tomorrow like wind, solar." Not quite. A fairer reading would indicate that the signal sent is that a majority exists on the Supreme Court willing to disregard Congress and rewrite the laws with which it disagrees. The irony is that the beneficiary of Monday's ruling won't be wind power, solar power, or any of the other renewable technologies favored by the Green establishment. Their economic and technological limitations are too severe for them ever to occupy more than a small niche in the American energy economy. Instead, one of the winners from Massachusetts v. EPA just may be something that many of the environmentalists who brought the suit have long abhorred: nuclear power. Like renewables, nuclear power generates electricity with no pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. But unlike renewables, nuclear is capable of generating reliable power on a massive scale, which is what our country's future energy demands will require....
Don't believe the hype-- at least not all of it President Bush has called upon consumers to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years, and he’s counting on ethanol to be a big part of that reduction. Ethanol certainly carries some promise. It’s a renewable resource, unlike oil. It can be produced right here in the United States, boosting local economies and reducing the need for imported fuel. And it’s more environmentally friendly than gasoline. But these benefits don’t come cheaply. Over the last year, a gallon of blended ethanol fuel has cost 50 cents to a dollar more than regular gasoline. That means consumers of ethanol fuel pay between $7.50 and $15 more each time they fill up at the pump. Why the higher cost? Many levels of government — local, state and federal — mandate a certain amount of ethanol for each gallon of fuel. As a result, there’s an artificially high demand for ethanol, which drives up the price. Unfortunately, those government mandates don’t simply increase the price of ethanol. They also put upward pressure on the prices for ethanol ingredients — which in turn inflates the prices of goods that use the same ingredients. Livestock farmers and food producers now have to pay a premium for corn. We feel the impact as prices for beef and cornflakes go up. Also, the benefits of ethanol are frequently exaggerated. Cars usually get 30 percent fewer miles per gallon with an ethanol blend than they do with regular gasoline. Burning more fuel, even if it’s slightly cleaner, will have very little, if any, positive effect on the environment. In fact, one prominent Australian study concluded that burning ethanol creates more pollution than burning gasoline....
ETHANOL VEHICLES A HEALTH HAZARD Ethanol advocates say that it's a clean-burning fuel that is friendly to the environment. But a study by Stanford University atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson found that if all U.S. vehicles ran on ethanol, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations would likely increase. Jacobson's work, reported in Environmental Science & Technology, involved the simulation of atmospheric conditions throughout the United States in 2020, with a special focus on Los Angeles. According to Jacobson: * Research found that E85 vehicles reduce atmospheric levels of two carcinogens, benzene and butadiene, but increase two others -- formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. * As a result, cancer rates for E85 are likely to be similar to those for gasoline; However, E85 significantly increased ozone, a prime ingredient of smog. * The simulations revealed that E85 would increase ozone-related mortalities by about 4 percent in the United States and 9 percent in Los Angeles. * In addition, the deleterious health effects of E85 will be the same, whether the ethanol is made from corn, switchgrass or other plant products. ''Today, there is a lot of investment in ethanol,'' Jacobson said. ''But we found that using E85 will cause at least as much health damage as gasoline, which already causes about 10,000 U.S. premature deaths annually from ozone and particulate matter." Source: "Ethanol Vehicles A Health Hazard," Science A Go Go, April 18, 2007. For text: http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070318010112data_trunc_sys.shtml
GREEN BUT UNSAFE Whatever the European Union's (EU) green vehicle plan's effectiveness is in slowing the pace of global warming, the regulatory impact assessment now being drawn up will need to consider a factor that is often overlooked: the safety of motorists. Says John D. Graham, dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School. Nowhere in Brussels' 13-page plan is the word "safety" even mentioned. There are lessons the EU could learned from U.S. regulatory mistakes: * In 1974, Congress mandated a doubling in car fuel efficiency to 28 miles per gallon from 14; the rules duly led to a cut of fuel consumption. * However, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences estimated that they also resulted each year in 2,000 additional traffic deaths and 30,000 nonfatal injuries. Consequently, the United States suspended these fuel-economy rules in the 1990s for more than a decade. Brussels can avoid a similar debacle by trying to anticipate the auto industry's response to regulation, says Graham: * When a car maker is subjected to carbon-emission or fuel-economy constraints, it will often begin offering smaller vehicles (since lighter cars consume less fuel) to comply with environmental rules. * Given that Europe's car fleet is already much smaller than the U.S. fleet, downsizing could have even more severe consequences in Europe than it had across the Atlantic. More motorists die when two small cars collide than when two large cars collide. If both small and large cars are reduced in size, the decline in crush space adds risk for occupants in both vehicles, says Graham. Downsizing only the large cars is safer for the small cars, but it puts the occupants of large cars at greater risk in single-vehicle impacts (for example, when crashing into guardrails and trees) and in collisions with heavy trucks. Source: John D. Graham, "Green But Unsafe," Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2007. For text: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117685153371073226.html
Most mass transit riders in 50 years: Good news or bad? A few weeks ago I noticed a startling story in the “Money” section of USA TODAY. The main head announced purportedly good news: RIDERS CROWD PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEMS, and then came that surprising subhead: HIGHEST USE SINCE THE 1950’s AT MORE THAN 10 BILLION TRIPS. Sure enough, the body of the article explained that the American Public Transportation Association reported that ridership rose in 2006 some 2.9%, to reach the highest levels since 1957. Did you know that there were more people using mass transit during the ‘40’s and early ‘50’s than there are today? I most certainly did not. This is an astonishing revelation when you think about it. First of all, the population of the country was barely half what it is today—and yet more people rode mass transit. Moreover, during the last 50 years we’ve poured literally hundreds of billions of dollars into the most expensive, glitzy, ambitious mass transit projects in history--- BART in San Francisco, MARTA in Atlanta, MetroRail in LA, plus impressive new projects in Minneapolis, Portland and Washington DC, and nearly everywhere else. With all these elaborate new systems, with high-tech buses, with propaganda about global warming and government policies designed to force you out of your car, it’s astonishing to think that more people used mass transit when America had half the people it has today – and none of the high-tech, new rapid transit systems....
Freeing the Farm: A Farm Bill for All Americans Agricultural policy in the United States is interventionist, expensive, inequitable, and damaging to American interests abroad.Over the last 20 years, the opportunity cost to American consumers and taxpayers of supporting agricultural producers has totalled over $1.7 trillion.The harm to agricultural producers abroad, including many developing countries, does not help U.S. foreign policy. American intransigence over reducing farm subsidies is a significant impediment to a successful conclusion to the Doha round of world trade talks. It is time for the government to get out of the business of managing agricultural markets and supporting the incomes of farmers, many of whom are relatively well-to-do. Removing barriers to agricultural imports will provide cheaper food for consumers and inject competition and dynamism into agricultural markets. Democrats took Congress partly by criticizing fiscal irresponsibility. Dismantling farm income support programs is a perfect opportunity to make good on the promise to make changes for the better. Because the first-best solution of completely ending farm programs as of September 30, 2007—with no compensation or transition payments—is politically infeasible, we advocate that the government buy out the damaging and expensive support for farmers by paying them a fixed amount of money, which they would be free to spend as they wish. Although it would require large up-front outlays, a politically expedient buyout of agricultural subsidies and trade barriers, with concrete steps to ensure the changes are permanent, would be a worthwhile investment. The 2007 Farm Bill provides an opportunity for less government interference with rural America....
Plight of the Bumblebee Beekeepers in at least 24 states are reporting a huge number of empty honeybee hives this spring. Strangely, few dead bees are being found in the hives, so it appears that the hives are empty because bees are not returning from foraging. Since honeybees are the hard working pollinators of a lot of American crops, this is really bad news. But the cause for what is being called "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) is not at all clear. Unfortunately, honeybees in the United States have been under pressure in recent years by new infestations of parasites, especially the varroa mite. The varroa mite, which sucks bee blood and which may pass along infectious diseases, was first identified in Java in the early part of the 20th century. The mite has been spreading around the globe and apparently made its way to Florida around 1987. Mites are now found throughout the United States and controlling them has become a major concern of beekeepers. In their sadly predictable knee-jerk fashion, environmentalist ideologues cannot resist making biotech crops the bogeyman in this unfolding agricultural tragedy. The Sierra Club recently launched a letter writing campaign to Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) hinting that biotech crops may be responsible for CCD. The Sierra Club writes: "The cause of CCD is unknown. Although factors being considered include pesticides, mites, microbial disease and habitat decline, there's a possible link that's not being investigated. Highly respected scientists believe that exposure to genetically engineered crops and their plant-produced pesticides merit serious consideration as either the cause or a contributory factor to the development and spread of CCD. In searching for the cause of massive honey bee losses nationwide, we must leave no stone unturned to find the answer." The vast majority of current biotech crops are enhanced with genes for herbicide tolerance (to ease weed control) and B.t. toxin to kill caterpillar pests. In its anti-biotech letter, the Sierra Club lists a number of studies that it suggests will show that biotech crops are harming bees. It either has not read the studies it cites or it's hoping nobody will actually read them. For example, the first study from the "highly respected scientists" the Sierra Club cites actually contradicts the notion that biotech crops hurt bees....
Supreme Court Goes Nuclear Who are the big winners and losers in Monday's monumental Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. EPA? A sharply divided 5-4 decision found that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles -- most notably carbon dioxide -- despite the fact Congress has considered and rejected such proposals in the past. Taking its judicial activism one step further, the Court ruled the agency must provide a sound scientific rationale if it chooses not to regulate them in the future. Press accounts naturally touted this ruling as a profound victory for environmentalists. Indeed, a number of well-known environmental organizations were plaintiffs along with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The media also spun the ruling as a defeat for the Bush Administration, the Big Three automobile manufacturers, and even the coal industry, since the ruling appears to make inevitable the sort of federal regulation of carbon dioxide emissions that Congress earlier passed on. Indeed, though the scope of Massachusetts v. EPA was confined only to automobile emissions, the case was considered a stalking horse for regulating all greenhouse gas emissions. The ruling left environmental activists ecstatic. A representative for the Sierra Club, one of the co-plaintiffs, said the decision "sends a clear signal to the market that the future lies not in dirty, outdated technology of yesterday, but in clean energy solutions of tomorrow like wind, solar." Not quite. A fairer reading would indicate that the signal sent is that a majority exists on the Supreme Court willing to disregard Congress and rewrite the laws with which it disagrees. The irony is that the beneficiary of Monday's ruling won't be wind power, solar power, or any of the other renewable technologies favored by the Green establishment. Their economic and technological limitations are too severe for them ever to occupy more than a small niche in the American energy economy. Instead, one of the winners from Massachusetts v. EPA just may be something that many of the environmentalists who brought the suit have long abhorred: nuclear power. Like renewables, nuclear power generates electricity with no pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions. But unlike renewables, nuclear is capable of generating reliable power on a massive scale, which is what our country's future energy demands will require....
Saturday, April 21, 2007
U.S. Database Exposed Social Security Numbers
The Agriculture Department for years publicly listed Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people who received financial aid from two of its agencies, raising concerns about identity theft and other privacy violations. Officials at the department and at the Census Bureau, which maintains the database where the personal information was listed, were evidently unaware that it contained Social Security numbers. The problem was reported to the government last week by a farmer in Illinois who stumbled across the data on the Internet. “I was bored and typed the name of my farm into Google to see what was out there,” said Marsha Bergmeier, president of Mohr Family Farms in Fairmount, Ill. The first link in the results was to the Web site of Ms. Bergmeier’s farm. The second was to a site that Ms. Bergmeier had not heard of, FedSpending.org, which has a searchable listing of federal government expenditures. It uses information from the government database. Ms. Bergmeier said she was able to identify almost 30,000 records in the database that contained Social Security numbers. “I was stunned,” she said. “The numbers were right there in plain view in this database that anyone can access.” While there is no evidence that the information has been used improperly, officials at the Agriculture Department and the Census Bureau removed the numbers from the census Web site last week. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group, said the improper disclosures might have violated the Federal Privacy Act, which restricts the release of such personal information. “Federal agencies are under strict obligations to limit the use of Social Security numbers as an identifier,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “It doesn’t look like that’s what happened in this case.” The Department of Energy, the Navy, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service also suffered data breaches last year where personal information was lost or stolen....
The Agriculture Department for years publicly listed Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people who received financial aid from two of its agencies, raising concerns about identity theft and other privacy violations. Officials at the department and at the Census Bureau, which maintains the database where the personal information was listed, were evidently unaware that it contained Social Security numbers. The problem was reported to the government last week by a farmer in Illinois who stumbled across the data on the Internet. “I was bored and typed the name of my farm into Google to see what was out there,” said Marsha Bergmeier, president of Mohr Family Farms in Fairmount, Ill. The first link in the results was to the Web site of Ms. Bergmeier’s farm. The second was to a site that Ms. Bergmeier had not heard of, FedSpending.org, which has a searchable listing of federal government expenditures. It uses information from the government database. Ms. Bergmeier said she was able to identify almost 30,000 records in the database that contained Social Security numbers. “I was stunned,” she said. “The numbers were right there in plain view in this database that anyone can access.” While there is no evidence that the information has been used improperly, officials at the Agriculture Department and the Census Bureau removed the numbers from the census Web site last week. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group, said the improper disclosures might have violated the Federal Privacy Act, which restricts the release of such personal information. “Federal agencies are under strict obligations to limit the use of Social Security numbers as an identifier,” Mr. Rotenberg said. “It doesn’t look like that’s what happened in this case.” The Department of Energy, the Navy, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service also suffered data breaches last year where personal information was lost or stolen....
Friday, April 20, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Army seeks more Pinon Canyon acreage The Army has no "long term" plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site beyond the 418,000 additional acres the Defense Department is seeking currently, officials told a Senate subcommittee Thursday. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., questioned Keith Eastin, assistant Army secretary, about the need to expand the Pinon Canyon training site during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. While asking Eastin to justify why the Army wants to add more acreage to the 238,000-acre training site, Allard also pressed whether the Pentagon has plans for an even larger expansion in the future. At a town meeting in Pueblo on Tuesday, Fort Carson officials acknowledged their initial planning looked at expanding Pinon Canyon by 1.4 million acres. On Feb. 14, the Defense Department authorized the Army to pursue an expansion of 418,000 acres. "In the very long term, we have no plans to expand past the 418,000 acres we need," Eastin told Allard. Lon Robertson, president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said ranchers appreciate Allard asking the Army to justify the expansion, but said landowners in the region have no confidence in the Pentagon's promises not to alter their future plans. "They've already broken their pledge from the 1980s, when Pinon Canyon was first established, that they wouldn't seek additional land," Robertson said. "Historically, the Army's promises aren't anything you can hang your hat on."....
Cody hearing on delisting draws passionate views As the federal government wraps up plans to remove most of the region's wolves from the endangered-species list, the final public hearing on the proposal featured passionate opinions on all sides of the issue. Approximately 600 people attended the hearing at the Cody Auditorium, with about 250 on hand earlier for a presentation and question-and-answer session by Ed Bangs, the wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. While previous discussions about delisting wolves in Wyoming have focused largely on conflicts with ranchers, many of those from Cody who spoke were sportsmen who said elk populations were suffering from excessive wolf predation. Others, including many representing conservation groups, said elk are at or above target numbers for most areas in the state, and that wolves serve a vital role in moving elk herds out of sensitive habitat areas like river bottoms. Hearing officer Lesley Travers, a consultant from Casper hired to manage the event, struggled at times to control the crowd. Many applauded comments favoring Wyoming's wolf management plan, and jeered those who said wolves had little effect on elk herds....
EPA questions OK'ing use of coalbed water Federal regulators have warned the Schweitzer administration of possible Clean Water Act violations in a legislative measure to allow the storage of coalbed methane water in hundreds of small reservoirs used by livestock and wildlife. The bill would give companies a way to dispose of some of the billions of gallons of poor-quality water produced during coalbed methane production. Southeast Montana ranchers desperate for water after years of drought would be able to use the reservoirs to water their cattle or to benefit wildlife. But that water - pumped from underground aquifers by companies trying to access the methane, or natural gas, found in coal seams - contains high amounts of sodium and other salts that can kill crops and damage soil if it is used to irrigate land. The water is considered generally acceptable for animals, which have a higher salt tolerance. Montana law restricts the pumping of coalbed methane water into streams, rivers and the channels that drain into them. Senate Bill 407, sponsored by Keith Bales, R-Otter, would strip some of those restrictions from farm and ranch "impoundments" - small reservoirs often used as stock ponds. Because water from impoundments can seep into other water bodies or overflow after heavy rain or snow, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency say the measure could lead to violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The EPA can override Bales' proposal if it does not meet provisions of the act....
West's forest-health funds cut While snow has been an ally against wildfires this year, the federal government is not so kind, Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday. Forest officials want to cut $4.3 million from the $230 million spent last year on forest health in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota. "Losing that ($4.3 million) erodes our ability to add land for management," the governor told reporters after he was briefed on fire conditions by state and federal officials. Colorado's congressional delegation sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell asking to restore the money. The Forest Service "shouldn't balance its books by putting Colorado at risk," Sen. Ken Salazar said in a statement. Last year Colorado saw 3,294 fires that burned 202,000 acres - 1,200 more fires and three times the acreage of 2005....
Feds help some in Az avoid arrests If you have not paid that littering citation you received on last month's camping trip, May 1 is your lucky day. On and before May 1, the federal government will allow those with outstanding federal misdemeanor warrants to come forward and settle their fines through a new program, Safe Surrender Day. It includes those with warrants for arrests for misdemeanor violations, said U.S. Attorney Daniel Knauss at a news conference Thursday. Safe Surrender Day "helps people come clean and avoid arrests," Knauss said. Federal misdemeanor offenses include crimes such as vandalism, littering, underage consumption of alcohol and disorderly conduct, the U.S. Forest Service said. After May 1, officials from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will track down those with unsettled citations and warrants and arrest them, said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona. "Those who don't settle their fines and warrants can expect the U.S. marshal's task force to come knocking on their door," Gonzales said. "This service is for those individuals who are tired of looking over their backs when they see a policeman or a badge."....
Hiker to start 3,100-mile walk next Thursday National treasures take many forms, but a rewarding way to experience is hiking the Continental Divide Trail. Offering rugged terrains, variable weather conditions, threat of wildfires and water scarcity, the 3,100 mile trail has been referred to as "uncharted, wild and incomplete." The newest hiker to grab the challenge is Mat Matson, a former district governor of Rotary International. Matson, who has established a four-day base camp at Pancho Villa State Park, will begin the border-to-border hike from the bootheel area on April 26. "I will be hiking from Mexico to Canada on the Continental Divide Trail with a select team of youth and fellow Rotarians," Matson said. "We want to raise awareness of the significance of the trail and the importance of instilling conservation values in the next generation of stewards of our public lands." In addition to publicizing trail completion and protection, Mat and his team will be soliciting donations along the way to fund Youth Corp. members, who spend 10 weeks each summer working on the CDT. And last month, the New Mexico Legislature passed a House Memorial supporting completion of the CDT, making New Mexico the first of the five CDT states to formally support the trail. "The Continental Divide Trail will help promote tourism and support rural economies throughout New Mexico," said Gov. Bill Richardson....
Column - National forest budgets battered How to get attention to the problem? A worthy suggestion is to erect stocks outside the Darrington Ranger Station, into which would be placed Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, the former timber lobbyist who oversees the Forest Service. Arriving to pay for their permits, recreationists could pelt Mr. Rey with cabbages. On the way home, they could ply him with pictures of the washed-out White Chuck River road. The total staffing of the U.S. Forest Service has been halved in the last decade. The Bush administration proposes to cut "Smokey Bear's" budget by $64.3 million in the next fiscal year, and cut an additional 2,100 jobs. Other agencies, which manage far more land, are getting the shaft. A total of 225 jobs at national wildlife refuges were cut between 2004 and 2006. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will eliminate 248 more jobs in the next two years, under administration budget proposals....
Lawsuit challenges protection for salmon across West Property rights advocates, farm groups and development interests asked a federal judge Wednesday to lift Endangered Species Act protections from all threatened and endangered salmon across the West, arguing that the government failed to count fish spawned in hatcheries. The federal government and conservation groups countered that the Endangered Species Act requires consideration of the best available science, which clearly indicates that depending on fish raised in hatcheries to boost salmon numbers will, over the long run, harm fish that spawn naturally in rivers. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan gave no indication when he might rule on the case, or how he might rule. Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights public interest law firm based in Sacramento, Calif., brought the lawsuit on behalf of the Building Industry Association of Washington, the Coalition for Idaho Water, farm bureaus in Idaho and Washington, the California State Grange and others. The lawsuit builds on Hogan's 2001 ruling that NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of restoring dwindling salmon populations, violated the Endangered Species Act when it put wild and hatchery fish in the same group, known as an evolutionarily significant unit, or ESU, but then protected only the wild fish. The ruling led to lifting threatened species status for the Oregon coastal coho. The plaintiffs want the court to lift threatened and endangered species listings for all 16 protected populations of salmon in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California....
Endangered listing proposed for Alaska belugas The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed on Thursday listing beluga whales that swim in Alaska's Cook Inlet as endangered due to a sharp decline in their population. The federal agency proposed the endangered listing -- a status granted to populations considered in imminent threat of extinction -- for beluga whales. The population of the small white whales is down to an estimated 302 from about 1,300 in the 1970s, according to the Fisheries Service. An agency study estimated that the population has a 26 percent chance of extinction within 100 years. The agency will have a year to make its final decision about listing the belugas as endangered, said Fisheries spokeswoman Sheela McLean. Environmentalists who have been seeking Endangered Species Act protections hailed the proposal for listing the Cook Inlet belugas, whose swimming patterns off the Anchorage coastline make them a favorite among tourists and local residents....
An Inconvenient Tooth: Food Is Major Contributor to Climate Change April 17, 2007 – Global warming activists have a new ally in their fight to save the planet—lunch. It turns out that food (and all the energy it takes to make it) is one of the largest human activities contributing to global warming. The average American creates 2.8 tons of CO2 emissions each year by eating—even more than the 2.2 tons each person generates by driving, according to recent research (Echel and Martin, 2006). Beginning on Earth Day, 2007, Bon Appétit Management Company—the nation's pioneer in "greening" food service, is launching a national campaign to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and help their guests do the same. With 400 cafés in corporations, universities and specialty venues nationwide—including Yahoo!, Oberlin College and the Seattle Art Museum—Bon Appétit will encourage chefs and diners to think about how their food choices could help ease the climate crisis....
Texans crowd list of largest landowners It comes as no surprise — given Texans' penchant for bragging — that 12 of the nation's 100 largest private landowners hail from South or Central Texas. Forty of the 100 big ranch families highlighted in a new Dallas-based magazine, the Land Report, have most or all their lands in the Lone Star State. The common denominator among Texas' great spreads is beef, said Kaare Remme, manager of the 45th-ranked McCoy Remme Ranches of West Texas. Remme's partner is brother-in-law Brian McCoy, CEO of the San Marcos-based McCoy Building Supply lumber and hardware stores. "A third of the beef in the nation comes out of Texas," Remme said. "Livestock production is a big deal." The fabled King Ranch heirs rank first in the state and fifth in the nation with 851,642 acres. Briscoe Ranch Inc., owned by two-time Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. of Uvalde, ranks 12th in the nation for its size, but like the King Ranch is among the top 10 range cattle operations. The heirs of Alice Kleberg East rank 17th with lands she kept after splitting her wealth from the rest of the King Ranch dynasty. Still, the top dog in a new poll isn't a Texan. CNN founder and former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner leads the rest with 2 million acres that are mostly dedicated to bison....
Almost 40 years later, Earth Day resonates anew At the age of 37, Earth Day has reached a certain level of maturity within the environmental movement — a movement now picking up major steam as citizens are beginning to take global warming seriously. Earth Day was first celebrated April 22, 1970, and founded by Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Republican Congressman Paul Norton “Pete” McCloskey Jr., now a resident of Woodside. The event was established in a turbulent era, swirling with anger over the Vietnam War and galvanized by Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” revealing the effects of pesticides on the environment. Letters were sent to college student-body presidents, encouraging students to celebrate the new environmental holiday. “In 1970, the word ‘environmentalist’ was attributed to little old ladies and kooks,” McCloskey said. “The idea was to get kids involved to bring pressure on their parents and others.” McCloskey and Nelson’s plan worked. Not only was the first Earth Day a hit, but those same students rallied against 12 senators they called “the dirty dozen,” and within weeks seven of those senators — most of them anti-environment — had been voted out of Congress. Suddenly, fellow members of Congress began coming to McCloskey, asking him how they could pay more attention to the environment. By 1973, Congress established or amended three major pieces of environmental legislation: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act....
AFT Says: It's a Critical Time to Match Agriculture's Commitment to Conservation "The farm bill's voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs are the largest environmental programs in the federal budget. They are critical to cleaner water, improved air quality, expanded wildlife habitat and protected land for future generations," said Ralph Grossi, American Farmland Trust (AFT) president in testimony before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research. Grossi had four messages for the committee: -- Increase funding for conservation programs to match producers willingness to implement conservation practices; -- Leverage taxpayer resources by offering a new cooperative conservation loan guarantee program to stimulate dramatically more stewardship; -- Increase the effectiveness of programs by encouraging cooperative approaches to address resource concerns; and -- Improve farm and ranch land protection programs to reduce the loss of this irreplaceable, strategic resource. Working farm and ranch land comprises half the land in America. "Farmers are ready and willing to do more to protect the environment. Yet when they apply for federal cost-share programs, there is only enough money available to fund one-out-of-four applications....
Cattle poisoning leads to dispute between families In a rare indictment in this deep-rooted ranching community, Karnes County authorities recently charged one of the area's most prominent farmers with poisoning the cattle of a neighboring rancher. Michael Janysek, 46, is accused of spreading poison-laced planting corn in a cattle pasture along County Road 355 two years ago, killing at least four head of cattle and numerous other wild animals that inadvertently ate the kernels, according to court documents. The Texas Rangers investigated the deaths and obtained a grand jury indictment against Janysek earlier this month for criminal mischief, a state jail felony. Janysek, who pleaded not guilty last week, is free on a personal recognizance bond. The Texas Rangers investigated the cattle deaths after a local veterinarian found traces of the highly toxic pesticide "temik" in corn recovered from the site where the dead cattle were found March 10, 2005. "It's our assumption that he was trying to kill wild hogs," said Texas Ranger Marrie Aldridge....
Cowboy poetry has positive affect on students April is National Poetry Month and April 15-21 marks the sixth annual Cowboy Poetry Week. This recognition was implemented through a unanimous resolution passed in the United States Senate in April 2003, and is reaffirmed each year through gubernatorial proclamations and special activities across the West and beyond. This year, at the urging of Montana cowboy poets represented by D. W. Groethe of Bainville, Mont., Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer joined governors of many other states in officially saluting Cowboy Poetry Week, noting the importance of “public awareness to this form of art and its value to the people of Montana.” “I am pleased to recognize Cowboy Poetry Week in the state of Montana,” Schweitzer said. “Cowboy poetry has a rich history in Montana and has been an active part of schools and communities in Montana.” In Casey’s opinion, introducing students to cowboy poetry is seriously important. “I believe in our roots and heritage,” he said. “We all need to stand up and protect the traditions and legacies we've inherited, and I've got a story to tell. I want to be an image for kids to look up to, and hopefully instill in them this same love of country and customs I know and respect. Without our heritage, our children lose focus. Without our children's focus, we lose our world.”....
'Getting away with murder' Like all lawyers, Bill Neal knows some good stories. Now that he's retired, he's telling them. "Getting Away with Murder on the Texas Frontier: Notorious Killings and Celebrated Trials" (Texas Tech University Press) is the title of his book. A "cavalier attitude toward violence" marked Texas in earlier days, Neal said, listing a string of wars and their effects - the Texas Revolution to the Indian Wars and Reconstruction - as contributing influences on society. That's not to mention the influx of post-Civil War outlaws. "Killings, they just weren't that big a deal," he said. "Convictions were more the exception than the rule." Horse thieves fell into a different category. "If you stole a horse, you were mighty lucky if you got past the first cottonwood tree - much less made it to the courthouse," Neal said. Not that the courthouse was necessarily a place of justice. Some miscarriages thereof are topics for chapters in the book - like the time the flamboyant Temple Houston (son of Sam Houston) managed to achieve a mistrial by firing his pistol into the jury, effectively causing the sequestered jurors to mix and mingle with the spectators as they cleared the courthouse and ran for their lives. The pistol was loaded with blanks, but "the judge wasn't amused," Neal said. The judge scolded Houston but had to grant the request for a mistrial. Houston got a jury more to his liking for the next trial. His cowboy client, who allegedly had shot and killed a prominent rancher, got an acquittal....
Army seeks more Pinon Canyon acreage The Army has no "long term" plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site beyond the 418,000 additional acres the Defense Department is seeking currently, officials told a Senate subcommittee Thursday. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., questioned Keith Eastin, assistant Army secretary, about the need to expand the Pinon Canyon training site during a hearing before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. While asking Eastin to justify why the Army wants to add more acreage to the 238,000-acre training site, Allard also pressed whether the Pentagon has plans for an even larger expansion in the future. At a town meeting in Pueblo on Tuesday, Fort Carson officials acknowledged their initial planning looked at expanding Pinon Canyon by 1.4 million acres. On Feb. 14, the Defense Department authorized the Army to pursue an expansion of 418,000 acres. "In the very long term, we have no plans to expand past the 418,000 acres we need," Eastin told Allard. Lon Robertson, president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said ranchers appreciate Allard asking the Army to justify the expansion, but said landowners in the region have no confidence in the Pentagon's promises not to alter their future plans. "They've already broken their pledge from the 1980s, when Pinon Canyon was first established, that they wouldn't seek additional land," Robertson said. "Historically, the Army's promises aren't anything you can hang your hat on."....
Cody hearing on delisting draws passionate views As the federal government wraps up plans to remove most of the region's wolves from the endangered-species list, the final public hearing on the proposal featured passionate opinions on all sides of the issue. Approximately 600 people attended the hearing at the Cody Auditorium, with about 250 on hand earlier for a presentation and question-and-answer session by Ed Bangs, the wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. While previous discussions about delisting wolves in Wyoming have focused largely on conflicts with ranchers, many of those from Cody who spoke were sportsmen who said elk populations were suffering from excessive wolf predation. Others, including many representing conservation groups, said elk are at or above target numbers for most areas in the state, and that wolves serve a vital role in moving elk herds out of sensitive habitat areas like river bottoms. Hearing officer Lesley Travers, a consultant from Casper hired to manage the event, struggled at times to control the crowd. Many applauded comments favoring Wyoming's wolf management plan, and jeered those who said wolves had little effect on elk herds....
EPA questions OK'ing use of coalbed water Federal regulators have warned the Schweitzer administration of possible Clean Water Act violations in a legislative measure to allow the storage of coalbed methane water in hundreds of small reservoirs used by livestock and wildlife. The bill would give companies a way to dispose of some of the billions of gallons of poor-quality water produced during coalbed methane production. Southeast Montana ranchers desperate for water after years of drought would be able to use the reservoirs to water their cattle or to benefit wildlife. But that water - pumped from underground aquifers by companies trying to access the methane, or natural gas, found in coal seams - contains high amounts of sodium and other salts that can kill crops and damage soil if it is used to irrigate land. The water is considered generally acceptable for animals, which have a higher salt tolerance. Montana law restricts the pumping of coalbed methane water into streams, rivers and the channels that drain into them. Senate Bill 407, sponsored by Keith Bales, R-Otter, would strip some of those restrictions from farm and ranch "impoundments" - small reservoirs often used as stock ponds. Because water from impoundments can seep into other water bodies or overflow after heavy rain or snow, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency say the measure could lead to violations of the federal Clean Water Act. The EPA can override Bales' proposal if it does not meet provisions of the act....
West's forest-health funds cut While snow has been an ally against wildfires this year, the federal government is not so kind, Gov. Bill Ritter said Thursday. Forest officials want to cut $4.3 million from the $230 million spent last year on forest health in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota. "Losing that ($4.3 million) erodes our ability to add land for management," the governor told reporters after he was briefed on fire conditions by state and federal officials. Colorado's congressional delegation sent a letter to U.S. Forest Service Chief Gail Kimbell asking to restore the money. The Forest Service "shouldn't balance its books by putting Colorado at risk," Sen. Ken Salazar said in a statement. Last year Colorado saw 3,294 fires that burned 202,000 acres - 1,200 more fires and three times the acreage of 2005....
Feds help some in Az avoid arrests If you have not paid that littering citation you received on last month's camping trip, May 1 is your lucky day. On and before May 1, the federal government will allow those with outstanding federal misdemeanor warrants to come forward and settle their fines through a new program, Safe Surrender Day. It includes those with warrants for arrests for misdemeanor violations, said U.S. Attorney Daniel Knauss at a news conference Thursday. Safe Surrender Day "helps people come clean and avoid arrests," Knauss said. Federal misdemeanor offenses include crimes such as vandalism, littering, underage consumption of alcohol and disorderly conduct, the U.S. Forest Service said. After May 1, officials from the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will track down those with unsettled citations and warrants and arrest them, said David Gonzales, U.S. marshal for Arizona. "Those who don't settle their fines and warrants can expect the U.S. marshal's task force to come knocking on their door," Gonzales said. "This service is for those individuals who are tired of looking over their backs when they see a policeman or a badge."....
Hiker to start 3,100-mile walk next Thursday National treasures take many forms, but a rewarding way to experience is hiking the Continental Divide Trail. Offering rugged terrains, variable weather conditions, threat of wildfires and water scarcity, the 3,100 mile trail has been referred to as "uncharted, wild and incomplete." The newest hiker to grab the challenge is Mat Matson, a former district governor of Rotary International. Matson, who has established a four-day base camp at Pancho Villa State Park, will begin the border-to-border hike from the bootheel area on April 26. "I will be hiking from Mexico to Canada on the Continental Divide Trail with a select team of youth and fellow Rotarians," Matson said. "We want to raise awareness of the significance of the trail and the importance of instilling conservation values in the next generation of stewards of our public lands." In addition to publicizing trail completion and protection, Mat and his team will be soliciting donations along the way to fund Youth Corp. members, who spend 10 weeks each summer working on the CDT. And last month, the New Mexico Legislature passed a House Memorial supporting completion of the CDT, making New Mexico the first of the five CDT states to formally support the trail. "The Continental Divide Trail will help promote tourism and support rural economies throughout New Mexico," said Gov. Bill Richardson....
Column - National forest budgets battered How to get attention to the problem? A worthy suggestion is to erect stocks outside the Darrington Ranger Station, into which would be placed Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, the former timber lobbyist who oversees the Forest Service. Arriving to pay for their permits, recreationists could pelt Mr. Rey with cabbages. On the way home, they could ply him with pictures of the washed-out White Chuck River road. The total staffing of the U.S. Forest Service has been halved in the last decade. The Bush administration proposes to cut "Smokey Bear's" budget by $64.3 million in the next fiscal year, and cut an additional 2,100 jobs. Other agencies, which manage far more land, are getting the shaft. A total of 225 jobs at national wildlife refuges were cut between 2004 and 2006. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will eliminate 248 more jobs in the next two years, under administration budget proposals....
Lawsuit challenges protection for salmon across West Property rights advocates, farm groups and development interests asked a federal judge Wednesday to lift Endangered Species Act protections from all threatened and endangered salmon across the West, arguing that the government failed to count fish spawned in hatcheries. The federal government and conservation groups countered that the Endangered Species Act requires consideration of the best available science, which clearly indicates that depending on fish raised in hatcheries to boost salmon numbers will, over the long run, harm fish that spawn naturally in rivers. U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan gave no indication when he might rule on the case, or how he might rule. Pacific Legal Foundation, a property rights public interest law firm based in Sacramento, Calif., brought the lawsuit on behalf of the Building Industry Association of Washington, the Coalition for Idaho Water, farm bureaus in Idaho and Washington, the California State Grange and others. The lawsuit builds on Hogan's 2001 ruling that NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency in charge of restoring dwindling salmon populations, violated the Endangered Species Act when it put wild and hatchery fish in the same group, known as an evolutionarily significant unit, or ESU, but then protected only the wild fish. The ruling led to lifting threatened species status for the Oregon coastal coho. The plaintiffs want the court to lift threatened and endangered species listings for all 16 protected populations of salmon in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and California....
Endangered listing proposed for Alaska belugas The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed on Thursday listing beluga whales that swim in Alaska's Cook Inlet as endangered due to a sharp decline in their population. The federal agency proposed the endangered listing -- a status granted to populations considered in imminent threat of extinction -- for beluga whales. The population of the small white whales is down to an estimated 302 from about 1,300 in the 1970s, according to the Fisheries Service. An agency study estimated that the population has a 26 percent chance of extinction within 100 years. The agency will have a year to make its final decision about listing the belugas as endangered, said Fisheries spokeswoman Sheela McLean. Environmentalists who have been seeking Endangered Species Act protections hailed the proposal for listing the Cook Inlet belugas, whose swimming patterns off the Anchorage coastline make them a favorite among tourists and local residents....
An Inconvenient Tooth: Food Is Major Contributor to Climate Change April 17, 2007 – Global warming activists have a new ally in their fight to save the planet—lunch. It turns out that food (and all the energy it takes to make it) is one of the largest human activities contributing to global warming. The average American creates 2.8 tons of CO2 emissions each year by eating—even more than the 2.2 tons each person generates by driving, according to recent research (Echel and Martin, 2006). Beginning on Earth Day, 2007, Bon Appétit Management Company—the nation's pioneer in "greening" food service, is launching a national campaign to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and help their guests do the same. With 400 cafés in corporations, universities and specialty venues nationwide—including Yahoo!, Oberlin College and the Seattle Art Museum—Bon Appétit will encourage chefs and diners to think about how their food choices could help ease the climate crisis....
Texans crowd list of largest landowners It comes as no surprise — given Texans' penchant for bragging — that 12 of the nation's 100 largest private landowners hail from South or Central Texas. Forty of the 100 big ranch families highlighted in a new Dallas-based magazine, the Land Report, have most or all their lands in the Lone Star State. The common denominator among Texas' great spreads is beef, said Kaare Remme, manager of the 45th-ranked McCoy Remme Ranches of West Texas. Remme's partner is brother-in-law Brian McCoy, CEO of the San Marcos-based McCoy Building Supply lumber and hardware stores. "A third of the beef in the nation comes out of Texas," Remme said. "Livestock production is a big deal." The fabled King Ranch heirs rank first in the state and fifth in the nation with 851,642 acres. Briscoe Ranch Inc., owned by two-time Texas Gov. Dolph Briscoe Jr. of Uvalde, ranks 12th in the nation for its size, but like the King Ranch is among the top 10 range cattle operations. The heirs of Alice Kleberg East rank 17th with lands she kept after splitting her wealth from the rest of the King Ranch dynasty. Still, the top dog in a new poll isn't a Texan. CNN founder and former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner leads the rest with 2 million acres that are mostly dedicated to bison....
Almost 40 years later, Earth Day resonates anew At the age of 37, Earth Day has reached a certain level of maturity within the environmental movement — a movement now picking up major steam as citizens are beginning to take global warming seriously. Earth Day was first celebrated April 22, 1970, and founded by Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and Republican Congressman Paul Norton “Pete” McCloskey Jr., now a resident of Woodside. The event was established in a turbulent era, swirling with anger over the Vietnam War and galvanized by Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” revealing the effects of pesticides on the environment. Letters were sent to college student-body presidents, encouraging students to celebrate the new environmental holiday. “In 1970, the word ‘environmentalist’ was attributed to little old ladies and kooks,” McCloskey said. “The idea was to get kids involved to bring pressure on their parents and others.” McCloskey and Nelson’s plan worked. Not only was the first Earth Day a hit, but those same students rallied against 12 senators they called “the dirty dozen,” and within weeks seven of those senators — most of them anti-environment — had been voted out of Congress. Suddenly, fellow members of Congress began coming to McCloskey, asking him how they could pay more attention to the environment. By 1973, Congress established or amended three major pieces of environmental legislation: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act....
AFT Says: It's a Critical Time to Match Agriculture's Commitment to Conservation "The farm bill's voluntary, incentive-based conservation programs are the largest environmental programs in the federal budget. They are critical to cleaner water, improved air quality, expanded wildlife habitat and protected land for future generations," said Ralph Grossi, American Farmland Trust (AFT) president in testimony before the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research. Grossi had four messages for the committee: -- Increase funding for conservation programs to match producers willingness to implement conservation practices; -- Leverage taxpayer resources by offering a new cooperative conservation loan guarantee program to stimulate dramatically more stewardship; -- Increase the effectiveness of programs by encouraging cooperative approaches to address resource concerns; and -- Improve farm and ranch land protection programs to reduce the loss of this irreplaceable, strategic resource. Working farm and ranch land comprises half the land in America. "Farmers are ready and willing to do more to protect the environment. Yet when they apply for federal cost-share programs, there is only enough money available to fund one-out-of-four applications....
Cattle poisoning leads to dispute between families In a rare indictment in this deep-rooted ranching community, Karnes County authorities recently charged one of the area's most prominent farmers with poisoning the cattle of a neighboring rancher. Michael Janysek, 46, is accused of spreading poison-laced planting corn in a cattle pasture along County Road 355 two years ago, killing at least four head of cattle and numerous other wild animals that inadvertently ate the kernels, according to court documents. The Texas Rangers investigated the deaths and obtained a grand jury indictment against Janysek earlier this month for criminal mischief, a state jail felony. Janysek, who pleaded not guilty last week, is free on a personal recognizance bond. The Texas Rangers investigated the cattle deaths after a local veterinarian found traces of the highly toxic pesticide "temik" in corn recovered from the site where the dead cattle were found March 10, 2005. "It's our assumption that he was trying to kill wild hogs," said Texas Ranger Marrie Aldridge....
Cowboy poetry has positive affect on students April is National Poetry Month and April 15-21 marks the sixth annual Cowboy Poetry Week. This recognition was implemented through a unanimous resolution passed in the United States Senate in April 2003, and is reaffirmed each year through gubernatorial proclamations and special activities across the West and beyond. This year, at the urging of Montana cowboy poets represented by D. W. Groethe of Bainville, Mont., Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer joined governors of many other states in officially saluting Cowboy Poetry Week, noting the importance of “public awareness to this form of art and its value to the people of Montana.” “I am pleased to recognize Cowboy Poetry Week in the state of Montana,” Schweitzer said. “Cowboy poetry has a rich history in Montana and has been an active part of schools and communities in Montana.” In Casey’s opinion, introducing students to cowboy poetry is seriously important. “I believe in our roots and heritage,” he said. “We all need to stand up and protect the traditions and legacies we've inherited, and I've got a story to tell. I want to be an image for kids to look up to, and hopefully instill in them this same love of country and customs I know and respect. Without our heritage, our children lose focus. Without our children's focus, we lose our world.”....
'Getting away with murder' Like all lawyers, Bill Neal knows some good stories. Now that he's retired, he's telling them. "Getting Away with Murder on the Texas Frontier: Notorious Killings and Celebrated Trials" (Texas Tech University Press) is the title of his book. A "cavalier attitude toward violence" marked Texas in earlier days, Neal said, listing a string of wars and their effects - the Texas Revolution to the Indian Wars and Reconstruction - as contributing influences on society. That's not to mention the influx of post-Civil War outlaws. "Killings, they just weren't that big a deal," he said. "Convictions were more the exception than the rule." Horse thieves fell into a different category. "If you stole a horse, you were mighty lucky if you got past the first cottonwood tree - much less made it to the courthouse," Neal said. Not that the courthouse was necessarily a place of justice. Some miscarriages thereof are topics for chapters in the book - like the time the flamboyant Temple Houston (son of Sam Houston) managed to achieve a mistrial by firing his pistol into the jury, effectively causing the sequestered jurors to mix and mingle with the spectators as they cleared the courthouse and ran for their lives. The pistol was loaded with blanks, but "the judge wasn't amused," Neal said. The judge scolded Houston but had to grant the request for a mistrial. Houston got a jury more to his liking for the next trial. His cowboy client, who allegedly had shot and killed a prominent rancher, got an acquittal....
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Ranchers, farmers blast Army plan Nearly 200 ranchers, farmers and supporters filled a conference room here Tuesday, sending a resounding message to Army brass that they will fight the Army's attempt to take their lands for an expansion of its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site northeast of Trinidad. A meeting to brief businesspeople on Fort Carson's addition of 8,000 to 10,000 troops in the next three years and the effects of that growth was overshadowed by the fort's pending proposal to triple the size of its maneuver site in southeastern Colorado. "I want to know what in the heck they're going to do and when the heck they're going to do it," said Judy Benevidez, who lives near the current maneuver site in Model. "This shows me the lack of concern the Army has, because they will not give us any information," she said. "They have all this business stuff taken care of, but they don't have enough information to give to the farmers. And that is wrong."....
Vegas can take Spring Valley water In a decision that could have eventual repercussions for Utah, Nevada's state engineer has determined that Las Vegas water authorities are entitled to roughly half the groundwater they have requested for a proposed pipeline project that would ship water from the eastern part of the state to southern Nevada. Nevada State Engineer Tracy Taylor issued a 56-page decision this week authorizing the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to take up to 40,000 acre-feet of water annually from Spring Valley, located west of Great Basin National Park, for a 10-year period. An acre-foot is typically the amount of water a family of four consumes in a year. If it is determined there are minimal or no impacts from such a withdrawal, the state will authorize the withdrawal of an additional 20,000 acre-feet annually, bringing the total yearly take to 60,000 acre-feet. The SNWA's permit application requested a withdrawal of 91,000 acre-feet annually. Utah water officials say they don't expect the decision, outwardly anyway, to affect negotiations between the states over how groundwater in neighboring Snake Valley, located east of Spring Valley along the state line, will be shared. Such an agreement is necessary before the SNWA can pursue groundwater in Snake Valley - the next phase of its pipeline project....
Fossil from a forest that gave Earth its breath of fresh air A fossil tree with its roots and leaves still attached has provided a tantalising glimpse of what the Earth’s first forests looked like long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Wattieza trees covered vast swaths 385 million years ago, before even amphibians managed to clamber on to land, and had such an impact that they helped to change the planet’s atmosphere. They were the monsters of their age and are thought not only to have changed the face of the planet but also to have altered even the chemical composition of the atmosphere. The plant, which grew to at least 26 feet (8m) in height and probably to more than 40 feet, looked similar to a tree fern with a long, bare trunk that was crowned at the top with branches and leaves. Millions of the Wattieza trees would have covered the ground in coastal and other lowland regions of the planet 140 million years before the first dinosaurs....
Wyo. flock to be killed, tested after scrapie found Somewhere near Moorcroft, in an unincorporated area of northeastern Wyoming, a livestock owner will hand over his entire flock of sheep next week to the federal government for a mass execution. The rancher knows what will happen: his herd of roughly 300 sheep will be transported live out of state and taken to a slaughter plant where they will be euthanized, their brains and lymph node tissue harvested for testing. He'll lose his herd because he owned the first U.S. sheep to test positive for a rare strain of scrapie _ a disease found in sheep and goats that's similar to mad cow disease in cattle and chronic wasting disease in sheep and elk. Still, state statute prohibits officials from releasing the rancher's identity, and attempts by The Associated Press to reach him were unsuccessful. Scrapie itself is rare in the United States. Out of more than 115,000 animals tested since 2003, only 300 have tested positive; federal officials hope to eliminate scrapie from U.S. herds by the end of 2010. But the Wyoming rancher's case is even more rare: Fewer than 300 cases worldwide have been recorded of the "Nor98-like" strain of scrapie, so-named because it was first diagnosed in Norway in 1998. "This is very unusual," Larry Cooper, regional spokesman in Fort Collins, Colo., for Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, said of the first discovery of a Nor98-like strain of scrapie in the U.S. "It doesn't indicate that we're going to have mass outbreaks of this particular strain, it just indicates that one of these animals from Europe ended up in our system." There are no known human health risks associated with scrapie....
Dope tries to rope deer I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and did not seem to fear when we were there. A bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not four feet away. It shouldn't be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it to transport it home. I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, who had seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. I only had to wait for 20 minutes before three deer showed up. I picked one out, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it. It took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education....
Vegas can take Spring Valley water In a decision that could have eventual repercussions for Utah, Nevada's state engineer has determined that Las Vegas water authorities are entitled to roughly half the groundwater they have requested for a proposed pipeline project that would ship water from the eastern part of the state to southern Nevada. Nevada State Engineer Tracy Taylor issued a 56-page decision this week authorizing the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to take up to 40,000 acre-feet of water annually from Spring Valley, located west of Great Basin National Park, for a 10-year period. An acre-foot is typically the amount of water a family of four consumes in a year. If it is determined there are minimal or no impacts from such a withdrawal, the state will authorize the withdrawal of an additional 20,000 acre-feet annually, bringing the total yearly take to 60,000 acre-feet. The SNWA's permit application requested a withdrawal of 91,000 acre-feet annually. Utah water officials say they don't expect the decision, outwardly anyway, to affect negotiations between the states over how groundwater in neighboring Snake Valley, located east of Spring Valley along the state line, will be shared. Such an agreement is necessary before the SNWA can pursue groundwater in Snake Valley - the next phase of its pipeline project....
Fossil from a forest that gave Earth its breath of fresh air A fossil tree with its roots and leaves still attached has provided a tantalising glimpse of what the Earth’s first forests looked like long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Wattieza trees covered vast swaths 385 million years ago, before even amphibians managed to clamber on to land, and had such an impact that they helped to change the planet’s atmosphere. They were the monsters of their age and are thought not only to have changed the face of the planet but also to have altered even the chemical composition of the atmosphere. The plant, which grew to at least 26 feet (8m) in height and probably to more than 40 feet, looked similar to a tree fern with a long, bare trunk that was crowned at the top with branches and leaves. Millions of the Wattieza trees would have covered the ground in coastal and other lowland regions of the planet 140 million years before the first dinosaurs....
Wyo. flock to be killed, tested after scrapie found Somewhere near Moorcroft, in an unincorporated area of northeastern Wyoming, a livestock owner will hand over his entire flock of sheep next week to the federal government for a mass execution. The rancher knows what will happen: his herd of roughly 300 sheep will be transported live out of state and taken to a slaughter plant where they will be euthanized, their brains and lymph node tissue harvested for testing. He'll lose his herd because he owned the first U.S. sheep to test positive for a rare strain of scrapie _ a disease found in sheep and goats that's similar to mad cow disease in cattle and chronic wasting disease in sheep and elk. Still, state statute prohibits officials from releasing the rancher's identity, and attempts by The Associated Press to reach him were unsuccessful. Scrapie itself is rare in the United States. Out of more than 115,000 animals tested since 2003, only 300 have tested positive; federal officials hope to eliminate scrapie from U.S. herds by the end of 2010. But the Wyoming rancher's case is even more rare: Fewer than 300 cases worldwide have been recorded of the "Nor98-like" strain of scrapie, so-named because it was first diagnosed in Norway in 1998. "This is very unusual," Larry Cooper, regional spokesman in Fort Collins, Colo., for Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, said of the first discovery of a Nor98-like strain of scrapie in the U.S. "It doesn't indicate that we're going to have mass outbreaks of this particular strain, it just indicates that one of these animals from Europe ended up in our system." There are no known human health risks associated with scrapie....
Dope tries to rope deer I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that since they congregated at my cattle feeder and did not seem to fear when we were there. A bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not four feet away. It shouldn't be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it to transport it home. I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, who had seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. I only had to wait for 20 minutes before three deer showed up. I picked one out, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it. It took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education....
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
NEWS ROUNDUP
Colo. Senate supports rancher-backed bill on Pinon Canyon Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday united behind a bill backed by opponents of the proposed expansion of the Army's Pinon Canyon maneuver site. As ranchers and students watched from seats that rim the chamber, senators gave initial backing to the measure (House Bill 1069). It tells the Army that it can't use eminent domain to acquire another 418,000 acres - or 653 square miles - to nearly triple the size of Pinon Canyon. It must undergo another vote, as early as Wednesday, before it could be sent to Gov. Bill Ritter. Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, said many of the families who live in the proposed expansion area have lived there for generations and have survived everything from the Dust Bowl to a blizzard that caused 10 foot drifts this winter. "We want the nation to know we support our military and we will continue to support our military with food," he said. Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, unsuccessfully tried to delay implementation of the bill for five years, saying the Army needed more time to complete environmental studies to decide whether to acquire more land. Ultimately, he said the area's ranchers might have to give up their land to provide the training that will give soldiers a "fighting chance" in battle....
Judge bars public funds to promote private grazing suits A judge has ordered two southern Utah counties to stop using public funds to help private ranchers fight grazing restrictions. Sixth District Judge David Mower's decision specifically addresses disputes over grazing permits on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Mower granted an injunction last week requested by the Grand Canyon Trust to prevent Kane and Garfield counties from continuing to drain money from a state defense fund to cover the legal expenses of area ranchers. These ranchers sued in U.S. District Court for Utah to be awarded permits, alleging that the grazing program by Grand Canyon Trust hurt the counties economically and culturally. The county has been using public funds to pay legal expenses in the federal lawsuit. The counties later were dropped from the suit, a move upheld by a federal appeals court. Now, with Mower's injunction in state court, the ranchers will have to pay their own way to continue their federal suit....
Missouri rancher shoots escaped wolf from Branson-area park The Missouri Department of Conservation says an Ozarks cattle rancher shot and killed the male wolf of a breeding pair that escaped from a Branson-area exotic animal park two months ago. The Missouri resident told a conservation agent that he saw the wolf chasing his cattle and shot it last Thursday. The department says it won't file charges and it also won't identify the man because the agency says he has done nothing wrong and promptly notified officials. The male wolf and a pregnant female escaped from Predator World in February, shortly after arriving at the park. There have been no reported sightings of the female.
Car kills protected wolf near Fort Shaw What authorities believe was an adult wolf has been hit and killed by a car on Highway 200 about a mile west of Fort Shaw. The accident on Friday came as federal officials were trying to determine whether Montana currently has enough wolves to take them off the Endangered Species List. "There was an adult female wolf that by outward appearances was a wild gray wolf that was hit by a car," said Carolyn Sime, the statewide wolf coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. "The protocol is that all wolves that die in Montana must go to a lab until a necropsy determines the cause of death," Sime said. "At this point, we believe it was a vehicle striking it, but we won't know until then." Bruce Auchly, information officer for Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Great Falls, said game warden Dave Holland of Fort Shaw found the animal on routine patrol and picked up the carcass, which weighed about 80 pounds....
Mountain lion sighted in subdivision south of Butte State wildlife officials are asking parents to pick up and deliver their children from a bus stop on Janney Road after a mountain lion followed a 10-year-old boy from the stop on Friday. “We don’t know if it was following him on purpose or if he was just doing what a mountain lion does,” said Coy Kline, warden sergeant for the Butte area with the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Janney Road is south of Highway 2 in the area of Terra Verde Heights, in south Butte. Kline said the lion followed the boy after he got off the bus around 3:45 p.m. The boy thought the lion was a dog and was unconcerned, but a woman driving by saw the cat and insisted the boy get into her car. She drove the boy home, Kline said, but officials have been unable to talk with her to gather more details. The lion did not attack the boy. Kline said that parents should be aware of the cat sighting in that area....
What will the Legacy Project’s legacy be? It's a water-dependent spread of summer green: a rolling expanse of alfalfa, malt barley and other crops tucked near the meandering sensibilities of Silver Creek. The 1,500-acre spread is owned by Bellevue Triangle farmer Robert Gardner, a wiry Wood River Valley native who was among Blaine County farmers initially concerned by the Wood River Legacy Project, a law signed by Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter in March. The law will enable Wood River water rights holders to leave water in-stream rather than be required to use them, but it is questionable whether there's enough water to go around to begin with. For Gardner, however, the evolution of the bill from its original form to what was eventually signed into law was also an evolution of his support—or lack thereof. The original version, he said, appeared to favor conservation interests at the expense of farmers and ranchers in the Triangle....
Ex-BLM official raps oil, gas focus A former Bureau of Land Management state director testified Tuesday that energy development has become the predominant use of public lands wherever oil and gas resources exist and that BLM policies facilitate development to the near exclusion of other priorities. But a Republican congressman derided her testimony as inaccurate during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the implementation of the on-shore gas and oil drilling provisions of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Ann Morgan, who served as a BLM state director between 1994 and 2002, including five years in Colorado, said the BLM has moved to an "extreme pace" of development over the past six or seven years. She is now vice president of public lands for The Wilderness Society. Morgan said the BLM routinely waives permit conditions that protect wildlife and habitat, inadequately funds inspection and enforcement, cannot meet commitments to monitor wildlife and air-quality impacts and opens more sensitive lands to leasing. She said the agency estimates that over 1 million acres will be disturbed by currently planned new oil and gas development. But Rep. Stevan Pearce, R-N.M., said much of Morgan's testimony was exaggerated. He said her assertion that oil and gas has become the predominant use on public lands is "just plain wrong." He said the BLM manages 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, of which 6 percent are currently under lease for oil and gas development. He said 1.8 percent of the lands have active oil and gas production, calling that a "little bitty sliver" of the total. He also disagreed with her statement that the administration has a "rush to lease policy." Pearce said the number of new leases issued under the current administration is substantially lower than under the Clinton administration....
EPA, DEQ rap Anticline plan Two agencies charged with protecting the environment are asking the Bureau of Land Management to do more for the Pinedale Anticline to ensure natural resources are protected in light of growing natural gas development. The Environmental Protection Agency and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality both asked the BLM to tighten the reins on development in their official comments on the Pinedale Anticline supplemental draft environmental impact statement. That document calls for a significant increase in energy activity in the area. EPA told the BLM it had not gone far enough to identify a "range of alternatives," while the DEQ called for more requirements that gas operators protect air quality as development progresses. Robert Roberts, EPA regional administrator, said in a 19-page letter to BLM Wyoming State Director Bob Bennett that EPA has three "primary areas" of concern: that an insufficient range of alternatives was analyzed, and harm to air quality and wildlife....
Study projects effects of forest management in Oregon's Coast Range One of the challenges of managing forests is deciding among management practices, particularly when the landscape effects these practices will have are not fully known. Since 1995, Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station scientists and their colleagues from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Forestry have been conducting research that provides managers with a better idea of the effects—both intended and unintended—that forest management practices can have on landscapes. Findings from this research were published recently in a series of six invited papers in Ecological Applications, a peer-reviewed journal of the Ecological Society of America. "This research is one of the first and most integrated studies of the ‘big picture’ of forest management across ownerships anywhere in the world," said Gordon Reeves, a coauthor on several of the invited papers and one of the Station’s lead investigators with the research project, known as the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS)....
Forest Service, state agree on water compact After 15 years of long, sometimes contentious negotiations, the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Montana have signed an agreement to address federal reserved water rights on national forest lands. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ryan Nelson signed the negotiated federal reserved water rights compact Tuesday afternoon on a table parked within earshot of Rattlesnake Creek. All three agreed the compact marked a win for both Montana and the country. Federal reserved water rights are created when federal lands are set aside for a specific purpose, such as national forests, national parks, or fish and wildlife refuges. While it was intended that enough water be reserved to meet the purposes for which the federal lands were designated, those rights still have to be negotiated with the state. “We can all agree that there's nothing more important in the Rocky Mountains than water,” Schweitzer told the group of about 30 who gathered for the signing ceremony. “It's also difficult to know who actually owns that water.” This agreement proves that the federal government and states can put together an agreement without litigation, Schweitzer said....
Creation of Wild Sky Wilderness Area finally wins approval in U.S. House The House unanimously approved the Wild Sky Wilderness Area on Tuesday, moving the popular 106,577- acre project to the brink of reality after five years of frustrating detours. By clearing the House, the first new wilderness area in Washington state in 23 years is virtually assured of final passage, lawmakers and supporters said. The Senate, which will consider the bill in the coming months, has passed the bill three times, only to see it fail each time in the House. "The journey has been long, but I've been patient," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who sponsored the bill and whose district includes most of the property. "I think this is a good example of how things actually happen in Congress. I'm very pleased, to say the least." With work finished in the House, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she would press to bring the bill to the Senate floor. Murray introduced a bill identical to Larsen's in the Senate....
Gallatin Forest sued over travel plan The Gallatin National Forest is being hit with a pair of conflicting federal lawsuits over a recently-approved travel plan that restricts where snowmobiles, bicycles and ATVs can operate within the 1.8 million acre forest. On Tuesday, the public access group Citizens for Balanced Use announced it was filing a lawsuit asserting forest administrators unfairly restricted motorized and mechanized recreation on more than 320,000 acres and along hundreds of miles of trails. A second lawsuit, filed March 28 in U.S. District Court in Missoula by two preservation groups _ the Montana Wilderness Association and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition _ charges the new restrictions did not go far enough. That suit contends the Forest Service should have adhered to a proposal to deny snowmobile access to 18,000 acres within the Hyalite/Porcupine/Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area....
Ranch tour part of Earth Day celebration The first Earth Day celebration with Nebraska Cattlemen and the Sand County Foundation will be Sunday and includes a tour of the Wilson Ranch north of Lakeside. The Wilson Ranch was named the 2006 Leopold Conservation Award recipient for its conservation practices and economic viability. The Wilson Ranch, owned by brothers Blaine and Bryan Wilson, and their wives Charlie and Debbie, is a fifth-generation ranch consisting of more than 15,000 acres and 1,100 head of cattle. The Wilsons began crossbreeding their cattle in the late 1970s, leading to the development of a genetic program based on quality. The Wilsons’ conservation efforts include development of a wildlife pasture with windbreaks and drip systems used solely for habitat protection. They developed a wetland area that has seen the return of several bird species. The family also stocks fish and works to keep the deer population controlled....
Damage by hogs to crops estimated at $52M in Texas It’s been estimated feral hogs roam at least 90 percent of Texas’ 254 counties, and each year those wild porkers cause $52 million damage to Texas agriculture. That’s only agriculture; it doesn’t include other damage, including the social costs. “We don’t measure the cost in terms of vehicle and hog crashes and the human injuries,” said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, professor of wildlife and fisheries at Texas A&M University’s extension campus in Overton, Texas. “We’ve had a number of deaths attributed to vehicle-hog crashes. But just to agriculture the damage is estimated at $52 million a year, and landowners are spending about $7 million a year correcting the damage caused or on (feral hog) control efforts.” However, not everyone wants to get rid of feral hogs. “Many people make income from leasing feral hog (hunting) rights,” Higginbotham said. Perhaps the best-known is Maurice Chambers of Sabinal, Texas, a town that calls itself the “Wild Boar Capitol of the World.” For those so inclined, Sabinal also home to the “World Championship Wild Hog-Catching” contest, where participants catch feral hogs by hand. Chambers offers archery hunts for wild hogs, which on his Web site (www.chambershunts.org) is called the “Poor Man’s Grizzly.” There also is a small commercial market for wild hogs, Higginbotham said. “There are three processors in this state that purchase feral hogs that have been captured alive and they process that hog and the cuts of meat show up in high-end restaurants on the east and west coasts as European wild boar,” Higginbotham said....
Cattlemen Urge Congress To Retain Choices In Cattle Marketing America’s cattle producers say the government should help grow the U.S. beef industry and not limit or remove choices in the marketing of cattle. This message was at the heart of testimony given today by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry held a hearing today on Market Structure of the Livestock Industry. NCBA President and North Carolina cattle producer John Queen told the subcommittee, “When it comes to market structure and competition issues, NCBA’s position is simple – we ask that the government not tell us how we can or cannot market our cattle.” Queen pointed to the recently released Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) Livestock and Meat Marketing study which concluded that alternative marketing arrangements (AMAs) such as forward contracts, production contracts, packer ownership or custom feeding have provided benefits to some producers without harming the competitiveness of the marketplace. “The report states that the leading reasons ranchers participate in AMAs are the ability to buy or sell higher quality cattle, improve supply chain management, and obtain better prices,” says Queen. “The study concludes that restrictions on AMAs would cause a decrease in the supply of cattle, quality of beef, and feeder cattle prices.” Queen described how producers can better control their profit margin with forward contracting. “If the price doesn’t fit their needs, they can walk away and find another buyer,” says Queen. “Being a ‘price maker’ rather than a ‘price taker’ puts ranchers in control of their business.”....
FB: Livestock Market Oversight Must Change Competitive livestock markets and a transparent agricultural marketplace are vital to sustaining the livelihoods of U.S. farmers and ranchers, the American Farm Bureau Federation told Congress today. “Consolidation and concentration within the agricultural sector could have adverse economic impacts on U.S. farmers and ranchers,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman in testimony presented to a subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee. “It is important that markets be accessible to all producers and that they offer competitive prices.” The landscape has changed tremendously for crop and livestock producers in recent decades, both in terms of input costs and in how they market their finished livestock, grain and fiber, according to AFBF. Stallman cited trends that illustrate this, including the share of steer and heifer slaughter for the four largest beef packers increasing from 36 percent to 80 percent from 1980 to 2004 and the share of hog slaughter for the four largest packers increasing from 32 percent to 64 percent from 1985 to 2004. He also noted that four companies currently control 50 percent of the market for broilers, while the three largest soybean processors control more than 70 percent of that market....
Group Asks USDA About Adequacy of Bovine Tuberculosis Mitigation Measures On Monday, R-CALF USA sent a formal letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns requesting an explanation from the agency on three items related to bovine tuberculosis: 1) why the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has not taken more decisive action to protect our U.S. cattle herds from a known source of Bovine TB; 2) whether USDA is following even minimal international standards established by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for preventing the spread of Bovine TB; and, 3) whether USDA has specific plans to begin providing the U.S. cattle industry with needed protection against this disease. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) administers USDA’s Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Program. Bovine TB is a contagious disease that can affect most mammals, including humans. The detection of this disease in the U.S. results in significant financial losses to affected U.S. cattle herds, as well as to all cattle herds residing in an affected state, principally due to the imposition of animal-movement restrictions. Several states – including Texas, California, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Colorado – have detected Bovine TB within their borders in recent years. “R-CALF’s Animal Health Committee was recently informed about testimony presented to Congress by USDA’s Inspector General Phyllis Fong in March, in which Inspector General Fong indicated that APHIS is hampered by weaknesses in the oversight of the program that make it difficult for the agency to timely detect and eradicate this disease,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who chairs the organization’s animal health committee....
Argentina suffers beef shortage due to price controls Argentina - a country famous for its abundant cattle - is suffering a shortage of beef, as retailers can't find suppliers willing to sell their products at the prices imposed by the government in its effort to control inflation. Local media attributed these shortages, also seen for some dairy products, partly to heavy demand and recent flooding in northern Argentina. But a trip to supermarkets in Buenos Aires tells another story. A branch of Jumbo, a super market chain owned by Chile's Cencosud SA, in Buenos Aires' Palermo neighborhood, put out placards this week apologizing to its clients for the shortage of some beef cuts, blaming a lack of supply at the prices suggested by government price controllers. Meanwhile, the meat counter at a locally owned Coto supermarket chain store in the Barrio Norte district had a similar tale and sign blaming price accords. Coto was also missing some dairy products, a clerk said....
ATVs putting horses out to pasture At dawn, John Lacey and four hired hands head out on horseback from the Fish Creek Corral to perform one of the American West's most venerable pastoral rites: corralling a herd of bellowing steers scattered across thousands of hardpan acres. Lacey, a rail-thin third-generation rancher, leads the way atop Notch, the sure-footed 10-year-old mare he prefers for such chaotic chores. Over his 68 years, he has relied on a succession of horses chosen for their good looks, athletic ability and plain old cow sense. But the modern world is closing in on Notch and the ways of the Old West. On the farthest reaches of the range, in a cloud of dust and grit, two ranch hands ride a pair of weather-beaten all-terrain vehicles. The ATVs buzz the desolate landscape like motorized mosquitoes, coaxing the farthest flung of the 2,600 head of cattle toward home. As the horsemen handle the main herd, the ATV drivers chase down strays, clutching their cowboy hats against the wind and the rough ride....
Christian Cowboys Draw Upon Their Faith so Overcome Great Odds in Movie "BULLRIDER" The movie "BULLRIDER" by Off The Pier Productions passionately documents the athleticism, camaraderie, courage and heart of the men and the bulls who challenge one another each year in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Built Ford Tough world championship series. But the movie's crossover appeal to the Christian marketplace is gaining fast momentum because the stars of the movie, the bull riders themselves, openly discuss their faith as an integral part of their success. "BULLRIDER" is as much about living life as it is about the rough and tumble world of extreme sports, according to producer Maureen Holmes, president of Off The Pier Productions. "You don't have to be a cowboy, or a sports enthusiast to be moved and inspired by this film to grow closer to God. The movie's biggest fans are often those who knew nothing about the world of professional bull riding and found themselves so inspired by the riders." Released in selected theaters across the country in 2006, "BULLRIDER", now on DVD, is a reflection of the grit demonstrated by the PBR cowboys - it is making a strong comeback - this time, however, it's among those of faith. Throughout the movie, the professional riders unabashedly point to their strong faith in Jesus Christ that encourages them during difficult times, protects them from serious injury, and gives them love for one another in a fiercely competitive environment. These professional athletes literally face serious injury or even death each time they attempt to ride the storm for eight seconds of a bull's fury. These very same struggles, defeats and victories are found in everyday life, maybe not as intense, but certainly, as important. The riders show by example how they conquer fear and insecurity by expressing their faith openly....
Colo. Senate supports rancher-backed bill on Pinon Canyon Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday united behind a bill backed by opponents of the proposed expansion of the Army's Pinon Canyon maneuver site. As ranchers and students watched from seats that rim the chamber, senators gave initial backing to the measure (House Bill 1069). It tells the Army that it can't use eminent domain to acquire another 418,000 acres - or 653 square miles - to nearly triple the size of Pinon Canyon. It must undergo another vote, as early as Wednesday, before it could be sent to Gov. Bill Ritter. Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, said many of the families who live in the proposed expansion area have lived there for generations and have survived everything from the Dust Bowl to a blizzard that caused 10 foot drifts this winter. "We want the nation to know we support our military and we will continue to support our military with food," he said. Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, unsuccessfully tried to delay implementation of the bill for five years, saying the Army needed more time to complete environmental studies to decide whether to acquire more land. Ultimately, he said the area's ranchers might have to give up their land to provide the training that will give soldiers a "fighting chance" in battle....
Judge bars public funds to promote private grazing suits A judge has ordered two southern Utah counties to stop using public funds to help private ranchers fight grazing restrictions. Sixth District Judge David Mower's decision specifically addresses disputes over grazing permits on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Mower granted an injunction last week requested by the Grand Canyon Trust to prevent Kane and Garfield counties from continuing to drain money from a state defense fund to cover the legal expenses of area ranchers. These ranchers sued in U.S. District Court for Utah to be awarded permits, alleging that the grazing program by Grand Canyon Trust hurt the counties economically and culturally. The county has been using public funds to pay legal expenses in the federal lawsuit. The counties later were dropped from the suit, a move upheld by a federal appeals court. Now, with Mower's injunction in state court, the ranchers will have to pay their own way to continue their federal suit....
Missouri rancher shoots escaped wolf from Branson-area park The Missouri Department of Conservation says an Ozarks cattle rancher shot and killed the male wolf of a breeding pair that escaped from a Branson-area exotic animal park two months ago. The Missouri resident told a conservation agent that he saw the wolf chasing his cattle and shot it last Thursday. The department says it won't file charges and it also won't identify the man because the agency says he has done nothing wrong and promptly notified officials. The male wolf and a pregnant female escaped from Predator World in February, shortly after arriving at the park. There have been no reported sightings of the female.
Car kills protected wolf near Fort Shaw What authorities believe was an adult wolf has been hit and killed by a car on Highway 200 about a mile west of Fort Shaw. The accident on Friday came as federal officials were trying to determine whether Montana currently has enough wolves to take them off the Endangered Species List. "There was an adult female wolf that by outward appearances was a wild gray wolf that was hit by a car," said Carolyn Sime, the statewide wolf coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. "The protocol is that all wolves that die in Montana must go to a lab until a necropsy determines the cause of death," Sime said. "At this point, we believe it was a vehicle striking it, but we won't know until then." Bruce Auchly, information officer for Fish, Wildlife & Parks in Great Falls, said game warden Dave Holland of Fort Shaw found the animal on routine patrol and picked up the carcass, which weighed about 80 pounds....
Mountain lion sighted in subdivision south of Butte State wildlife officials are asking parents to pick up and deliver their children from a bus stop on Janney Road after a mountain lion followed a 10-year-old boy from the stop on Friday. “We don’t know if it was following him on purpose or if he was just doing what a mountain lion does,” said Coy Kline, warden sergeant for the Butte area with the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Janney Road is south of Highway 2 in the area of Terra Verde Heights, in south Butte. Kline said the lion followed the boy after he got off the bus around 3:45 p.m. The boy thought the lion was a dog and was unconcerned, but a woman driving by saw the cat and insisted the boy get into her car. She drove the boy home, Kline said, but officials have been unable to talk with her to gather more details. The lion did not attack the boy. Kline said that parents should be aware of the cat sighting in that area....
What will the Legacy Project’s legacy be? It's a water-dependent spread of summer green: a rolling expanse of alfalfa, malt barley and other crops tucked near the meandering sensibilities of Silver Creek. The 1,500-acre spread is owned by Bellevue Triangle farmer Robert Gardner, a wiry Wood River Valley native who was among Blaine County farmers initially concerned by the Wood River Legacy Project, a law signed by Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter in March. The law will enable Wood River water rights holders to leave water in-stream rather than be required to use them, but it is questionable whether there's enough water to go around to begin with. For Gardner, however, the evolution of the bill from its original form to what was eventually signed into law was also an evolution of his support—or lack thereof. The original version, he said, appeared to favor conservation interests at the expense of farmers and ranchers in the Triangle....
Ex-BLM official raps oil, gas focus A former Bureau of Land Management state director testified Tuesday that energy development has become the predominant use of public lands wherever oil and gas resources exist and that BLM policies facilitate development to the near exclusion of other priorities. But a Republican congressman derided her testimony as inaccurate during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the implementation of the on-shore gas and oil drilling provisions of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. Ann Morgan, who served as a BLM state director between 1994 and 2002, including five years in Colorado, said the BLM has moved to an "extreme pace" of development over the past six or seven years. She is now vice president of public lands for The Wilderness Society. Morgan said the BLM routinely waives permit conditions that protect wildlife and habitat, inadequately funds inspection and enforcement, cannot meet commitments to monitor wildlife and air-quality impacts and opens more sensitive lands to leasing. She said the agency estimates that over 1 million acres will be disturbed by currently planned new oil and gas development. But Rep. Stevan Pearce, R-N.M., said much of Morgan's testimony was exaggerated. He said her assertion that oil and gas has become the predominant use on public lands is "just plain wrong." He said the BLM manages 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate, of which 6 percent are currently under lease for oil and gas development. He said 1.8 percent of the lands have active oil and gas production, calling that a "little bitty sliver" of the total. He also disagreed with her statement that the administration has a "rush to lease policy." Pearce said the number of new leases issued under the current administration is substantially lower than under the Clinton administration....
EPA, DEQ rap Anticline plan Two agencies charged with protecting the environment are asking the Bureau of Land Management to do more for the Pinedale Anticline to ensure natural resources are protected in light of growing natural gas development. The Environmental Protection Agency and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality both asked the BLM to tighten the reins on development in their official comments on the Pinedale Anticline supplemental draft environmental impact statement. That document calls for a significant increase in energy activity in the area. EPA told the BLM it had not gone far enough to identify a "range of alternatives," while the DEQ called for more requirements that gas operators protect air quality as development progresses. Robert Roberts, EPA regional administrator, said in a 19-page letter to BLM Wyoming State Director Bob Bennett that EPA has three "primary areas" of concern: that an insufficient range of alternatives was analyzed, and harm to air quality and wildlife....
Study projects effects of forest management in Oregon's Coast Range One of the challenges of managing forests is deciding among management practices, particularly when the landscape effects these practices will have are not fully known. Since 1995, Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station scientists and their colleagues from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Forestry have been conducting research that provides managers with a better idea of the effects—both intended and unintended—that forest management practices can have on landscapes. Findings from this research were published recently in a series of six invited papers in Ecological Applications, a peer-reviewed journal of the Ecological Society of America. "This research is one of the first and most integrated studies of the ‘big picture’ of forest management across ownerships anywhere in the world," said Gordon Reeves, a coauthor on several of the invited papers and one of the Station’s lead investigators with the research project, known as the Coastal Landscape Analysis and Modeling Study (CLAMS)....
Forest Service, state agree on water compact After 15 years of long, sometimes contentious negotiations, the U.S. Forest Service and the state of Montana have signed an agreement to address federal reserved water rights on national forest lands. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, U.S. Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ryan Nelson signed the negotiated federal reserved water rights compact Tuesday afternoon on a table parked within earshot of Rattlesnake Creek. All three agreed the compact marked a win for both Montana and the country. Federal reserved water rights are created when federal lands are set aside for a specific purpose, such as national forests, national parks, or fish and wildlife refuges. While it was intended that enough water be reserved to meet the purposes for which the federal lands were designated, those rights still have to be negotiated with the state. “We can all agree that there's nothing more important in the Rocky Mountains than water,” Schweitzer told the group of about 30 who gathered for the signing ceremony. “It's also difficult to know who actually owns that water.” This agreement proves that the federal government and states can put together an agreement without litigation, Schweitzer said....
Creation of Wild Sky Wilderness Area finally wins approval in U.S. House The House unanimously approved the Wild Sky Wilderness Area on Tuesday, moving the popular 106,577- acre project to the brink of reality after five years of frustrating detours. By clearing the House, the first new wilderness area in Washington state in 23 years is virtually assured of final passage, lawmakers and supporters said. The Senate, which will consider the bill in the coming months, has passed the bill three times, only to see it fail each time in the House. "The journey has been long, but I've been patient," said Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., who sponsored the bill and whose district includes most of the property. "I think this is a good example of how things actually happen in Congress. I'm very pleased, to say the least." With work finished in the House, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said she would press to bring the bill to the Senate floor. Murray introduced a bill identical to Larsen's in the Senate....
Gallatin Forest sued over travel plan The Gallatin National Forest is being hit with a pair of conflicting federal lawsuits over a recently-approved travel plan that restricts where snowmobiles, bicycles and ATVs can operate within the 1.8 million acre forest. On Tuesday, the public access group Citizens for Balanced Use announced it was filing a lawsuit asserting forest administrators unfairly restricted motorized and mechanized recreation on more than 320,000 acres and along hundreds of miles of trails. A second lawsuit, filed March 28 in U.S. District Court in Missoula by two preservation groups _ the Montana Wilderness Association and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition _ charges the new restrictions did not go far enough. That suit contends the Forest Service should have adhered to a proposal to deny snowmobile access to 18,000 acres within the Hyalite/Porcupine/Buffalo Horn Wilderness Study Area....
Ranch tour part of Earth Day celebration The first Earth Day celebration with Nebraska Cattlemen and the Sand County Foundation will be Sunday and includes a tour of the Wilson Ranch north of Lakeside. The Wilson Ranch was named the 2006 Leopold Conservation Award recipient for its conservation practices and economic viability. The Wilson Ranch, owned by brothers Blaine and Bryan Wilson, and their wives Charlie and Debbie, is a fifth-generation ranch consisting of more than 15,000 acres and 1,100 head of cattle. The Wilsons began crossbreeding their cattle in the late 1970s, leading to the development of a genetic program based on quality. The Wilsons’ conservation efforts include development of a wildlife pasture with windbreaks and drip systems used solely for habitat protection. They developed a wetland area that has seen the return of several bird species. The family also stocks fish and works to keep the deer population controlled....
Damage by hogs to crops estimated at $52M in Texas It’s been estimated feral hogs roam at least 90 percent of Texas’ 254 counties, and each year those wild porkers cause $52 million damage to Texas agriculture. That’s only agriculture; it doesn’t include other damage, including the social costs. “We don’t measure the cost in terms of vehicle and hog crashes and the human injuries,” said Dr. Billy Higginbotham, professor of wildlife and fisheries at Texas A&M University’s extension campus in Overton, Texas. “We’ve had a number of deaths attributed to vehicle-hog crashes. But just to agriculture the damage is estimated at $52 million a year, and landowners are spending about $7 million a year correcting the damage caused or on (feral hog) control efforts.” However, not everyone wants to get rid of feral hogs. “Many people make income from leasing feral hog (hunting) rights,” Higginbotham said. Perhaps the best-known is Maurice Chambers of Sabinal, Texas, a town that calls itself the “Wild Boar Capitol of the World.” For those so inclined, Sabinal also home to the “World Championship Wild Hog-Catching” contest, where participants catch feral hogs by hand. Chambers offers archery hunts for wild hogs, which on his Web site (www.chambershunts.org) is called the “Poor Man’s Grizzly.” There also is a small commercial market for wild hogs, Higginbotham said. “There are three processors in this state that purchase feral hogs that have been captured alive and they process that hog and the cuts of meat show up in high-end restaurants on the east and west coasts as European wild boar,” Higginbotham said....
Cattlemen Urge Congress To Retain Choices In Cattle Marketing America’s cattle producers say the government should help grow the U.S. beef industry and not limit or remove choices in the marketing of cattle. This message was at the heart of testimony given today by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry held a hearing today on Market Structure of the Livestock Industry. NCBA President and North Carolina cattle producer John Queen told the subcommittee, “When it comes to market structure and competition issues, NCBA’s position is simple – we ask that the government not tell us how we can or cannot market our cattle.” Queen pointed to the recently released Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) Livestock and Meat Marketing study which concluded that alternative marketing arrangements (AMAs) such as forward contracts, production contracts, packer ownership or custom feeding have provided benefits to some producers without harming the competitiveness of the marketplace. “The report states that the leading reasons ranchers participate in AMAs are the ability to buy or sell higher quality cattle, improve supply chain management, and obtain better prices,” says Queen. “The study concludes that restrictions on AMAs would cause a decrease in the supply of cattle, quality of beef, and feeder cattle prices.” Queen described how producers can better control their profit margin with forward contracting. “If the price doesn’t fit their needs, they can walk away and find another buyer,” says Queen. “Being a ‘price maker’ rather than a ‘price taker’ puts ranchers in control of their business.”....
FB: Livestock Market Oversight Must Change Competitive livestock markets and a transparent agricultural marketplace are vital to sustaining the livelihoods of U.S. farmers and ranchers, the American Farm Bureau Federation told Congress today. “Consolidation and concentration within the agricultural sector could have adverse economic impacts on U.S. farmers and ranchers,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman in testimony presented to a subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee. “It is important that markets be accessible to all producers and that they offer competitive prices.” The landscape has changed tremendously for crop and livestock producers in recent decades, both in terms of input costs and in how they market their finished livestock, grain and fiber, according to AFBF. Stallman cited trends that illustrate this, including the share of steer and heifer slaughter for the four largest beef packers increasing from 36 percent to 80 percent from 1980 to 2004 and the share of hog slaughter for the four largest packers increasing from 32 percent to 64 percent from 1985 to 2004. He also noted that four companies currently control 50 percent of the market for broilers, while the three largest soybean processors control more than 70 percent of that market....
Group Asks USDA About Adequacy of Bovine Tuberculosis Mitigation Measures On Monday, R-CALF USA sent a formal letter to Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns requesting an explanation from the agency on three items related to bovine tuberculosis: 1) why the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has not taken more decisive action to protect our U.S. cattle herds from a known source of Bovine TB; 2) whether USDA is following even minimal international standards established by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) for preventing the spread of Bovine TB; and, 3) whether USDA has specific plans to begin providing the U.S. cattle industry with needed protection against this disease. USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) administers USDA’s Bovine Tuberculosis Eradication Program. Bovine TB is a contagious disease that can affect most mammals, including humans. The detection of this disease in the U.S. results in significant financial losses to affected U.S. cattle herds, as well as to all cattle herds residing in an affected state, principally due to the imposition of animal-movement restrictions. Several states – including Texas, California, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Colorado – have detected Bovine TB within their borders in recent years. “R-CALF’s Animal Health Committee was recently informed about testimony presented to Congress by USDA’s Inspector General Phyllis Fong in March, in which Inspector General Fong indicated that APHIS is hampered by weaknesses in the oversight of the program that make it difficult for the agency to timely detect and eradicate this disease,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who chairs the organization’s animal health committee....
Argentina suffers beef shortage due to price controls Argentina - a country famous for its abundant cattle - is suffering a shortage of beef, as retailers can't find suppliers willing to sell their products at the prices imposed by the government in its effort to control inflation. Local media attributed these shortages, also seen for some dairy products, partly to heavy demand and recent flooding in northern Argentina. But a trip to supermarkets in Buenos Aires tells another story. A branch of Jumbo, a super market chain owned by Chile's Cencosud SA, in Buenos Aires' Palermo neighborhood, put out placards this week apologizing to its clients for the shortage of some beef cuts, blaming a lack of supply at the prices suggested by government price controllers. Meanwhile, the meat counter at a locally owned Coto supermarket chain store in the Barrio Norte district had a similar tale and sign blaming price accords. Coto was also missing some dairy products, a clerk said....
ATVs putting horses out to pasture At dawn, John Lacey and four hired hands head out on horseback from the Fish Creek Corral to perform one of the American West's most venerable pastoral rites: corralling a herd of bellowing steers scattered across thousands of hardpan acres. Lacey, a rail-thin third-generation rancher, leads the way atop Notch, the sure-footed 10-year-old mare he prefers for such chaotic chores. Over his 68 years, he has relied on a succession of horses chosen for their good looks, athletic ability and plain old cow sense. But the modern world is closing in on Notch and the ways of the Old West. On the farthest reaches of the range, in a cloud of dust and grit, two ranch hands ride a pair of weather-beaten all-terrain vehicles. The ATVs buzz the desolate landscape like motorized mosquitoes, coaxing the farthest flung of the 2,600 head of cattle toward home. As the horsemen handle the main herd, the ATV drivers chase down strays, clutching their cowboy hats against the wind and the rough ride....
Christian Cowboys Draw Upon Their Faith so Overcome Great Odds in Movie "BULLRIDER" The movie "BULLRIDER" by Off The Pier Productions passionately documents the athleticism, camaraderie, courage and heart of the men and the bulls who challenge one another each year in the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Built Ford Tough world championship series. But the movie's crossover appeal to the Christian marketplace is gaining fast momentum because the stars of the movie, the bull riders themselves, openly discuss their faith as an integral part of their success. "BULLRIDER" is as much about living life as it is about the rough and tumble world of extreme sports, according to producer Maureen Holmes, president of Off The Pier Productions. "You don't have to be a cowboy, or a sports enthusiast to be moved and inspired by this film to grow closer to God. The movie's biggest fans are often those who knew nothing about the world of professional bull riding and found themselves so inspired by the riders." Released in selected theaters across the country in 2006, "BULLRIDER", now on DVD, is a reflection of the grit demonstrated by the PBR cowboys - it is making a strong comeback - this time, however, it's among those of faith. Throughout the movie, the professional riders unabashedly point to their strong faith in Jesus Christ that encourages them during difficult times, protects them from serious injury, and gives them love for one another in a fiercely competitive environment. These professional athletes literally face serious injury or even death each time they attempt to ride the storm for eight seconds of a bull's fury. These very same struggles, defeats and victories are found in everyday life, maybe not as intense, but certainly, as important. The riders show by example how they conquer fear and insecurity by expressing their faith openly....
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