Wild turkey crashes through window at school

A fifth-grade class received an unexpected visitor today. Around noon today a wild turkey crashed into the window of a fifth-grade classroom at the Our Lady of Lourdes School, said school principal Carol Polito. "He literally flew through the window right from the outside. Thank God nobody was injured,” she said. “I think it’s just amazing that not only did the bird come flying through, but the noise it made; it was a very, very loud noise.” Technology Teacher Josh Marris was able to coax and walk the turkey outside of the building. He said the turkey didn’t appear to be hurt, although he did see red on the stairwell when he was taking the bird outside. “I heard the smash, the fifth-graders screamed,” he said. “They went screaming down the hall, some of them were holding the door shut." He then went in the room and began the process of coaxing the bird out. “We’ll remember this one for a very long time,” Polito said. The Observer-Dispatch.

I took some Wild Turkey to school once, and I crashed too.

Attempt to move Forest Service could spark turf war

In what eventually could become a major bureaucratic turf war, there have been stirrings on Capitol Hill about moving the U.S. Forest Service from the Agriculture to the Interior Department. For more than a century, the Forest Service, which manages the federal forests, has been part of the Agriculture Department, while the nation's three other public lands agencies - the Bureau of Land Management, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service - have been at Interior. Backers of the switch say it makes sense because the agencies face such similar problems as climate change, wildfires and the pressures of urbanization. Critics say the move wouldn't save much money, at least initially, and it could leave the Forest Service more vulnerable to political pressure. "We believe there is a need to approach these things innovatively - to think outside the box," Robin Nazzaro, director of natural resources and environment for the Government Accountability Office, said in an interview. "This is one option. This is the beginning of the debate on how to position ourselves to meet these challenges." Nazzaro was among those who testified last week before the House Appropriations Committee's interior subcommittee about moving the Forest Service to Interior. The committee controls the purse strings for the Forest Service, even though it is part of Agriculture, and the Interior Department...Kansas City Star

Mineral rights showdown at Badlands ranch

A Montana man who wants to mine gravel on the Badlands ranch where Theodore Roosevelt once ran his cattle is comparing his dispute with the U.S. Forest Service to an Old West stare-down. He says he won't blink. "If they want me out of the picture, pay me $2.5 million and I'll go back to Montana and they'll never here from me again," Roger Lothspeich said. "Or I'm going to mine that ranch for decades and decades to come." Lothspeich, 50, of Miles City, Mont., claims he owns half the mineral and gravel rights beneath the 5,200-acre ranch in western North Dakota. He said his portion of the subsurface rights represents about $10 million in high-grade gravel that can be sold to the government and oil companies for road building. The Forest Service purchased the ranch, next to Theodore Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch site, from brothers Kenneth, Allan and Dennis Eberts and their families in 2007. It cost $5.3 million, with $4.8 million coming from the federal government and $500,000 from conservation groups. The purchase did not include mineral rights. The Ebertses had bought the ranch and half the mineral rights from the Connell family in 1993 for $800,000. Lothspeich, who grew up near the ranch before moving to Montana, bought the other half of the mineral rights about a year ago, knowing the government had not obtained them in the Eberts deal. Byron Connell, of Scottsbluff, Neb., said the Forest Service never gave him a formal offer for the mineral rights. "They had a middle man call me and he offered some ridiculous price," Connell said. "After that, I never heard from them again." Connell calls it a joke and says it's typical of government. "Nobody did their homework on this," Connell said. "Now, everybody is ducking and diving at the Forest Service and trying to save face."...AP

Budget offers $50 million for forests across the U.S.

The budget calls for an additional $50 million next year to protect and restore national forests in the U.S. "as a cornerstone of a healthy, sustainable environment." The money will "protect natural resources and maintain facilities," including those that got a funding bump in the economic stimulus package signed into law earlier this month. The just-enacted stimulus law also allocated more money to the Forest Service. It devotes $650 million to spending on Forest Service roads, trail maintenance and environmental enhancement projects, Oppenheimer said. An additional $250 million goes toward fuel reduction programs in national forests. Money spent on those efforts - including clearing undergrowth, targeted thinning and proscribed burns - is expected to cut down on long-term firefighting costs. For fires, the budget establishes a dedicated fund for fighting catastrophic wildfires and also fully funds the 10-year average cost of federal firefighting efforts. It also establishes a $75 million contingency fund to use when the 10-year fund is exhausted. That means annual forest management budgets are less likely to be robbed to fight catastrophic fires. It will "ensure that resources are available for other critical activities" of the agencies that oversee public forest land, said Don Smurthwaite, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise...Idaho Statesman

Will DOI & Forest Service Avoid First Mistake?

With President Barack Obama signing the stimulus bill in Denver, his natural resource agencies and Congress may be on the verge of their first unintended environmental policy mistake. The "green jobs" language for Department of Interior agencies in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (stimulus bill) is biased toward projects such as facility repair and road maintenance in our national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges. Instead, the stimulus bill's funding should prioritize the battle against the invasive terrestrial and aquatic species ravaging all our federal lands and waters. The dedicated Department of Interior staff that prepared stimulus recommendations to Congress erred by focusing on fixed assets such as buildings and roads instead of helping the fish and wildlife resources that make our public lands valuable to Americans in the first place. The U.S. Forest Service took a similar narrow approach to economic growth, offering a job package that focused on road maintenance, facilities repair and wildland fire management...The Coloradoan

FOREST SERVICE AT SEA ON STATUS OF VAST MINERAL RIGHTS

Beset by lawsuits from both industry and environmentalists, the U.S. Forest Service is now pursuing regulations to govern drilling and mining on its lands. The agency’s quandary is especially acute east of the Mississippi where large percentages of its wilderness and experimental forests – areas normally not subject to development – sit atop privately-held mineral estates, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). For the past twenty-five years, the Forest Service has not applied any environmental restrictions on private extraction efforts, even in wilderness areas, following a 1983 decision by an Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, its parent agency. As a result, the Forest Service has not imposed the slightest protection for its most ecologically sensitive lands or wildlife from damaging extraction operations. Dueling lawsuits by both industry and environmentalists concerning thousands of oil and gas wells on the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania prompted the Forest Service on December 29, 2008 to formally solicit public comment on how to craft “regulations to provide clarity and direction on the management of National Forest System surface resources when the mineral estate is privately held”. On January 16, 2009, the Eastern Region (Region 9) announced that it would “review all applications for access to reserved and outstanding oil and gas” in each national forest within that 21-state region. “This hot potato will be gathering steam on the desk of whomever the Obama administration appoints as the next Chief of the Forest Service,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting that the other major federal land management agency, the Interior Department, already has regulations governing this topic...Fly Rod & Wheel

Ecoterrorists Strike In Arizona

Vandals who claim to act in the name of animal rights and the environment are expanding their targets from laboratories and constructon sites that offend them to homes and cars of those with whom they disagree. On Feb. 19 in Tucson, a UA researcher had her water valve cemented shut and a mining company employee had her car tires flattened and her windows etched with hateful sayings. A press release posted on the San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center site by a group calling itself "Tucson H.A.A.N.D." or "Hooligans Attack at Night, Duh," claimed responsibility for the acts. It said UA Health Sciences researcher Katalin Gothard's water meter was turned off and cemented shut because of her research with monkeys and Kathy Arnold's car tire was slashed and her window etched because of her job with Augusta Resources Rosemont Copper Project. Augusta wants to open a 1.2-square-mile open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains. A post on a Blogspot.com site called "Social Rupture" said the same group was responsible for a Jan. 15 vandalism attack that targeted Si Schorr, Tucson attorney and former chairman of the Arizona Transportation Board. The post said Schorr was targeted because of his espousal of an Interstate 10 bypass route that environmentalists say would damage valuable habitat. Vandals painted and etched expletive-laced slogans on the home's windows and garage doors. Schorr called the language "vile." "They were hateful expressions directed at me in my capacity as a public official," he said...TMC News

How do we manage to manage public lands?

The business of managing public lands is messy, somewhat akin to the sausage making of legislatures. And Congress frequently makes it worse. For readers not well-versed in public-lands acronyms, the resource advisory councils, or RACs (not to be confused with the Rec Rac) were created during the Clinton administration to advise the BLM. There are three resource advisory councils in Colorado, each with 15 members — the Front Range RAC, the Southwest RAC and the Northwest RAC, which includes Mesa County. Representatives from this community include Mike Perry with the Museum of Western Colorado, conservationist Charles Kerr and mountain-bike enthusiast Pat Kennedy. There are also ranchers, off-road vehicle users and oil-and-gas industry representatives on the RAC. They examine issues and offer the BLM recommendations on topics ranging from grazing to gas drilling to recreation. That’s right, recreation. These groups, with citizens representing a wide array of interests, already provide recommendations to the BLM regarding things like recreation fees. So why is another bureaucratic beast such as the Rec Rac necessary? Gene King, a Denver-area resident and member of the Front Range RAC, left little doubt during the combined RAC meeting Wednesday what he thought of the issue. “The reason we have this is that it was stuck in an omnibus bill by a congressman from Ohio, I believe, without any public input,” he said. “And now we’re stuck with this piece of crap.” I couldn’t find evidence of who the congressman was, but King was otherwise correct about the origins of the Rec Racs. They were created through the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, which was included in the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, according to a federal Web site...Grand Junction Sentinel

Calif. declares drought emergency, mulls rationing

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year. As many as 95,000 agricultural jobs will be lost, communities will be devastated and some growers in the most economically productive farm state simply are not able to plant, state officials said, calling the current drought the most expensive ever. Schwarzenegger, eager to build controversial dams as well as more widely backed water recycling programs, called on cities to cut back water use or face the first ever mandatory state restrictions as soon as the end of the month...Reuters

Enviros, US at odds over jaguar info

On Feb. 18, a jaguar nicknamed Macho B that has been documented by tracking cameras since 1996 was inadvertently snared by an Arizona Game and Fish Department trap. Arizona and New Mexico are on the far northern edge of the animals' range. Their primary home is Central and South America, especially the Amazon. Federal and state experts contend that the jaguars that come into Southern Arizona originate from a colony of perhaps 70 to 100 cats about 130 miles south of the border in the Mexican state of Sonora. After the capture, state biologists placed a collar with GPS satellite-tracking capabilities on the sedated animal and then released him. Because the collar signals location information every three hours and also is programmed to signal when the border is crossed, government scientists and environmentalists agree that it's likely to provide a wealth of data. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Center for Biological Diversity, on opposite sides of a lawsuit scheduled for federal trial later this month over the jaguar, disagree over what good the new information will do...Arizona Daily Star

The CBD clearly wants the data to assist in the lawsuit to establish critical habitat.

Ski area's expansion plans may threaten recently introduced lynx

A plan for conserving lynx habitat in the southern Rockies could affect a proposed expansion of the Breckenridge ski area. The U.S. Forest Service is studying whether the resort's plans conflict with a lynx management plan. Breckenridge wants to add several hundred acres of new trails and ski terrain. The Colorado Division of Wildlife has released more than 200 lynx from Alaska and Canada in southwestern Colorado since 1999 to restore the cat to the state. The Forest Service released a plan last year to manage lynx habitat in national forests in Colorado and southern Wyoming. Ski resort officials hope the Forest Service will complete a draft environmental study on the project this summer...adn.com

I thought the feds were going to create jobs, not destroy them.

The wolf is at the wolf sanctuary's door

Sherrie LaBat, standing by an electric fence that separates her from three wolves, turns to see if the truck she hears is coming her way. She hopes the tires splashing through mud are heading to the remote Howling Acres Wolf Sanctuary she owns with her husband, Charlie LaBat. Someone called earlier in the day and pledged to deliver a donation of dog food. The LaBats, who recently put their mom-and-pop sanctuary up for sale, are down to eight weeks' worth of food for their 20 wolves and wolf-dog hybrids. As the economy crumbles, it's no surprise animal havens and rescue groups are suffering. The first to buckle are small operations run by animal lovers with big hearts and limited funds. In the case of the LaBats, whose southern Oregon sanctuary is 30 miles south of Grants Pass, the situation is trickier because the creatures at stake are among the most notorious in the West. There are an estimated 40 wolf sanctuaries in the United States, according to Wolf Haven International in Tenino, Wash., one of the oldest. The number is sketchy because no one regulates sanctuaries. Only the U.S. Department of Agriculture licenses them when they open for public viewing, and they can come in all sizes and shapes and with a variety of missions...The Oregonian

Water Quality Trading: A tool to strengthen NPS pollution control

During the 19th and 20th centuries, federal water policies were created to develop agricultural industries and to settle the western U.S. Currently, agriculture uses between 70 and 95 percent of water resources in western states. Although the Clean Water Act (CWA) has effectively improved point source pollution problems, there is much left to accomplish regarding nonpoint source (NPS) pollution generated from municipal storm water and agricultural runoff. Current efforts to control NPS pollution involve state water quality monitoring, watershed planning and citizen education. States also provide technical assistance, in the form of Best Management Practices (BMPs), to farmers and ranchers to control NPS pollution on agricultural lands. Water quality trading is a market-based approach to improve water quality. A pollutant is treated as a commodity that can be purchased and sold to achieve and maintain water quality goals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a Water Quality Trading Policy consistent with mandates outlined by the CWA to guide states and tribes in attaining and preserving water quality standards. According to Section 303 of the CWA, quantitative and qualitative water quality criteria are established to protect beneficial uses and preserve water quality. TMDLs are required on waters listed as impaired. In addition to TMDLs and watershed planning, EPA's Water Quality Trading Policy program aims to facilitate TMDL implementation further through lowering NPS pollution control costs, thereby encouraging watershed initiatives and voluntary pollutant reductions...Reno Gazette Journal

Environmentalists, landowners help endangered falcons soar

The endangered Northern Aplomado Falcon, a regal gray bird with beige markings that was common across Texas and the Southwest until 1952, is making a comeback. A combined effort by conservationists, federal agencies and private landowners has led to 40 breeding pairs in South Texas and soon, the falcon's reintroduction in West Texas and New Mexico. The success has been so great that he thinks the Northern Aplomado Falcon will soon be delisted as an endangered species. Aplomado is the Spanish word for lead-colored. The Northern Aplomado Falcon's resurgence has relied, more than most rescue efforts, on the goodwill of private landowners. Texas lands are about 97 percent privately owned, limiting the power of the federal government to force change. The Environmental Defense Fund helped create an inducement for landowners in the mid-1990s with a "safe harbor" provision to the Endangered Species Act that protects private property from federal intrusion when landowners set acreage aside for endangered animals. "In return for access, the landowners get a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" that gives them legal cover, said Michael Bean, a senior attorney with the defense fund. "There are now 2 million acres in Texas in the program."...McClatchy Newspapers

Vilsack pledges guarantees on loans to ethanol producers

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be providing loan guarantees to help struggling ethanol producers. In a speech to the USDA's annual agriculture outlook conference, he said the USDA "has a responsibility for keeping an eye on that industry" to maintain an infrastructure to produce the next generation of biofuels. Vilsack said later that the USDA is pushing banks to "make sure that the terms and conditions of the loans are more favorably inclined." Des Moines Register

Isn't this how we got into the mortgage crises? Yes, it is, and now the feds are back doing the same thing.

Texas Cattle Trichomoniasis Program Adopted

Beginning April 1, 2009, breeding bulls entering Texas from any other state must be either 24 months of age or younger and certified as a virgin, or be tested negative for cattle trichomoniasis within 30 days prior to entry. The entry requirements are part of a regulatory package adopted by the commissioners for the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) February 24 to address trichomoniasis, a venereal disease of cattle that causes infertility and abortions, and results in extended breeding seasons and diminished calf crops, which costs livestock producers valuable income. Cattle trichomoniasis is not a human health issue. The second phase of the program, which will address in-state movement of Texas breeding bulls, will go into effect January 1, 2010. Dr. Hillman explained that the interstate, or state-to-state movement, phase of the trichomoniasis regulations will begin April 1, 2009. Breeding bulls entering Texas must be officially identified, and may come certified as virgins, provided they are 24 months of age or younger, and have not commingled with female cattle. A breeder’s certificate must accompany the virgin breeding bull, signed by the breeder, and the information also must be included on the certificate of veterinary inspection. Routine documents also are required, including the certificate of veterinary inspection, and other applicable tuberculosis or brucellosis entry requirements must be met, depending on the state of origin, or if the bull is a beef or dairy animal. Non-virgin breeding bulls or bulls older than 24 months of age entering Texas on and after April 1 must be tested negative for trichomoniasis within 30 days prior to entry. During the test period and prior to shipment, the bulls must have no contact with female cattle. Like virgin bulls, the non-virgin bulls must be officially identified with a breed registry tattoo or brand, a USDA metal ear tag, official RFID tag, official trichomoniasis ear tag from the state of origin, or other official identification. The animal must be accompanied by a completed trichomoniasis test document, certificate of veterinary inspection and other routine health documents...TAHC Press Release

National Cowboy Museum announces Western Heritage Awards

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum announced today the winners of its 48th annual Western Heritage Awards. The awards honor and encourage the legacy of those whose works in literature, music, film and television reflect the significant stories of the American West. The Western Heritage Awards will be presented at a black-tie banquet April 18 at the museum. Each winner in attendance receives the Wrangler, an impressive bronze sculpture of a cowboy on horseback. Awards presented in 2009 are for works completed in 2008. Qualified professionals outside the museum staff judge all categories. The 2008 best theatrical motion picture winner is “Appaloosa,” starring Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy Irons and Renée Zellweger. The movie is based on the 2005 Western novel by Robert B. Parker and centers around lawman Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and his deputy Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen). The two friends are hired to defend a lawless 1880s town from a renegade rancher, Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons), who has already taken horses and supplies and killed the deputy and the marshal. Their efforts are disrupted and friendship tested by the arrival of a woman (Renee Zellweger). Director Ed Harris co-wrote the script with Robert Knott, and the two produced the movie. Lighthouse Productions produced “The Challenge of Champions: The Story of Lane Frost and Red Rock,” the winner of the documentary category. Award-winning filmmaker David Wittkower captured the story of two champions and a segment of their celebrated careers. The 90-minute film follows the duel between World Champion Bull Rider Lane Frost and Red Rock, a bull that had been unridden in more than 300 tries. Clyde and Elsie Frost, Lane’s parents, and John Growney, stock contractor and owner of Red Rock, narrate the story. The film features interviews with people closest to the seven-match series including friends and rodeo cohorts Tuff Hedeman and Cody Lambert; sportscaster George Michael; journalist Kendra Santos; and photographer Sue Rosoff...

Energy Taxes

The Administration's fiscal 2010 budget proposal calls for at least $400 billion in new taxes and fees on the oil and natural gas industry, including a significant portion of the revenues that would be raised from a carbon cap-and-trade system. The tax portion of the budget proposal includes at least $80 billion in new taxes on the U.S. energy sector over the next decade. These new taxes and fees could mean less U.S. energy production, fewer American jobs and less revenue for federal, state and local governments at a time when we desperately need all three. These punitive measures could also threaten the retirements of tens of millions of Americans with mutual funds, pensions and retirement plans that invest heavily in U.S. energy companies. The bottom line is that imposing additional taxes on America's oil and natural gas companies will not lower energy costs nor help produce much needed supply. In fact, increased strain on U.S. energy companies will make it more difficult for the United States to compete for energy resources in the global market and threaten jobs here at home...Energy Tomorrow

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Cowboy Wedding --From the Hope Chest to the gravy

Julie Carter

Having secured a sort of left-handed proposal of marriage from her cowboy last Sadie Hawkins' Day, the soon-to-be-bride began to work on her Hope Chest.

You don't hear much about that tradition in this day and time, but pragmatic future brides of cowboys still know the wisdom of having a few essentials before the check book becomes his sole territory.

While shopping for linens at Big Lots, this prospective blushing bride found a fantastic world-beater bargain in paper towels. She had already decided that the reception menu would include barbeque ribs, beans and potato salad so paper towels would be a priority.

The ones on sale just happened to be decorated with orange and turquoise designs which inspired her to select those colors for her wedding theme.

As planning progressed, she found the perfect dress. It fit, was in her price range and was bright orange. Nobody was going to miss her at this fiesta.

The bridesmaids' dresses arrived in a stunning shade of turquoise. There was a slight hitch as one of the bridesmaids ordered hers in a size smaller than actually required.

The bridesmaid's Plan A involved a diet before the wedding. The bride's Plan B was to line up a cousin who was the right size.

Her cowboy was not as totally committed to this project as she would have liked, and in an effort to get him involved, she decided they should each write their own vows.

Her vows were very lovely prose, mentioning hearts, flowers, lifelong commitment, a steady partner and love eternal.

When his were finally, reluctantly, presented for inspection, she was somewhat taken aback.

The only thing he had planned on saying was "I do. Let's party."

Of course, they were going to be married outside on the hill overlooking the ranch. The setting would be beautiful. Concerned about her dress, the bride borrowed the long carpet used for the sidewalk at the Post Office to walk down the aisle.

The boom box was tested and required only an occasional slap on the side to keep it playing. Waylon and Willie would do fine.

Helpful neighbors had designated who was to carry the shotgun, who was to usher the guests away from the keg and to seating, who was to keep the dogs quiet during the ceremony and who was to dig the pit for the barbeque.

For quite some time the bride had been waiting for a ring to appear. On their next trip to a real town, she borrowed her cowboy's credit card and headed to the nearest wholesale jewelers. There she bought a ring that fit perfectly and looked almost authentic.

Only detail left was to line up a few married cowboy friends to watch her groom.

That faraway look in his eyes was beginning to be worrisome. She knew that married males would be more dependable. Something about "if I can cowboy-up, so can he."

After all, the bride-to-be was a good cook and these guys liked good food. They also knew they'd be eating regularly at the new couple's outfit when they neighbored at cattle workings. Certainly, it was a smart plan to make sure he married somebody that could cook.

Her good cooking won the heart of her cowboy and the loyalty of the neighbors.

Never underestimate the power of a perfect chicken fried steak and good gravy.

Julie can be reached for comment at julie-carter.com

What do marijuana, porn, brothels, gambling & gay marriage have in common?

Various states want to tax them or otherwise use them to raise revenues during a slumping economy. See today's NY Times.

In California, a state legislator wants to tax marijuana.

In Washington, a bill was introduced to tax pornography.

In Nevada, they want to tax the brothels.

In Massachusetts the legislature is proposing to build two resort-style casinos, including one in Boston.

In Hawaii legislators are proposing to legalize gay marriage to boost tourism, thus raising revenues.

This brings to mind two thoughts. First, ain't it interesting how things which are illegal can suddenly become legal if it benefits government revenues. Which leads to numero segundo, these legislators aren't interested in either liberty or morality, only in getting their hands on more money to spend. More money equals more power and apparently that is all these wonderful legislators care about.