The New Mexico Business Weekly has published a story about Forest Guardians’ promise to sue the Forest Service if it continues to allow grazing on critical habitat of ESA protected fish - the spikedace and the loach minnow - without consulting the Fish and Wildlife Service about grazing’s negative effect. FS has 60 days to consult.
Forest Guardians threatens suit over grazing
New Mexico Business Weekly
There has been a bit of controversy (strangely) over the question of whether ATVs are taking over the horse’s role on ranches across the West. The question has been taken personally by some, whose insistance on the pre-eminence of horses is just another sad example of the death-grip folks have on this whole romanticized cowboy. That idealized character never existed, let alone exists today. Now, even much of the allegorical imagery which evokes these deranged - and ultimately environmentally/politically destructive - myths is waning - fast.
John Glionna writes ATVs replacing horses to herd cattle on the range and is published in the San Fransisco Chronicle
Across California and the West, a growing number of ranchers are using ATVs for chores such as mending fences, feeding and watering cattle, herding and even lassoing steers — jobs for which they used horses exclusively just a generation ago. Some now call the ATV the “Japanese quarter horse.”
Printler Creek Unit, Joseph Creek Wildlife Area
Many thanks to our good friend and prolific range-activist Larry Walker of RangeNet for his production of this timely video.
The battle continues to consider hatchery salmon along-side natural salmon when counting numbers for ESA protection.
EUGENE, Ore. — 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.
Lawsuit challenges protection for salmon across West
Casper StarTribune
By JEFF BARNARD
AP environmental writer Saturday, April 21, 2007
GOAT - A High Country News Blog - has a post entitled Utah ranchers must foot their own legal bills about a couple of southern Utah counties’ attempt in court to continue to draw state defense funds to fight a grazing buy-out decision. The counties’/ranchers’ malfeasance was rejected by the court.
