The Obama Administration last week proposed a new rule that would give local national forest directors more control over their natural resources. The proposed rule overturns a decades-old policy that leaves forest management decisions to officials in Washington. The planning rule would allow forest managers additional control over the development of Forest Service land management [...]
Archive for the ‘Wildlife/Environment’ Category
18 Feb
Amendment Seeks to Kill Funding for Wild Horse Managment
Debate continues today on the Continuing Resolution in the U.S. The bill would fund the government for the rest of the current fiscal year. Many amendments have been proposed and AFBF has taken a position on 22 of them. Today an amendment was approved that would cut $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management’s [...]
11 Feb
USDA Unveils Proposed Forest Planning Rule
The USDA Forest Service unveiled its proposed Forest Planning Rule on Thursday to establish a new national framework to develop land management plans in the National Forest System.The proposed rule includes new provisions to guide forest and watershed restoration and resilience, habitat protection, sustainable recreation and management for multiple uses of the National Forest System, [...]
26 Jan
Sweeping Lawsuit Filed Against EPA Could Hurt Farmers
Two environmental groups, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pesticide Action Network North America, have sued the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging the agency’s overall ag chemical regulatory program. According to the suit, EPA did not consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the effects of EPA-registered pesticides on [...]
22 Dec
Omnibus Lands Bill Sure to Fail
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has abandoned plans to pass omnibus lands legislation but is working to pass certain pieces of the bill before the end of the session. The omnibus bill, titled “The Great Outdoors Act of 2010,” included the Rep. Polis sponsored Hidden Gems bill and more than 110 land and water [...]
8 Dec
Cow Bites Wolf?
ALBUQUERQUE – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says a Mexican gray wolf found dead in southwestern New Mexico in October probably died of an intestinal rupture. A preliminary report says the female wolf from the Morgart pack ingested a plastic ear tag commonly used on domestic cattle and that a rupture in the small [...]
29 Nov
Private Fish Hatcheries Create Billions of Dollars in Economic Activity
A recently completed study by researchers at Colorado State University showed that angler spending supported by the Aquacultural Suppliers of Recreational Fish (ASRF) in the Western region of the United States contribute about $1.9 billion in output and more than 26,000 jobs to the economy of the states in the region. The Western region includes [...]
17 Nov
Record Enrollment for Wetlands Reserve Program
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently announced that farmers, ranchers and Indian tribes enrolled more than 272,000 acres in the Wetlands Reserve Program in fiscal year 2010. The fiscal 2010 enrollment is the highest single-year enrollment in the program’s history. It’s also a 52 percent increase over fiscal 2009 when 179,000 acres were enrolled. There are [...]
4 Nov
Nationwide, Deer Collisions Expensive
There are an estimated 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions annually in the U.S., resulting in damages of about $1 billion according to a Texas AgriLife Extension Service wildlife specialist. In Texas where feral hogs are a problem, hog-related traffic accidents occur at an average rate of about 1 percent of the hog population or more yearly, [...]
11 Oct
Bee Killer Found
It wasn’t pesticides or any mysterious effects of biotech crops that was killing bee colonies. According to research released this week, the complicated reason for the widespread collapse of bee colonies in the United States was a fungus teaming up with a virus. According to a story in The New York Times, a group of [...]
6 Oct
Colorado Senators Ask USDA for Beetle Kill Funds
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has asked the Forest Service to devote $49 million to battle a beetle infestation that has killed more than 3.5 million acres of pines in the Rocky Mountain region. Senators from Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska asked Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a letter last week to redirect [...]
15 Sep
CFB to Fight Anti-Grazing Lawsuit
The Colorado Farm Bureau, along with 11 other state Farm Bureaus in AFBF’s Western Region, today petitioned the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to intervene in defending two agencies against a lawsuit over grazing fees on federal land. Two environmental groups, the Western Watersheds Project and the Center for Biological Diversity are [...]
15 Sep
CRP Sign-Up Complete
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday that the Agriculture Department will accept 4.3 million acres offered by landowners under the Conservation Reserve Program general sign-up. The selections preserve and enhance environmentally sensitive lands, including wetlands, while providing payments to property owners. “Interest in this open enrollment period was high, and I’m pleased that producers and [...]
10 Sep
Dust Regulations Kick Up Again
The dust regulation issue that seemed dormant for several months has taken on new life, due to an Environmental Protection Agency draft standard. In a story published at www.agwatchnetwork.com, Rick Krause, AFBF environmental specialist, said that the Executive Advisory Committee for Clean Air has issued a draft letter that would cut in half the standard [...]
3 Sep
New Loan Program for Natural Resources Conservation
The Agriculture Department has launched a Conservation Loan program that will provide farm owners and farm-related business operators with access to credit to implement conservation techniques that will conserve natural resources. CL funds can be used to implement conservation practices approved by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, such as the installation of conservation structures; establishment [...]
17 Aug
What Does ‘National Monument’ Really Mean?
In early March an internal Obama administration memo surfaced revealing plans for the federal government to seize more than 10 million acres from Montana to New Mexico for National Monument and/or Wilderness Area status. The proposal would halt job creating activities and dry up tax revenue essential for funding schools, firehouses and community centers. The [...]
16 Aug
USDA Reminds Producers of Approaching Sign-Up Deadline for CRP
The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) reminds producers that the deadline to enroll in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up is quickly approaching. Farmers and ranchers have until close of business on Friday, Aug. 27, 2010, to offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general sign-up. Applications can be completed by land owners at the [...]
13 Aug
Complete Federal Land Grab Document Released
Congressman Rob Bishop, the gentleman from Utah who kindly provided Americans with the documents that showed the Obama administration was planning another federal land-grab, has come through again. (The Pulse covered the original leaked document extensively. Read the original story here.) Bishop’s office has release the entire BLM document titled “Treasured Landscapes” of which only [...]
30 Jul
DOW to Host Bear Meeting
The Colorado Division of Wildlife will host a round table discussion concerning the state’s bear problems. Topics will include Public Safety, Bear Damage, Bear Season Structures and Legislative Action. The meeting will take place Saturday August 7th at the DOW Northwest Regional Office (711 Independent Ave, Grand Junction) from 9 to 11 a.m.
28 Jul
USDA Announces CRP Sign-up Through Aug. 27th
USDA announced Monday that a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program will begin on Aug. 2 and continue through Aug. 27. During the sign-up period, farmers and ranchers may offer eligible land for CRP’s competitive general sign-up at their county or parish Farm Service Agency office. The 2008 farm bill authorized USDA to maintain [...]
13 Jul
Meet the New Beetles
Take a drive through the Rocky Mountains and one can clearly see the effects of the pine beetle epidemic, but look again; another tree-killing beetle is on the rise in the Western Mountains. Pityogenes knechteli has quietly been multiplying in numbers over the last couple years. Twig beetles, as they are more commonly know, are [...]
7 Jul
Colorado Agriculture Groups Comment on Proposed Plover Listing
Colorado agriculture groups quickly responded to the proposed listing of the Mountain Plover under the ESA. The Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Colorado Corn Growers Association and the Colorado Association of Wheat Growers all opposed the action. Comments from several groups are listed below. Alan Foutz, Colorado Farm Bureau “Due to the reckless deal [...]
6 Jul
Purdue Heralds Atrazine’s Benefits
American agriculture’s oldest and most well-established herbicide, atrazine, is an inexpensive and effective way to protect corn against many types of weeds, said Purdue University weed scientist Bill Johnson. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing the safety of atrazine for the third time since the early 1990s. In each of the two previous reviews [...]
29 Jun
Feds Propose Listing Plover as Threatened
Yesterday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) proposed listing the mountain plover as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Citing agriculture, oil and gas, and other alleged threats, a listing would affect activities in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. Parts of northeastern Utah, Western Kansas, northeastern Arizona and northwestern Texas could also be affected. The [...]
23 Jun
Ethanol and Biofuels Capture Headlines
USDA research shows corn ethanol is showing a better energy balance mainly because of increased efficiencies in growing corn, but also because of improvements in the distilleries. The USDA report, 2008 Energy Balance for the Corn Ethanol Industry, reveals that corn ethanol supplies twice the amount of energy it takes to produce the fuel. With [...]
23 Jun
Colorado Takes Stance on Noxious Weed Control
Choking river banks from California to Texas, the tamarisk, or saltcedar, is a noxious and invasive tree. Colorado has not been left out of this weed’s invasion. The Colorado Department of Agriculture has adopted a policy of insectary combined with willow restoration to fight the invasion. Recently however, the United States Department of Agriculture ended [...]
10 Jun
EPA Villans Target Amish Farmers
Amish dairy farmers will face stiff penalties from the Environmental Protection Agency because of farming practices the agency considers destructive to the Chesapeake Bay. “There’s much, much work that needs to be done, and I don’t think the full community understands,” said David McGuigan, the EPA official leading an effort by the agency to change [...]
6 May
DOW Landowner Voucher Committee Seeks Comment
The Colorado Big Game Landowner Voucher Program Review Committee is seeking public comment on ways to improve the Landowner Voucher Program at an open-house meeting in Limon. The purpose of the public forum is to give Eastern Plains landowners and sportsmen the opportunity to meet with committee members to discuss the allocation of big game hunting [...]
6 May
Climate Change and Energy Bill Expected Next Week
Sources on Capitol Hill say Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) plan to introduce their climate change and energy bill next week, without the support of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C), who was an original co-sponsor of the legislation. In addition, Kerry and Lieberman are said to believe the oil spill in the [...]
5 May
NRDC Calls for Atrazine ban
A report released Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council points to new scientific evidence and updated monitoring as reasons for the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the herbicide atrazine. A Wall Street Journal editorial points out that since atrazine’s debut in 1959, 10 Administrations have endorsed its use. In its press release, NRDC buried [...]
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