Marine Corps Proposes Public Land Acquisition for Military Base

Marine Corps Announces Public Meetings for Proposed Land Acquisition Projec
December 2nd, 2008

BLUERIBBON COALITION ACTION ALERT!

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,

Marine Corps Announces Public Meetings for Proposed 29Palms Training Land/Airspace Acquisition Project

The US Marine Corps (USMC) has announced that they will be holding three Open House Scoping Meetings in early December. The meetings are on the Navy's Proposed Action to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed acquisition of approximately 366,000 acres of public land, including approximately 189,000 acres of Johnson Valley OHV Area, from the Bureau of Land Management.

As most of you already know, the transfer of these public lands would be devastating to the OHV community and recreating public. It's time to step up and let them know where you stand. Please try to attend one of these meetings. See the USMC invitation with the dates and locations of each meeting below.

Thanks in advance for your involvement,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107

________________________________________________________________________

Proposed 29Palms Training Land/Airspace Acquisition Project

Proposed Action
The Department of the Navy is in the initial stages of preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed acquisition of lands and establishment of airspace contiguous to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California.

The EIS will consider a range of reasonable alternatives for the proposed action sufficient to meet Marine Expeditionary Brigade training requirements.

The U.S. Marine Corps invites you to participate in the
Proposed 29Palms Training Land/Airspace Acquisition Project

Attend an open house scoping meeting to let the Marine Corps know what issues and interests you have for consideration in the development of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Representative from the Marine Corps will be available to provide information about the proposed action. Your comments are welcome.

The U.S. Marine Corps wants your input!

Oral and written comments will be accepted at the open houses.

Written comments may also be submitted to:
MAGTFTC, MCAGCC
ATTN: Land Acquisition Program Manager
Box 788104, Building 1554, Room 138
Twentynine Palms, CA 92278-8104
E-mail: SMBPLMSWEBPAO@usmc.mil

Comments must be received by Jan 3l, 2009, for consideration in the Draft EIS.

For more information, visit http://www29palms.usmc.mil/las

Open House Scoping Meetings

Twentynine Palms:
December 3, 2008, 5 to 9 p.m.
Twentynine Palms Junior High, Hays Gym
5798 Utah Trail
Twentynine Palms, CA 92277

Victorville:
December 4, 2008, 5 to 9 p.m.
Hilton Garden Inn
12603 Mariposa Road
Victorville, CA 92395

Ontario:
December 5, 2008 5 to 9 p.m.
Ontario Convention Center
2000 E. Convention Ctr. Way
Ontario, CA 91764


http://www.sharetrails.org/alerts/?alert=909

US to Open Public Land Near Parks for Drilling

By FELICITY BARRINGER

Published: November 7, 2008
The Bureau of Land Management has expanded its oil and gas lease program in eastern Utah to include tens of thousands of acres on or near the boundaries of three national parks, according to revised maps published this week.

National Park Service officials say that the decision to open lands close to Arches National Park and Dinosaur National Monument and within eyeshot of Canyonlands National Park was made without the kind of consultation that had previously been routine.

The inclusion of the new lease tracts angered environmental groups, which were already critical of the bureau’s original lease proposal, made public this fall, because they said it could lead to industrial activity in empty areas of the state, some prized for their sweeping vistas, like Desolation Canyon, and others for their ancient petroglyphs, like Nine Mile Canyon.

The bureau’s new maps, made public on Election Day, show not just those empty areas but 40 to 45 new areas where leasing will also be allowed.

The tracts will be sold at auction on Dec. 19, the last lease sale before President Bush leaves office a month later. The new leases were added after a map of the proposed tracts was given to the National Park Service for comment this fall. The proximity of industrial activity concerns park managers, who worry about the impact on the air, water and wildlife within the park, as well as the potential for noise, said Michael D. Snyder, a regional director of the Park Service who is based in Denver.

The Park Service is usually given one to three months to comment on leases, Mr. Snyder added.

“This is the first time,” he said, “where we have not had sufficient opportunity to comment.”

He said he had asked the Bureau of Land Management’s state director, Selma Sierra, to pull the new tracts from the December auction for more study. She refused.

Kent Hoffman, a deputy director of the land management bureau’s Utah office, said the Park Service had ample opportunity to review the broad management plan under which the leases were developed, even if it was not given the usual notice of which leases were being offered for sale. Mr. Hoffman added that 37 days remained to air any protests and review the decision about which tracts to lease.

If any leases are sold Dec. 19 and subsequently delivered to the buyers before Inauguration Day, however, it will be difficult for the new administration to reverse those decisions.

The perennial struggle over the use of public lands in the West, which traditionally pits ranchers, miners and oil and gas interests against environmentalists and groups interested in historic preservation, has been particularly acute in Utah.

Many in the state, where resentment of the federal government runs deep, remain angry about the Clinton administration’s decision in 1999 to set aside for protection three million acres deemed to have “wilderness qualities.” The state sued; in 2003, the Bush administration settled and removed protections from those acres.

Before the new lands could be opened to leasing, the land management bureau had to revise its resource management plans designating which areas are appropriate for mining, drilling and motorized recreation and which should remain free of such activity. Last week, six such plans, covering the central and eastern parts of Utah, were approved. The Dec. 19 auction was expected to include energy leases of some land previously off limits, like Desolation Canyon. But not until Tuesday did the bureau release the final maps containing the new leases near park boundaries.

Kathleen Sgamma, the government affairs director of the Independent Petroleum Association of the Mountain States, said of the new lease proposals, “If you can’t develop oil and natural gas in this part of rural Utah, we might as well concede the United States has lost all interest in energy security.”

But David Nimkin, the southwest regional director of the National Parks Conservation Association, said, “It’s very clear that there’s a time clock, and they are anxious to move these out for sale, for obvious reasons.”

The leases, Mr. Nimkin said, seem to be “profoundly in conflict with the direction of the new administration and the new Congress.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/us/08lease.html?fta=y

Report: Water & Oil Shale Don't Mix

The Yampa River on Colorado

Report: Water and oil shale don’t mix

Western Slope rivers may not have enough volume to support extraction
By David O. Williams 12/2/08 7:22 AM

The Bush administration and the Bureau of Land Management are pushing relentlessly ahead with plans to fast-track Colorado’s long-dormant oil shale industry, but a study released this fall exposes one factor that could put a big damper on the boom: a serious lack of water.


The report, prepared for key government and private water stakeholders in the area, says that northwest Colorado rivers can supply enough water to meet the growing demands of the natural gas, coal and uranium industries, but unproven oil shale production technology would “require tremendous amounts of water” that might not be available.

The practical importance of water to the goal of extractling oil from shale is often overshadowed by the dream of tapping into a vast new source of energy. Studies show the Green River Formation of western Colorado contains between 1.5 trillion and 1.8 trillion barrels of recoverable oil trapped in sedimentary rock and sand. That’s more than four times the proven liquid oil reserves in all of Saudi Arabia.

But the process of extracting oil from rock require enormous amounts of water and power, as well as the refining and transportation infrastructure needed to get the oil to market. So far no oil company has been able to efficiently heat kerogen — the organic material that releases oil — in the sedimentary rock on a large enough scale for commercial production.

“A dominant finding is oil shale development, along with its associated power production, could require tremendous amounts of water, up to 378,300 acre-feet annually,” concludes the Energy Development Water Needs Assessment, which was funded by grants from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre a foot deep in water, or about 325,851 gallons. If the report’s estimate is accurate, oil shale development in Colorado would consume 123 billion gallons of water a year.

Proponents of oil shale production, which was just gearing up on Colorado’s western Slope in the early 1980s when the industry went bust, say technology has improved dramatically and requires much less water and power. But incoming Democrats such as newly elected Sen. Mark Udall have vowed to try to reinstitute a commercial leasing ban allowed to expire by Congress this fall.

“In a nutshell, the energy industry in Colorado will need a lot of water, but it’s manageable — with the exception of the speculative oil shale part of the equation,” said water consultant Caroline Bradford, the former director of the Eagle River Watershed Council, an organization devoted to preserving that tributary of the Colorado.

Besides water consumption issues, the report also concludes that the oil shale industry would also consume an inordinate amount of energy

“In either a moderate or high production scenario in the mid-term or long range, they’ll need to build 14 more huge (Craig-sized) power plants to produce the energy needed to produce the energy, but nobody knows if oil shale will really happen or not,” said Bradford, referring to the state’s largest power plant, Craig Station.

Wild Horses Could Help Environment, Restore Rangelands

Wild horses could help environment
Peter Holter - Albuquerque

Wild horses could help environment In the USA TODAY article "Future unstable for wild horses," Bureau of Land Management's Celia Boddington is quoted as saying that with drought conditions, the bureau cannot allow herds to grow unchecked because that would be an "environmental disaster" (News, Nov. 18).

I suggest an alternative: Allow horses to graze under controlled conditions to help damaged lands recover from drought.

As late as the 19th century, wild lands were healthy. Predators kept grazing animals on the move, and their hoof action worked the soil so that their urine and dung were quickly absorbed. If the bureau managed wild-horse grazing, soil health would improve. Biodiversity would flourish. The enhanced habitats would allow horses to live off the land. This would reduce the need for slaughter and the amount of money the bureau spends on feed and transportation. With healthy plants retaining carbon, emissions would be reduced. The horses would play a positive role in combating the effects of climate change.

Covered soil retains significantly more water than bare ground, so those areas would become more drought resistant, and horses could rely on replenished rivers, streams and ponds for water.

Posted at 12:08 AM/ET, December 01, 2008 in Animals - Letters, Letter to the

Click on title above for article and to leave comments;
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/12/wild-horses-cou.html

Protests Lead Feds to Pull Some Leases from Wyoming Lands

Federal regulators pull Wyoming leases from sale
By BOB MOEN , 12.01.08, 06:06 PM EST

The Bureau of Land Management has pulled about 16,000 acres in the Little Mountain area south of Rock Springs from its regular oil and gas lease sale.

The BLM will offer 184 parcels encompassing 197,275 acres statewide at Tuesday's lease sale in Cheyenne. It had been considering more than 247,000 acres.

But it received more than 125 protests from conservationists, hunters and others against including land in the Little Mountain area, a popular hunting and recreation area near Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Gov. Dave Freudenthal and the state Game and Fish Department also voiced disapproval for selling leases in the area.

BLM spokeswoman Lorraine Keith said the BLM will review the Little Mountain parcels further to see if the protests have merit.

Parcels in the area could be considered for a future BLM oil and gas sale, Keith said.

Bruce Pendery, public lands director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council, said the BLM made the right decision on the Little Mountain leases.

"We just really don't feel that leasing in that area is appropriate because of the very high wildlife values and the popularity of the area for hunting and among outdoorsmen," Pendery said.


Click on title above for article & comment;
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/01/ap5762935.html

Wyomings Wild Horses

I just noticed the date on this article in 2005, but I thought it would be an interesting read nonetheless, as it talks about previous "unlimted, unrestricted" sales or auctions. This must have been during the "Burns Rider" thing when the protections were removed from the WH&B Protection Act;

How to save wild mustangs: Buy them up, and take them to Wyoming

By David Usborne in New York
Tuesday, 22 March 2005

A group committed to saving 5,000 of America's wild horses from the slaughterhouse has bought a first instalment of 200 at auction, and the animals have already been released onto open land in the north-western state of Wyoming.

Wild Horses Wyoming is one of several organisations to have sprung up since the passage last December of a new American law that permits the government to sell wild horses, also known as mustangs, to the highest bidder at auction without regard for what their final fate may be.

"We are in the business of saving horses," said Sean Mater, one of five partners in the company, which paid $50 (£26) each for the animals, all mares. The animals were put up for auction in Nevada by the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that oversees the millions of acres of free range-land in the American West. Horse lovers in the United States have been galvanised into action after the new law was passed at the end of last year. Supported by rancher associations, it was designed to help the government thin out the wild horses, which have grown to a population of around 37,000. The ranchers say they harm the range, which is otherwise grazed by cattle.

Advocates for saving the horses have warned that the auctions mean that hundreds of the mustangs could be bought at rock-bottom prices by dealers and then sold on at a profit to slaughterhouses. Finally, the animals could end up as tinned dog-food, the groups say, or even on dinner tables in countries where horse meat is enjoyed.

Mr Mater said the 200 mares already bought have been released onto thousands of acres of donated range land near the town of Laramie in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming. He said his company hoped to secure more land from supporters and eventually to be able to take care of around 5,000 mustangs.

The company is seeking to sell horse sponsorships to private supporters and even to companies in the hope of finding new land for the horses as new auctions are held.

"Putting them on good range land allows them to forage for themselves, and remain in that same mode that they were in out on the range," he said.

The government argues that it can no longer afford to manage all the mustangs. The BLM estimates that it spends about $465 per horse each year, keeping many in enclosures and trying to arrange for them to be adopted. In Nevada alone, an estimated 19,000 of the horses already roam on a mostly free basis. The agency says that it needs to cut that number down to 14,500 or fewer.

But the new law, known as the slaughter bill, has drawn a strong reaction from horse lovers, who argue that the mustangs are part of what the American West is all about. "America's wild horses belong to all Americans. They are our heritage and you are their voice," said Robin Lohnes, executive director of the American Horse Protective Association, which recently held a rally in Las Vegas to build support for efforts to save the animals.

Conni Canaday of the Las Vegas-based National Wild Horse Association said that hundreds of the horses would end up as meat because of the profit they could bring meat dealers. "They can make a pretty penny doing it," she said. "The slaughter bill is only a quick fix to lower the horse population."

BLM Selling Oregon Trees

Money growing on Oregon trees

by Tom Partin, guest opinion

Sunday November 30, 2008, 1:02 PM
The economic news facing Oregon is grim. Governor Ted Kulongoski and the state's legislative leaders face an anticipated $1 billion budget shortfall and an unemployment rate that has shot up to 7.3 percent. Meanwhile, Oregon's forest products industry is struggling mightily and is estimated to lose another 7 percent of its jobs in 2009 on top of the 7.5 percent reduction experienced this year. The Governor has an opportunity to aid Oregon's economy and the struggling wood products sector by supporting the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Western Oregon Plan Revision.

The BLM's plan would help put rural Oregonians back to work and improve forest health conditions for the 2.1 million acres of O&C County timberlands in southwest Oregon. The plan calls for the sustainable harvest of 502 million board feet annually, which is less than half of the annual growth of these forests. The plan also sets aside over half of those lands for endangered species. It is a balanced plan that would also help idle plants reopen and improve the dire economic conditions the Governor must now address.

Harvests from Oregon's federal forests are less than 10 percent of levels experienced in the early 1990s. A more sustainable level of harvest is needed to help the industry access reasonably priced local timber to remain economically viable in the face of intense domestic and international competition. Our federal forests are also in a dire need of increased management to address a growing forest health crisis.

Earlier this summer, the Governor toured federal and private forests in Klamath and Lake Counties and witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by insects, disease and overcrowding which are direct results of a lack of forest management. Afterwards he stated, "These poor forest conditions are present throughout much of Oregon's federal forests and greatly increase the risk of catastrophic wildfires" and called for action to restore forest health, reduce fire risk and provide a sustainable resource for Oregon's long-term economic viability.

Now is the time for the Governor to take action to address Oregon's forest health problems and the economic woes that are currently plaguing our state. The Governor received the plan in early October and was given 60 days for review. He must support the BLM's plan to restore sustainable management to the O&C County timberlands in order to prevent disastrous effects, not only to our forest lands, but also to our air quality, drinking water, and our state's struggling economy.

Tom Partin
Portland, Oregon

Tom Partin is the President of the American Forest Resource Council. AFRC represents forest product manufacturers and landowners throughout the west and is based in Portland, Oregon.



http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2008/11/money_growing_on_oregon_trees.html

Nevada BLM / NFS Selling Christmas Trees!

Nothing like selling BACK to us something that is ours to begin with! I say BAH! Humbug! Leave the tree-cutting to the professionals the Govt has leased to logging-interests.

BLM / NFS Selling Christmas Trees

For the holidays, you can’t beat the festive aroma of a fresh-cut tree that you harvested yourself.

The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management offer tree cutting permits for $10 and $5 respectively.

In addition to saving money, an added benefit to cutting your own tree is that, if you follow the rules, you'll be improving the forest.

By cutting a tree that is within 10 feet of another green tree, you help thin the forest for its health. Make sure the trunk is no larger than 6 inches at the base.

Shelly Schaff, Christmas tree program manager at the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s Carson City Ranger station, and Anne Thomas, an administrator at the station, took a walk shortly after the Christmas tree program started at one of the official sites at Spooner Summit, where a dirt road leads into the forest.

“We have 4,000 permits to be sold and already we’ve sold 600,” said Schniff.

The permits are good for four Forest Service areas:
Dog Valley by Verdi
Mount Rose off Highway 431
Spooner Summit, off Highway 50
A large area by Markleeville

All are marked by boundary signs. Maps are available at the Forest Service and BLM offices. Tree hunters should make sure their yellow tags are visible at all times.
“You don't want to cut outside the area,” said Thomas. “That's a $250 fine and you don’t get to keep the tree.”

Clambering up the hillside off the dirt road, Schniff paused at a tall stump.
“This is very bad for the forest; people should cut trees no higher than 6 inches above the ground. When they leave a stump like this they leave a tree that will grow ugly and use water and food that a good tree could utilize.”

Farther up the hill, Thomas came to a very tall tree stump.

“This is an example of 'topping' a tree. The people here wanted a nicely formed tree so they cut it up high rather than low as they should have. That way they don't have to trim the bottom half, but it sure hurts the woods.”

"We recommend people cut their trees as early as possible. When snow closes the roads the only way in is by snowshoe, fine for those who enjoy it," said Schniff. "No refunds if you can't get to the trees."

The Forest Service and BLM suggest that tree seekers carry emergency supplies, tire chains, flares and extra clothing. A cell phone is also a good take-along. Thomas will be on duty much of the tree cutting period, patrolling the areas.


Details:

U.S. Forest Service: 882-2766.
Permit: $10 per tree; limit two
Available at Carson Ranger District office, 1536 S. Carson St., from 8 a.m-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday throug Dec. 24.

BLM: 885-6000.
Permit: $5 per tree; no limit
Available at the District Office in Carson City, 5665 Morgan Mill Road, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday through Dec 24.


Bring with you: saws, warm clothing, a first aid kit, extra food and water, heavy rope or chain, shovel and tire chains in the event of bad road conditions or inclement weather.


Keeping your tree green
Forest Service tips:
* Re-cut the trunk at an angle 1 to 3 inches above the original cut.
* Store the tree outside in a container of water, out of direct sunlight.
* Add a few tablets of aspirin to the water, about two per gallon. Don't be concerned if the water freezes.
* When you bring the tree inside, re-cut the base about an inch above the earlier cut.
* Be sure to keep the tree stand filled at all times with water and aspirin mixture.




http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20081129/NEWS/811289962/1058&title=The%20green%20way%20to%20do%20Christmas

ShoShone, Others, File Suit Against Nevada Mining, Plan Resistance Day

As the holidays approach and the world watches President-elect Obama and the bailouts; back in Nevada, home state of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, it's business as usual. Late yesterday, attorneys for several Western Shoshone tribes and non-profit indigenous and environmental organizations filed a request in the federal District Court in Reno, NV seeking a restraining order against the construction of one of the country's largest open pit gold mines on the flank of spiritual Mt. Tenabo.

Click on title above to see full article;
http://indiancountrynews.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5115&Itemid=116

WildEarth Group ask Mrs. Pickens for Help Preserving Federal Rangeland

Group seeks Pickens' wife's help to save rangeland

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN – 11 hours ago

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Conservationists are looking to the wife of Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens to help push for federal reforms that they say will help thousands of wild horses and save rangeland in the West.

Madeleine Pickens recently announced plans to create a refuge for wild horses. She came up with the idea after hearing that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management was considering euthanizing some of the animals to control the herds and protect the range.

WildEarth Guardians wants to take Pickens' plan further by proposing a solution the group believes would resolve public land grazing conflicts that have resulted in the horses needing a home.

"Our proposal will not only benefit these animals where they currently live, but also enhance wildlife and watershed protection on federal public land," the group told Pickens in a letter sent Wednesday.

Pickens, who is negotiating the purchase of the land for her refuge, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WildEarth Guardians is advocating congressional legislation that would allow ranchers who have grazing permits on federal public land to relinquish the permits in exchange for compensation. The idea is that livestock would be removed from the allotment, leaving a refuge for wild horses and other native animals and plants.

Mark Salvo, director of WildEarth Guardians' campaign to protect the West's sagebrush landscape, said he believes voluntary grazing permit buyouts are catching on with ranchers.

"Public land grazing is a challenging business pursuit," he said. "It's really difficult to raise livestock profitably on arid Western public land, particularly when you're competing against not only feedlots in Kansas, Nebraska and Florida, but also in Brazil and Japan and Argentina. These are changing times on our Western public land, and livestock grazing is a fading economic activity."

Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association, disagrees. She noted that agriculture, including ranching, is among the top economic drivers for New Mexico and that outsourcing food production by pushing ranchers from the land could have dangerous consequences.

"If we drive food production out locally, we're going to be depending on foreign food," she said.

Cowan said one concern surrounding the retirement of grazing permits is that wildlife would no longer have access to the supplemental feed and water that ranchers provide for their livestock on public land.

Another concern, she said, is that private land surrounding public grazing allotments would not be protected from development without ranchers who maintain the land for their agricultural operations.

Cowan said conservationists have pushed for years for permit buyout legislation. This time, she said, they are trying to ride a publicity wave created by Pickens' interest in the wild horses.

WildEarth Guardians maintains that voluntary permit buyouts would be "economically rational" and "ecologically imperative."

"It's also politically pragmatic," Salvo said. "It's a way to resolve grazing conflicts in a way that everybody can agree."

He said support by Pickens and other wild horse advocates would be invaluable to any effort to create a national permit buyout program.

The BLM estimates that 33,000 wild horses and burros roam the open range in 10 Western states. The agency wants that population to be about 27,000 to protect the herd, the range and other foraging animals.

Those horses that too old or considered unadoptable are sent to long-term holding facilities, and the BLM has said the cost of keeping animals in the facilities has caused them to consider euthanasia as a last resort.

On the Net:
Madeleine Pickens: http://madeleinepickens.com
WildEarth Guardians: http://www.wildearthguardians.org
New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association: http://www.nmagriculture.org
BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/wild_horse_and_burro.html

Click on title to see article; http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iszK6sBNwf_ehrApMfw5bLD6zLqAD94OHG9G1