Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO -- Environmentalists sued the federal government Thursday over plans to log in central California's Giant Sequoia National Monument, home to two-thirds of the world's largest trees. The Sierra Club and four other environmental groups called the U.S. Forest Service's decision to include widespread logging in its plan for managing the 327,769-acre monument a scientifically suspect strategy meant to satisfy timber interests under the guise of wildfire prevention. "This plan opens up huge areas to logging and specifically targets trees big enough to sell, undermining the whole purpose of the monument," said Carla Cloer of the Tule River Conservancy,...

Sunday, November 16, 2003 Otero Mesa Fight Unites Sportsmen, Conservationists By Jeff JonesJournal Staff Writer    One major battle pitting New Mexico sportsmen and conservationists against energy exploration is well under way, while another is brewing just over the horizon.     Some hunters and conservation groups hope to limit oil and gas drilling on Otero Mesa, a 1.2 million-acre swath of southern New Mexico grassland that has been touted as having some of the state's best hunting for trophy pronghorn, desert mule deer, quail and doves.     That basin is largely untapped, but the gas industry believes it could potentially hold...

Thursday, July 31, 2003 Ranchers Join Fight To Limit Drilling at Otero Mesa By Tania Soussan Journal Staff Writer     Otero Mesa ranchers and a group that campaigns to protect private property rights are joining environmentalists in a fight to limit new oil and gas drilling in a remote but highly valued expanse of southern New Mexico.     "What's right is right," said G.B. Oliver III, executive vice president of the Paragon Foundation and president of Western Bank in Alamogordo. "Our goal is the same."     The biologically rich grassland, which could hold significant natural gas reserves, has attracted national...

May 23, 2003Irrigation District To Release Water Regardless Of Consequences The Associated Press CARLSBAD — A water dispute among southeastern New Mexico farmers, environmentalists and federal agencies is brewing on the Pecos River. Carlsbad Irrigation District Manager Tom Davis plans to release water from Fort Sumner Reservoir next month, regardless of whether it's approved by federal officials. If Davis can't reach a compromise with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about the release, he said there could be a standoff at the reservoir gates. He added that he hopes it doesn't come to that....

TUCSON, Ariz. - A Santa Fe-based environmental group successfully outbid a private rancher for a state land lease. The Forest Guardians now plan to kick cattle off 162 acres near Elgin, in Santa Cruz County, and use their 10-year lease to restore the Babocomari River's cottonwood-willow forest, which they say overgrazing has damaged. The group bid about $2,000 in annual fees for the property, which is $84.40 per "animal-unit month," the government's measure of how much forage is needed to support a cow and her calf. The group's nearest competitor, Ethlyn Telles, the previous leaseholder, bid $40.66 per "animal-unit month."