Free Republic

A federal judge handed a landmark victory to Kane County and the state of Utah on Wednesday in a years-long dispute with the federal government over whether some rural routes should remain in use as roads, or if they should be closed to the public. In two decisions, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups found he had jurisdiction to hear Kane County's claim, gave parameters for "reasonable" right-of-way widths on some routes and determined that 12 of 15 routes in dispute were roads and therefore accessible by the public. The distinction hinged on an 1866 law through which Congress sought to...

Despite an eleventh hour interjection from the U.S. Forest Service, the Ouray County Commissioners made history this week, unanimously voting to adopt a new county road map that brings it into the 21st century. The last time an official county road map was prepared in Ouray County was in 1961. Proposed revisions to this 1961 iteration of the map took place over the past five years, first through the work of the collaborative, multi-jurisdictional Public Access Group and later through two years of intensive work by Ouray County IT/GIS Manager Jeff Bockes, who integrated modern computerized mapping techniques (including GoogleEarth)...

Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the meadow jumping mouse as an endangered species. Now, the U.S. Forest Service, which oversees the Santa Fe National Forest, is considering erecting a series of 8-foot high fences to protect the mouse’s habitat. The Luceros, members of the San Diego Cattleman’s Association and holders of grazing permits with the federal government, say the fences will lock out their cattle — as well as those of other permit holders — from ever returning to the meadow where the livestock graze for 20 days in the spring and up to 40 days...

Drug smugglers pretend to be federal agency TUCSON, Ariz. — It looked like a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service truck. But the U.S. Border Patrol says it was actually the latest in a long line of creative attempts by smugglers to get illegal drugs from Mexico into the U.S. Agents spotted the white truck with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decals along a boundary fence in Douglas, Arizona, on Monday, while responding to reports of possible drug smuggling. When agents tried to contact those inside, the vehicle suddenly stopped and two people fled into Mexico. Agents say they found 3,200...

The Arizona Senate has approved a bill that would allow cities and towns to enter restricted federal land without permission in emergencies. ... Republican bill sponsor Rep. Kelly Townsend of Mesa says she was inspired by the battle between the city of Tombstone and the federal government over access to repair its water supply system in the Coronado National Forest. She says local authorities should have the right to go in where needed without being granted approval first in cases of emergency.

They’re almost like a hired gun’. Armed Rangers were brought in from out of state by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to assist in security surrounding the Bundy Ranch, according to the family. A heated confrontation on Wednesday resulted in Cliven Bundy’s son Ammon being tasered by BLM officials and a 57-year-old protester being shoved to the ground. Stetsy Bundy Cox, Cliven’s daughter, told the Washington Free Beacon that some of the rangers had Oregon and California license plates. “You know, some of these guys don’t even know why they’re here,” she said. “A few people have talked to...

The US Fish and Wildlife Service released the anxiously anticipated Draft Plan and Environmental Assessment for Mosquito Control for The Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge on March 11, 2014, which was followed-up a week later with an open house in Bandon on March 18, 2014. The 209-page document was a thorough evaluation of the mosquito infestation with The USFWS repeatedly and rightfully admitting to the agency’s guilt as sole perpetrator of this biological disaster.

A decision pending with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could have huge ramifications for rural Kansans living in the western third of the state. In limbo is the question of whether the lesser prairie-chicken should be listed as a “threatened” species under provisions of the 1973 Endangered Species Act. The species inhabits land spanning Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. ... Kansas, in cooperation with the four other states affected by the issue — a coalition known as the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies — has attempted to stave-off such a decision with the development of...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has backed off plans to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list. ... The government plan would have allowed gray wolves in the lower 48 United States to be hunted or killed. They have been under federal protection since 1967. The Mexican gray wolf, found only in the Southwest, retains protection.

U.S. law enforcement agencies are conducting thousands of investigations using a law that makes violating state wildlife statutes a federal crime, often ensnaring hunters and fishermen for seemingly minor infractions. Some even suffer stiff federal prison sentences. Special agents and wildlife inspectors for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conduct about 2,500 investigative cases a year of violations of the Lacey Act, a 1900 law meant to combat illegal trafficking of wildlife. ... Rock star Ted Nugent, an avid hunter and fisherman .. "Good, decent families' lives are being turned upside down and ruined by out-of-control jackboot game agencies, particularly...

An example of the tension between Western Democrats and the Obama administration surfaced Monday when Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper told a rural audience that Washington bureaucrats are pushing a “slanted version” of the sage-grouse issue to political decision-makers. Mr. Hickenlooper, a Democrat who’s running for re-election in 2014, said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is receiving one-sided advice from staff at the Fish and Wildlife Service over the issue of whether to place the Gunnison sage grouse on the endangered-species list. “She has an open mind, right, she’s not well-versed in this issue, and she recognizes that,” said Mr. Hickenlooper in...

Wildlife lovers clamoring to bring gray wolves to Colorado may want to pay attention to those wooden outhouse-style structures in rural Catron County, New Mexico. They’re called “kid cages,” and they’re built to protect children waiting at school bus stops–from wolves. “The wolf issue is an example, especially with the kid cages, about how you’re putting the interest of wildlife over the interests of human beings,” said filmmaker David Spady. “Every American should be concerned about seeing kids in cages and wolves out wandering around freely.” Spady’s remarks came during a Tuesday screening of his film, “Wolves in Government Clothing,”...

SALT LAKE CITY — A coalition of conservation groups is hailing a federal judge's ruling Monday to strike down portions of the Richfield Bureau of Land Management plan they said gave deference to off-road vehicles at the expense of the environment. "This landmark decision is a resounding rejection of the BLM’s mismanagement of Utah’s stunning public lands,” said Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. ... The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance was among seven groups that filed a legal challenge to the Bush-era plans following their adoption in 2008, contending they imperiled pristine landscapes. The Richfield plan...

Three environmental groups petitioned the federal government Monday to block new oil and gas development in an area of key sage grouse habitat near Douglas. The petition came a month after Gov. Matt Mead announced a plan with Chesapeake Energy to allow drilling in what is known as the Douglas Core Area and represented an effort by environmentalists to counter what they see as an erosion of state sage grouse protections. ... WildEarth Guardians, the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance and American Bird Conservancy petitioned the Department of Interior and U.S. Bureau of Land Management to prohibit construction of new wellpads and...

Colorado property owners affected by a federal proposal to list the sage grouse as an endangered species should be compensated for the loss of their ability to earn a living from the land, Rep. Scott Tipton.. The Colorado Republican asked Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Director Dan Ashe at a House hearing if the federal government planned to compensate those who would no longer be able to raise crops or cattle on property claimed for the bird’s critical habitat. “No,” Ashe replied sharply. The proposed map of the listing and bird’s wide-ranging territory over two million acres of Colorado and...

The Obama administration has turned bureaucrats at environmental agencies into armed SWAT teams to conduct unprecedented raids on small mining operations for what used to be simple reviews of clean water permits. That’s according to Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, chairman of the House Natural Resources subcommittee on energy and mineral resources, who held a hearing Thursday that examined the August raid of armed federal officials including the Environmental Protection Agency in Chicken, Alaska. Lamborn said the “EPA SWAT team of heavily armed and armored agents conducted paperwork inspections on small mining operations, in what appears nothing more than an...

Public lands continue to draw attention in San Juan County. A series of public meetings in October will allow local residents to learn about several issues and make their voices heard. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has released an environmental assessment and an economic analysis of the Gunnision sage grouse proposals. ... Public comment on the studies will be accepted until October 19. It is expected that the US Fish and Wildlife Service will make a decision on designation by March 31, 2014. The federal agency is considering the designation of the sage grouse as an endangered species and...

as debate heats up on Capitol Hill over the proposed listing of the Sage Grouse as an endangered species, a key concern of Colorado Republican Rep. Scott Tipton is that it may never be de-listed, even if the population recovers. If the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decide to list the species, the new protections would restrict management of two million acres in Colorado considered critical habitat, including private property. That means limited use of the property for grazing or energy development. “If we have a recovery in Garfield County, it will never be taken off the listing because...

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- A southeastern Idaho ranch lost 176 sheep as the animals ran in fear from two wolves that chased through a herd of about 2,400 animals south of Victor....

American taxpayers will be tremendously relieved to know that the U.S. government is hard at work trying to get official endangered status for ... the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse and the feds want to designate it a critical habitat protected under the Endangered Species Act, the 1973 law signed by President Richard Nixon to protect species from extinction as a “consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.” The federal government’s list of more than 1,300 threatened or endangered species ... The Service is proposing to designate around 14,561 acres of critical habitat along streams...