Saturday, August 6, 2011 (Sports section)
DEER SPRAY PUTS MLB ON HORNS OF A DILEMMA
Baseball sent a warning to its major and minor league players last week that may sound odd, if not comical, but is a sign of these drug-testing times: Stop ingesting deer antler spray. Until the warning went out, baseball players, taking their cues from the body-building and NFL cultures, felt safe using a deer antler spray as an alternative to steroids with almost no risk of flunking a drug test, according to Tom Verducci of SI.com. Deer antlers? Yes, chemists have figured out the velvet from immature deer antlers includes insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-1, which mediates the level of human growth hormone in the body, and is also banned by MLB and the World Anti-Doping Agency, among others, for its muscle-building and fat-cutting effects. The antlers are harvested from young deer, fround up and packaged into spray form. The substance is sprayed under the tongue. One manufacturer touts among its benefits "anabolic or growth stimulation" and "muscular strength and endurance." IGF-1, like HGH, cannot be detected in the urine tests used by baseball. Under the right circumstances, it could be detected in a blood test, but the players association has not agreed to blood testing.
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Monday, August 8, 2011 (page 17A)
U.S.ROUNDUP OF WILD HORSES SET
by Matthew Brown
Billings, Montana - Dozens of wild mustangs descended from the mounts used by Spanish conquistadors would be rounded up from their mountain range next year and put up for adoption under a plan announced by federal officials. The roundup from Pryor Mtn. Wild Horse Range would reduce the size of the herd from 150 to between 90 to 120 animals. The BLM said the roundup is needed to keep the horses from outgrowing their 38,000-acre range in a remote, arid region along the Montana-Wyoming border. Established in 1968 as the first public wild horse range in the U.S., the Pryor range has emerged as a contentious battleground in the nationwide debate over horses that run free on public lands. Some wild horse advocates contend the periodic roundups are destroying the herd's storied genetics. Others side with the government in saying the horses' numbers need to be reined in to prevent overgrazing and starvation. The Pryor herd is known among horse lovers for its colorful ancestry and a series of films on the animals that appeared on public television. During the last roundup, in 2009, 57 wild horses were removed from the herd. The roundup and others fueled a backlash against the government's handling of the country's 38,000 wild horses and burros, offspring of animals brought to North America by European explorers. More than 10,000 horses and burros were removed from public lands in fiscal 2010. The government estimates that existing ranges have enough room for only about 27,000 horses and burros. In recent years, the BLM has turned to treating the horses with infertility drugs as an alternative way of controlling the animals' population. Those treatments have been given to the Pryor horses since 2001, under a program expanded this year. But it's still uncertain whether infertility treatments alone will stabilize the size of the herd.
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Tuesday, August 9, 2011 (page 1B)
LOSS OF DEER, ANTELOPE SEEN
Study Links Sharp Declines In Colorado's Northern Mountains To Drought, Growth, Energy Drilling
by Bruce Finley
WILDLIFE: Eco-Groups Want Wider Land Reviews
(Photo): A pronghorn antelope stands on the prairie west of Tie Siding, WY, on Saturday
Deer and antelope populations in Colorado's northern mountain valleys have declined sharply over the past 30 years -- pronghorn by as much as 64% in some areas, mule deer by up to 36% --- according to a new National Wildlife Federation study. Colorado Division of Wildlife officials on Monday confirmed declines in the area from the Medicine Bow range west to Vermillion Bluffs -- a target for energy development. The NWF study concludes that herds across Colorado and southern Wyoming "may not be able to fully recover" unless federal and state agencies initiate larger-scale planning to protect their habitat. The veteran biologists who did the work relied on data supplied by state game managers and attributed the drop-offs to a combination of factors: drought, invasion of weeds, residential construction and the acceleration of oil and gas drilling that has brought well pads, pipelines and roads. "What we've learned is that the business-as-usual approach cannot work any longer. We're starting to see some consequences of our actions," said Steve Torbit, NWF's regional director, who beginning this week will run federal research for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Federal land managers' current approach to leasing lands for energy exploration, using project-by-project environmental review, is leading to "losing the herds," Torbit said. Colorado Oil and Gas Assn officials warned against associating correlation with causation. Energy companies have spend millions on "mitigation plans" required by regulators to protect more than 350,000 acres of mule-deer habitat, said David Ludlam, COGA's Western Slope representative. "Mule deer and natural gas have something in common," he said. "Both are among Colorado's most important and valuable natural resources." NWF and allied groups are calling for regional landscape reviews on both sides of the Colorado-Wyoming border because harm to migratory pronghorn in one area may be compounded by harm in another. "If we don't do something different, we're going to lose the huntable, fishable, watchable populations of these animals," Torbit said. "We need to do something different in a hurry." Drilling and exploration across northern Colorado and southern Wyoming have increased in recent years, and much new activity is planned. Federal Bureau of Land Management officials who lease public lands for energy development recently agreed to scrutinize projects planned for the upper Colorado River Basin more carefully. But if the study's purpose is to push for more federal planning, "I don't know if that's the concensus you would hear from either the industry or sportsmen," BLM spokesman Steve Hall said. "We have to find a balance. We can't manage those public lands strictly for wildlife." The study found pronghorn were hardest hit in areas such as grasslands north of Maybell, where a herd decreased from 2,800 in the 1980s to about 1,000 today. Similarly, a herd of mule deer in northwestern Colorado decreased by about half, to about 6,000. The analysis in the NWF report indicates that, despite intensive management, peak populations are getting lower and animals' ability to recover from harsh winters is diminishing. Communities across the region count on hunting to fuel their economies. The NWF has scheduled meetings to discuss findings.
DEER SPRAY PUTS MLB ON HORNS OF A DILEMMA
Baseball sent a warning to its major and minor league players last week that may sound odd, if not comical, but is a sign of these drug-testing times: Stop ingesting deer antler spray. Until the warning went out, baseball players, taking their cues from the body-building and NFL cultures, felt safe using a deer antler spray as an alternative to steroids with almost no risk of flunking a drug test, according to Tom Verducci of SI.com. Deer antlers? Yes, chemists have figured out the velvet from immature deer antlers includes insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-1, which mediates the level of human growth hormone in the body, and is also banned by MLB and the World Anti-Doping Agency, among others, for its muscle-building and fat-cutting effects. The antlers are harvested from young deer, fround up and packaged into spray form. The substance is sprayed under the tongue. One manufacturer touts among its benefits "anabolic or growth stimulation" and "muscular strength and endurance." IGF-1, like HGH, cannot be detected in the urine tests used by baseball. Under the right circumstances, it could be detected in a blood test, but the players association has not agreed to blood testing.
__________________________________
Monday, August 8, 2011 (page 17A)
U.S.ROUNDUP OF WILD HORSES SET
by Matthew Brown
Billings, Montana - Dozens of wild mustangs descended from the mounts used by Spanish conquistadors would be rounded up from their mountain range next year and put up for adoption under a plan announced by federal officials. The roundup from Pryor Mtn. Wild Horse Range would reduce the size of the herd from 150 to between 90 to 120 animals. The BLM said the roundup is needed to keep the horses from outgrowing their 38,000-acre range in a remote, arid region along the Montana-Wyoming border. Established in 1968 as the first public wild horse range in the U.S., the Pryor range has emerged as a contentious battleground in the nationwide debate over horses that run free on public lands. Some wild horse advocates contend the periodic roundups are destroying the herd's storied genetics. Others side with the government in saying the horses' numbers need to be reined in to prevent overgrazing and starvation. The Pryor herd is known among horse lovers for its colorful ancestry and a series of films on the animals that appeared on public television. During the last roundup, in 2009, 57 wild horses were removed from the herd. The roundup and others fueled a backlash against the government's handling of the country's 38,000 wild horses and burros, offspring of animals brought to North America by European explorers. More than 10,000 horses and burros were removed from public lands in fiscal 2010. The government estimates that existing ranges have enough room for only about 27,000 horses and burros. In recent years, the BLM has turned to treating the horses with infertility drugs as an alternative way of controlling the animals' population. Those treatments have been given to the Pryor horses since 2001, under a program expanded this year. But it's still uncertain whether infertility treatments alone will stabilize the size of the herd.
_____________________________________________
Tuesday, August 9, 2011 (page 1B)
LOSS OF DEER, ANTELOPE SEEN
Study Links Sharp Declines In Colorado's Northern Mountains To Drought, Growth, Energy Drilling
by Bruce Finley
WILDLIFE: Eco-Groups Want Wider Land Reviews
(Photo): A pronghorn antelope stands on the prairie west of Tie Siding, WY, on Saturday
Deer and antelope populations in Colorado's northern mountain valleys have declined sharply over the past 30 years -- pronghorn by as much as 64% in some areas, mule deer by up to 36% --- according to a new National Wildlife Federation study. Colorado Division of Wildlife officials on Monday confirmed declines in the area from the Medicine Bow range west to Vermillion Bluffs -- a target for energy development. The NWF study concludes that herds across Colorado and southern Wyoming "may not be able to fully recover" unless federal and state agencies initiate larger-scale planning to protect their habitat. The veteran biologists who did the work relied on data supplied by state game managers and attributed the drop-offs to a combination of factors: drought, invasion of weeds, residential construction and the acceleration of oil and gas drilling that has brought well pads, pipelines and roads. "What we've learned is that the business-as-usual approach cannot work any longer. We're starting to see some consequences of our actions," said Steve Torbit, NWF's regional director, who beginning this week will run federal research for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Federal land managers' current approach to leasing lands for energy exploration, using project-by-project environmental review, is leading to "losing the herds," Torbit said. Colorado Oil and Gas Assn officials warned against associating correlation with causation. Energy companies have spend millions on "mitigation plans" required by regulators to protect more than 350,000 acres of mule-deer habitat, said David Ludlam, COGA's Western Slope representative. "Mule deer and natural gas have something in common," he said. "Both are among Colorado's most important and valuable natural resources." NWF and allied groups are calling for regional landscape reviews on both sides of the Colorado-Wyoming border because harm to migratory pronghorn in one area may be compounded by harm in another. "If we don't do something different, we're going to lose the huntable, fishable, watchable populations of these animals," Torbit said. "We need to do something different in a hurry." Drilling and exploration across northern Colorado and southern Wyoming have increased in recent years, and much new activity is planned. Federal Bureau of Land Management officials who lease public lands for energy development recently agreed to scrutinize projects planned for the upper Colorado River Basin more carefully. But if the study's purpose is to push for more federal planning, "I don't know if that's the concensus you would hear from either the industry or sportsmen," BLM spokesman Steve Hall said. "We have to find a balance. We can't manage those public lands strictly for wildlife." The study found pronghorn were hardest hit in areas such as grasslands north of Maybell, where a herd decreased from 2,800 in the 1980s to about 1,000 today. Similarly, a herd of mule deer in northwestern Colorado decreased by about half, to about 6,000. The analysis in the NWF report indicates that, despite intensive management, peak populations are getting lower and animals' ability to recover from harsh winters is diminishing. Communities across the region count on hunting to fuel their economies. The NWF has scheduled meetings to discuss findings.
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