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Friday, October 13, 2006

NOTE ON FORMATTING: When stories are transferred from the Web, certain punctuation marks and other marks in this report don't carry over and result in symbols and other formatting errors. To see or print the story in full without these translation errors, simply click on "full story" at the end of each item."

Total Clips: 8

	Date	Outlet
Survey ranks OSU College of Forestry No. 1	10/13/2006	Corvallis Gazette-Times
Gen. Wesley Clark campaigns for Alabama Democrats	10/13/2006	WTVM-TV (Columbus)
Students build robot washing machines	10/13/2006	The Daily News Journal (Tenn.)
Vet school to conduct internal investigation: PETA allegations spur university to re-examine study	10/13/2006	The Chronicle-Telegram (Ohio)
Board balks at naming junior college buildings after Bedford	10/13/2006	Tuscaloosa News
Teacher places in Top 10	10/13/2006	The (Clemson) Tiger
Is the ivory-billed woodpecker making a comeback from extinction?	10/13/2006	San Marcos Daily Record
Lost or found?	10/13/2006	(Jackson Hole) Star-Tribune


Survey ranks OSU College of Forestry No. 1 10/13/2006 Corvallis Gazette-Times		Return to Top
This study cites AU's forestry research program as being the top 10 in North America. A new survey of 53 university forestry programs in the United States and Canada found that the College of Forestry at Oregon State University ranks No. 1 in the total number of professional publications and No. 1 in the number of citations to those publications. The college also is perceived by academic colleagues as the leading forestry program in North America, despite controversy last year over some senior faculty members’'attempts to keep a graduate student's research out of a leading journal, the survey said. The study, published in the Journal of Forestry, examined a range of research, publication and citation criteria at 47 universities in the United States and six in Canada. It is one of the first peer-reviewed rankings of forestry programs in at least a decade, the Auburn University authors said. OSU has one of the largest forestry education, research and Extension programs in the nation, and this year is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Its first degree programs were offered in 1906, and the college now how has more than 600 students, 15,000 acres of college forests, about 5,500 graduates and an annual budget of more than $20 million. David Morman, director of forest resources planning for the Oregon Department of Forestry, wasn't surprised to hear OSU’s College of Forestry received this distinction. "It's certainly consistent with the top-notch performance and collaborations we've seen from them in the past," Morman said, adding that the state Department of Forestry, which is almost as old as the College of Forestry, relies "quite heavily" on research produced by OSU faculty. Controversy has surrounded the college since January, when some professors tried to delay publication of a salvage-logging study led by graduate student Daniel Donato. The study was published in Science. Some say the professors were trying to defend academic rigor and protect Donato and his co-authors from entering a flawed study into the scientific record. Others viewed it as bullying, censorship and a blow to academic freedom. From Morman's perspective, the controversy didn't taint the college's reputation. He thinks the flap had more to do with clashes in values than arguments over the technical merits of either camp’s research. "Our history goes back much farther than whatever little storm brewed up last year," Morman said."From our standpoint, it hasn't affected our relationship with them at all. Perhaps in the long run, the controversy will be healthy for the college, and hopefully they can continue to move forward positively." Leslie Lehmann, executive director for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, also thought the honor was deserved. "In our experience, they have a very impressive teaching and research program. We're really proud to have them here in Oregon," Lehmann said. According to the study, the top 10 forestry research programs in North America included OSU, Virginia Tech, the University of Georgia, University of Washington, University of Minnesota, Pennsylvania State University, Auburn University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of British Columbia and University of Alberta. Gazette-Times reporter Mary Ann Albright and OSU News Service writer David Stauth contributed to this report.
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Gen. Wesley Clark campaigns for Alabama Democrats 10/13/2006 WTVM-TV (Columbus) Associated Press		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story about Wesley Clark. Similar stories appeared in the Akron Beacon Journal, Alabama Democrat, Tuscaloosa News, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer and were broadcast on WAFF-TV (Huntsville) and WSFA-TV (Montgomery). MONTGOMERY, Ala. Retired Army General Wesley Clark is spending three days in Alabama helping Democratic candidates. Clark began his tour today in Auburn. He said he met some wonderful people in Auburn, but it didn't change his decision to decline the governor's recent invitation to apply for the presidency of Auburn University. Clark said he enjoyed teaching at West Point and would one day like to return to a university. But his heart is not in it right now. He says he's worried about the direction of the country and that's why he's visiting many states to help Democratic candidates. Clark says he hasn't made a decision about whether to make another run for the presidency in 2008.
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Students build robot washing machines 10/13/2006 The Daily News Journal (Tenn.) Tosheena Robinson-Blair		Return to Top
This story mentions that the regional BEST competition will be held AU. Time is running out for students at two Murfreesboro schools to have their laundry-hanging robots up and running for a state-wide competition, which aims to "Boost Interest in Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST)." Although they're extremely tight-lipped about how each of their robots will function, the middle and high school students expressed confidence that they could quite possibly win the first BEST robotics competition held in Tennessee. The inaugural event hosted by Lipscomb University is expected to draw scores of students from eight schools across the state. According to Ben Hutchinson, the competition's director and Lipscomb's dean of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, there are many benefits to be gleaned from the competition. "The students get introduced to engineering and technology in an exciting and fun way. They learn things like problem-solving, applying their math and science skills to a particular project," he said. This year's competition is called Laundry Quandary. Participants have to create robots that are capable of hanging 12 pieces of wet laundry and removing dry ones from clotheslines in three minutes. The two winning teams will compete for trophies and plaques. There are 10 different awards up for grabs from best display to the robot that holds up the best. Facing off are Rutherford County's own McFadden School of Excellence and Blackman High School, and six others — Davidson County's John Overton High School, Martin Luther King Magnet High School, West End Middle School and David Lipscomb Campus School; Shelby County's Craigmont Middle School; and Anderson County's Oak Ridge High School. The teams had only six weeks to build. Every school receives the same set of supplies from the hub, Lipscomb, in order to build its radio-controlled robot, which is constructed under strict guidelines. "We are into the fifth week, and we are still working on our robot. It's been trial and error," said McFadden science teacher Marc Guthrie. "They try different wheels, different arms because when something doesn't work you have to go back to the drawing board," McFadden sixth-grader and one of the robot's engineers, Blake Garrett, expressed his excitement. "I think we have a good chance of winning, even though it's only our first year. It's a little different than I thought it would be. I'm having a great time, but it's going to be close to meet Saturday's deadline," he said. Another engineer, seventh-grader Isaac Rifkin, said the difficulty arose in choosing what would be the best way to put the robot together. "We found something that we think is going to work. We might have to repair it some throughout the game but it should hold up," he said. The students' robot design is as closely guarded as gold at Fort Knox. They declined to discuss it and asked that no pictures be taken of particular parts of the robot. The lips of Blackman's students were not pinned quite as tightly. Senior Tim Ehlers said their creation is going to demonstrate a bit of school cheer in addition to hanging laundry. Ehlers is expected to be one of the robot's main drivers, which means he'll operate the machine's controls. "I'm probably the one that starts all the trouble and gets everyone in a happy mood," Ehlers said. "We are getting the work done and having a good time doing it." Fellow teammates, ninth-graders Samantha "Sammy" Ehlers (Tim's little sister) and Jason Raymer agreed. "I like how we are building something that can work on its own," said Sammy Ehlers. "We have work to do, and we are getting it done." "We're totally ready for mall day. We are not really bothered by the competition. Our teacher spoke to some of the others and everyone seemed to be having some of the same problems," said Raymer. The machines they build cannot weigh more than 24 pounds and must fit within a 24-inch cube. Once a round has started, the robot can expand to be bigger than the original size. It has to have a robotic arm that can reach beyond 60 inches. This Saturday the robots and student "drivers" get to strut their stuff at Cool Springs Galleria in JCPenney's Courtyard. The event starts at 10 a.m. It provides the students with an opportunity to test drive their robots, see what others have done, work out all the technical kinks and gauge how well their robot will hold up for the Oct. 21 competition. Brenda Pless, Blackman's science teacher, said her 15-person team has been working overtime to get its machine ready for this weekend's showdown. "It's going really good. We have the motor mechanism working for the wheel, and the robot does move, and we've finally figured out how to assemble the arm mechanism," she said. "Definitely we'll be ready on time, we might be up really late on Friday for the mall practice date, but we'll be ready." Meantime, Guthrie said his 53-strong team intends to "bring it." "We are very nervous and excited because we are getting down to crunch time and are still trying to finalize the lifting arm and the grip," said Guthrie. "The mall event will give our drivers a chance for practice, look for weaknesses in our robot and steal some ideas. We'll have a week to change it." Hutchinson noted that the innovative aspect of the competition was just one of many reasons Lipscomb was eager to bring BEST robotic competition here. It was first started in Texas by two engineers that work for Texas Instruments. The first competition was held in 1993 with 14 schools and 221 student participants. Now there are 28 hubs and approximately 9,000 students forming 600 teams that participate. Local winners progress to the regional competition held in Alabama at Auburn University. Participants in Music City's BEST competition will be judged on several areas — presentation booth and oral presentation, engineering notebook, spirit and sportsmanship, creation of a Web site, and publicity and promotion of the event. Said Hutchinson, "We found there wasn't a BEST competition anywhere in Tennessee or Kentucky. There are many other states that have them, about 20 other states, and we felt that we needed to encourage students to go into engineering, science and technology. "This is the first time it's being held, and we hope it's the start of something that will grow and in future years we will have even more teams competing."
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Vet school to conduct internal investigation: PETA allegations spur university to re-examine study 10/13/2006 The Chronicle-Telegram (Ohio) Lisa Roberson		Return to Top
The Alabama veterinary school that was an Elyria woman's last hope at saving her ailing dog has launched an internal investigation in response to allegations by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Auburn University's College of Veterinary Medicine stopped more than a year ago the experimental kidney transplant study that Karen Smith sought in November 2005 after her dog Apache, a chow mix, was given little chance to live due to kidney disease. Recent allegations by PETA spurred the university to re-examine the study in its entirety to determine if any misconduct occurred, said Deedie Dowdle, university spokeswoman. "Auburn University responded to all of PETA's claims immediately by launching its own investigation," Dowdie said. "We are adamant the care and compassion shown to the animals was superior. We chose to discontinue the study because the results were not what we hoped for." PETA claims two physicians, Michael Tillson and Clint Lothrop, misrepresented the nature of the procedure and performed risky surgeries on gravely ill animals under false pretenses. They are backed by Smith, who previously said in an interview with The Chronicle that she felt betrayed by the university. She has since fired off a letter to the university demanding a refund of more than $10,000, the cost of the procedure and care. "I am simply a woman who loved my dog and was willing to do anything in the pursuit of giving him a happy, healthy life," she wrote. "I was given (false) hope that the transplant stood to save Apache's life, and consequently, I paid for the procedure that ultimately caused his death." In all 14 dogs, including Apache, had the experimental transplant that took a healthy kidney from a nonrelated dog. Dowdle said each client was well aware of the risks involved. "All participants were advised both verbally and through a multipage release they signed that the treatment was experimental,” she said. “We hoped for the best, but the prognosis of the animals was not good to begin with."
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Board balks at naming junior college buildings after Bedford 10/13/2006 Tuscaloosa News Dana Beyerle, Montgomery Bureau Chief		Return to Top
The naming of buildings on the AU campus is mentioned in this story. So why can't an influential state senator get his name on a couple of junior college buildings? Bevill State Community College President Harold Wade wants the state board of education to authorize naming the new health science wing on the Fayette campus and the new health science building on the Hamilton campus after state Sen. Roger Bedford. Bedford, a Democrat from Russellville, was instrumental in securing about $4 million in state and federal funding for the buildings and deserves to be honored as U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby has been for his federal largesse, Wade said. "There's no difference," Wade said Thursday. Wade's proposal was on the agenda for the state Board of Education's work session Thursday, but the board took no action on it. Bedford said he did not ask Wade to propose naming any buildings for him. "I'm very honored [he] would recommend that," said Bedford. But he said school board members' reluctance to endorse Wade's proposal was due to politics. "Apparently the Republican board members think it's OK to bring federal pork home to name a building for [Shelby] but they have a double standard with state pork," said Bedford, whose district has been the recipient of significant state and federal grants during his two decades in the state Senate. Shelby Hall, a $58 million science building that opened on the UA campus two years ago, was paid for largely with federal funds secured by Shelby. The building actually is named for Shelby and his wife, Annette. A $108 million building under construction on the Auburn University campus is also named for him. Bedford said he would continue to seek funding for two-year colleges and K-12 schools in his northwest Alabama district, regardless of the board’s decision. "We need expanded health care classes at both Bevill State and Northwest [Shoals Community College], and I'm proud to have spoken at their graduations and to have fought for them over the years," Bedford said. The school board took no action on the proposal after debating whether public buildings should be named for active politicians. "I guess some board members have some concerns about it," said board vice president Sandra Ray, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa. "There’s the appearance of impropriety of the influence over funding," said Republican board member Randy McKinney. "I question the timing and reasonableness of it." Bedford was once indicted for holding on to a state grant check for an industrial park deal in his district but a judge dismissed charges after prosecutors presented their case. Democratic board member Ella Bell said other criteria should be used to name buildings. "Wealth shouldn't be a sole requirement for buildings," said Bell, who noted that seemingly half the two-year colleges and other buildings are named after former Govs. George Wallace and Lurleen Wallace. "There are whole sets of people who are service-orientated who don’t have wealth."
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Teacher places in Top 10 10/13/2006 The (Clemson) Tiger Margaret Farish		Return to Top
AU is mentioned in this story. On November 1, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) will announce their annual Faculty of the Year award. This year, Clemson's own Dr. Robert Horton is among the finalists. Horton, an Associate Professor of Math Education, was one of the ten professors chosen from a pool of 200 to be finalists. Since coming to Clemson in 1998, Horton has been able to work and instruct most of Clemson's pre-service secondary mathematics education students. "I don't think I deserve that much credit for it, but I think we have produced many outstanding math teachers at Clemson; teachers who are making a real difference for their own students," he said. "What I try to do more than anything else is to help my students develop their own vision of what an outstanding teacher can be and to keep reaching for it." Horton is up against professors from Auburn University, Willamette University and the University of Oklahoma. All were nominated by students alone, making the Faculty of the Year award the only national student-nominated faculty award. As a result, an important factor in winning the award is how well professors interact with their students. "We don't specifically look at academic achievements," said LaToya F. Drake, Associate Director of Communications at NSCS. "We want students to say 'This professor continued to inspire me to achieve X, Y and Z.'" Horton feels that his students recognize his desire for them to succeed and become outstanding teachers. "They know - at least I hope they do - that I am on their side and will be their advocate," said Horton. "Also, I try to bring passion and honesty to what I'm doing, and try to show by example that they should never settle for mediocrity but shouldn't expect perfection… As long as they're working hard towards achieving their vision, they're on the right track." Horton said that Clemson University students make it easy for him to do his job and are what sets him apart from other candidates. "We have terrific students here at Clemson," he said. "In addition to their amazing spirit and loyalty, Clemson students seem able to maintain their idealism while still being grounded in reality. They want to make a difference but don't get too discouraged when they face substantial obstacles." Ultimately, the Faculty of the Year will be chosen by a panel of eight judges. This panel consists of the Associate Director of Education Programs at USA Today, the president of the NCSC National Leadership Council, the Managing Director of Teach for America, the General Secretary of the American Association of University Professors, the Vice President of Campus Life for American University, the Executive Director of the Association of College Honor Societies, the Vice President of the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation and last year's Faculty of the Year. According to Drake, the professor who wins over the judges will not only get a $1000 personal stipend but also have $5000 contributed in his/her name to the university's general scholarship fund. To Horton, it does not matter if he becomes the overall winner. "The final award is determined by a group that doesn't know the candidates, so the nomination I received actually means the most to me," he said.
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Is the ivory-billed woodpecker making a comeback from extinction? 10/13/2006 San Marcos Daily Record Jim Darnell, columnist		Return to Top
— With the last confirmed sighting of an ivory-billed woodpecker in the 1940s this huge woodpecker has long been considered extinct. But the Ivory-billed may be a Lazarus species — a species that is rediscovered alive after being considered extinct for some time. A group of ornithologists from Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Windsor in Ontario spent four months in the cypress swamps of the Choctawhatchee River basin in northwest Florida this year and these researchers say they have seen and heard the rare bird once believed to be extinct. "On 14 occasions different team members have seen the bird. We heard that double knock, it's a sound the ivory-bill makes that no other bird makes, but we didn't get a clear video of the bird," said Geoffrey Hill, Auburn ornithologist and team leader. Hill also said team members heard the bird's unique call 41 times. Some of the sounds were recorded. Other evidence includes tell-tale foraging signs and appropriately sized tree nest cavities. But the lack of photographic evidence is causing experts to be skeptical. "I think people should be skeptical. I think they should demand clear photographic evidence. I might start to get skeptical myself thinking, 'I’ve seen this bird,' but how could I have seen a bird that it is impossible to photograph," Hill said. Hill said his team would return to the Choctawhatchee River basin around November with better equipment to try to get photographs. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation commission is working with the federal government and some private agencies to provide additional funding for Hill's team. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker is one of the largest woodpecker species in the world, measuring between 19 and 21 inches. The bird is shiny blue-black with extensive white markings on its neck and on both the upper and lower trailing edges of its wings. The pure white chisel-like bill is very large. Both the male and female sport a prominent top crest, red in the male and black in the female. Ivory-billeds are known to prefer thick hardwood swamps and pine forest, with large amounts of dead and decaying trees. At one time, they ranged from East Texas to North Carolina and from Southern Illinois to Florida and Cuba. But extensive logging by timber companies in the southern U.S. decimated the extensive and continuous areas of forest needed for Ivory-billeds to survive. These birds need about 10 square miles per pair so they can find enough food to feed their young and themselves. Hence, they occur at low densities even with healthy populations. By 1938, an estimated 20 individuals remained in the wild, located in the old-growth forest called the Singer Tract in Louisiana, where logging rights were held by the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company. The company brushed aside pleas from four Southern governors and the National Audubon Society that the tract be publicly purchased and set aside as a reserve, and clearcut the forest. By 1944 the last known Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a female, was gone from the cut-over tract. Then a group of 17 authors headed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology reported the discovery of at least one Ivory-billed Woodpecker, a male, in the Big Woods area of Arkansas in 2004 and 2005, publishing the report in the journal Science on April 28, 2005. One of the authors, who was kayaking in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, Monroe County, Arkansas, on Feb. 11, 2004, reported on a website the sighting of an unusually large red-crested woodpecker. This report led to more intensive searches there and in the White River National Wildlife Refuge, undertaken in deepest secrecy for fear of a stampede of bird-watchers, by experienced observers over the next fourteen months. About 15 sightings occurred during the period (seven of which were considered compelling enough to mention in the scientific article), possibly all of the same bird. The secrecy permitted the Nature Conservancy and Cornell University to quietly buy up Ivory-billed habitat to add to the 120,000 acres (490 km) of the Big Woods protected by the Conservancy. A very large woodpecker was videotaped on April 25, 2004; its size, wing pattern at rest and in flight, and white plumage on its back between the wings were cited as evidence that the woodpecker sighted was an Ivory-billed Woodpecker. That same video included an earlier image of what was suggested to be such a bird perching on a Water Tupelo. But again, other experts were not convinced that the bird was an Ivory-billed. Many remain steadfast in their belief that the bird in the video is a normal Pileated Woodpecker. Most of us who have spent much time in forest areas have seen a Pileated Woodpecker. They are numerous and not federally endangered. The Pileated is about the size of a small crow — about 16 inches long. Thus he is smaller than the Ivory-billed. Also, his back is almost all black when the bird is perched. Much white is visible on the back of an Ivory-billed. And, instead of a huge bill, ivory in color, the Pileated has a smaller bill, grey to black in color. Hopefully, the Auburn-Windsor team will get a vivid, indisputable photo this winter in those Florida swamps. If so, Lazarus has risen. Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host/producer of the syndicated outdoors show God's Great Outdoors. His column appears every Thursday in The Daily Record. Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.
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Lost or found? 10/13/2006 (Jackson Hole) Star-Tribune Willy Zimmer		Return to Top
This story mentions the AU team's sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker. History may one day judge the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker as the greatest conservation story of the 21st century. You might want to wait a while to add the ivory-bill to your life list, however. There are skeptics arguing loudly that the rediscoverers are dead wrong, and so far it's hard to argue back. Let's catch up on the history. The ivory-billed woodpecker had been considered extinct since the mid-1940s. The cypress swamps of the southeast United States are the bird's native habitat. Most were destroyed by development during the last century. Anecdotal reports of sightings by hunters and anglers, however, persisted over the years. None were considered credible until the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology confirmed in a 2005 issue of Science magazine that sightings in Arkansas by writer and bird watcher Tim Gallagher were accurate. The announcement this summer that a team from Auburn University found ivory-bills in Florida seem to confirm the Arkansas reports. But wait a minute, the skeptics, say. Where is your evidence? That's a good question. Thus far the hard evidence consists of grainy photographs and audio recordings of bird calls and the ivory-bill's distinctive "double-knock" pecking. That's not good enough for skeptics like Minnesota bird watcher Tom Nelson. Nelson maintains an "Ivory-bill Skeptic Blog" (tomnelson.blogspot.com) and the quality of the blog indicates the skeptics aren't just Internet crackpots. Every piece of evidence is refuted with a reasonable explanation. The skeptics believe the photographs are of an "abnormal pileated woodpecker," and argue their point with great detail. The recorded "kent" sounds the ivory-bill makes? Attributed to the bark of a young deer or a blue jay. And the double-knock? Don't get 'em started. The bottom line is the skeptics will remain skeptical until there's a bird in hand, or a more clearly-defined photograph to study. "It's nonsense," Nelson said of the Florida reports. "They looked for a conspicuous, noisy diurnal bird for 16 months in a 2-square-mile area, yet never got a good look at a perched bird and never found so much as a feather." So the evidence is, in lawyer-speak, circumstantial. That isn't about to deter true believers, however, as Gallagher observed before a recent visit to Casper as part of the Zimmerman Lecture Series. "The skepticism about the ivory-bill rediscovery doesn't bother me," he said. "We've all been told for our entire lives that these birds are extinct, so naturally it's a difficult pill to swallow when someone comes along and claims to have found one." Casper College's Dr. Will Robinson helped bring Gallagher to Wyoming and calls him "a crackerjack birder" and "an honest man." Hence, Robinson is a true believer, too. But Robinson also has faith in the universities and how they do business. And circumstantial evidence, if strong enough, can stand up in court. "The Cornell team and others who published the original report on the ivory-bill sighting in Science (there were 17 authors on that paper!) are all conservative, skeptical people," he said. "Nearly all are either professional ornithologists or top-notch field birders. All were aware their reputations were at stake. "Ivory-bills are not very difficult to identify -- they're very different in striking ways from their closest relatives, the pileated woodpeckers. The researchers meticulously assembled their evidence for over a year before publishing in perhaps the most prestigious peer-reviewed journal of all." At least there's reason to be optimistic. Consider this: The Avian Conservation and Ecology Web site (www.ace-eco.org) published a paper on the Florida observations entitled "On Evidence of Absence." The authors quoted the late astronomer Carl Sagan's observation that the "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Then again, Nelson's blog quotes Sagan as saying "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof." What it all suggests is the search should go on and the skeptics should continue to doubt. That's good science. But let's be careful and conduct the search with care. A danger here is well-meaning bird watchers will rush to the swamps, and humans rushing to the rescue can do more harm than good. Consider our own black-footed ferret. (Is the hyphen gene a factor in near extinctions? I'm skeptical.) There's always been speculation the canine distemper that almost wiped out the last remaining colony near Meeteetse was actually introduced by the humans that came to help. There is no proof and the ferrets are thriving, so let's move on. But I'm suggesting the best way to find or not find the ivory-bill is search and conserve at the same time. Gallagher's sightings have already been the impetus for conservation measures to keep and restore the cypress swamps. And in the end, whether the ivory-bill is there or not, that should be the goal. "The rediscovery of the ivory-bill has brought about some conservation initiatives that are badly needed throughout the region," Robinson said, "and as Gallagher noted when he was here, they may give our great-great grandchildren the chance to experience magnificent forests of the kind that once spread over that part of the country. Why let a little dogma, stubbornness and ego stand in the way of that worthy goal?" No ice yet, but ... 'Tis the season when many anglers pick up gun and bow. That means the Star-Tribune's sources don't have much to say, so we've sent the fishing report into hibernation for this season. One last tidbit for walleye anglers: Wyoming Walleye Circuit owner Rob Davis did report catching nine walleye and one perch at Glendo last weekend. Davis said spoons were the lure of choice. Fall fishing, both for walleye and trout, should pick up in the coming days, and the CS-T's man of the southwest, Jeff Gearino, will tell you why in next week's Open Spaces. Jeff, like most of us, is an angling legend in his own mind, and may convince some of you hunters it's worth keeping your rod and reel in the truck for a few more weeks. Acting features editor Willy Zimmer can be reached at (307) 266-0524 or William.Zimmer@casperstartribune.net.
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