European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 27, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                V wild and woolly to by Alspencer the associated press ome conservationists Call sheep desert maggots for their destructive effect on Range land. But the sheep grazing in the Ponderosa and fir forests near Glenwood wash., Are As environmentally Correct As recycled paper. Forestry scientists monitoring the 2,200 Ani Briais foraging in the Shadow of mount. Adams say they Are an old fashioned alternative to chemical herbicides since they chomp on underbrush that slows Forest growth and sustains tree killing gophers the sheep Graze in Timberland owned by the state department of natural resources and by Champion International corp. The Herd owned by rancher Robert Shannon were trucked to the Range in May and will be hauled Back to Shannon s spread in a few weeks. No one involved in the nearly 3-year-old Experiment pretends that sheep Are a major alternative to herbicides or heavy equipment in the constant Battle to remove Brush and fight gophers which kill Young tree s by eating their roots. -./. However of All the Brush control strategies used in Young Industrial forests Plain old sheep May be the. Easiest on the land and should be used when possible scientists say. This is environmentally sound. It does t tear up the land but it also works and that s the Best part said state lands commissioner Jennifer Belcher. We re looking at doing this in several areas she said. Grazing sheep Are an effective Way to control underbrush without the harmful effects of herbicide. So is Forest products giant Champion International which joined with the state to open a 2000-acre summer Range on adjoining state and Champion land in Klickitat county about 50 Miles Southwest of Yakima we re finding that in Young forests this approach gives us a Golden Opportunity to double the growth rate of Trees in an  Way said Wayne Vinyard forester and contract administrator for Champion s Klickitat operation. Properly applied herbicides Are environmentally sound and More Cost effective than sheep because they control Brush much More quickly. But Given Public antipathy toward herbicides use of sheep can make the most political sense he said. Shannon pays no fees to Graze his sheep but the savings is offset by losses caused by the animals gaining weight More slowly according to Louie Halloin natural resources  who oversees the grazing program for the state. He said weight gain is slower because the grazing is tightly controlled to ensure against overgrazing. The late environmental writer Edward Abbey referred to sheep As desert maggots responsible for major overgrazing of Western Range lands. But Halloin whose career has been devoted to creating environmentally sound forestry said overgrazing is the fault of bad management not the  parties in this operation work closely together to make it work he said. That Means balancing the needs of the sheep with those of the environment. We think we re doing that  200rhilesj .eritrea200km  \ Djibouti Ababa Ethiopia. A. Vav somali a site of Lucy discovery Aramis site of mos recent discovery Middle awash Region 5 Miles 5 pm Ages years by Robert Lee Hutz. Los Angeles times n a handful of Teeth and Skull fragments almost a million years older than anything else in the human family tree scientists have discovered compelling evidence of a new species that May be humanity s earliest direct ancestor. It is the closest thing yet to the Long sought missing link Between human beings and ancient apes the scientists said. The fossils gleaned from a rugged River Basin in Ethiopia Are the fragmentary remains of a child and 16 other Small ape like individuals of a previously unknown Predhuman species that flourished in african Woodlands 4.4 million years ago an International team of researchers reported last week in the journal nature. This species is the oldest known link in the evolutionary Chain that connected us to the common ancestor we share with the living african apes said Tim d. White a Pale oncologist at the Laboratory for human evolutionary studies at the University of California at Berkeley. White led the team that made the discovery near a Village called Aramis. The new species named  pit hocus a Midus is a mosaic of 22 primitive and advanced features the scientists said. The creature s jaw and Teeth Are similar to those of a Chimpanzee while other crucial details of Anatomy suggest More human characteristics. The name assigned to it is a reflection of its presumed importance. In the afar language of the Region where the fossils were found rapid is the word for Root and it applies to plants or people thus humanity s Root species. Several experts who have examined the fossils said the discovery offers the first direct glimpse into the Era when humanity s earliest ancestors veered off from other primitive primates underscoring the relatively rapid Pace of human evolution. The remains appear to Date from a time shortly after the human family tree first branched with one line leading to modern human beings and the other leading to the great apes of Africa. The tiny shards of Bone gnawed by ancient carnivores buried in Silt from seasonal flood were recently unearthed by torrential desert Rains. They include parts of the Skull the Arm and the lower jaw of a child. This is the closest thing to the missing link Ever found said Owen Lovejoy of Kent state University a leading authority on human origins who has studied the find. This thing is really  All the remains Are from to in upper body the stars and stripes and offer scant insight into How these earliest hominids As the pre human ancestors of humanity Are called lived or travelled. But other fossils found nearby suggest their Homeland was a Flatt forested Plain Rich in wildlife such As rhinos Bear monkeys bats and primitive Antelope. The hominids Are the first to be found in such a wooded environment leading several scientists to speculate that the remains Are evidence that the first stages of human evolution such As the development of upright posture and walking on two legs occurred among the Trees and not in open grasslands As Many scientists have argued. The fossils were found in a Region of East Africa that during the past 30 years has seen some of the most significant discoveries relating to primitive hominids. The Aramis area where they were found is North of Lake Turk Ana where a 1.6 million year old hominid boy was found by Richard Leakey in 1984. It is 46 Miles South of the Hadar where palaeontologists discovered the species represented by the famous Lucy Skeleton. That species called Australopithecus Afa Rensis was previously the oldest known human ancestor. Donald c. Johanson who discovered the Lucy Skeleton in.1974, called the new find terrific and endorsed the idea that of a new species of hominid that lived about 1.2 million years before Lucy. Tuesday september 27, 1994