NEWS ROUNDUP

Advocates object to horse roundup Claiming that the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse roundup in the Pryor Mountains is illegal, two Montanans have filed a petition to halt next week’s culling of the herd. The BLM is scheduled to cull six to 12 young stallions from the Pryor herd between Wednesday and Friday. The horses will be held at BLM’s Britton Springs corral, near Lovell, Wyo., for about a month and vaccinated before they are put up for adoption on the Internet... Tahoe Forest trims ranger district The Nevada City Ranger District for the Tahoe National Forest will merge with two others under a new cost-cutting plan by the U.S. Forest Service, a spokeswoman said Friday... One casualty of the wildlife wars It's disturbing to see the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concede it lacks the credibility, the resources, or both, to determine alone whether two bird species that drove logging shutdowns in the Northwest should keep their federal protections...Now we're seeing one distressing result of all that criticism -- an expert fish and wildlife agency no longer widely considered a fair and unbiased arbiter of natural resource policies. A spokeswoman admitted the agency was farming out the owl and murrelet review "to avoid any sort of impression that this was anything but an objective, unbiased review."... Users criticize new plan for Idaho wilderness Outfitters are happy with a revised plan for floating on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River because it doesn´t cut the size of their rafting parties in the critical month of July. But the U.S. Forest Service´s proposal to balance float boaters and jet boaters on the main Salmon was panned by both groups. And backcountry pilots are unhappy that the agency all but closes four airstrips in the remote Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness of Central Idaho...Greenpeace stops at Prince of Wales Island Prince of Wales Island was the last stop for the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, which has been traveling around Southeast Alaska this summer. A meeting between Greenpeace and island residents Thursday night started with one arrest and heckling. Two hours later, it finished with discussions about sustainable logging, value-added forest products and Tongass National Forest management...Forest Service OKs placement of new American flag on Peak 1 A flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol will soon fly atop Peak 1. U.S. Forest Service officials Thursday granted Kurt Kizer permission to re-erect the American flag, and Rep. Scott McInnis has offered to replace the one someone burned last weekend...Frog to be reintroduced in southern Arizona Little green-brown amphibians called Tarahumara frogs died off in southern Arizona two decades ago, but they may soon be headed back to the region's deep canyon pools...Habitat rules cost millions in Dublin When shopping for pets, it's unlikely that the average suburban family will shell out $21,000 for even the most exotic of beasts. When buying their as-yet-unbuilt homes in the Dublin Ranch development east of Tassajara Road, however, those same suburbanites will help foot the bill for 16 such expensive creatures. Marty Inderbitzen, a lawyer for the Lin family developers, told the Dublin City Council Tuesday that it cost his clients about $21,000 for every California tiger salamander found and relocated as a condition of the family's development agreements with state, federal and regional agencies...Second southwest Wyoming CBM project proposed A second project to explore the feasibility of drilling for coal-bed methane gas in southwestern Wyoming has been proposed by a Gillette-based energy company...Judge gives BLM coalbed methane leases green light The Bureau of Land Management in Montana properly issued coalbed methane leases before completing an in-depth environmental study earlier this year, according to a finding by a federal magistrate. The findings and recommendations issued this month by U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson said a 1994 BLM management plan and environmental impact statement authorized the level of coalbed methane activity permitted by the agency... BLM, coal mine land swap draw fires A proposed land swap between Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has been criticized as excluding other energy companies from competitive bidding and denying tax revenue to the state. The proposal involves exchange of 5,858 acres of P&M property in Sheridan, Carbon and Lincoln counties for 2,045 acres of BLM-owned land near the Montana border in Sheridan County containing 112.5 million tons of mineable coal... 'Liberty Summit' focuses on property rights An agenda for the summit, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the WestCoast Kalispell Hotel, says the gathering is intended "to develop an action strategy for protecting private property and preserving Montanans' way of life from the absurd mismanagement of federal lands."...Battle over Berryessa -- Trailer owners may be ousted in favor of trails, public campgrounds Different people have dramatically different visions when they ponder how to turn massive Lake Berryessa reservoir into a recreation treasure for the 21st century. Pat Monaghan sees the 1,300 private trailers in seven resorts scattered along the 160-mile-long shoreline as staying. She owns one of these trailers...Recreation groups say government has gone too far since Sept. 11 Since the Sept. 11 attacks, dams across Colorado have been closed to the public - from Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins to the Pueblo Reservoir and Twin Lakes near Leadville...Bush covers up climate research White House officials have undermined their own government scientists' research into climate change to play down the impact of global warming, an investigation by The Observer can reveal. The disclosure will anger environment campaigners who claim that efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are being sabotaged because of President George W. Bush's links to the oil industry... New air-pollution standards may delay some Utah road projects New federal air-pollution rules taking effect in January could hamstring some road projects in Salt Lake County and Ogden...The green boutique (scroll down)Some former Clinton-ites and a flock of environmental lobbyists have banded together to reclaim the White House next year, the Denver Post reported yesterday. The new group, called Environment 2004, aspires to identify a niche of environmental voters, and "harness outrage about Bush's stances on issues like logging, global warming and drilling in Alaska and the Rocky Mountains," among other things...