NEWS ROUNDUP


Calif. Brush Fire Threatens 1,500 Homes ...About 400 of the 1,500 threatened homes along the edge of California's San Bernardino National Forest were evacuated, and firefighters were taking advantage of calmer weather Saturday morning to battle the blaze, said Melody Lardner, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service...Lawsuit brings up owl habitat...In a move loggers say could destroy their industry, eight environmental groups will likely sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not listing the California spotted owl as an endangered species. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this spring announced it would not list the owl under the federal Endangered Species Act. After a 12-month study, Fish and Wildlife scientists said they found no evidence the raptor's population is declining and that it doesn't need the Act's protection... NASA Helping To Understand Water Flow In The West...To do their jobs, water resource managers in the Columbia River Basin have mostly relied on data from sparsely located ground stations among the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest. But now, NASA and partnering agencies are going to provide United States Bureau of Reclamation water resource managers with high resolution satellite data, allowing them to analyze up-to-date water-related information over large areas all at once. The pilot program is now underway with the Rio Grande and Columbia River basins where water is scarce while demands range from hydropower, to farming, fishing, boating and protecting endangered species. Water resource managers in these areas grapple with the big money stakes of distributing a finite amount of water to many groups. NASA satellite data offer to fill the data gaps in mountainous and drought-ridden terrain, and new computer models let users quickly process that data... Water wards may pay irrigators to forgo use ...In an effort to make precious supplies of water go farther, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District is exploring a new approach - paying irrigators not to use it. Subhas Shah, district chief engineer with the conservancy district, said the district has requested proposals to study the feasibility of an agriculture forbearance program. He said the goal of such a program is providing water for endangered species - such as the silvery minnow - without hurting middle Rio Grande valley farmers... Critics get ready to challenge president...Derek Volkart arrived in Washington on Friday with something peculiar in his truck: a six-foot wide, 440-year-old tree stump left behind after federally sanctioned clear-cut logging in Oregon. The "Shakespeare Tree" - so named because the tree dates back to the 1500s - will be displayed by environmental advocates on Capitol Hill this week to show what they believe will be happening often under President George W. Bush's proposed "Healthy Forests" plan... Conservationists, Forest Service battle in court over logging issue ...Lawyers for conservationists and the U.S. Forest Service argued before a federal judge Friday over how much work the agency needs to do to protect sensitive species living in old-growth timber slated for logging. The Oregon Natural Resources Council and American Lands Alliance want U.S. District Judge Garr King to order a new environmental analysis on a group of timber sales on the Willamette National Forest near Oakridge, where environmentalists found nests of red tree voles that the Forest Service had missed... Hybrid Cats: Part Lynx & Part Bobcat...Scientists have found two animals in Maine that are part lynx and part bobcat. The U.S. Forest Service's genetics laboratory in Missoula, Montana used DNA testing to prove the animals were the offspring of a female wild Canada lynx and a male bobcat. The lynx/bobcat mix was first identified in the wild earlier this year in northern Minnesota when officials found three hybrid cats. Hunters there refer to the animals as "lynxcats." ...Agencies announce deal for river water...Heads of four Southern California water agencies announced what they called a historic deal to share the water of the Colorado River, an agreement reached after years of fighting that led the state to lose some of the water it had been taking from the river. Top officials of four Southern California water agencies told an Assembly committee Friday that they’re committed to a 75-year agreement that helps farmers conserve water, provides more water to cities and launches an ambitious plan to restore the inland Salton Sea. For the six Western states that share the Colorado River with California, the deal would provide assurances that the nation’s most populous state would end its overdependence on the river and allow other states to draw their full shares... Veteran Deal Makers Hopeful on Energy Bill...Together, Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico and Representative Billy Tauzin of Louisiana will write much of the proposed new energy policy as the two men, both dependable industry allies, try to ride the momentum from the recent blackout to enact a long-stalled energy bill that critics say is a step backwards. The pair wasted no time on Friday during the first meeting of the conference committee. They made it clear that they would do most of the heavy lifting in the negotiations, writing much of the bill and submitting it for committee review. That approach represents a stark change from last year's negotiations, when the full conference tried but ultimately failed to cut a deal in public negotiations...BLM moves on logging plan ...While disputes continue over proposed logging and travel management on National Forest land near Clancy and Unionville, the Bureau of Land Management is quietly performing similar activities on its adjacent land. This week, the BLM sent out letters notifying the public that it plans to log 1.6 million board feet enough timber to fill about 300 logging trucks on 675 acres of federal lands managed by the BLM near Clancy, about six miles south of Helena. The BLM also expects to remove underbrush and small trees on an additional 140 acres...