NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service is allowing two fires to burn in the Gila Clear and sunny skies have made smoke and flames from two wildfires visible from Silver City and surrounding communities. As fire crews introduce a burn line on one of the blazes this afternoon, residents will see smoky conditions intensify, according to the Forest Service...Group wants to add 'peace flag' to Colorado mountain As authorities try to find out who burned an American flag left in tribute to the Sept. 11 victims, a dispute has erupted over replacing the memorial on a Colorado mountain...People for Otero County hold property rights session in Weed Are property rights an endangered species? In Otero County, environmentalist organizations have repeatedly sued the U.S. Forest Service in recent years to restrict and even eliminate public lands grazing. Cattle operators' livelihoods have been threatened...King Range fire blows up A tenacious wind-driven fire in coastal Southern Humboldt County has blown up to 10 times the size it was two days ago...McInnis backs off stance on rec fees Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., is backing off his strong support for charging user fees for some recreation areas on public lands, according to his statements to a congressional committee...Plan to protect salamander fought by officials, farmers Local officials and farmers, who feel they were blindsided by a federal designation to protect fairy shrimp, are trying to keep the same thing from happening with the tiger salamander...World Parks Congress urges plant, animal protections World conservationists called for new protection of the world's water ecosystems, including the international high seas, and urged that efforts to bring about free trade and poverty alleviation not be allowed to take precedence over preserving species, as the 10-day World Parks Congress wrapped up Wednesday in South Africa...Ranch conservation funds sought The land trust needs to raise $1.3 million to add to federal and state money to purchase a $5-million conservation easement on the 4,300-acre working ranch that straddles the border of Eagle and Garfield counties. The easement prohibits the land from ever being further developed...Grizzlies to benefit from bumper pine nuts crop A bumper crop of pine nuts in northwestern Wyoming this fall could reduce grizzly bear-human conflicts by keeping the bears at higher elevations, wildlife officials say...US Could Become Net Ag Importer For more than 40 years the United States has exported more agricultural products than it has imported. That could change within a few years, according to two Purdue University agricultural economists. The gap between American export and import values is narrowing, said economists Phil Paarlberg and Phil Abbott. They predict imports could overtake exports by 2007, if current trends continue... Environmentalists sue to get rare bush on endangered list, fight new TEP line Environmentalists sued the federal government Wednesday to get the Gentry indigo bush -a rare type of shrub - listed as an endangered species. Activists said they want to use the listing to fight Tucson Electric Power's plan to build a 66-mile power line between Sahuarita and Nogales... Remains of Cities Found in Amazon Basin Researchers working in the Amazon River basin have discovered clusters of settlements linked by wide roads and surrounded by agricultural developments. The researchers, including some descendants of pre-Columbia tribes that lived along the Amazon, have unearthed evidence of densely settled, well-organized communities with roads, moats and bridges in the Upper Xingu part of the vast tropical region. The findings show the Amazon was not, as was once thought, all an untouched wilderness before Columbus came to the Americas...Calif. Construction Fires Blamed on Arson Fires that destroyed four homes under construction and damaged two others Friday in an upscale section of the city were set in a coordinated arson attack, authorities said. One of several banners found at the sites in north San Diego read: "Development destruction. Stop raping nature. The ELFs are angry." ...Farm Bureau Testifies to Senate Subcommittee Re. Water Issues Expressing strong support for "voluntary, incentive-based" approaches to improving and protecting the environment, Farm Bureau today told Congress that the Environmental Protection Agency is overstepping its authority regarding water issues in several areas important to agriculture...Cowboy dreamers: Rare cattle drive across Gypsum Hills draws raves The idea for the drive came from Nancy and Joe Moore, who own the Moore Ranch near Bucklin. Their ranch is providing Texas longhorn cattle to be used in the Medicine Lodge Peace Treaty Pageant next week.
The Moores said instead of trucking their 100-head of cattle to the pageant, they elected to drive the cattle horseback across the rugged Gypsum Hills with some of their ranching neighbors and a few guests...Oregon Equine Herpesvirus-1 Outbreak In the last month, 16 of the 19 horses at Brookhill Stables in Goble, Ore., and two horses from a nearby private farm, have showed respiratory and/or neurologic signs consistent with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), although not all have been tested for the disease. To date, three older victims have been euthanized--one from Brookhill Stables and the two horses from the private farm, which visited Brookhill for 4-H lessons in early July... 17th Horse Slashing on Arizona Dude Ranch Seventeen horses have been found slashed in the throat on a guest ranch in Tucson, Ariz., since early July. The latest attack happened between midnight and 4 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9, on the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch, according to Pima County Sheriff’s Detective John Mawhinney. All of the horses have been slashed in the same location on the throat, resulting in jagged wounds from one inch to four inches long...