NEWS ROUNDUP

Reducing Wildfire Threat in Anchorage Through GIS The Municipality of Anchorage (MOA) has recently taken aggressive steps to reduce its risk of wildfire. In 2001, the MOA was declared a community at risk for wildfire by the USDA Forest Service. A community at risk is defined as having a wildland/urban interface that has dangerously high wildfire risks...State, federal officials join critics of Sierra forest plan U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Attorney General Bill Lockyer and state Resources Secretary Mary Nichols joined critics of federal plans to manage 11.5 million acres of Sierra Nevada national forest Tuesday. Environmental groups said they gathered more than 30,000 postcards and letters to be sent to the U.S. Forest Service protesting Bush administration changes to the Sierra Nevada Framework adopted in the closing days of the Clinton administration...Report Finds Global Warming Taking a Toll on Parks; Saving Natural Treasures Demands New Policies on Heat-Trapping Gases World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today warned that reductions in heat-trapping gas emissions from burning fossil fuels are urgently needed to protect treasured national and state parks from global warming. The warning comes as WWF releases a new report on the latest scientific research on warming and parks at a 10-year global forum of park managers, scientists and policymakers now underway in South Africa...A plea: Never buy wolf The number of Coloradans buying wolves and wolf-dog cross- breeds is skyrocketing and space to take care of the animals once they become unwanted is becoming scarce. Sanctuary owners, state wildlife officials and ranchers are concerned that if there aren't enough facilities for those animals, owners may simply turn them loose in the wild to fend for themselves... Gallatin Forest would expand Taylor Fork grazing allotment The Taylor Fork drainage south of Big Sky is a wondrous place filled with wildlife: grizzly bears and moose, wolves and elk. It's so important to animals, and to people who enjoy wild places, that the federal government has spent or promised to spend nearly $15 million to buy thousands of acres of private land there. The drainage also hosts hundreds of cattle during the summer months. Now the Gallatin National Forest is proposing to raise the number of cows by 13 percent and increase the number of acres where they can graze...Secretary Norton Announces Signing of Environmentally-Sensitive Pilot Projects, Encourages Passage of Healthy Forests Initiative Interior Secretary Gale Norton today announced three Healthy Forests Initiative pilot projects to reduce the threat of wildland fire are ready for implementation. Secretary Norton announced the signing of decisions to implement the Pahvant Interagency Fuels Reduction Project in central Utah, the Interagency Portneuf Fuels Management Project in southeast Idaho, and the Mesquite Hazardous Fuel Reduction project in southeast Nevada...Agency Proposes New National Park Passes The Interior Department is proposing creation of a nationwide outdoors pass to standardize fees in national parks, forests, dams, recreation areas and other federally owned public lands... Holistic Management and Ranching: New Hope for the Old West? Bitter conflict over land use and economic development has divided the American West for decades. A new landscape interpretation and decision-making framework, Holistic Management TM, challenges notions on both sides and has made for some unlikely allies amongst ranchers and environmentalists. Proponents of Holistic management claim their method can revitalize both Western ranching and the natural ecosystem...