NEWS ROUNDUP

Enviro groups may appeal East Fork grazing decision One of the West's leading public lands conservationists said this week his group will appeal a recent U.S. Forest Service decision that establishes new public lands grazing guidelines in the East Fork of the Salmon River valley on the eastern slope of the White Cloud Mountains. "As anyone can tell from reading the record of decision, a lot of political pressure was brought to bear on (former Sawtooth National Recreation Area ranger) Deb Cooper, and it has resulted in this unfortunate decision," said Jon Marvel, executive director of Western Watersheds Project based in Hailey. "I would anticipate that our group will appeal this decision."...New law proposes permanent user fees In the latest chapter of the ongoing legislative fray over public lands user fees, a bill was introduced last week that would make fees like the Sawtooth National Forest's trailhead parking fee permanent. The Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act was introduced on Wednesday, Oct. 8, in the House committees on agriculture and resources by Rep. Ralph Regula, R-Ohio. The bill has five East Coast cosponsors, along with one from the Midwest...Go here to view the bill...American Motorcyle Association Backs Public Land Bill The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) has endorsed legislation in Congress to get tough on individuals who cause willful damage to federal lands. The Trail Responsibility and Accountability for the Improvement of Lands Act (TRAIL Act), introduced by U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado), provides for consistent enforcement of land use, protection and management regulations by the federal Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Forest Service. Currently, those agencies impose different penalties on recreational users who damage public land. In addition, the bill substantially increases the penalties on individuals who willfully cause damage to designated trails. Any fines collected would be used for rehabilitation and trail awareness programs at that trail. This legislation sends a clear message to individuals who deliberately engage in irresponsible recreation," Tancredo said. "Abuse our public lands and you will pay the price."...Go here to view the bill...Protesters greet federal forest overseer Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, the Bush administration's point man on forest policy, participated Monday in a forum at the University of Washington that drew a small crowd of protesters outside. "Don't Bush whack our forests," said small peel-and-stick signs worn by several of the activists. "They're taking the 'public' out of public lands," Patti Goldman of Earthjustice told the few dozen people gathered outside the College of Forest Resources. Inside, the mood was less confrontational, though Rey resisted Professor Jerry Franklin's call for an administration pledge to put old-growth forests and roadless areas off limits to logging... Column: Forest Rangers Tell Congress, 'Let Us Do Our Jobs' "If we had done all the thinning we wanted to over the years, we could have kept this fire from exploding, and we could have saved the towns it burned through," said Kate Klein, a forest ranger quoted in the August 2003 edition of Smithsonian magazine. Tragically, cases like this are frequent. Millions of acres of forests throughout the West are virtual tinder boxes, in critical need of thinning, logging, and prescribed burning to reduce "fuel load." Yet an endless cycle of appeals and senseless litigation fueled by environmentalists opposing logging practices have gridlocked necessary fire prevention treatment, endangering lives, homes, wildlife, and air quality. According to a General Accounting Office study, environmental groups in 2001 and 2002 appealed 59 percent of the Forest Service's thinning projects open to public appeal, multiple times. Most appeals -- 133 out of 180 -- were rejected by the Forest Service, but the lengthy process cost precious time. Appeals and lawsuits, along with regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requiring the Forest Service to perform extensive environmental impact analyses before undertaking fuel reduction projects, all divert time, effort, and dollars away from fire prevention... Experts offer little hope for saving pinons Foresters from the U.S. Forest Service and the Colorado State Forest Service offered little encouragement to the landowners who dared to think their pinons might have escaped infestation by bark beetles. Because of the expense of insecticide spraying, CSFS entomologist David Leatherman recommended trying to protect a few key, high-value trees, which in most cases would mean trees close to homes. Spraying is the only method available for protecting some trees, and it will not stop the epidemic of ips beetles through the pinon forest, he said. The epidemic will leave millions of dead pinons in the region, creating even more fire danger. The only optimism that emerged from the evening's meeting concerned the distant future: 25-50 years from now...Walden addresses key issues in forest billA Congressional bill that would cut down appeals and boost timber harvest on federal forest lands could become law within weeks. But first the bill needs to be reworked to eliminate provisions added by the Senate that would expand public participation in the appeals process, said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. a co-sponsor of the House version. The Senate provisions were added by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and include measures to protect old growth forest from logging under the exemptions proposed in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act. Speaking to a group of more than 100 Oregon forest industry executives gathered at Sunriver Monday for the annual Oregon Forest Industries Council meeting, Walden said there is too much ammunition under current federal forest rules for opponents to derail logging and thinning projects... Ranch values outgrowing land income A New Mexico State University economist has found that the old-fashioned idea of living off livestock is fading as new, well-financed owners enter the New Mexico's ranch market for the lifestyle. "Ranch values have just moved completely out of line with the ability to pay for it with income from the cows," said Allen Torell, an agricultural economist at NMSU. "Basically, you have to come to ranching with big bags of money, inherit it or be willing to work off the ranch." In the study, researchers at NMSU and the University of Idaho developed a statistical analysis and computer model to determine the value of New Mexico's ranches based on the sale of some 500 ranches from 1996 to 2002. The size of the ranches ranged from 320 acres to 180,000 acres, while costs varied from $14 to $1,000 an acre. The study was funded by the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, Colo...Rock and Risk When the first two stars blink in the indigo sky, ranger Garry Oye pulls on a fleece hat, zips up his U.S. Forest Service jacket and turns to the west to wait. Soon enough - before the spring hiking season begins, for sure - he'll have to confront screams of outrage over the changes he plans to propose for this iconic wilderness. But for the moment, in the stillness at 12,000 feet, Oye plants his feet on the rocky ground and anticipates something much less stressful...In the Northwest: There is a place where grizzlies, humans co-exist He spent eight seasons riding bulls in rodeos, but Karl Rappold has devoted most of his 51 years to challenges of running a 7,000-acre cattle ranch at the base of the Rocky Mountains pioneered by his grandfather 121 years ago. During 27 of those years, the Rappold Ranch has played part-time home to a male grizzly bear that has grown to more than 1,000 pounds and leaves behind a footprint measured at 9 1/4inches. "We've learned to respect him. After all, it is we who are the trespassers on his land," said Rappold. His ranch has not seen one of its animals killed by a grizz since the 1960s. Karl Rappold does not seek out bears, get up close or camp along their migration routes. In the spring, when grizzlies come out of hibernation, he keeps calves away from the upper ranch, which borders the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. A biologist collects dead animals and livestock, and scatters carcasses in the highlands. "It gives them food and keeps them there," he explained. As many as 15 sub-adult grizzlies have been counted feeding in the spring on the upper Rappold Ranch...Study: Ravens a threat to desert tortoises Researchers have charted the decline in desert tortoises for years, and mounting evidence points to the exploding raven population's role in suppressing their recovery. Researchers say that they hope new studies will help them chart a course for better strategies to recover the tortoise. The September issue of the journal Ecology describes a study in which researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and California State University, San Marcos, deployed plastic foam decoys resembling baby tortoises across the desert on and around Edwards Air Force Base...No more delay on designating critical owl habitat, says judge A federal judge has ordered Interior Secretary Gale Norton to comply immediately with an earlier order to redesignate critical habitat for the threatened Mexican spotted owl. U.S. District Judge David Bury dismissed Interior Department arguments that it should not be required to make such a designation, required under the Endangered Species Act, until Congress appropriates enough money. In his order, Bury cited an appellate court ruling that found "the United States may not evade the law simply by failing to appropriate enough money to comply with it." Although Bury said the Center for Biological Diversity had shown that the department had violated a court order, he denied the environmental group's motion to hold Norton in contempt, saying the move was premature...Shotgun blast drops charging grizzly Two aggressive grizzly bears have been shot, one by a hunter and one by a Fortine homeowner. A Kalispell man shot a stalking grizzly bear in the Swan Mountains and a Fortine man shot a grizzly at close range, narrowly escaping as the bear charged from a chicken coop...Bush is urged to back salmon plan: Proposal could include removal of 4 Snake River dams About 120 members of the House -- including 12 Republicans -- sent a letter to President Bush yesterday asking him to consider a scientifically valid approach for saving salmon, including possibly tearing down four dams on the Snake River. Written by Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer, the letter asks the president to support a plan "guided by the best available economics and science" to replace an approach deemed unworkable by a federal judge in May. The letter to Bush amplifies concerns voiced by U.S. District Judge James Redden and by the General Accounting Office pointing out that current practices have not produced results despite costing $3.3 billion. The effort that Redden dismissed was based largely on pulling fish from the Columbia and Snake rivers, putting them in trucks and barges and carrying them around dams...Gray Wolf Illegally Killed Near Idaho City U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the person who killed a gray wolf near Mores Creek Summit north of Idaho City. The wolf, a collared female known as "B-158," was killed sometime between October 5 and October 11 off of Forest Road 323...EPA Failing To Protect Public from Weed-Killer's Cancer Threat, Says NRDC The Environmental Protection Agency is failing to protect the public from the cancer threat posed by the most widely used weed-killer in the nation, says NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). In a legal motion filed today, the group charged that the agency violated the law by refusing to fully evaluate the links between cancer and the weed-killer, called atrazine. NRDC asked the court to force EPA to solicit an independent scientific review of the possible links between all cancers and the chemical, which the agency was required to do under a court order issued two years ago...Salmon return in big numbers Federal officials watching the counts at Bonneville Dam said they are elated by record-setting numbers of returning salmon this year, including more than a half-million fall-run chinook. Between 1,200 and 1,450 fall chinook come through the fish ladder each day. Those fish are counted through the end of November, when the run drops off...Volunteer pilot crashes while aiding family A pilot crashed his plane while flying in supplies to a McCarthy-area family that has been feuding with the National Park Service. Kurt Stenehjem, 52, of Anchorage, said he was unhurt in the crash. His Cessna 180 was heavily damaged. A spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the crash was reported Friday. Stenehjem had volunteered to fly supplies to the 17-member Pilgrim family, which has been barred by Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve officials from using a former mining road... Dam safety bill introduced A measure authorizing nearly a five-fold funding increase -- exceeding half a billion dollars a year -- to improve the safety of aging dams in the West has been introduced in the U.S. Senate. The measure by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., would amend the 1978 Safety-of-Dams Act by increasing authorized appropriation levels to $540 million annually for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation dam safety projects, compared with the current $109 million a year. The bill involves work in 12 states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming... Water groups riled up The Canadian River Municipal Water Authority and Mesa Water officials found one thing in their often contentious relationship to agree upon: There are problems with proposed Panhandle Groundwater Conservation District rules. The proposed rules designed by the groundwater board during the past 15 months were described as discriminatory, unconstitutional and a statutory taking of property at Tuesday's scheduled PGCD meeting in White Deer...An answer to water woes? Cities grow, gobble up land and irrigating water, and farms die. Seems to be an inevitable scenario. Not so, says a Colorado State University professor who doesn't think the two have to square off in a face to face battle. Dr. John Wilkins-Wells, a sociology professor at CSU has been studying canal modernization, pressurized water delivery systems, and dual distribution systems for residential municipal watering - and he thinks they may be a means to help Colorado meet some of its water needs, and even help farmers survive the seemingly relentless pressure to move their water from agricultural to municipal use...Mesa signs to float water down Brazos Mesa Water Inc. has signed a nonbinding alliance with the Brazos River Authority in what could be the first step to pumping Roberts County water south by the end of this decade. The discussions potentially could lead to combined groundwater and surface water availability to customers both inside and outside the Brazos River basin by Jan. 1, 2009, according to Brazos River Authority officials...The politics of water The battle has been joined in a San Jose courtroom over water rights in the Santa Maria Valley. What began six years ago as a relatively limited dispute between local farmers and government officials, over who was using water and how much, has mushroomed into a legal extravaganza involving about 700 separate parties and nearly 100 attorneys. The first phase of the trial is expected to take about a month, but that may be just the tip of this legal iceberg. At issue is how much water is under the ground in the valley, and who will be the primary users of that water in the future... West edges toward riparian law It took the Colorado River perhaps six million years to cut through layer after layer of sediment, eventually carving the Grand Canyon. A trip down the canyon reveals a cutaway geologic record stretching back two billion years and a swath of the earth's history two billion years long. Visitors on opposite sides of the vast chasm couldn't ever conceive of bridging it. A similar trip down the river's recent history is equally revealing. Even the amateur historian can appreciate the many strata of compacts, treaties and court rulings that govern rights to the water. The rifts the river has caused among the parties claiming water are deep and wide. However, after 200 years, there's been a fundamental change in how water rights are determined, and it's a change for the better... Lawyer sees hope for dam breaching, salmon: Calls Bush administration 'an interlude'Calling the George W. Bush administration "an interlude" to river recovery in the West, one of the region's premiere natural resource lawyers gave salmon and steelhead advocates some seeds of hope last week that breaching of four lower Snake River dams may yet occur. "My sense is that the four lower Snake River dams are going to come out," said Charles Wilkinson, a Boulder, Colo., environmental lawyer, professor, historian and author...Old Walt’s at it again: Inola Haunted Hay Ride shares spooky legend Old Walt, that’s what people called him in the early 1800s when he settled in Indian Territory and started running cattle on a ranch now owned by the McFarlin-Ingersoll families. He was a mean gun-toting cowboy and known to shoot any man who stepped foot on “his property.” It is said as he grew older — and meaner — his ranch hands were on the lookout day and night. Tresspassers met with a fate worse than death. Graves of Old Walt’s victims are everywhere on the ranch. His dying wish was to be buried on the ranch in an old cemetery in an above-the-ground vault — with his pet werewolf — “Wolfy.” The ranch has long since sold, but Old Walt’s ghost along with those of his cowhands, animals and victims wander those hills every year during October during the Inola Haunted Hay Ride...