NEWS ROUNDUP

ONRC plans rejected by tribal leader A proposal by the Oregon Natural Resources Council to have the federal government buy or condemn private land to create a new reservation for the Klamath Tribes was rejected Friday by tribal Chairman Allen Foreman. In a letter to Jay Ward, the ONRC's conservation director, Foreman categorically dismissed the idea made public by the ONRC last week. The ONRC suggested the private land alternative so that former reservation lands that are currently part of the Fremont-Winema National Forests will not be returned to the Tribes, as is being considered. The Tribes are hoping to regain title to more than 600,000 acres of public land, reportedly in exchange for the Tribes' senior water rights. In his letter, Foreman said the Tribes plan to move forward with efforts to acquire the Forest Service land...Forest Service will Reduce Programs to Pay for Cascade Fire The Uinta National Forest Service will reduce programs to help pay for the $1.8 million costs associated with the Cascade II fire. The fire that started Sept. 23 as a prescribed burn of 600 acres in the Cascade Springs area consumed 7,790 acres... Goats' appetites a powerful fire maintenance tool National Forest Service officials in Arizona are wrapping up a pilot project to reduce the threat of wildfire by using goats from the Navajo Nation. The goats are being used to eat through dense forests full of brush. Forest officials say it's been an effective method to provide a fire buffer around forest area homes. The program in the Prescott National Forest has used about 650 goats as part of the six-month pilot project that ends later this month...Editorial: Move ahead to thin trees As another costly wildfire season burns to a close, few would argue that the fire-prone federal forestlands of the western United States are in need of some serious management to reduce the fire risk. But finding the best way to reduce the fuel load in our forests and protect our communities from wildfire is the subject of heavy debate. While the battle in Congress over President Bush's Healthy Forests initiative continues, researchers at the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources have released a report that sheds some light on the debate. The report attempts for the first time to account for the per-acre costs of the worst wildfires, including firefighting costs, lost buildings, economic losses to nearby communities and degraded waterways. The figure: $1,300 to $2,100 per acre. And that doesn't include a price tag for environmental costs such as lost wildlife or the release of tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere as the fire burns. On the other hand, the cost of thinning the fire-prone forests was calculated at between $380 and $580 per acre... Editorial: Moment of truth for healthy forests There had been no fires or major thinning in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest for 120 years, creating dangerous fire conditions. Local U.S. Forest Service officials had sought to clean it up, but were blocked by federal policy and environmental appeals and lawsuits. So by June 2002, the area was ready to blow, and it did: The Hayman fire roared over 137,000 acres, consumed 133 homes and cost $238 million. Not long afterwards, Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth told Congress that if proper forest management had been implemented a decade ago, and if the Forest Service weren't in the grip of "analysis paralysis" from regulation and litigation, the Hayman fire might not have raged out of control. A month later, as if to prove him right, fire burned nearly 40,000 acres of Routt National Forest, where the Wilderness Society had appealed a plan to clean up thousands of acres of trees that blew down in 1997 and caused a subsequent beetle infestation. Thankfully, lessons have been learned and better forest management is on the way. President Bush has provided leadership with his Healthy Forests Initiative, which asks for legislation that speeds up thinning to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires. To enact it, the House has crafted H.R. 1904, Rep. Scott McInnis' "Healthy Forests Restoration Act," under which environmental and judicial reviews would be streamlined and the use of lawsuits curtailed to permit thinning projects on 20 million acres of fire-prone federal land...Ranch, Carbondale face off over herbicides Cycling gear entrepreneur Garry Snook said he moved to the foot of Mount Sopris for a little privacy. Instead, he's found himself in a very public fight with town officials over his use of weed killers at his ranch. The founder of Performance, Inc., the leading retailer of cycling gear, Snook says officials in the small town are singling him out because he's rich, while ignoring ranchers who also use pesticides. "It really does seem like some kind of personal issue with them," Snook said...Firefighting policy defended Fire is a necessary part of nature and "a good tool," an assistant secretary of the Interior said Monday. But the federal government is not going to stop fighting forest fires, said Rebecca Watson, a Helena lawyer and Bush administration appointee. Watson's comments came in response to a complaint to be filed Tuesday by Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics challenging wildland firefighting on social and environmental grounds... Editorial: Saving Salmon Conservationists and business interests are at loggerheads so often these days that it is heartening when they can reach an agreement that produces good outcomes for both - and for the environment as well. A coalition of environmental groups, an Indian tribe, government agencies and a power company recently announced an agreement that could help save wild Atlantic salmon, which are now on the endangered species list. Two dams on Maine's Penobscot River will be torn down and a third decommissioned, opening up more than 500 miles of river for fish returning to spawn. In exchange, PPL, the power company, will receive cash and the right to increase power generation at other dams that pose less threat to fish migration. Apart from helping the fish, conservationists also hope that the deal will restore momentum to the idea of removing dams whose environmental damage outweighs their usefulness as generators of electricity. That idea took hold in 1997 when the federal government ordered the destruction of another Maine dam, on the Kennebec River, leading eventually to the removal of more than 100 dams elsewhere. Dam removal was vigorously supported by President Bill Clinton's secretary of the interior, Bruce Babbitt, who actually kept a sledgehammer in his office that he would carry around with him to decommissioning ceremonies...Editorial: Kill the policy, save the species Using Orwellian logic, the Bush administration is pushing radical policy change in application of the Endangered Species Act to imported animals on the brink of extinction. According to The Washington Post, Bush officials propose radical deviations from the way the act has been applied for 30 years, defending the taking of these species on the ground of conservation. The administration's argument is that allowing the export of exotic endangered species would generate income for poor nations that could, in turn, be spent on their conservation...Westlands to pitch water deal Westlands Water District, locked in a bitter dispute over irrigation water from Northern California, is planning Tuesday to offer a settlement proposal with a Trinity River Indian tribe. The west San Joaquin Valley farm district wants to settle a 3-year-old lawsuit against the Department of Interior over a federal restoration plan for the Trinity River. The Hoopa Valley Tribe, which intervened in the lawsuit, would need to approve the settlement. Westlands officials say the settlement would provide almost the same features in the federal restoration plan, with increased river flows to nurture damaged habitat and fisheries...Scientists say endangered fish is critical to Utah Lake; to others, it's a nuisance In June, at least, there's a sucker born every minute. But that hasn't stopped the decline of one of Utah Lake's last remaining native fish. Millions of June suckers, as the steel-gray fish is known, filled the shallow lake 150 years ago. But overfishing, pollutants, dams and the growth of nonnative predators such as carp have decimated the June sucker population. Today, fewer than 1,000 wild fish remain... Wolf management bill stays static The Wyoming Legislature and the Department of Game and Fish have no active plans to amend wolf management legislation or plans until they hear first from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Game and Fish officials urged legislators on Wednesday to "hold off" on offering proposals for tweaking the state's wolf management law until the state clearly understands whether U.S. Fish and Wildlife have problems with it...Navy agrees to limit use of sonar system Hoping to settle a long controversy with environmentalists, the Navy has agreed to limit the use of its new underwater sound system to small areas of the far western Pacific Ocean in order to avoid possible harm to whales and other sensitive marine species. The Natural Resources Defense Council and five other groups had sued the Navy in federal court two years ago, charging that the far-ranging sonar system designed to detect and track silent submarines could deafen, disorient or even kill mammals with its powerful sound waves... Hunting Falls in Popularity in Utah In the last couple of decades, the number of hunters taking to the field for the annual general deer hunt has dropped by more than two-thirds despite the state's population increasing more than 40 percent. At hunting's peak in Utah, more than 250,000 residents headed into the state's fields and forests. Only about 70,000 hunters are expected to head for mountains on this year's opener next Saturday... It's Gas vs. Heritage in Navajo Country The Navajo revere this remote area around a tabletop mesa in northwestern New Mexico as the place where the mythical figure Changing Woman gave birth to two warrior sons who made the universe safe. Energy companies desire this area for its strategic location in the San Juan Basin, a geological mother lode of natural gas reserves in the Four Corners region that has become one of North America's richest sources of mineral wealth. The almost inevitable clash of these conflicting values has laid bare the Navajo Nation's contentious relations with oil and gas companies, including accusations of underpayment for land leases and negligence by the government agencies overseeing such agreements...Can Rain Be Bought? Experts Seed Clouds and Seek Answers With a severe drought parching Colorado and much of the American West in recent years, Denver's water department decided to take a gamble in the hope of squeezing more precipitation out of the atmosphere. It has invested more than $1 million in cloud seeding in the last two years. Has it paid off? Possibly, some research suggests...Trappers defend trap-checking rules Trappers, ranchers and animal-rights advocates jammed the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioners meeting this week to speak out on the possible tightening of trap checking rules. The current rules for predators require trappers to check animal traps "on a regular basis." Conservationists say the rule is vague and limitless, and causes animals to suffer needlessly. They recommend a 24-hour rule, the same time frame used by more than 30 states... Men Drop Their Drawers for Local Schools Cleve Dumdi -- a 70-year-old respected sheep rancher, husband of a former county commissioner -- was walking in this small Oregon town one day when a longtime acquaintance hailed him from across the street. "Hey Dumdi!," the man hollered. "Didn't recognize you with your clothes on!" It's the kind of ribbing Dumdi has had to bear ever since he disrobed and perched on his tractor for a 2004 nudie calendar featuring the men of Junction City's Long Tom Grange. All proceeds from calendar sales go to the Junction City school district, which has had to give up at least three classroom teachers, art, music, gym class and field trips after recent severe state cutbacks in education budgets... Factory-made horse trailer had its share of problems In today's world, it's hard to realize the common, tandem-axle horse trailer came onto the public scene only about 40 years ago. Sure, there have been homemade trailers since an abandoned Model T differential had a wooden box wired on top with baling wire. But the real, honest-to-goodness factory-made horse trailer is not that old. When we hauled horses from 1939 into the 1940s we used a regular grain truck with stock racks. Single horses were hauled in a stock rack fitted to the bed of a pickup. Usually, you gritted your teeth at the hot or cold weather and trotted your horse across country to your destination...Dyed-in-the-wool sheep town honors its history at festival In the land of trophy homes and overpriced yuppie shops, the sheep reign for a day. During the second Sunday of October, the resort town of Ketchum allows 2,000 sheep to invade the heart of town. It is called The Trailing of the Sheep, and it is an event modeled after the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain -- where bulls, agitated by people, trot to the ring during July's San Fermin festival. But you won't see people taunting sheep as they stroll down Ketchum's Main Street. Most visitors to this resort area pet and pose for pictures with the animals. They flock here to recall the heyday of the sheep industry in the American West and to pay homage to ancestors who worked as sheepherders or ranchers... Rancher's donation helps Rio Grande West Texas rancher and Hudspeth County Attorney Colquitt "Kitt" Bramblett has donated 1,236 acre-feet of water a year to the Texas Water Trust to provide water for fish and wildlife in the Rio Grande, Texas Water Development Board officials said. This is the first-ever donation to the trust, created in 1997 as a way to protect river flows and wildlife habitat... No bull: $14K machine is stolen Jackson police have set out to lasso a mechanical bull that was stolen last week. Don DeBerry bought the bull two months ago to launch a new business venture, one that hit a snag when his trailer holding the bull disappeared. The bull is worth $14,000. The trailer also contained two tents for the bull and various tools. The total value of the bull, trailer and the other items is $23,000. DeBerry had liability insurance for the bull, but not insurance covering theft. After buying the bull in Kentucky, DeBerry started a business called "Extreme Thrills." The bull, which simulates a rodeo ride, was featured at Skyfest earlier this month...