NEWS ROUNDUP

FBI probing accusations filed against BLM ranger A 19-year-old Encinitas man remains in a wheelchair with limited mobility after suffering spinal cord injuries here Nov. 2 allegedly caused by a Bureau of Land Management ranger against whom allegations of abuse of power and use of excessive force have been raised. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's office in El Centro is investigating the incident that a third-party witness described as being "pretty tragic" and "a shame." Brian Boyd suffered bruising to the spinal cord in the neck area as well as having vertebrae in his neck and lower back wrenched out of place, said Tom Boyd, the alleged victim's father. "There seems to be a bunch of cowboys out there abusing people. ... They thought he was a punk kid they could harass. ... We truly believe that an independent investigation is needed to let people know of the abuse," said Tom Boyd...Environmentalists claim trees unnecessarily cut by firefighters Environmentalists claim the Forest Service unnecessarily cut old-growth timber to fight the Slims fire in north-central Idaho this summer. And one federal official concedes the assigned crew may have been overzealous. Nez Perce National Forest Fire Management Officer Ken Castro says resource specialists are looking at the area along Meadow Creek to determine if a full-scale investigation should be launched...Forest Service upholds climbing ban at Tahoe's Cave Rock Rock climbers will be banned from a world-class volcanic formation near Lake Tahoe because the site is held sacred by members of the Washoe Tribe. The U.S. Forest Service has rejected two appeals of a ban on rock climbing at Cave Rock, determining that it is a ''noncompatible'' use with a cultural resource that is worthy of protection. The agency ordered the removal of all bolts, anchors and platforms installed in the rock that draws climbers from around the world to Tahoe's east shore...Wyoming glacier melts and unleashes mountain flood A 30-acre mountain lake contained by a glacier broke through and flooded a remote mountain canyon in September, changing the face of at least eight miles of three mountain drainages. The unusual geological event occurred in the Wind River Range in western Wyoming. Only a few witnessed the resulting flood, and nobody was harmed. The unnamed lake was located 12,000 feet above sea level, just east of the Continental Divide and about 2.5 miles north of Gannett Peak, Wyoming's highest mountain at 13,804 feet...Critics Fear Energy Plan Will Tame a Wild Land Yet, for all her talents, Flora may be on the brink of losing her battle to save a region that, as much as any, resembles the West that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark saw when they came through here 200 years ago. At least three companies holding leases that predate Flora's decision are preparing to drill for natural gas deep inside the protected area, encouraged by rising gas prices, increasing demand and pending energy legislation that would give oil and gas companies tax breaks and other incentives that take some of the financial risk out of exploring. With the Bush administration making a determined push to open wild lands to energy exploration, dormant leases on 400,000 acres of the front could spring to life. Petroleum engineers acknowledge that the extent of recoverable gas along the front is not known...Workshop will take activism to new heights -- the treetops To the list of things you didn't learn in school, add this: Tree-Sitting 101. It's a class to prepare for the real-life tactic in which someone climbs a tree that's about to be cut down, hauls up a platform, and sits until the people with chainsaws go away. This sort of thing has been used by forest activists in the West and now could be coming to Kentucky...Burns' rider approved by Bush The rider allows the Flathead National Forest to use a "collaborative community process" to develop a single, preferred alternative for post-fire timber management in areas burned by the Robert and Wedge Canyon fires in the Flathead's North Fork valley over the summer. A "single-action" alternative is a considerable departure from a National Environmental Policy Act requirement that agencies develop a range of different approaches to forest management projects. The rider contains language that requires groups or individuals to provide substantive, written comments during the public comment period before they can file an administrative appeal objecting to the project. Appeals are typically required as precursors to lawsuits. The rider also directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expedite its process for determining whether the projects would adversely effect endangered or threatened species. And it allows the Flathead Forest to proceed with the projects, even if water quality protection plans, based on so-called "Total Maximum Daily Loads," are not in place for the North Fork Valley...Bridge demolition stymied by endangered snail A tiny endangered snail is the reason a closed bridge across the Snake River has not been completely demolished. Idaho Transportation Department officials told Bingham County leaders they must suspend demolition until a scientific study ensures the Utah Valvata snails will not be in harm's way. County officials are frustrated by the delay and hope the half-demolished bridge can be dismantled soon. Steel and concrete supports still jut out of the water...Equestrians fear loss of pathways across public, private land No man is an island, but some neighborhoods in Lake Havasu City may someday be. The town is ringed by state and federal land, and that worries Mary Van Rooy, the founder of the Lake Havasu Chapter of the Back Country Horsemen of America. She wants to be sure that residents who love to ride horses will never be cut off from access to desert trails...More sage grouse test positive for West Nile Twenty-two sage grouse have tested positive for West Nile virus in Wyoming and Montana this year. Nineteen cases originated in Wyoming and three in Montana, according to Todd Cornish, a veterinary pathologist at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory...Pilot program reduces equine pregnancies Wild horses in western Colorado are entering the second year of a fertility program designed to decrease birth rates among the herds so less animals will have to be removed for adoption. The program works by darting wild mares with a vaccine that prevents them for becoming pregnant. Available vaccines can prevent a mare from becoming pregnant for one or two years. Researchers currently are working on a 3-year vaccine as well, Coates-Markle said...Senate Panel Intensifies Its Conservancy Probe A six-month inquiry into the Arlington-based Nature Conservancy by the Senate Finance Committee has raised "new questions in a wide range of areas," leading investigators to intensify their pursuit of internal audits and property records they have been seeking since last summer, according to committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). Committee investigators, who have been looking into the charity's management and real estate sales, are now particularly interested in the "valuation of land donations and the conservation-buyer program," Grassley said. The charity uses that program to sell property to private individuals, including Conservancy members...Is missing uranium in the water? It was a secret at the time, a plan to turn toxic waste into riches. As demand grew and prices soared for the raw material of nuclear reactor fuel, the Anaconda Copper Co. and Wyoming Mineral Corp. entered an agreement in March 1976 to produce yellowcake uranium from waste piles at a huge open-pit copper mine in northern Nevada. The decision to launch the Yerington Uranium Project was based on samples taken from evaporation ponds that showed high levels of radiation, suggesting commercial quantities of uranium had been concentrated along with copper leached from the ore... Unhappy ranchers blame BLM Worried about the future of ranching in the West, more than 100 people rallied outside the Bureau of Land Management office here Monday. The purpose was to draw attention not only to frustrations with the Worland BLM office but also to voice larger concerns that the federal government's actions threaten a way of life, according to many who attended. "There's no question we are in a war and if we don't stand up and be counted, we're going to lose that war," said Karen Budd-Falen, a Cheyenne-based attorney who often represents ranchers and farmers in disputes with the government. Before the rally, about 50 ranchers on horseback and two wagons rode quietly through downtown in a slow procession that ended in a blocked-off street next to the Worland BLM office...Public lands make West fertile ground for wind power To date, about 500 of the nation's 4,700 megawatts of wind power capacity come from projects sited on public lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. In recent months, though, the BLM has received 75 additional applications by wind developers, said Lee Otteni, a BLM project manager. To help address the growing demand for wind energy, the BLM is preparing a "programmatic environmental impact statement." The agency is holding meetings this month in five cities around the West to gather input on the issues surrounding wind development on the BLM's 262 million acres...There's room for wildlife, livestock Ranching used to be about cattle. In recent years, ranchers like John O'Keeffe have learned that working cattle is just part of the job. A third-generation rancher, the 45-year-old O'Keeffe has lived and worked on the family ranch near Adel his entire life. He credits his father, Henry, who died in 2001, with shaping his beliefs and character. His mother, Theresa, still lives at the ranch...Growing Our Own From the White House on down to county commissioner, too many of our elected officials are paying more attention to their developer and industry friends and not enough to protecting the environment. The Sierra Club is always pressuring politicians to do the right thing, but all too often these attempts fall on deaf ears. So what do we do? Throw the bums out and get someone better, right? Right, except sometimes a good man or woman is hard to find. That's where "growing our own" makes sense. Sometimes the best-qualified candidate for the city council might be sitting in our midst, chairing our clean air or sprawl committee...Deadline for historic ranch area plans sent to President Bush Legislation awaiting President Bush's signature sets a Jan. 1 deadline for federal agencies to submit their plan for land in the area where Theodore Roosevelt hunted and ranched in the 1880s. The legislation, in the form of an amendment to an appropriations bill, requires the federal Interior Department and the National Park Service to tell Congress how much land they want to acquire around the historic Elkhorn Ranch unit, said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. Park officials have been studying property owned by the families of Ken and Norma Eberts, Dennis and Jeanette Eberts, and Allan and Jennifer Eberts, who have indicated they want to retire from ranching...Experts Seek Trail to Mark Ice Age Floods The National Park Service has proposed a marked trail to commemorate Ice Age floods through four Western states that left canyons, valleys, lakes and ridges that still dominate the terrain today - some so dramatic they can be seen from outer space. Picture an ice dam 30 miles wide, forming a lake 2,000 feet deep and 200 miles long, stretching from the Idaho panhandle into western Montana, containing more water than Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined. Now picture that dam giving way, the water thundering out in 48 hours, through four states, across Washington and into the Pacific...Republicans reject faith-based bill with tax break Nearly 30 House Republicans are threatening to vote against legislation that represents the remaining pieces of President Bush's faith-based initiative if it contains a tax break favoring environmental groups. The Senate-passed version of the legislation -- which consists mostly of tax incentives designed to spur charitable giving -- contains a provision that would grant a tax break to those who sell land or water specifically for conservation purposes. The House passed its version of the bill without such a provision, and the two bills are waiting to be reconciled in conference...Cascade family sues state over game farm initiative Cascade ranchers Ken and Becky Mesaros have become the seventh Montana game-farming family to sue the state for damages because of Initiative 143, the voter-passed measure that placed restrictions on game ranches. The Mesaroses' lawsuit, filed recently in state District Court at Great Falls, says I-143 amounts to an unconstitutional "taking" of property by the state, and that the Mesaroses should be Compensated...HomeownersClaim Cattle Dirt Making Them Sick Weld County commissioners are looking at taking legal action against the ConAgra Cattle Feeding Co.'s Gilcrest feedlot. The legal action stems from dust coming from the plant where thousands of cattle are kept. Many homeowners in the area claim that the dust is making them and their animals ill. Plant managers met with county representatives last week and commissioners will decide Monday if the plan of action discussed at that meeting will be enough...Stories can teach lessons as well as entertain Seems the parents, two brothers who married two sisters, brought the two little boy cousins into the world about the same time, raising them to the age of 6 years. These neighboring families gathered each Sunday at alternating homes to visit, eat and play 42. The house involved had a four-plate wood stove sitting in the middle of the living room with a stove pipe running across the ceiling to a chimney in the corner. The dining table where they played 42 sat to one side near the kitchen. On a particular visit, one boy had acquired a loaded 12-gauge shotgun shell somewhere. No one remembers where the shell came from. While the grown-ups shuffled dominoes, one cousin raised a lid on the stove and the other dropped the live shell into the fire. Then the boys moved to one side to see what would happen...U.S. Cavalry history kept alive by unique collector America has a rich history filled with military battles both in foreign lands and, tragically, on our own soil. Today, the military has a stockade of arsenal of the highest technology at their fingertips. But imagine a time when the best weapon you had was your rifle or sword and, instead of riding into battle on a steel machine, you charged into skirmishes on a horse that you trusted with your life. This is definitely a different image than the tanks and aircraft that we see today, but it is the genre of military that helped form our country as we know it. It is the image of the United States Cavalry which helped create the history of America, especially the West, on a horse and a prayer...