NEWS ROUNDUP

Feds OK climbing on landmark The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to stay a ban on rock climbing at a Lake Tahoe landmark pending the outcome of an expected lawsuit challenging the administrative ruling. Rex Norman, a Forest Service spokesman for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, said it makes sense to wait and see how the court case turns out. The Access Fund, a climbing advocacy group based in Boulder, Colo., said it will challenge the constitutionality of the ban at Cave Rock announced in July and upheld in an administrative appeal earlier this month...9th Circuit Court asked to review Lolo salvage ruling Spurned in U.S. District Court, leaders of a Missoula environmental group are taking their lawsuit against the Lolo National Forest's post-wildfire logging plan to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. District Judge Don Molloy set a "dangerous precedent" by deferring to the "expertise of the agency" in evaluating the effects of logging on 4,600 acres burned during the 2000 wildfire season, the environmentalists said Tuesday...Varmint Hunt Fundraiser Declared Off-Limits on Forest Land About a fourth of Utah's Wayne County ... today, was ruled off- limits ... for the controversial varmint hunt, this Friday and Saturday. The county sheriff organized the hunt ... to raise funds for a Christmas charity ... AND, to reduce the multitudes of predators ... which threaten livestock, in the county. But, the proposed hunt for the "varmints" ... such as racoons, foxes, skunks and coyotes ... has stirred outrage, among animal activists. The Humane Society labels it ... "an insult to human intelligence." The Forest Service, says ... a Special- Use Permit is required... and, no one applied for one...Ranchers worry about wandering Crow bison More than 500 bison have wandered off the Crow Reservation and onto private and public land in Wyoming over the last several weeks, prompting concerns among ranchers and a recovery effort by land and air. As of Monday, all but a few stragglers had been pushed back onto the reservation by snowmobiles and helicopters, according to Leroy Stewart, director of the buffalo program at Crow Agency. The bison, part of the reservation's herd of about 1,200, apparently left the reservation earlier this month, crossed the Montana-Wyoming border northeast of Lovell and wandered onto private ranch land and land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and Bighorn National Forest...Oregon earns 'B' in invasive species battle Oregon has received a letter grade of "B" for 2003 in its ongoing battle against invasive species that threaten the state as a new list of the 100 most dangerous species from the plant and animal kingdom has been developed. The grade and list come courtesy of the Oregon Invasive Species Council, which has been coordinating efforts to protect the state from these nasty invaders the past couple of years. This year's report card shows an improvement over last year's grade of C-plus...Landowners eye fire plan with suspicion The Washington County Board of Commissioners spent the last hour of its weekly meeting Monday attempting to assuage the fears of several landowners that the Washington County Fire Mitigation Plan will infringe on their property rights. Ron Pound, Esther Smith, Loraine Carr, and two other local landowners requested the meeting to air their concerns that the plan would lead to more government regulation and control over how their land is used. They all accused the commissioners of instituting the plan by stealth...GROOMING AN ELF: How Tre Arrow turned Jake Sherman into an "eco-terrorist." It seemed a simple plan. They would collect a bunch of empty milk jugs, slice off the tops, fill them three-quarters full of gasoline, stuff the tops with cellophane, push a punk into the top for a fuse, light them off, then run like hell--sort of a moo-lotov cocktail. But the fires set by Jake Sherman, Angie Cesario and Jeremy Rosenbloom in the early-morning hours of June 1, 2001, had more consequences than some burned-up logging equipment near Eagle Creek...Senate OKs hunting camp reprieve As the U.S. Senate moved toward adjourning for the Thanksgiving holiday, it voted to reverse a federal court order for dismantling permanent hunting camps at three sites in central Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo said Tuesday that the action, which still must be ratified by the House, reasserts the original intention of the 1980 law creating the wilderness area...Women ordered to forsake tree-sitting, anti-logging protests Two tree-sitters who perched 80 feet off the ground in a spring protest at the Klamath National Forest were sent to jail Tuesday after pleading no contest to being in an area that was closed by the U.S. Forest Service. Amelia Vasquez and Kristi Sanchez, both in their early 20s, were handcuffed and led away by Forest Service law enforcement officers after they entered the pleas in federal court in Redding...Timber Trade-Offs. Plans to increase harvest has ramifications The state forests that help pay for Idaho's schools have avoided the timber wars that sharply reduced harvests across the West during the last decade. Now an Idaho Department of Lands proposal to increase the harvest of some of its biggest, oldest trees has sparked a debate about old-growth forests, endangered species and sustainability...Editorial: Good riddance, energy bill The Bush administration's energy bill died from an overdose of pork in the Senate earlier this week. Blatant attempts to buy its passage by injecting huge special-interest subsidies and tax breaks instead caused the legislation's demise. The original reasons for having energy legislation, a crying need to craft a sane national energy policy, remain. In January, Congress should try again to write meaningful energy legislation. But next time, congressional leaders must curb lawmakers' urge to decorate the bill with political favors...Study: California eagles may be put to death To control a bizarre gathering of eagles, pigs and foxes on the California channel islands, federal wildlife officials may have to kill a protected species in order to save an endangered one. Attracted by a plentiful supply of feral pigs rooting around the islands, a community of Golden Eagles settled in about 10 years go to prey on piglets. But they also found that the island foxes, an endangered group of subspecies, also made good meals. The population of pigs, which reproduce year around, were little affected by the winged predators, but the foxes were decimated...Going to the birds: Wild turkeys turning up around New York City Alex Calota saw it strutting near his hot dog cart about five months ago. It was a wild turkey -- in Manhattan. Calota is among the increasing number of New Yorkers reporting strange encounters with the wild birds best known this time of year as a main course...Endangered wildcat cloned Researchers at the Audubon Institute have become the first to succeed in repeating the cloning of a single cat - in this case an endangered African wildcat. The latest two births occurred on Nov. 15 but were not announced until Tuesday. There has been no other reported instance of a cloning procedure being successfully repeated from a single member of any feline species, wild or domestic, Audubon scientists said...COURTS STOP WATERING DOWN CLEAN WATER ACT A federal court for the District of Columbia this week rejected industry attempts to weaken nationwide dredge-and-fill permits for development projects, mining and other environmentally-damaging activities. Nationwide permits already cause substantial harm to wetlands and streams, according to the environmental groups who opposed the industry arguments, and weakening them would have increased the damage to the environment and economy. "This decision sends a message to industry: you cannot have free rein to destroy our nation's streams and wetlands," said Earthjustice attorney Howard Fox, who intervened in the industry suit on behalf of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Sierra Club. "Everyone who cares about protecting our nation's waters can give thanks today for this decision."...Curator at museum admits collecting fossils illegally A key leader in building the extensive fossil collection at the University of Washington's Burke Museum has agreed to retire after admitting he took fossils illegally from the Hanford Reach National Monument. Rensberger led geology students on a field trip to an area near Savage Island, adjacent to the Columbia River in the Hanford Reach, where they collected fossils of fish and a few rodents over two days in May 2002. It's a federal misdemeanor to take fossils from the 193,000-acre monument, said Mike Ritter, deputy project leader with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Hanford Reach. Ritter said a federal investigation is ongoing. He would not say whether the professor would be charged with a crime. Three years ago, President Clinton designated the national monument, which includes a 51-mile stretch of the Columbia River next to the Hanford nuclear reservation near Richland. That change gave greater protection to fossils and other artifacts at the site. Rensberger said he did not know the rules had changed...Copter pilot accused of pestering birds Salinas helicopter pilot Jim Cheatham stands accused by the federal government of buzzing bevies of beleaguered birds at Big Sur with his whirlybird. Cheatham says he was helping film the 18th annual Big Sur International Marathon, a four-event extravaganza that draws 10,000 athletes. His helicopter was used to televise the race and to spot injured runners along Highway 1. But federal prosecutors aren't giving in. Earlier this month, they filed three misdemeanor counts of "airborne harassment of birds" against Cheatham, who has been flying for 43 years after a stint in the U.S. Army...State ready for bison to leave park Workers are building a trap in preparation for the annual winter migration of bison from Yellowstone National Park. The herd is at or above record levels, but how many cross into Montana in search of food depends on what kind of weather the winter brings. "That's the driver" in bison management, said Rick Wallen, a wildlife biologist for the National Park Service. A recent count estimated the herd at 4,250 animals. A summer 1994 count found 4,100 animals, but might have missed some bison, Wallen said...Fund for Animals Denounces 'Management by Hysteria' in Slaughter of Yellowstone Buffalo; Highlights Need for Sound Science, Preservation Act The Fund for Animals, on behalf of its over 200,000 members and supporters nationwide, condemned the Montana Department of Livestock and the National Park Service for shooting a bull buffalo just outside Yellowstone National Park yesterday. The buffalo was killed despite the fact that bull buffalo pose no risk of transmitting the disease brucellosis to livestock. The lone bull buffalo had crossed the invisible boundaries of Yellowstone National Park to forage, and was harassed and hazed back toward the park. He was shot five times before dying, just 50 yards from the park boundaries, by Montana agents with the assistance of Yellowstone rangers. The ongoing hazing and slaughter of Yellowstone buffalo is allegedly done to protect the few hundred cattle who graze outside the park from the threat of brucellosis, despite the fact that there has never been a documented case in the wild of transmission of the disease from buffalo to cattle...Yellowstone snowmobile rules still not set When Yellowstone National Park opens for business this winter, new rules dictate that 80 percent of visitors on snowmobiles will have to be accompanied by a commercial guide. But with the season set to start three weeks from today, potential guides are still waiting to hear whether they'll be doing business in the park. For the first time, the National Park Service is putting broad limitations on snowmobiling, including capping the number of machines that can come through each gate and allowing only newer machines that meet "cleaner and quieter" standards. The new plan for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, pursued by the Bush administration, overturns a previous ban on snowmobiles enacted by the Clinton administration...Land-Rights Dispute Continues in Alaska: Man Who Bulldozed Road Is Still at Odds With Park Service The curious case of Papa Pilgrim and the bulldozer he drove inside the largest U.S. national park continues to lurch across the legal and environmental landscape of Alaska. The judge ruled Nov. 18 against Pilgrim and in favor of the National Park Service. If Pilgrim wants to run a bulldozer on the derelict road, the judge said, he must first get a permit from the Park Service. Pilgrim drove the bulldozer last year without applying for one. Russell C. Brooks of the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a motion for reconsideration yesterday with the federal court in Anchorage. Brooks said last week that he will appeal the federal court ruling in Anchorage because the judge did not address two fundamental legal questions about private access across federal land. The first involves federal land in Alaska, but the second affects access to federal land across the United States...Salmon Harbor land transfer clears Senate The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would transfer title to 69 acres of federal land located just south of the Umpqua River in Winchester Bay to Douglas County. The legislation from Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and Republican Sen. Gordon Smith would allow the county to use the property, now managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management, as a staging area for off-road vehicles. Having use of the property would allow the county to eliminate the current danger from vehicles that are unloaded on Salmon Harbor Drive and ridden on the paved road to the dunes...For those interested the bill is S.714, and you can view the legislation by entering the bill number here......Turkey tracks, The gobblers have been passing through Utah since Anasazi times Long before the famous pilgrim feast of 1621, residents of what would later be called southern Utah gathered in redrock canyons and ate their own turkey dinner. And while historians say turkeys were not on the menu of the first Thanksgiving celebration, archaeologists have physical evidence that Meleagris gallopavo merriami was part of the Anasazi diet as far back as 700. No word on side dishes of the time...Interior denies motion to stop CBM leasing A long legal battle continues over whether the Bureau of Land Management should lease federal minerals to coalbed methane gas developers under resource management plans that do not include analysis specific to coalbed methane development. Last week, the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) denied a motion by the Wyoming Outdoor Council for a stay on coalbed methane leasing in the BLM's Rawlins Field Office area. That means the BLM can continue to lease minerals to coalbed methane developers in the area...Officials say cedars were cut to stop forest fire Officials on the Nez Perce National Forest are defending tactics used to fight the Slim's fire last summer. They say that cutting old-growth cedar trees along Meadow Creek was necessary to keep firefighters safe and from spreading to Elk City in north-central Idaho. But environmental groups and the Nez Perce Tribe says cutting the 100 trees and carving a 30-foot-wide fire line around a portion of the fire was unnecessary. They say it destroyed habitat and the aesthetics along a popular hiking trail...Wasatch Overland race back on track Utah's oldest overland ski race has been granted a reprieve. The 27th annual edition of the Wasatch Overland will be held Jan. 24, said Charlie Sturgis of White Pine Touring Center, a race co-sponsor. The 7-mile race between Brighton and Park City was declared dead last month after a private landowner told organizers the family would no longer allow the race to pass through its property at the base of Thaynes Canyon. The landowner has since changed his mind, said Sturgis. The race had increased the number of cross country skiers, snowshoers and mountain bikers crossing the property...Column: This Land Is Your Land The West, Thomas Jefferson believed, was the key to the nation's democratic promise and its economic prowess. Its lands would nurture civic engagement and a prosperous citizenry for centuries. It's an alluring vision, one that drew me westward from the Midwest to the Rockies. It's a vision I practiced when I joined neighbors in Sheridan, Wyo., to build a historical park. It's a vision of democracy and conservation that Americans are reinvigorating and putting into practice on the BLM's public lands...Group protests Sawtooth grazing plan Groups against cattle grazing on public lands have appealed a decision by the Sawtooth National Forest to reduce grazing on two allotments. They say the agency's plan to reduce grazing on 100,000 acres by only one third isn't enough. Jon Marvel is founder of the Western Watersheds Project. He says the original management plan called for a reduction of nearly 50 percent in grazing...Overruns, delays plague Four Corners water project In a report full of self-blame, federal officials said Wednesday that inexperience, poor reviews and a lack of competition among bidders were behind $162 million in cost overruns on the Animas-La Plata water project in Colorado and New Mexico. The project was designed to supply water to the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes to settle century-old water disputes in the Four Corners region. Congress in 2000 authorized a $338 million project that originally was supposed to be completed in 2007. But the cost of the project has ballooned to $500 million, with taxpayers picking up most of the tab. And officials said it could take at least another year to complete...Pickens' water plan is getting attention Nearly five years after Boone Pickens proposed shipping groundwater from northern Panhandle counties to thirsty Texas cities, the legendary Texas oilman still hasn't found a buyer. That could change soon, says an aide to Pickens. "I think we're within three to 12 months of a deal," says Bobby Stillwell, general counsel of Pickens' Mesa Water Co. After spending $29 million to buy water rights and study the economic, geological and environmental issues that the groundwater pumping proposal raised, Stillwell says Pickens and Mesa are more confident than ever about the plan...Farmers protest water compact A Carlsbad couple says they object to a proposed settlement of a lawsuit over water on the Pecos River. Carlsbad farmers Louise and Francis Tracy filed notice last week of their intent to object to the proposed agreement. The deal would settle a longstanding water rights adjudication lawsuit known as the Lewis case. The dispute has been in court since 1956. The settlement would establish the Carlsbad district's right to divert up to 125,200 acre-feet from the Pecos and Black rivers and require the Interstate Stream Commission to buy the land with water rights in the Pecos River Basin...NCBA, Industry Groups to Develop Alternative Labeling Program After considering possible damages the mandatory country-of-origin labeling law could have on producers and small businesses, Congress decided late last week to delay implementation for two years until October 2006. The current mandatory country-of-origin labeling law, included in the 2002 Farm Bill, is being discussed during formulation of the FY2004 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. “Many producers were concerned that these mandatory regulations could have a negative impact on their bottom line,” says National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President and Idaho cattle producer Eric Davis. “This action puts more control of the industry in the hands of producers, and is one of the key steps that our NCBA Board voted overwhelmingly to authorize.” The delay frees U.S. cattlemen from imminent implementation of the controversial mandatory law and sets the stage for the next steps in a national labeling program. Producer-members of NCBA will use this time to develop a voluntary program that promotes U.S. beef and enhances profitability for American cattle producers...The Most Famous Turkey in Texas Ruby Begonia, the most famous turkey in Texas, knows when to run and she knows when to hide. The running is done in early October during this town's annual Turkeyfest, a weekend of fun and games to revisit the days when DeWitt County's turkey ranches raised tens of thousands of toms and hens each year. Ruby is matched up in a block-long sprint against a rival bird called Paycheck - as in, "Nothing goes faster than a paycheck" - from Worthington, Minn. The prize for the winning town is the right to boast that it's the Turkey Capital of the World, at least until the next race...