NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service workers say privatization effort is unfair to them Dozens of Forest Service employees in Utah and Montana are spending their last days on the job after becoming some of the first victims of the Bush administration's program to cut costs by privatizing government work. In March, the 41 members of the Content Analysis Team - which analyzes public comments on proposed policy changes for several agencies - were told their jobs were going to be put out for bid...Column: Bush Puts Out a Contract on the Spotted Owl...As it now stands, the Bush administration has produced far less timber for its clients than did the Clinton administration. The natives are getting restless. With the numbers stacked against them, the Bush team has attacked the counters. Sound familiar? Remember Palm Beach County? The Bush crowd now echoes one of the most paranoid accusations of big timber: that the Fish and Wildlife Service is intentionally undercounting the owl population in order to suppress logging on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest. The Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bush flacks charge, is too biased in favor of protecting...you guessed it...wildlife...National grazing lands conference slated for Dec. 7 Nearly 2,000 participants are expected to attend the second national conference on grazing lands December 7-10 in Nashville, Tennessee, according to USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The conference, hosted by the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative, is designed to provide a forum for exchange of information and to increase public awareness of the economic and environmental benefits of grazing lands...Commercial benefit of Tahoe forests nearly nil Despite the state's having fire-prone forests that need to be thinned, it looks to other states and countries to buy its forest products, according to a report released by the California Department of Forestry. "We're getting those products from somewhere where there are fewer environmental regulations, such as Canada," said Christy Daugherty, a CDF forester stationed at South Lake Tahoe. "If you live in a house built of wood, why not get it locally. People get their produce locally." The report is titled "The Changing California Forest and Range 2003 Assessment."...Justice Dept. backs ruling against roadless initiative The Bush administration on Thursday weighed in to support a Wyoming judge's ruling that a Clinton administration roadless initiative was illegal. In 2001, President Clinton signed a rule preserving 58 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land as roadless. Industry groups launched an attack on the rule. Environmentalists have appealed the decision of U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer. In an amicus ("friend of the court") brief submitted to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, Justice Department lawyers argued that environmentalists have no right to appeal. "When the executive (branch) ... determines to end litigation over a discretionary regulatory policy, a private party does not have standing to use the judiciary to override that," government lawyers wrote in Thursday's brief...Forest Service sued over grizzly habitat A Missoula environmental group has filed a motion in federal court to force the National Forest Service to comply with a 2001 agreement to improve habitat conditions for grizzly bears in the Cabinet-Yaak and Selkirk mountain ranges. The agreement with the Kootenai, Idaho Panhandle, Lolo and Colville national forests resulted from a lawsuit filed by the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. The Forest Service agreed to develop an environmental impact statement that would primarily propose reductions in road densities on the forests. The Forest Service completed the environmental study in March 2002, but the agency has yet to approve "records of decision" that would effectively amend forest plans with standards that would reduce road densities, so the environmental group decided to return to court to force action...Feds release final draft of Cook Inlet oil leases With a few advisory restrictions, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service last week released its final environmental impact statement for the 2.5 million acres in Cook Inlet that it plans to sell for oil exploration in two portions, identified as sales 191 and 199, beginning next year and then again in 2006. The alternative the agency settled on takes into consideration the potential threat to endangered species, marine and coastal birds and archaeological and visual resources. MMS suggests the areas near the Barren Islands and the lower Kenai Peninsula be excluded from the sales... Environmentalists say FCC violating bird rules on towers, carriers say evidence lacking Wireless carriers continued their push for more research on whether tower facilities kill large numbers of birds, while environmental groups shook their collective finger at the government, alleging the Federal Communications Commission is breaking the law in comments filed with the agency on the effects of communications towers on migratory birds. The American Bird Conservancy, the Forest Conservation Council and Friends of Earth deplored the FCC's actions thus far on the topic. "The FCC is currently and has been for years in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Endangered Species Act under its current system of authorizing, licensing, approving, and registering communication towers," the group jointly said...USDA in court over biopharmaceuticals crop testing Environmental groups in the US have this week filed a law suit against the Department of Agriculture in relation to what they claim is an over abundance of unregulated biopharmaceutical crop testing in Hawaii and throughout the country. The coalition of five campaign groups have asked a court in Honolulu to ensure the USDA develop an Environmental Impact Statement on the crop testing, to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service, as required under the Endangered Species Act and to consider the impacts of biopharm crops on public health and the environment...Tallgrass prairie conservation effort gets cash infusion The Nature Conservancy is applauding the passage of a law that will protect some of Minnesota and Iowa's last remaining tallgrass prairie. The US Fish and Wildlife Service received nearly half a million dollars in Land and Water Conservation Act funds to acquire lands for its Northern Tallgrass Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, which extends from northern Iowa through west central Minnesota. The bill, which was signed into law on November 10, contains $470,000 earmarked for conservation easements. Through easement and fee title acquisitions from willing sellers, the refuge will permanently protect approximately 25% of some of the best remaining remnant prairie habitats in the two states...Wind power generates ire Companies that operate more than 1,400 wind turbines in the Altamont Pass had their permits renewed Thursday, but an environmental group upset about bird deaths immediately vowed to appeal the decision to the Board of Supervisors. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also weighed in with a letter arguing that the environmental impacts of bird deaths have not been addressed adequately...Land owner wins dispute with Southern Utes A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of a Durango landowner in an 8-year-old dispute with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe over valuable gravel on the landowner's property. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a federal judge Wednesday, saying Lulu Mae Hess and her family own the gravel on 440 acres on the Florida Mesa. "The general rule is that gravel is not treated as a mineral within a general mineral reservation when gravel underlies a majority of the surface of the property," Appellate Judge Mary Briscoe wrote in her opinion. She was joined by judges Stephen Anderson and Deanell Tacha. "The record demonstrates that the government knew of the presence of the gravel on the Hess family property, but assigned no value to it," the ruling said. "We find no support for the district court's finding that in 1948 the United States intended to reserve rights to the gravel because it was considered to be a commercially valuable mineral at that time."...House, Senate OK Broad Energy Bill Draft Congressional Republicans on Friday finished a draft of a broad energy bill that would double Americans' use of ethanol, improve reliability of the nation's power lines and aim billions of dollars in tax breaks to energy industries...Costs are rising for water project that will help Utes The Animas-La Plata project to bring water to parts of New Mexico and Colorado could cost even more than the Bureau of Reclamation's recently boosted estimate of $500 million, the San Juan Water Commission's director says. Randy Kirkpatrick could not say how much the price might rise, only that it appears it will cost more than the latest estimate. Kirkpatrick said he believes the cost will go up more based upon information from a consulting firm the commission hired to do an independent review of the bureau's cost estimate. He said a report would detail the consultant's cost evaluation, along with explanations of the how the bureau arrived at its figures. He also said he believes the bureau's report will not address a major concern: How will the new costs be allocated?...Voluntary emission reductions increased 10% in 2002, EPA reports Voluntary emission reduction programs resulted in the reduction of 43 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2002, 10 percent more than in 2001, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's annual report released Nov. 13. The reductions are equivalent to eliminating emissions from 28 million cars, the report states...Click here to view the annual report...Environmental Group Sues Over Atrazine Rule An environmental group has accused the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House of cutting back-room deals with the pesticide industry to avoid stiffer restrictions on atrazine. The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, charging that the EPA and the White House's Council on Environmental Quality and Office of Management and Budget failed to turn over records about frequent private meetings between the agencies and the pesticide industry. The group charged that industry lobbyists had undue influence over the EPA's recent safety assessment of the herbicide...Frogs, fish and pharmaceuticals a troubling brew A number of aquatic and amphibian species are being exposed to small amounts of everything from Prozac to perfume to birth control pills that make their way into U.S. rivers and streams. And scientists now have evidence that this "cocktail" of pharmaceuticals, in high enough quantities, can lead to problems that may be serious enough to prevent wildlife from reproducing. It's not yet clear how the buildup over time could affect the species...Dammed if they do: State pulling out all the stops to limit water-park rights Although the Colorado Supreme Court decided earlier this year to recognize recreational instream water rights like those claimed for Vail's whitewater park, the battle is far from over. The Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) has initiated a rule-making procedure to administer those rights, and by some accounts is trying to make it as difficult as possible for towns or other entities to claim them. At issue is how much water towns like Breckenridge, Vail and Steamboat can claim for whitewater kayak parks...Widow who missed tax bill gets farm back An 89-year-old woman who lost her home because of $572 in unpaid taxes will get it back from the man who bought the million-dollar property in a government auction for $15,000. Helene Shue, who has lived on her 41-acre farm near Hershey, Pa., for five decades, had paid her taxes in full every year - including this one - but was short in her 2001 payment, the Harrisburg Patriot-News reported...Canada's mad cow costs industry C$3.3 bln-study Canada's beef industry has lost an estimated C$3.3 billion ($2.5 billion) since it detected its first and only case of mad cow disease six months ago, according to a new study obtained by Reuters on Friday. The impact "represents the greatest threat and shock the Canadian agricultural industry has ever experienced," said the report, written by Serecon Management Consultants Inc. of Edmonton for an industry coalition...Book Review: The Dog Fence Here he has written a graphic and compelling account of one of the world's most bizarre yet least-known structures, the dingo fence that meanders 5400 kilometres from the storm-lashed cliffs of the Great Australian Bight through South Australia and NSW and ends in the bleak scrub country of Queensland's Bunya Mountains. It is one of Australia's three great fences, the other two being the rabbit-proof fences in Western Australia and Queensland. The idea of the dog fence is as simple as it is ingenious: to divide the continent between cattle country on one side and sheep country on the other, the latter for its very survival requiring protection from the predations of the dingo. The fence is constantly patrolled and maintained, the main dangers to its integrity coming not from the dingo but from feral pigs and kangaroos which can punch holes in the fence through which the wild dogs can enter...Baxter Black: It was a bad day for a good rancher I had to call. I'd recently hauled in an orphan heifer to the sale. She weighed 355 and brought 99.50 a pound. I had to brag. "Have you sold any calves yet?" I asked after I'd rubbed it in a little. "Yeah," Y.A. said, "800 head of steers weighin' 630. They only brought a dollar five." I run a sort of small, hands-off low management operation. His is a high tech, intense, large family ranch. We probably net about the same, but it's like comparing the county fair pony ride to the All American Futurity. Chastened once again, I changed the subject...The Western Music Association takes all comers to its yodeling competition, bringing an infusion of youth to an old art form Age doesn't count in the world of competitive yodeling. The Western Music Association welcomed all comers to its yodeling contest Friday at the Hyatt Regency Wichita -- part of the four-day festival that wraps up Sunday -- and the contenders came from across the country and ranged in age from 8 to 71. What they all had in common was a talent and love for the trickiest kind of vocalizing in the cowboy repertoire...Four inducted into Cowgirl Hall of Fame A sculptor, a horse breeder, a trick rider/barrel racer and an all-around cowgirl were inducted Friday into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame. More than 800 people attended the ceremony in the Round Up Inn at the Amon G. Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall. The newest inductees include: Glenna Goodacre, a sculptor who lives in Lubbock; Ann Seacrest Hanson of Montana, an all-around cowgirl and one of the rare female rodeo pickup riders; the late Velda Tindall Smith, trick rider and founder of the Texas Barrel Racing Association; and Arabian breeder Sheila Varian of California...As mother, lawyer, barrel racer, Allen's life turns on a dime daily Allen is a legend in rodeo, and only partly because of her 2000 barrel racing world championship and winning the average at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in 2001 (the fastest total time for 10 runs). Most of her legend comes from her ability to juggle being a mother of two, her partnership in a law firm all while still competing in enough rodeos to qualify for the NFR by finishing in the top 15 in prize money...