NEWS ROUNDUP

Government Removes U.S. Flag From Colorado Peak The Forest Service has quietly removed an American flag from 14,000-foot Grays Peak under a policy barring permanent memorials in the wilderness. ''This is a very sensitive issue,'' said Martha Ketelle, supervisor of the White River National Forest. ''I'm trying to deal with the sensitivities of people who want flag displays, but we also want to make sure we don't disregard the policy or have a proliferation of these displays.'' Someone last month placed the flag on top of 14,270-foot Grays Peak. Dan Lovato, district ranger for the Arapaho National Forest, had not heard about that flag until a question from a reporter for The Denver Post. He dispatched an employee to retrieve it last week. ''Our policy is, we don't want memorials or flags or anything left permanently on the national forests,'' he said. ''Then you have the whole issue of how you display the flag: If it's at nighttime, it must be illuminated and so forth.'' The Grays Peak flag, badly shredded by the high-elevation winds, will be turned over to a Scout group for a retirement ceremony...After the flames In the aftermath of fires that have burned more than 750,000 acres and killed 22 people over the past two weeks in the Golden State, immediate concerns rightly focus on the human recovery, Morrison notes. But as people rebuild and populations grow at the edge of the wilderness, researchers are gauging the broader effects large wildfires have on air and water quality, as well as on the diversity of wildlife. Of major concern: mudslides, long-term smog, and tainted soil. For humans, flooding, landslides, and an increase in smog can linger long after the flames are doused. For wildlife - particularly endangered species, broad-scale fires can wipe out crucial habitat. Often, habitat loss brought such species to the brink of extinction in the first place. More broadly, scientists are getting a better handle on the impact wildfires can play in the global ebb and flow of atmospheric carbon...Column: Just a Match Away, Fire Sale in So Cal Sooner or later all big fires become political events. Even before before becalmed Santa Ana winds and mountain sleet quenched the blazes in southern California, politicians from both parties raced to exploit the charred landscape for their own advantage--a kind of political looting while the embers still glowed. Republicans, naturally, pointed an incendiary finger at environmentalists, rehashing their tired mantra that restrictions on logging had provided the kindling for the inferno that consumed 3,600 homes (largely in Republican districts) and took 20 human lives (the non-human body count will never be tallied)...Reps. Maurice Hinchey and Charles Bass Call for End to Yellowstone Buffalo Slaughter; House Bill Receives Bipartisan Support Today conservationists praised Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) and Charles Bass (R-N.H.) for introducing legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to protect America's last wild and genetically pure buffalo. The Yellowstone Buffalo Preservation Act would end years of seasonal hazing, capture, and killing of buffalo in and around Yellowstone National Park by federal and state agencies until specific, common-sense conditions are met. "The Yellowstone buffalo herd should have the freedom to roam our federal lands like any other wildlife," said Rep. Hinchey, who serves on the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the U.S. Department of Interior and the U.S. Forest Service. "The current policy of hazing and slaughtering these majestic animals is unnecessary and shameful. My legislation will put an end to these misguided management practices and ensure that our federal agencies act as proper stewards of this wildlife icon." Acknowledging that the American buffalo (Bison bison) has profound ecological, cultural, historical, and symbolic significance to the United States, the Hinchey-Bass bill mandates efforts to allow Yellowstone buffalo to use public lands, including U.S. Forest Service lands next to Yellowstone National Park, through incentives and cooperative efforts with adjacent private landowners and ensures buffalo within the park are under the sole jurisdiction of the National Park Service...Helicopters irk hunters If there was a conspiracy, it was instigated by nature, not the U.S. Forest Service. That's the punchline to a story about several dozen people whose intention was to go elk hunting, but who ended up watching a weeklong air show. "The Forest Service was fertilizing with helicopters. They had two helicopters going all day long, all week long," Bob Burton of Salem said about the 2003 edition of his 20-plus-year record of elk hunting trips to central Oregon. "I thought I was in Iraq," joked Gary Williamson of Salem, Burton's son-in-law. "It wasn't pleasant at all."...Bush administration yanks Missouri River scientists off project The long-running dispute over management of the nation's longest river took another twist when the Bush administration yanked government scientists off a project to study the waterway's ecosystem. The team had been on the job for years and was within weeks of producing what could have been its final report. Conservation groups criticized last week's unreported decision to remove the scientists, which they said was to protect business interests at the expense of the Endangered Species Act. The move may block changes to the Missouri River's flow, because the scientists had ordered the switch. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has resisted changing river operations but is under a December deadline to come up with a new plan that meets requirements of the Endangered Species Act...Wolf-like animal's carcass investigated The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to determine the species of a wolf-like animal before launching an investigation into its death, an investigator said Monday. Biologist collected the slightly decayed carcass Oct. 2 northwest of Pinedale. It had characteristics that made investigators question whether the animal was a wolf or a wolf hybrid, the service's resident law enforcement agent in charge for Wyoming, Dominic Domenici, said Monday. "We're still trying to determine if it is a wolf," Domenici said. The carcass has been sent to a forensics lab for analysis and results should be available soon...Colorado's Roan Plateau expected to be focal point of gas debate A key battle in the Bush administration's effort to open more of the Rocky Mountains to gas drilling will unfold in the coming weeks atop the sheer cliffs of Colorado's Roan Plateau. The sprawling plateau sits on an estimated 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in one section alone, making it one of the most sought-after reserves in the West. As early as next week, the Bureau of Land Management is expected to release a draft of a plan detailing how much oil and gas drilling and recreation the agency envisions on the 73,000 acre expanse...Kane County officials face federal subpoenas in Escalante road sign removals A federal grand jury has issued at least three subpoenas in Kane County requesting documents and other items related to road signs that county officials removed from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Among those who have received subpoenas were County Commission Chairman Ray Spencer, Sheriff Lamont Smith and Lou Pratt, director of county roads. In August, Kane County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw and Smith removed 31 road markers that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management had placed on routes within the 1.9 million-acre reserve in southern Utah. Wednesday was the deadline for responding to the subpoenas, which were issued in mid-October, said Spencer, who added that county officials intended to comply...Monument employee investigated for allegedly taking artifacts A federal employee has been reassigned while authorities investigate allegations he removed Indian artifacts from the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Gregg Christensen, the monument's lead rangeland management specialist, has been employed in Escalante since before the monument's 1996 designation. He was put on ''temporary detail'' Tuesday at monument headquarters in Kanab. Christensen also temporarily was relieved of his duties as lead rangeland specialist, according to a memorandum circulated to all monument employees by monument manager Dave Hunsaker...BLM considers suspending wild horse adoption program The Bureau of Land Management says it may suspend a wild horse adoption program that has been criticized as costly and ineffective. Taking advice from an advisory council, the agency said Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that it will consider setting aside its Adopt-A-Horse program for several years to concentrate on reducing the number of animals in herds of wild horses and burros and shipping the animals to long-term facilities. The cost to the BLM to arrange an adoption is equal to three years of holding a horse at a long-term facility, said Jeff Rawson, BLM wild horse and burro group manager. Still, he added, the long-term holding costs may be greater. BLM will perform a study comparing the costs of adoptions with the costs of putting a larger number of animals out to pasture at government centers in the Midwest...Democrats stall talks on wildfire bill Because Democrats have been cut out of past conference committees where final legislation is hammered out, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada objected Monday night to naming negotiators to meet with their House counterparts about the wildfires bill. "We want the Healthy Forests Initiative to pass, and we want it to pass yesterday," said Reid, the No. 2 Senate Democrat. But, he said, "you can't have conferences where there's no conference, (where) basically the majority meets in secret, and when they complete their secret meetings, they bring their conference report and say, 'Take it or leave it.' " Senate Republican leaders dismissed the Democrats as obstructionists. Majority Leader Bill Frist said that Republicans would try to wear down Democrats with a series of procedural moves. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, accused Democrats of trying to kill critically needed changes in public forest policy that they had embraced in an 80-14 vote on the bill last week, when wildfires in California dominated the headlines...Compromise on Forestry Bill Urged Days after Senate Democrats blocked talks with the House on a compromise forestry bill, the two leading Democratic advocates urged congressional leaders to begin negotiations. In a letter Wednesday to Republicans, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dianne Feinstein of California said partisan bickering should not prevent Congress from passing important legislation to reduce the danger of wildfires in national forests. The Senate approved the bill last week by an 80-14 vote, ending a three-year impasse on wildfire prevention. But many of the 29 Democrats who voted for the bill said they could not accept the terms of the original House version, which closely resembles President Bush's Healthy Forests initiative. Wyden and Feinstein suggested informal meetings with Republican leaders in the absence of an official conference committee, with representation from both chambers and both parties. Similar informal meetings between senators and Bush administration officials led to the compromise approved last week. Senate Democrats blocked formal negotiations on the bill this week, saying they were worried that majority Republicans would keep them on the sidelines in an effort to adopt a bill closer to the House version approved in May...Forests' fate causes concern along Sprague Now they are worried because of the talk that public lands might become a reservation for the Klamath Tribes. The Bowas are not alone in their concerns about the possible transfer of up to 690,000 acres of national forest land from the federal government to the Klamath Tribes. Those concerns are shared by many who live near the national forest land that once was the Tribes' reservation. Ever since word of the informal talks between irrigators from above Upper Klamath Lake, Klamath Reclamation Project irrigators, the Klamath Tribes and Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust started to spread across the Klamath Basin, small-acreage landowners near the lands at issue have been wondering what it will mean for them and what it will take to get their voices heard...Changes to wilderness process could affect Vermillion Basin A recent decision by the Bush Administration aims to change the way public lands become wilderness areas -- a move that may alter future land management for areas such as the rugged Vermillion Basin. The ruling handed down Oct. 30 halts more than 10 years of BLM policy that opponents say may now keep millions of acres of qualifying public lands from receiving wilderness distinction. Because the directives are so new, land use officials are caught with how to move forward. According to Moffat County's Natural Resources director, the decision may help "keep public land open instead of locking them up." "It's a step in the right direction, but there are still issues that need to be worked out," Jeff Comstock said...US MMS reports large increase in state mineral revenues The US Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service said Monday that state governments' share of federal mineral revenues from public lands increased 30% in the fiscal year (FY) that ended Sept. 30. MMS said it distributed more than $1 billion to 35 states during FY 2003 compared with FY 2002 payments that totaled $716.3 million. The money distributed through September represents the states' cumulative share of revenues collected from mineral production on federal lands located within their borders, and from federal offshore oil and gas tracts adjacent to their shores. As has typically been the case, Wyoming in FY 2003 received the most royalty receipts, a record $467 million, an increase over last year's $359.3 million. New Mexico was next with $297 million, compared with $191.4 million in FY 2002. Other large revenue-sharing states include Colorado, which received $53.9 million; Louisiana, $30.7 million; Montana, $25.5 million; California, $25.4 million; and Texas, which nearly doubled its royalty share this year to $17 million...Brain disease could be 'catching' Swiss researchers said on Thursday they found infectious proteins in the muscle tissue of patients who died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and said the finding may suggest the rare and fatal brain disease could be passed on during standard surgery. The study, published in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, also raises the question of whether mad cow disease N bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) N might be passed on in muscle tissue and not simply in brain, lymph and spleen tissue...Italy reports latest case of mad cow disease in country's herds Another Italian cow has tested positive for mad cow disease, raising to 114 the total number of cases of the brain-wasting disease in the country's herds since the start of 2001. The Health Ministry said Wednesday that the latest case was found on a breeding farm in the countryside outside Milan. Under European Union rules, cattle older than 30 months and destined for slaughter must be tested for the disease. In Italy, 50 cases were reported in 2001, when the mandatory testing began, 36 in 2002, and 28 so far this year...Fast Food Embracing Animal Welfare You'll never guess what's different about the Egg McMuffin at McDonald's. It's not the eggs that come first here. It's the chickens. Quietly, both McDonald's and Burger King have become leaders in animal welfare, demanding improvements for the hens that lay the fast food eggs and new standards for cattle and hogs destined to become sandwiches. The hens, raised in crowded cages, must now have room to flap their wings, and at the slaughterhouse, chickens can't be thrown around like trash. But, as CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, why would a restaurant that serves up so many animals care? "In our minds it's a big movement," says Bob Langert, Director of Social Responsibility for McDonald's. Langert says the company is simply responding to consumer demand...RIDING INTO THE SUNSET George Strait bows to the frenzied, packed-house crowd and tips his trademark cowboy hat as his Ace in the Hole Band hits the final notes of his classic "I Cross My Heart." With applause still ringing in his ears, the superstar strolls offstage to a dressing room. He unwinds himself into a chair and lets out a long, drawn-out breath, then a smile. It's a scene he's played out for the past 20 years - over millions of miles - from city to city, small arenas to massive football stadiums. But for how much longer?...