NEWS ROUNDUP

Insurers likely to pay $2.04 billion for California fires U.S. insurers are likely to pay $2.04 billion in property losses for two massive wildfires that destroyed homes and businesses in California, according to a company that tracks claims data. Insurance Services Office Inc. Monday said the Cedar Fire near San Diego caused insured losses of $1.06 billion. The blaze destroyed more than 2,200 buildings and burned more than 280,000 acres. The Old Fire near San Bernardino caused $975 million in insured losses, according to ISO. It destroyed more than 1,100 buildings and burned more than 150,000 acres...Biscuit Fire salvage tests legal standing of roadless rule The U.S. Forest Service proposal to salvage burned timber from the massive Biscuit fire released Monday represents a major effort to log within so-called roadless areas once off-limits to logging but now in a state of legal flux. Scott Conroy, supervisor of the Siskiyou and Rogue River national forests, said he anticipated the salvage logging plan could be appealed and perhaps challenged in court if plans to log 200 million board feet of timber on 12,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas remain...Court hearing set Dec. 22 on cattle impoundments A hearing date has been set for Dec. 22 in 2nd District Judicial Court in Reno on livestock impoundments, according to the Nevada Cattlemen's Association. Nevada Department of Agriculture petitioned the court for judicial review of the department's actions on impoundments in response to the association's request, NCA Executive Director Rachel Buzzetti said Friday. The questions for the court are over whether the department acted lawfully in issuing brand inspection clearance certificates for cattle confiscated by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service...Ranchers, rangers air their concerns Ranchers and the U.S. Forest Service aren't as far apart on grazing issues as ranchers thought, based on what was said during a four-hour forum Friday, but there are still fires to put out. One of the biggest issues is over how the Forest Service monitors grazing allotments, including what some call "postage-stamp" monitoring, according to those speaking in the packed room at the Elko County Library. Another hot issue is fire danger from high graze, where grazing is locked out...Fremont County may sue about storage regulations A possible lawsuit by the Fremont County Commissioners against the Shoshone Forest concerning a food storage order is "still on the table." He said the commission, with input from area outfitters, is concerned both about the manner in which the Forest Service pressed its order on the South Zone, where he maintains there are no grizzlies and few bear-human conflicts, and about the vagueness of the order itself. Doug Thompson, chairman of the Fremont County Commission, said the order is "hurting tourism" because "people believe there are 700 grizzlies walking around above Dubois waiting to eat them."...Forest Chief Bosworth urges better study of forest ecosystems U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said Monday that if the West's runaway wildfire problems are ever to be curbed, officials, environmentalists and the timber industry need to begin by leaving some things exactly as they are. In Portland to deliver the keynote speech at a three-day wildfire risk assessment conference, Bosworth said the goal is to restore ecosystems across the West that have been depleted by out-of-contol fires. That begins, he said, with looking at the components of a healthy ecosystem - the number of trees, their age, how they are spaced, the diversity of wildlife habitat - and committing to leaving them in place...EPA turns attention to haze in the West Environmental Protection Agency officials have given Oregon officials the option of joining other Western states in an effort to meet air quality standards to reduce regional haze in the "Colorado Plateau." The plateau sprawls across southeastern Utah, northern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and western Colorado and covers an area of about 130,000 square miles. Although state and federal agencies already have clean air standards, there have been no regulations or standards set yet to manage haze, that nebulous environmental cloak that muddies the air and hampers a person's ability to see...Climbers to sue for right to scale Cave Rock A rock climbing association indicated late last week it is prepared to file a lawsuit to prevent a ban on climbing at Cave Rock, a volcano core north of Zephyr Cove that the Washoe tribe holds as a spiritual place. The Access Fund says the ban, to go into effect Thursday, is unconstitutional because it denies access only to rock climbers. The organization has asked the U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit to suspend the ban indefinitely...Feasting on the forest America's trees are under attack. Species by species, they're being invaded by insects and fungi, native and foreign. Scientists fear their loss will devastate suburban streets and upset the delicate ecological balance of many woodlands. "Invasive species are a real threat to the nation's forests," said Dale Bosworth, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, at a recent conference in New Orleans. "There are so many things, it just seems too big to talk about. ... Like a slow-moving fire, they're going everywhere."...Missouri River review released The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would keep more water in upper Missouri River reservoirs during extreme drought under a plan proposed on Monday. The corps, which manages dams and reservoirs along the 2,341-mile river, does not plan to make seasonal changes to the river's depth - the spring rises and summer lows that conservationists contend are needed to protect endangered fish and bird species...California rancher charged with poisoning prairie dogs in 2000 A Californian who owns the Three Bar Ranch in southeastern Montana was charged in federal court here Monday with poisoning prairie dogs on a federal grazing lease more than three years ago. Prairie dogs are a candidate species for federal protection. Stanford M. Clinton Jr., of San Jose, did not appear in court. His attorney, Anthony Wendtland, of Sheridan, Wyo., entered a not-guilty plea for Clinton...Big Bend's big problems But tourism is not all that's hurt here in one of the nation's largest and most remote national parks. Plants and animals, which depend on the river, are also threatened. There are days when air pollutants from coal-fired power plants on both sides of the border create the highest concentration of sulfates and the worst visibility of any Western national park. Operating with a budget shortfall of more than $6 million a year, Big Bend is routinely considered one of the top 10 most endangered parks in the US. Now, to help preserve it, park enthusiasts are trying to revive an idea nearly seven decades old: the creation of an international park...BLM chief breaks vow to avoid Utah issues As director of the Bureau of Land Management, Kathleen Clarke made repeated commitments not to take part in matters affecting her previous employer - the State of Utah. Despite those assurances, Clarke's official calendars show that she was involved in nearly three dozen meetings on Utah matters, including a Utah land swap that fell apart after BLM whistleblowers complained it amounted to a potential $117 million rip-off of federal taxpayers. The substance of the meetings - if she actually attended the meetings - is impossible to discern, but many appear to have involved natural resources issues that she had specifically said were off-limits. Her role in the Utah land exchange in apparent violation of her recusal is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Interior Department's inspector general...BLM may close shooting range A Bureau of Land Management report released last week presents a new vision for management of the land, which is known in government talk as an "Area of Critical Environmental Concern." The most controversial aspect may be closing an informal target-shooting range that marksmen have used for decades. Those marksmen guard their few ranges fiercely...Conferees OK energy bill with $23 billion in tax breaks, mostly for companies House and Senate conferees approved late Monday a massive energy bill that includes $23 billion in tax incentives, clearing the way for the legislation's final congressional approval, probably this week. The House could take up the measure, a top priority for President Bush, as early as Tuesday. The conferees rejected dozens of amendments, most of them brought by Democrats, as they left the Republican-crafted bill - the product of weeks of closed-door negotiations - largely intact...Necropsy reveals wolf was shot At least one of five Mexican gray wolves recently found dead was a shooting victim, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The body of the 6-year-old wolf, alpha female of the Saddle Pack, was found Sept. 15 in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. She had been in the wild in eastern Arizona since January 2001...State plans for bear change Management of grizzlies in the Yellowstone Park area could move from the federal to the state government in 2005, a Game and Fish official says. "The one unknown is litigation," added Reg Rothwell, G&F's supervisor of biological services. "It's not a matter of if, but when it'll go to court." The hoops that remain to be cleared are amending the plans of the six national forests and Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks along with reclassifying the region's bears as a "distinct population segment," he said...Judge considers road access for family inside national park The federal government wrongly denied a family of 17 living within the boundaries of a national park access to their property by preventing their use of on an old mining road to haul winter supplies, a lawyer contended Monday. "The only reasonable and adequate access for the Pilgrims has been denied," said plaintiffs' lawyer Russell C. Brooks, at a hearing in U.S. District Court. "The Pilgrims are seeking to use a road." Four members of the Pilgrim family, with the help of the Pacific Legal Foundation, filed the lawsuit to get use of the road to their cabin inside the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, which begins about 170 miles east of Anchorage and stretches to the Canadian border...Explosive Concerns at Park Far below the blue waters of Yellowstone Lake, a mysterious dome 2,100 feet across and 100 feet high is causing concern among scientists and citizens who don't know whether it's a harmless curiosity or a hazard on the verge of exploding. The dome, also called a bulge or an elevated plain, is less than a mile from shore and was recently explored by researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey, using unmanned submarines and sonar. "It could be the precursor to a hydrothermal explosion," said Lisa Morgan, a geologist leading the team. "It's a pretty significant feature."...Study calls 'Big Straw' feasible, costly A new study of the hotly debated "Big Straw" project to transport Western Slope water across the mountains affixes a price tag of up to $15 billion, lays out five possible routes and names three places to tap the Colorado River for millions of gallons daily...Labeling splits cattlemen Idaho cattlemen are split over the idea of country-of-origin labeling of their product, pitting the desire to remain free of government entanglement against a new program that might make them more money and lessen the packers´ grip on beef prices. The Idaho Cattle Association has been firm that labeling should be market-driven and voluntary, rather than federally mandated, Director Lloyd Knight said. The Idaho ranchers have steered clear of government involvement over the years and want to keep it that way, he said...Movies' rein men are dying breed Billy Burton remembers when horses were the daily business of Hollywood. In the predawn light on a then-dusty Burbank plain, a dozen trailer trucks would pull up to the movie barns every day, loading hundreds of animals for movie and TV productions on the back lots of Universal and Warner Bros. That era passed decades ago, and the heyday of the Hollywood cowboys - Burton's crowd - passed along with it. Stunt riding - "it's a lost art," said Burton, a trim, sinewy man who moved away from horse work 15 years ago to become a second-unit director specializing in action scenes for movies such as "Mission: Impossible 2." "Nobody rides falling horses anymore. Nobody rides rearing horses. You go out with people riding those horses, working with them, it's frankly embarrassing. They haven't been taught. They haven't been schooled. They wear a big hat and a pair of boots and think they're a cowboy and can do anything." In directing the action scenes on "The Scorpion King," Burton - who still competes in rodeo contests - said he found himself showing the stuntmen how to make the horses fall, and retraining the horses. "There's not enough people that do what I do," he said. Jack Lilley, a stable owner whose family has worked with stunt horses for three generations, agrees. "I see horse wranglers who don't know how to put on a harness properly," he said. "You've got a lot of jerks who couldn't read a horse's mouth and tell you if he has blemishes on it. He'll call himself a horseman when he don't know how to be one."...Barrels, buckets once part of everyday life I can still see my mother standing over a new floor furnace grill, print dress billowing out as heat from the furnace arose into the room. No more kerosene jugs to fill or ashes to carry. No more coal, kindling and firewood to fetch. Like magic, the newfangled thermostat turned the furnace off and on as needed. The future was truly at hand...