NEWS ROUNDUP

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Tribe hopes technology will help save salmon Members of the Karuk Tribe have been dip netting for salmon on the Klamath River for as long as anyone can remember. Ronald Reed, cultural biologist for the Tribe, said the method of fishing goes back to the creation of the Karuk people. But now there is a technological twist to their age-old tradition. The tribe has been putting radio tags on native coho salmon...After the fires, walls of debris? In the wake of the blazes, geologists are particularly worried about thousands of homes in San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga that sit below burned watersheds covered with tons of loose boulders, rocks and trees. "These mountains are notorious for heavy rainfall," said Doug Morton, a senior geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Riverside. "If we get some big storms, there could be extensive debris flows coming down." As a stopgap measure, state and federal agencies are preparing to install up to 200 rain gauges in the mountains as part of an "early warning system" for rockslides. They also hope to enlarge and clean out dozens of bowl-like basins built to intercept debris flows before they roll downstream through schools, subdivisions and other structures...Feel like hiking? Got $85? A U.S. congressman who created the controversial recreation fee demonstration program wants to take it a step further and charge at least $85 annually for hiking in national forests and visiting other public lands. Rep. Ralph Regula recently introduced a bill that would make recreation fees permanent and expand the powers of the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife Service to charge fees (Regula's bill is the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act, H.R.3283)...Forestry Service defends early response to fires The "whole tragedy" of last week's wildfire disaster in the San Diego area was all but inevitable in light of its remote origins and the terribly untimely arrival of wicked winds, a federal official said today. Responding to criticism about early response to the 280,000-acre Cedar Fire -- which leveled 2,200 homes and killed 14 people -- Forestry Service Chief Rich Hawkins denied that "a lot of mistakes were made that first night." The conflagration happened to start in a rugged area between three back- country roads, and about a half-mile from the closest one, Hawkins told news crews during a briefing at the CDF's El Cajon headquarters. "If we could have driven to where this fire was, I think we could have extinguished (it) that night, and the whole tragedy could have been averted," he said. "It was the roadless nature of the fire origin that is the major problem in this whole story."(More roadless areas anyone?)...Military wins congressional approval of environmental exemptions One provision in the $401 billion defense bill amends the Endangered Species Act to prohibit setting aside any more "critical habitat" -- lands needed for species to recover -- on military installations that already have a plan for managing natural resources. Another amends the Marine Mammal Protection Act to lower the threshold on what can be considered "harassment" of a marine mammal. Until now the law has prohibited anything annoying or potentially disturbing; the new standard would be anything threatening survival or reproduction. The Bush administration lost out on its bid, however, to relax some of the military's requirements for complying with the Clean Air Act and toxic waste laws...Are Sagebrush Habitats and Their Birds Teetering on the Edge? John Rotenberry, a professor of biology and director of the UC Natural Reserve system at the University of California, Riverside, has co-authored a paper that says the quickly diminishing sagebrush landscapes in the western United States are leading to the rapid decline of bird species, such as the sage grouse and Brewer's sparrow. The report, "Teetering on the edge or too late? Conservation and research issues for avifauna of sagebrush habitats," was published in the November issue of the international peer-reviewed science journal The Condor. It reviews the problems facing sagebrush habitats and the challenges facing native birds that depend on this habitat for survival...Water move bathes mayor in delight Mayor Martin Chavez wasted no time in declaring "complete victory." The battle of Albuquerque's share of San Juan-Chama water is over, Chavez contended Thursday, and the city is the winner. According to initial reports, the issue was taken off of the table for only two years. But a spokesman for Sen. Pete Domenici, who authored the rider to the energy appropriations bill and shepherded it through Senate and conference committees, said those reports were inaccurate and confirmed that the exemption would be permanent under the bill. "Unless somebody else introduces new legislation to try to change it," the exemption from the Endangered Species Act would be permanent, Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said...Waterusers may quit talks after environmentalists file brief A group of water users are about to quit after several months of water rights discussions with Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, after a coalition of environmental groups filed a legal briefing with a Portland federal judge. Idaho Rivers United, National Wildlife Federation and Salmon Unlimited are among groups who asked a federal judge last week to include the entire Snake and Columbia rivers in its biological opinion on what the federal government needs to do to ensure the survival of salmon, a federally-listed endangered species. Last May, U.S. District Judge James Redden in Portland threw out the original salmon plan, which said wild fish could be saved from extinction by sending more water downstream from Idaho instead of breaching four lower Snake dams in Washington...Conservation groups to keep court options open Conservation groups announced today that they will keep open the option of going to court to force the federal government to follow through on its legal obligations to recover Idaho's wild salmon and steelhead. But the groups pledged to U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-ID) and the farming community to unconditionally forgo the opportunity to ask any court to deliver Upper Snake River water in 2004 beyond the federal government's maximum goal of 427,000 acre-feet...Editorial: Sins of Emission It's well known that former Utah governor Michael O. Leavitt, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is no friend of the environment. So it was only fitting that the Bush administration timed yet another rollback of environmental protections to coincide with Leavitt's first day on the job. Leavitt officially started his term as head of the EPA on Thursday, a day after EPA lawyers, on instructions from on high, announced that they would drop 70 investigations into coal-burning power plants that violated pollution laws. The move will benefit the utility industry, possibly saving it tens of billions of dollars' worth of pollution-control upgrades. The move comes as little surprise: it's part of a broader, systematic strategy on the part of the Bush administration to weaken the EPA to the point of irrelevance...Dry state will fight to restart desalter Down along the final, gasping miles of the Colorado River, on the edge of a desert too dry to notice the drought, an unusual skirmish has erupted over a plan to squeeze more water from the West's already over-tapped supply. The battleground is a water desalination plant on this city's west side, a $280 million white elephant that operated for all of nine months a decade ago, before floods and design flaws forced it into hibernation. The plant was designed to recycle agricultural runoff water that was otherwise too polluted and salty...Bears blamed for most elk calf deaths Researchers trying to understand how young elk die in Yellowstone National Park found this summer that grizzly bears and black bears killed most of the calves that were marked in the spring and were found dead later in the year. The results -- which researchers emphasize are very preliminary -- are from the first portion of a three-year study of elk calf mortality on Yellowstone's northern range. The study is being conducted by the Yellowstone Center for Resources, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Minnesota...Builders hope land-sale failure sends message on high costs The Bureau of Land Management said it will have to do a re-evaluation of the 1,940 acres that no one bid on in Thursday's Las Vegas Valley land auction. Officials said they will have to look at when -- not if -- the land should be put up for sale again. In what could be construed as a mass demonstration against the appraised value of the land or the restrictions the city of Henderson places on developers, bidders began leaving the BLM auction as the largest -- and most expensive -- parcel, which was in southwest Henderson, came up for sale...Gibbons seeks to route land money to education Rep. Jim Gibbons announced a campaign Thursday to steer millions of dollars more from public land auctions in Southern Nevada into the state's fast-growing school system. The Nevada Republican said he will seek to alter a 1998 law that allocates 5 percent of the profits from Clark County federal land sales into the state's education fund. He proposed 35 percent of auction proceeds be directed to education and away from the purchase of sensitive environmental land around the state...Editorial: A raw deal Mike Leavitt is too polite and proud a man to announce that he's been snookered by his new best friends in the Bush administration. But the former governor of Utah was properly quick to object to a plan to drill for natural gas in an area that is on his own short list of natural spaces that may deserve to be off-limits to such exploitation. Off-limits is exactly what that territory would be, though, if Leavitt hadn't made the mistake of trusting Interior Secretary Gale Norton to watch over the 6 million acres of public lands that Leavitt wanted released from federal protection as potential wilderness...Summit sought on Yosemite Rep. George Radanovich seeks a summit, of sorts, amid a war of words over Yosemite National Park. Thursday, the Republican congressman from the 19th District -- stretching from Modesto to Mariposa -- proposed a meeting with Sierra Club leaders to discuss their differences over the park's future. The meeting would take place in the park, at LeConte Memorial Lodge. The 99- year-old structure is central to the dispute between Radanovich and the Sierra Club. Specifically, Radanovich has introduced legislation to have the lodge removed from Yosemite Valley...House names forest conferees, but bill still hung up in Senate The House on Thursday named conferees to complete work on forest health legislation. However, the measure remained stuck in the Senate, where Democratic and Republican leaders have objected to moving forward...Quality of life clashes with agricultural values Canyon County's rejection of a second dairy in less than a year signals a shift in Idaho's environmental politics. The county commission in a still largely agricultural county chose quality of life over economics last week. They did it because they don't have confidence in the state's capacity or will to stop air and water pollution. The political landscape is changing because neighbors of the dairies and even feedlots have become more sophisticated and vocal. They are challenging the traditional exemptions from environmental laws given to the agricultural industry. They also are going to court to force dairies and feedlots to meet the same laws that industries of similar size have to meet...Cattlemen discuss animal trace-back plan in Denver National Cattlemens's Beef Association, state affiliates and other industry partners met Thursday in Denver to discuss the next steps in the development of a national animal identification plan. The primary objective of a proposed US Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) is to enhance animal disease surveillance and monitoring, and to facilitate the ability to trace animals in the event of a reportable animal health incident...'Open Fields' bill would pay farmers to open lands to public use Do you think landowners should be able to receive public funds for letting hunters, bird-watchers and other outdoor enthusiasts use their land? Senators have introduced a bill that would fund state programs to do just that. The "Open Fields" bill was introduced by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), and is co-sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan, Mark Dayton, Max Baucus, Mike Enzi, Tim Johnson, Tom Daschle, John Kerry and Tom Harkin. Harkin today called the bill a win-win for landowners and outdoor enthusiasts (the legislation is S.1840, the Voluntary Public Access and Wildlife Habitat Program Act)...Japan mad cow case raising questions A new case of BSE in Japan is calling into question some long-held beliefs about mad cow disease. A 23-month-old bull has tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and the disease is suspected in a 21-month-old cow. That flies in the face of the accepted science, which held that cattle under the age of 30 months were not in danger of contracting the disease. For that reason, when the United States began accepting Canadian meat, it was only from animals below that 30-month threshold. As well, when it published a rule that could lead to the border reopening to live cattle, again it only addressed animals younger than 30 months...