NEWS ROUNDUP

Judge halts restoration from fire in Sequoia National Forest A plan to restore burned areas of Sequoia National Forest was halted by a federal judge who said it could ruin habitat for endangered species. Environmentalists sued to prevent the forest's Burnt Ridge project from removing fire-damaged trees from a 4,200-acre section of the forest charred in the McNally fire last year. The fire burned more than 150,000 acres and threatened groves of ancient sequoias. U.S. District Judge Robert Coyle said the work could cause "irreparable injury" to species that dwell in old-growth forests and use burned trees as habitat, such as the California spotted owl and the Pacific fisher...Forest Service moves ahead with Madan sale Forest service officials are moving ahead with a timber sale near Wrangell over objections from environmentalists. Deputy Regional Forester Steve Brink denied appeals from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Sitka Conservation Council and one from a private citizen objecting to the Madan timber sale. The Madan sale will allow 26.5 million board feet to be harvested on 2,118 acres about eight miles southeast of Wrangell. It calls for more than 18 miles of new roads and a log transfer facilities...Water agency to make up for fish kill The Sonoma County Water Agency has agreed to spend $190,000 to improve fish habitat after its accidental discharge of 2 million gallons of drinking water killed 22 steelhead trout in Santa Rosa Creek last year. The fish, listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act, died from traces of chlorine added to drinking water to kill pathogens, said Randy Poole, general manager of the Water Agency. The chlorine is added as the water is pumped from the Russian River and into a 2-foot-diameter pipeline that supplies 8 million gallons of water a day to the city of Sonoma and Sonoma Valley...Mouse derails trail progress Once again, the little Preble's jumping mouse has shown what a mighty mouse it is. The final stretch of the Pleasant Valley Trail, which has been under construction for the past few months, has been put on hold until next year because part of the route crosses mouse habitat. "We decided not to proceed this winter," said Charlie Gindler of Larimer County Parks and Open Lands. The county had hoped to complete the trail this winter, but now officials are looking at late summer or fall 2004. The portion of the trail from the Bellvue Baptist Church to the Watson Lake entrance is potential jumping mouse habitat, Gindler said, which will require a habitat conservation plan. The plan will be submitted as part of a bridge permit application and must be approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Yellowstone winter bookings fall 16 percent Winter room reservations at Yellowstone National Park are down 16 percent this year, and the park's concessionaire blames confusion about new rules limiting snowmobiles. ''There's a big difference between this year and last,'' said Rick Hoeninghausen, director of sales and marketing for Xanterra Parks & Resorts. ''There are questions about where winter use is going. Last year, we knew what we could do in winter. There were no questions, no lawsuits. This year, we've got more confusion.''...Officials rule on snowmobile access to Yellowstone The final rule limits the number of snowmobiles that will be allowed in the parks and requires guided access for both commercial and noncommercial snowmobiles to protect wildlife. It also limits air emissions and effects to the natural soundscape by requiring the best available noise- and pollution-reducing technology for snowmobiles. For the winter season of 2003-2004 in Yellowstone National Park, the rule allows only 950 snowmobiles in the park each day, and all of them must have a snowmobile entrance reservation. Eighty percent of all snowmobiles must be commercially guided and must make reservations through a guide company...Pilgrim son takes turn on witness stand Joshua Hale took the witness stand Friday in U.S. District Court and said he led an undercover ranger on a paid horseback riding trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve because the ranger insisted. But Hale, who is part of the Pilgrim family in McCarthy that has been fighting with the park over access issues, said he didn't agree to take ranger Stephen Rooker on a tour of old buildings at the Bonanza Mine, which is on federal land. "I agreed to provide a horse for hire ... a way for him to get high on the mountain," Hale, 23, told Magistrate Harry Branson. Hale, a bearded man who wore an orange button-down shirt and black vest, gave testimony that often was at odds with Rooker's from the day before. Hale faces a misdemeanor charge of operating a business in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve without a permit...Editorial: Facts ignored in Yellowstone If Bush administration officials had done their job correctly, Yellowstone National Park would not be facing a tricky dilemma this Wednesday. For more than two years, the administration has ignored the science and public opinion arrayed against recreational snowmobiles in Yellowstone. As a result, two events will come together this week. The Yellowstone snowmobile season is slated to open - and a federal judge may be asked to shut it down the same day...Column: Let USDA be guided by Interior on grazing That surely was a rancher-friendly signal that came out of the U.S. Department of the Interior 10 days ago, as Secretary Gale Norton proposed new rules for federal acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management. What the BLM does is important, because it is Washington's biggest land manager: 261 million acres, mostly in the West, of which 160 million are grazed. Only 59,000 of those acres are in North Dakota, though, so the impact here will be small. Our big federal player is the U.S. Forest Service, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with 1.1 million acres, mostly in the Badlands country. Rule changes proposed by the Forest Service have caused a firestorm among ranchers there and are now under review by a team of range scientists. Dare we hope that, as Norton reshapes BLM policy, the USDA is watching and will be inspired to make similar changes at the Forest Service?...BLM approves Newmont mine project near Battle Mountain Newmont Mining Corp. has cleared a big hurdle in its bid to open a major mine near Battle Mountain. The Bureau of Land Management's Battle Mountain office approved the proposed Phoenix Project 12 miles south of the struggling mining town. The gold and copper mine is expected to employ up to 300 workers...Bush's Energy Policy Lives Where the Deer and the Antelope Play Whether this harms the wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem or affects the air or water in the Wind River Mountains is unclear. But it is clear that here in the Upper Green, as the area is called, the Bush administration's energy policies have come to life. The antelopes' migration route and the winter range of thousands of mule deer lie atop an estimated 7 trillion to 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- more than 4 percent of the nation's reserves, according to Don J. Likwartz, Wyoming's oil and gas supervisor...BLM adjusts desert plan Complaints from three Newberry Springs area mines and from environmentalists have prompted the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to adjust part of a new desert plan, a bureau official said Friday. Three mines objected to being in the area of concern, saying its boundaries should be east of the Pisgah Crater. And environmentalists agreed with mining interests in the matter. The California Native Plant Society, an environmental group that seeks protection for plants, complained that the proposed area of concern wasn't covering the places where plant protection was needed...State may seek to reform property tax policy The state could be approaching Mohave County soon for its support in reforming property tax policies so that businesses that lease federal lands could be taxed, said the La Paz County assessor George Nault. According to Nault, Governor Janet Napolitano's office recently said the state could be utilizing more than $3 billion locked up in tax-exempt property. The hope, he said, is that the money could help erase the state deficit. "The state is going to approach every county and ask their opinion if they're for or against," Nault said...Infected bighorns regaining eyesight An outbreak of pinkeye has blinded at least nine desert bighorn sheep in the Silverbell Mountains northwest of Tucson, leading to the shotgun deaths of two dozen goats suspected of contaminating the sheep. Wildlife officials suspect the spreading pinkeye is linked to the arrival of 4,800 domestic goats this fall on the nearby La Osa Ranch. George Johnson, operator of the Pinal County ranch, brought in the goats to graze on leased state and federal lands. A storm in early November spooked the goats, and about 100 of them slipped through the ranch's fences and into the bordering national monument, said Carl Woehlecke, ranch manager...Feedlot waste alters fish characteristics Hormones that leak into streams from cattle feedlots are altering the sexual characteristics of wild fish, demasculinizing the males and defeminizing the females, according to a newly released study. The study, which examined minnows in three streams that flow into Nebraska's Elkhorn River, suggests that cattle operations pose a previously unknown effect on the environment. About 30 million head of cattle are raised in U.S. feedlots per year, and nearly all are implanted with growth-promoting synthetic hormones...Column: EPA Giftwraps Presents for Industry The Environmental Protection Agency has been as busy as Santa's elves during the fall season making, however, regulations that bring dismay instead of joy. The newest proposed regulation comes as is usual in this administration, as a gift to industry and not to the environment. It's nothing more than a coincidence that the biggest gift goes to Texas but the rest of the country will feel the effect of this gift as well. The newest proposed regulation is only the most recent in a string of regulations that have been issued...Utah plan establishes pollution cap for parks Utah Gov. Olene Walker on Friday signed the state's plan to establish a cap on haze-forming air pollution in national parks that is generated by Western power plants and industrial sources. "Utah's plan is a significant milestone because it represents a regional approach to reducing haze in the West's most celebrated national parks," Walker said. The plan is part of a multistate effort known as the Western Regional Air Partnership that focuses primarily on reducing sulfur dioxide, mostly from coal-fired industrial plants. It now goes to the Environmental Protection Agency...Official warns states to plan for less Colorado River water California and Nevada must begin planning how they will reduce water consumption if the West's drought persists, a top federal water official said Friday. Lake Mead could shrink so much during 2004 that the federal Bureau of Reclamation would have to suspend deliveries of "surplus" Colorado River water to the two states, said Bennett Raley, assistant interiorsecretary for water and science. The lake formed by Hoover Dam supplies Las Vegas with virtually all of its drinking water and helps quench Southern California's thirst...Long drought shrinking Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake has disappeared here, just outside Salt Lake City, along the first mile of the causeway leading from the mainland to Antelope Island, a refuge for coyotes, bison, bobcats and antelope. This is what things have come to in Utah as five years of drought has dried up rivers, sucked water out of reservoirs, parched fields, and turned forests into tinderboxes across the West. The largest lake west of the Mississippi River - usually about 75 miles long and 28 miles wide - has shrunk to its lowest level in 33 years, leaving longtime observers wondering how low it will go...Water lost to Mexico at center of dispute One of Mexico's top water officials bristled at suggestions Thursday that his country was taking advantage of unused water flowing down the Colorado River, water that U.S. officials say has further depleted drought-stricken Lake Mead. The water, as much as 1 million acre-feet over the past five years, arrives with too little warning and is often of poor quality, said Arturo Herrera Solis, commissioner of the Mexican section of the International Boundary and Water Commission...Column: Maybe Friends of Animals' Feral would like to take wolves home Why is it people in Alaska seem to be getting so upset about Friends of Animals going ape over plans for killing wolves in the McGrath area? The shocking thing would be if the Connecticut-based animal-rights organization wasn't making a fuss. From the standpoint of Friends, any sort of wolf control in Alaska is an irresistible target, and not just because it involves killing wolves. Consider for a moment the goal of the McGrath wolf kill. The goal is to allow more moose to survive the fangs of predators over the winter. This could, in turn, mean a few more moose for McGrath hunters to kill and eat next fall...Land war ends but new battle looms Colorado's oldest land war is over in the courts, but another fight looms as the rivals sit down to find a way to share the 77,500-acre landscape known as La Sierra. "It's time to swallow the ego pill and realize this is bigger than any of our differences," Costilla County Commissioner Joe Gallegos said. "So much depends on how well we work together." The devil is in that detail. The U.S. Supreme Court this week let stand a 2002 Colorado Supreme Court ruling that restores grazing, timber-cutting and wood-gathering rights to about 1,000 landowners with deeds that date back to an 1844 Mexican land grant. Now, those landowners, along with La Sierra's current owner - former Enron executive Lou Pai - and the community have to agree on how to share the forests and meadows...Fort Worth Hosts Competition for Horse Whisperers They may not whisper, but with gentle strokes and loving nudges, some trainers can turn a frightened horse into an obedient equine. Three trainers commonly called "horse whisperers" are participating in El Camino del Caballo, or Road to the Horse, a teaching clinic and competition at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth's historic Stockyards. After leading educational sessions for horse owners Friday afternoon, each competitor was to start working with an untamed quarter horse that night. Josh Lyons, 27, of Parachute, Colo.; Curt Pate, 42, of Helena, Mont.; and Clinton Anderson, 28, a Queensland, Australia, native who now lives in Sterling, Ill., are working with colts that have never been saddled or ridden...Thieves get buck for their bang For 48 hours, former National Finals Rodeo qualifying bucking bull Speck was missing. The bull, who had qualified for the world's biggest and richest rodeo three times, and the black cargo trailer in which he travels were stolen Tuesday night from a parking lot at the Plaza. Fortunately, animal and trailer turned up safe in the Circus Circus parking lot early Thursday evening. During the bull's absence, his caretaker's biggest fear wasn't about the animal going hungry, because Speck is always stuffed...On The Edge Of Common Sense: Cripple Creek Calvin has run-in with snakey mare Calvin said he wasn't that good at gettin' hurt. Of course, some would say he didn't have to try that hard. He's still ridin' bronky horses even though his deductible is up to $45,000. Some would have thought he should have waited more than two months after the knee surgery to try out the snakey mare; at least he started in the round corral. Some would say that naming his North Carolina ranch the Cripple Creek Livestock Co. became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It explained his perpetual lameness...Christmas I Remember: Daddy's dentures made for memorable holiday Colleen Chadwick has beautiful memories of the many Christmases she has spent with her family on her parents´ small ranch located in South Central Oklahoma. Those were the typical memories of family gatherings with lots of good food, laughter, visiting and teasing with her brothers and sister. One particular Christmas that stands out in her mind is a blend of the traditional Norman Rockwell-type celebration entertwined with the hilarious. If it were made into a movie, it would be titled a “National Lampoon´s Christmas Vacation in Oklahoma.”...