NEWS ROUNDUP

Off-Road Officials Take To The Trails For Some Four-Wheeled Investigation On November 17, several members of Colorado off-road agencies, coalitions and clubs came together for what would be best termed a "ride of the minds." These experienced forest riders set out on ATVs for a full day's ride to share ideas and better understand current usage of the Rampart Range Recreational Area. This forested high-mountain maze of trails may see as many as 250,000 riders a year. Along these trails located just outside Denver, discussions took place that touched on trail markers and what information should be added, how to better inform riders of local trail issues and get them involved, overviews on trail management and thinning projects being conducted In the area... No food around bears, order says After two years of revisions, the U.S. Forest Service has approved an order to keep food away from bears in more parts of western Wyoming's Bridger-Teton and Shoshone national forests. The expanded order, which replaces one implemented 13 years ago, was signed last week by regional foresters Rick Cable and Jack Troyer. It will take effect March 1, Bridger-Teton spokeswoman Mary Lendman said. The order spells out how human and animal food, dead game animals, garbage and hygiene items should be stored by forest users so they do not attract bears. Federal land managers contend the order is necessary to deal with increasing bear and human encounters and ensure human safety. It has been criticized by several Wyoming counties, which have threatened to challenge it in court. They claim it will hurt tourism and increase outfitter expenses. More than 700 human-bear conflicts have been reported in the area the past two years. Wildlife biologists believe the number can be reduced if food is hung in trees or locked in containers...P.B. one of 3 sites Forest Service to study ATV impact The Mark Twain National Forest has targeted three southeast Missouri sites popular for illegal use by four-wheel drive and all-terrain vehicles for a study aimed at encouraging more responsible land use. The proposal would open 144 miles of trails for use by enthusiasts of state-licensed off-highway vehicles in forests near Potosi, Fredericktown and Poplar Bluff, Mark Twain National Forest spokeswoman Charlotte Wiggins said Tuesday. As part of the proposal, 67 miles of roads and trails now being driven on illegal in ecologically sensitive areas would be closed, she said...Colorado Wild suing Forest Service In an eleventh-hour effort to stop the logging of trees burned in the Missionary Ridge Fire, Colorado Wild on Tuesday sued the Forest Service. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, asks that the agency be found in violation of the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. It claims the intended logging is arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion. It also asks that no logging occur until the agency complies with the national laws...SLC denies landowners motor access Owners of land in the upper reaches of Big Cottonwood Canyon's Cardiff Fork have won approval from the U.S. Forest Service to access their property with motor vehicles. They now face a potentially larger obstacle: Salt Lake City. On Tuesday -- a day after the Forest Service granted four landowners a permit to use motor vehicles on forest-managed portions of a dirt road -- city officials said the property owners may not use such vehicles on the part of the road that goes through city-owned property...Column: The Endangered Species Act On Dec. 28, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) turns 30. But before celebrating the grand anniversary of this landmark federal legislation, we should ask ourselves a sobering question. What has the ESA really accomplished in the past three decades? The answer gives little cause for celebration. For starters, the ESA has done precious little to help endangered animals. Since the act's passage, seven American species have gone extinct. Meanwhile, while more than 1,260 species have been listed as "endangered" or "threatened," only 10 North American species have "recovered," often due to efforts unrelated to the ESA. Even worse, the ESA has often backfired, prompting needless destruction of wildlife habitat as it expanded from its initial mission of helping endangered species to blocking economic activity across the country...Wolf caught by Paradise Valley trapper A wolf that had wandered far afield was captured in the Paradise Valley last week, just a few days after a resident pack had attacked sheep for the first time. The wolf, a male at least 2 years old, wore a radio collar and ear tags and had last been spotted west of Salmon, Idaho, on Oct. 22, according to Carter Niemeyer, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Idaho. That same wolf was captured Dec. 19 by a leghold trap south of here, in the Eight Mile area. The trap is owned by a private trapper seeking coyotes, who notified authorities when he found he had captured a wolf instead. The wolf had traveled about 180 air miles, which translates into a lot more than that, considering the rough country between central Idaho and the Paradise Valley...2 Eastern Montana men admit sale of frozen walleyes Gerald Lynn Beason, 54, of Circle, and Aaron Keith McIntyre, 31, of Glendive, pleaded guilty Tuesday to an indictment charging them with Lacey Act violations by illegally transporting wildlife in interstate commerce. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean said that in May 1999, McIntyre approached two undercover agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and asked whether they were interested in buying 3,000 pounds of frozen walleye that a friend had for sale. McIntyre provided the agents with Beason's phone number...Pilgrim family appeals case to higher court Lawyers for the Pilgrim family filed an emergency motion Wednesday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking to overturn a recent decision by a federal court judge in the family's legal battle with the National Park Service. Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing the family, asked the appeals court in San Francisco to grant emergency access over a historic mining route to their property inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park...Robert Redford gets heated up about the Bush environmental agenda, global warming, clean energy and worms Redford's environmental activism has gone beyond renewable-energy advocacy, from lobbying for the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act in the 1970s to holding international conferences on global warming in the '80s to campaigning for pro-environment Democratic politicians in the '90s (which he says he also plans to do in the 2004 elections). Still, even the great horse whisperer has a few environmental skeletons in his closet. A onetime race car driver and former owner of various all-terrain vehicles (not to mention a major player in notoriously eco-insensitive Hollywood), Redford freely admits to having been "extremely hypocritical" in the past. After reading the following Grist interview, though, even the purist of environmentalists will have to admit that few celebrities -- or politicians and activists, for that matter -- have shown as much dogged dedication to the environmental movement as Robert Redford...Court blocks Bush air pollution rules A federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked some of the Bush administration's changes to the Clean Air Act from going into effect, dealing a major setback to one of the White House's biggest environmental decisions. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed with 12 states and several major cities that argued they would face irreparable harm to their environments and public health from the changes. The judges ordered the Environmental Protection Agency not to implement its rules change until the panel can make a final determination about the case. That court challenge, which could last well into the next year, takes aim at an EPA rule making it easier for utilities, refineries and other industrial facilities to make repairs in the name of routine maintenance without installing additional pollution controls...Thirsty West eyes water-rich farms Ron Aschermann could barely eke out a living raising melons, cucumbers, tomatoes or other crops on his 300-acre farm. But quitting the business will earn him more than $1.2 million. Aschermann and scores of others farmers on the high plains of southeastern Colorado are selling water, which once produced melons, to the Denver suburb of Aurora. The prairie will retake land that has long known the plow. The same thing is happening across the West as the nation's fastest-growing region shifts more water from farms to thirsty cities. Billions of gallons changed hands last year in eight Western states, and even more will flow in years to come. California recently approved a 75-year shift of water from desert farms to San Diego, the biggest transfer of its kind in U.S. history...Tribe wins $17.8 million contract A $17.8 million contract to build part of the Ridges Basin Dam was awarded to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's construction company, Weeminuche Construction Authority, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced Tuesday. The contract, the fifth and largest to be awarded to the Ute company so far, is part of a $500 million project to build the Animas La-Plata Project the dam, a 120,000-acre-foot reservoir, a pumping station and a pipeline. It brings to nearly $60 million in contracts awarded to Towaoc-based Weeminuche to build portions of the project, designed to settle water rights claims of the Ute Mountain Ute, Southern Ute and Navajo tribes...Old West craft: Valley home to finest bookmakers in the business Cowboy boots helped put the Valley on the map. In old workshops, unsung masters of the trade use awls, hammers and antique Singer sewing machines to craft their art. On the heels of presidents and princes, movie heroes and country stars, their boots left marks that stretch into the far corners of the globe. In 1925, Abraham Rios opened a small boot shop in Raymondville after leaving his home in Mexico, where he learned the old family trade of leatherwork. Soon, cowboys off the King Ranch were taking their business to Rios...Gee, what a second go-round A 14-year-old horse has changed Mickey Gee's life. The Wichita Falls, Texas, steer wrestler says he is returning to the rodeo tour full-time again this year. All of this because of a horse named Wasp. After surprising the rodeo world by winning the world steer wrestling championship in 1999 at 24, he might as well have been in the witness protection program for the last three years. Very few people heard from him. He only went to small Texas rodeos, and not very many of them...