NEWS ROUNDUP

U.S. Says Court Decisions Slowing Forest Road Ban The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Friday a barrage of court decisions blocking a Clinton-era plan to protect millions of acres of forest land has forced the agency to make significant changes and slowed implementation of the rule. The measure, signed days before President Clinton left office in January, 2001, would prevent road construction and the removal of oil or lumber from 58.5 million acres of federal forest land, unless needed for environmental reasons or to reduce the risk of wildfires. But the so-called "roadless rule" has since been subjected to nearly a dozen lawsuits, mostly from western states which harbor many of the trees that would be protected...Grazing rules put ranchers in the saddle California ranchers gain while environmentalists seethe under sweeping new grazing rules unveiled by the Bush administration this week. In a marked reversal from previous public-land policies, the Interior Department now is pushing grazing plans that largely ease ranchers' burdens. "We're very pleased, actually," Ben Higgins, executive vice president of the California Cattlemen's Association, said Tuesday. "They took the industry's input into consideration," Higgins said, "and we're hopeful that these rules at the end of the day will provide for greater management flexibility." The new proposals, for instance, will make federal land managers take into account economic and social circumstances, not just habitat protection, when deciding whether to reduce grazing levels...Logging of Forest Near Lake Tahoe Halted A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that forest burned by a 2001 fire near Lake Tahoe cannot be logged despite government fears of renewed fire danger. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals faulted forest officials for approving the cutting plan without adequately considering the California spotted owl and other environmental concerns. In approving the cutting on 1,700 acres, the U.S. Forest Service said the burned area was so ravaged, it was no longer attractive to owls. Environmental group Earth Island Institute sued to block the cutting, alleging owls still lived in the area...Senate supports Winchester Bay land swap Senators Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., who sponsored Senate Resolution 714, announced its approval in a joint press release. The proposal calls for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to turn over 68.5 acres west of the Salmon Harbor RV Park to county control. SR 714 is calculated to improve safety and access to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area by providing a staging area for all-terrain vehicles, thereby keeping them off Salmon Harbor Drive, currently the only access route to the dunes. Bringing the area under county policing also is intended to better prevent unauthorized camping and parking, according to the press release. The bill would bring centralized law enforcement to parcels currently overseen by the state, BLM, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard...Weyerhaeuser stole thousands of trees, ex-investigator testifies A former U.S. Forest Service investigator testified yesterday that Weyerhaeuser stole at least 66,000 healthy trees from Oregon in the early 1990s but the agency never recovered damages or prosecuted any corporate officials. Dennis Shrader told a judge that he briefed former Forest Service chief Jack Ward Thomas about the potential scope of the alleged theft but instead of taking action, the agency disbanded the investigative unit. Shrader testified that he had feared Weyerhaeuser would exert political pressure on the agency and the Clinton administration -- and the decision in April 1995 to disband the Timber Theft Task Force created by Congress in 1991 to investigate the industry suggested his concerns were legitimate...Daschle seeks to end ESA review of prairie dogs Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., has urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to end a review of prairie dogs as potential candidates for protection under the Endangered Species Act. In a letter to Fish and Wildlife Service director Steven A. Williams, Daschle cited substantial prairie dog populations in South Dakota, and said, "The notion that the prairie dog is threatened defies logic." In 2000, the Fish and Wildlife Service found that the black-tailed prairie dog deserved listing as a threatened species, but the agency delayed an official listing until it finishes with higher-priority species. Significant recent studies have concluded that prairie dogs are not threatened and do not meet the definition of an endangered species, according to a news release from Daschle...Carbon County takes aim at wolves As of Thursday, wolves in Carbon County are considered "problem predators" under current federal management. The county commissioners voted unanimously to adopt a resolution that uses their state authority to establish predatory animal control to protect livestock. The resolution endorses part of the draft state wolf management plan and calls for the federal government to quickly remove wolves' protected status under the Endangered Species Act. Once wolves are placed under state wildlife management, the resolution calls for seeking federal money to reimburse the state for management efforts. The resolution also takes a jab at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not "acknowledging or notifying Carbon County and its citizens of the presence of wolves, nor are they managing wolves in Carbon County." The commissioners and some of the more than 50 people who attended their meeting at the county courthouse chastised the FWS for not sending a representative to the meeting...Another record year for Columbia salmon returns More than 920,000 chinook salmon passed the Bonneville Dam fish counters this year, breaking last year's record, reported the Federal Caucus, the nine federal agencies engaged in salmon recovery efforts in the Columbia River Basin. The 2003 results announced Friday are the largest returns since construction of the Bonneville Dam was completed in 1938 and far exceed the most recent 10-year average of 399,000. Similar encouraging adult-return numbers were reported at Bonneville for other species: 364,000 steelhead, 126,000 coho and 39,000 sockeye, with both steelhead and coho well above their 10-year averages...Federal judge rejects species law Sullivan, in a 47-page ruling, said "flagrant violations" were committed when the Clinton administration first adopted the so-called "no surprises policy" in 1994 without public input. "The public has consistently been denied the opportunity to be notified of substantive changes to regulations enforcing the ESA (Endangered Species Act), and to weigh in on decisions likely to have significant effects on public resources," the Washington, D.C., jurist said. The policy was built into habitat conservation plans as a way to give developers assurances that once they comply with a plan, they won't have to face further building restrictions or fees, even if new species are listed or more habitat is required to protect a species. The judge essentially told the U.S. Department of Interior to revise the policy in a way that would include the public's voice. In addition, he invalidated a companion policy that set forth circumstances in which "no surprises" assurances could be revoked...Feds out to kill wolf pack that preyed on sheep Federal biologists plan to kill three members of the Lone Bear wolf pack to scare the pack away from an area where the predators killed at least 17 sheep on two Paradise Valley ranches. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also issued kill-on-site permits to the two ranch owners and another adjacent landowner, allowing them to kill up to two wolves each on their ranches about 13 miles south of Livingston...Pilgrim son accused of running trail tour without permit The Pilgrims are back in federal court to answer allegations that a family member led an undercover ranger on a commercial horseback tour in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve without a proper license. The National Park Service contends that Joshua Hale _ the family's legal last name _ took ranger Stephen Rooker from Kennicott to Bonanza Mine in August but didn't have a permit to conduct business on federal land. In U.S. District court Thursday, Joshua Hale's defense attorney argued the road from Kennicott to the mine is a state right of way, a contention similar to the one the family is using in a pending federal case over access to their homestead. In documents filed Thursday, the federal government said the Pilgrims have failed to justify their request that a federal judge reconsider his ruling against them in that case...Park Service files response in Pilgrim family case The Pilgrim family failed to justify its request that a federal judge reconsider his ruling against them in their access feud with the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, federal officials said in documents filed Thursday. The Pilgrims, whose legal name is Hale, "merely rehash arguments that this court has already properly considered and rejected," federal attorney Bruce Landon wrote in a 20-page opposition to the request. U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline ruled last month that the National Park Service had the right to require a permit before the Pilgrims can use a bulldozer to haul supplies over a historic mining route to their property inside the park. Beistline said the 17-member family must go through the permit process...10,000 stolen relics from American West recovered in probe More than 10,000 artifacts taken from historic sites throughout the West have been recovered as part of one of the largest archaeological cases ever investigated, authorities said. The two-year investigation, dubbed Operation Indian Rocks, has led to a ring of relic hunters who were stealing remnants of the past, including arrowheads, ancient corncobs, hammer-stones and clay figurine fragments, the Las Vegas Sun reported Thursday. The last major defendant in the case, Nevada resident Bobbie Wilkie, has pleaded guilty to two counts of excavation and removal of archaeological resources and aiding and abetting. His sentencing was scheduled for Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas...Mutiny in the Parks Park Service employees are a typically loyal bunch who just want to work in nature and preserve national treasures. But as federal outsourcing begins in earnest, many retired Park Service employees are voicing concerns with the agency's current leadership. One hundred and twenty-six Park Service retirees -- former rangers, superintendents and regional directors --signed an Aug. 26 letter to current Park Service Director Fran Mainella condemning her support of Bush administration park initiatives in no uncertain terms. Today the National Park Service is no longer being run wholly in the interest of the public which it serves, the letter stated, citing an opinion piece in The Tennessean in which Mainella had argued that President Bush's Clear Skies plan is the affordable way to go....EPA wrestling with politics, workers say in survey EPA employees in the Rocky Mountain region say that politics is taking precedence over science in the agency's work, resulting in a lack of consistent enforcement of environmental laws and low morale among staffers, a survey found. "Politics now plays a pre-eminent role in day-to-day work at EPA," said Chandra Rosenthal, director of the Rocky Mountain chapter of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. The advocacy group sponsored the survey, which was released Wednesday...Interior disciplines 4 behind proposed San Rafael Swell land swap The Interior Department has disciplined four officials behind a Utah land swap and reformed its land appraisal process after an investigation revealed they concealed details that showed the exchange would have shortchanged taxpayers. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, had singled out the actions of the attorneys and negotiators behind a proposed land exchange in Utah's San Rafael Swell, saying they misled Congress and top Interior officials. He also demanded to know whether the Interior Secretary Gale Norton considered such behavior acceptable...