NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service decision on grasslands expected soon The U.S. Forest Service is expected to issue a decision soon regarding 16 appeals against its Northern Great Plains Management Plans Revision, a document involving the management of national grasslands in Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana. The plan revision was finalized in July 2002, capping seven years of development. Five of the appeals involve grazing and mineral development in northeast Wyoming's Thunder Basin National Grassland... Contractor quits horse roundup in Carson National Forest A contractor hired to round up wild horses in the Carson National Forest has thrown in the towel. New Mexico Horse Project director Carlos LoPopolo failed to capture a single horse in the Jarita Mesa Wild Horse Territory. He blames stormy weather and the flu, which struck many of his crewmembers and halted work for 13 days. A U.S. Forest Service contract gave LoPopolo's group 30 days to round up the horses, beginning December First...Conservation group buys Sage Creek land The Conservation Fund has purchased 160 acres of land along Sage Creek in the Pryor Mountains, with plans to close the deal on an adjoining 160 acre tract in March. The purchase is part of a plan to buy six 160-acre tracts belonging to the Schwend families. The Conservation Fund will then sell the land to the Custer National Forest. Money for the purchase came from a $750,000 appropriation in the Interior budget. Gates Watson, the Montana representative of the nonprofit Conservation Fund, said his group is in the process of drawing up plans to request money from the 2005 budget for the four other tracts...Alaska Wildlife Experts Use Floating Lab In service for 16 years, the Tiglax has emerged as a major player in managing the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which extends from the state's southeastern arm to the Aleutian Islands to the Arctic Slope. It's a floating science center with access to many of the 2,500 islands, islets and headlands that make up the 3.5 million-acre refuge. Researchers from federal agencies, universities and other institutions use the 120-foot vessel for hundreds of projects, keeping track of the health and welfare of the Far North's abundant marine life. Most of the research is done along the Aleutians and Gulf of Alaska during the warmer months, when lush grasses sprout waist-high and the region comes alive with millions of returning seabirds, whales, otters and sea lions...Some say mouse is hurting business A study suggesting that Preble's meadow jumping mouse may not need protection under the Endangered Species Act comes too late for some developers and landowners. Developer Al Alba said his company, Omnivest Realty, lost more than $1 million as a result of mouse habitat protection that caused an 18-month delay on a Colorado site where he plans to build affordable housing. A recent Denver Museum of Nature and Science study called the mouse's protected status into question, suggesting it's not a genetically distinct subspecies worthy of protection under the Endangered Species Act. "I didn't know whether to cheer or cry when I heard about the museum study," Alba said. "In any case, it came too late to have any bearing on our project. We just had to bite the bullet, take the loss and move on." The study was released on the same day that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that there was insufficient evidence to support three separate petitions to remove the mouse's protected status...Supporters champion stronger ESA Supporters of the Endangered Species Act say the law has been the difference between existence and extinction of many plants and animals, but that more needs to be done to ensure permanent recovery of imperiled species. Calls for increased commitment to the act comes on its 30th anniversary --- celebrated Dec. 28 --- as the Bush administration is considering moves to make significant changes to the law... Costs of ESA provoke ranchers' wrath Livestock producers in Wyoming say the Endangered Species Act has appropriately helped a couple of species survive, but for the most part, they feel, the act is a land use tool that hurts ranchers. Asked to look back on the 30-year history of the Endangered Species Act, Wyoming Stock Growers Association executive vice-president Jim Magagna said the ESA is not working the way it was intended. The act is having huge, negative impacts on the state's livestock producers, he said... Editorial: Common enemies Utah ranchers today are fearing that a decision expected early this week from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will move a once-common bird called the greater sage grouse toward the protections of the Endangered Species Act. If the government does start the process toward protecting the ground-dwelling bird, whose numbers have dropped dramatically over the last 20 years, ranchers fear their ability to graze their herds on public lands will be subjected to more restrictions. But public lands are in need of more restrictions, and would be even if there were no such beast as the greater sage grouse. Ranching throughout the West, already heavily subsidized with cheap grazing permits, is threatened by basically the same factors that have pushed the grouse and its cousins to the brink of extinction -- drought, urban sprawl and overly aggressive oil and gas exploration being the most prominent...Feds delay new elementary school A possible threat to the habitat of two endangered species means that some students may be starting school in a portable classroom rather than a brand-new campus this fall, a school official said Monday. Lake Elsinore Unified School District has put on hold its plans for building the new Ronald Reagan Elementary School off Baxter Road while it works out with federal agencies the potential impacts of the project on the species and takes appropriate action to protect their habitat, district officials said Monday. In July, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers identified the 13-acre parcel as a possible habitat area for the Quino checkerspot butterfly and the coastal California gnatcatcher, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service official said Monday. Both species are listed by the federal government as being endangered...Appeals Court Favors State Over Minnow New Mexico and other Western states have won another victory over the silvery minnow. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has set aside an earlier decision that allowed the federal government to take water from states or cities to protect an endangered species. State Attorney General Patricia Madrid said the court's ruling applies not just to the silvery minnow, but also to all similar cases. "I think it's a victory for state's rights to say the federal government cannot tell New Mexico how to use its precious and scarce water resources," Madrid said...Snowmobile case surfaces in new court In the latest twist over snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park, a federal judge in Wyoming has agreed to revive a court case that challenged a ban on the machines that was issued near the end of the Clinton administration. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer said on Dec. 31 that he would reopen the case but did not set a schedule for when it would proceed. Attorneys on both sides of the snowmobile fight were notified of the decision Monday. The decision could mean that the dispute over snowmobiles moves into two federal courts...Coalbed methane: The lawsuits As drilling for coalbed methane slowly picks up in southeastern Montana, legal battles over development of the natural gas continue to pit conservationists, American Indians and landowners against government agencies and developers. At latest count, there are four cases pending in U.S. District Court in Billings, another case from the district on appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and one suit pending in Montana District Court. Most of the lawsuits challenge two environmental studies approved earlier this year by Montana and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Montana and Wyoming. Conservation groups, landowners and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe all sued the BLM and U.S. Department of Interior shortly after BLM approved plans in Montana and Wyoming for coalbed methane development. The suits allege the environmental analyses were inadequate and violated federal laws...Conservationists, tribes urge caution in coalbed methane development Conservation groups in 2003 won key rulings on issues of tapping coalbed methane in Montana, and they aren't relaxing their efforts. The Northern Plains Resource Council, a Billings-based non-profit group representing conservationists and family agriculture, has filed at least six lawsuits over coalbed methane. Five are pending and a sixth was settled in NPRC's favor. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe has joined one of the suits against the Bureau of Land Management, saying it fears development plans threaten tribal ways of life. Developers have accused the conservation group of being obstructionist and anti-industry. The group says it only aims to ensure that coalbed methane development doesn't deplete or degrade water resources, or drive farmers and ranchers out of business...Ready, set, Montana takes measured approach to coalbed exploration The year 2003 was a turning point for coalbed methane development in Montana. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and state of Montana completed a long-awaited environmental study that will guide development of an estimated 26,000 wells in the state in the next 20 years. In March, the Montana Board of Environmental Review adopted numeric water quality standards for salts in groundwater discharged by coalbed methane wells. The standards apply to the Powder, Little Powder and Tongue rivers and Rosebud Creek in southeastern Montana. The numeric standards are to protect the rivers' water quality while allowing developers to discharge some of the huge quantities of groundwater that are brought to the surface to release the natural gas. The wrangling over the numeric standards between landowners, who worried about protecting their soils and crops, and developers, who were concerned that too stringent standards could stymie methane production, ended with standards that both sides said they could live with...Editorial: A cow eating grass You remember the story of the clever art student, the one who framed a blank canvass and titled it "Cow Eating Grass." Where was the grass? The cow ate it all. Where was the cow? Why would she stick around if there was no grass? At the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, that's not a joke. It's a mission statement. In another of those carefully timed announcements (Friday afternoon, when all the bigfoot Washington reporters are off to their weekend houses in Virginia), the BLM released an analysis of its own proposed new rules for grazing rights on the millions of acres it supposedly holds in the name of all of the American people. The agency's own analysis declares that the agency's proposed rules are just wonderful, except for "some short-term adverse effects" that will result from an approach that is even more see-no-evil than the existing one...Helping Mother Nature: Nonprofit group works to protect desert tortoises from too much -- and too little -- human interaction Betty Burge of Las Vegas can't think of an animal more endearing than the desert tortoise. "There's hardly an animal that you can walk up to in the wild, that's this big that's nonthreatening. Even children like them," says Burge, 71, who has largely devoted the past 31 years to studying and protecting the gentle reptile. Aside from inexorable loss of habitat as city replaces desert, the tortoise's placid approachability also places it at risk, notes Burge, who helped found the nonprofit Tortoise Group. Since 1982 it has been advising people on the proper care, feeding and habitat for pet tortoises...Big chill triggers jump in U.S. natural gas U.S. natural gas prices made big gains Monday on the first trading day of the year, propelled by cold weather and persistent market concerns about the nation's ability to meet demand as its gas supplies lag. A 10-percent jump in U.S. gas futures prices Monday fits a volatile pattern seen in recent months that most energy analysts blame on the market's inability to find equilibrium...Wyden deftly walks political line Sen. Ron Wyden helped Republicans turn controversial legislation regarding public lands and Medicare drug benefits into law in 2003. But the Portland Democrat appears to be riding out the anger from some of his urban, liberal supporters -- people who opposed the Healthy Forests Restoration Act as a backdoor effort to boost logging on public lands and the Medicare prescription drug bill as the first step toward privatizing the federal program. Oregon political experts say that Wyden's actions reflect the savvy calculations of a man skilled in navigating the state's political waters...Smith branches out by writing text for Fielder's forest book Colorado landscape photographer John Fielder and Glenwood Springs resident Steve Smith have paddled rivers and promoted environmental protection together. Now they have teamed up on Fielder's latest book, released late in 2003. Smith, a consultant to environmental organizations, has penned a 10,000-word essay accompanying the photos in "Seeing Colorado's Forests for the Trees." Smith's text covers the gamut: the different types of trees found at different elevations in Colorado; the history of man's use and enjoyment of forests; the impacts of fires, and infestations of insects and weeds; and the conservation ethic that has arisen side by side with logging, road development and other human incursions into the backcountry... Bush Makes Time for 'Hook and Bullet' Set The National Rifle Assn. was represented at the White House meeting; so were Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Altogether, President Bush spent more than an hour with the leaders of some 20 hunting and fishing groups in the room named for Theodore Roosevelt, the first conservationist president. The unusually lengthy meeting -- followed by a major decision in its favor -- shows the "hook and bullet" crowd, as the anglers and hunters call themselves, to be a powerful new force on environmental issues in Washington. Traditional environmental groups, which have been hostile to the president from the start, have had a hard time catching the administration's ear. The hunters and anglers are more effective with the Bush administration, some of their leaders said, because they represent millions of Americans, many of whom vote Republican, and because they reject the confrontational strategy of the environmental movement...3 Top Enforcement Officials Say They Will Leave E.P.A. Three top enforcement officials at the Environmental Protection Agency have resigned or retired in the last two weeks, including two lawyers who were architects of the agency's litigation strategy against coal-burning power plants. The timing of the departures and comments by at least one of the officials who is leaving suggest that some have left out of frustration with the Bush administration's policy toward enforcement of the Clean Air Act. "The rug was pulled out from under us," said Rich Biondi, who is retiring as associate director of the air enforcement division of the agency. "You look around and say, `What contribution can I continue to make here?' and it was limited." Cynthia Bergman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said of the departures, "This is an office of several hundred employees -- and to have one political appointee and two career employees leave is not indicative of unrest or departmentwide frustration."...Column: Politics in the lab hits US scientific integrity In theory, science is supposed to be cold, analytical, dispassionate - and studiously apolitical. But in the real world of competing demands for federal research dollars, savvy scientists of all disciplines - from cognitive psychologists running rats through mazes to nuclear physicists operating massive particle accelerators - recognize that a certain amount of political meddling in their research by policymakers in the executive branch and Congress is to be expected. However, there are limits - limits the Bush administration has frequently disregarded by imposing stringent political controls on a broad variety of federal scientific programs and activities. This has raised acute concern in the American scientific community that the administration's drive to stamp its conservative values on science isn't just affecting policy decisions, but undermining the integrity of the US research infrastructure itself...Ozone standards pose health risk, scientists report The air Americans breathe contains more ozone from pollution than the Environmental Protection Agency estimates, Harvard scientists report. Ozone can cause pain, breathing difficulties, and coughing. It can damage the lungs, EPA warns on its Web site, and it can also make one susceptible to respiratory infections. Those active outdoors are particularly at risk for exposure, the agency says. To calculate air quality standards for ozone, EPA distinguishes between the background or "natural" levels of ozone in the air and that caused by pollution in North America. "Our results actually indicate that EPA is overestimating the background level, and as a result is underestimating the health risk associated with ozone pollution," atmospheric chemist Arlene Fiore says. This assumption skews the air quality standards that EPA sets, making them weaker than they could be, Fiore and co-authors report in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, published by the American Geophysical Union...Pollution database lists 300 spills over 5 years On Nov. 11, 1998, an equipment malfunction caused the Montana Sulphur and Chemical Co. plant in Billings to release nearly 14 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air during a 2 1/2-hour period. Near Cut Bank on March 10, 2002, vandals turned loose railroad cars that derailed into a building containing batteries and caused abouts six gallons of acid to leak into the ground. Those were two of more than 300 suspected or actual unauthorized spills, discharges and releases of pollution in Montana reported over the past five years to a national clearinghouse maintained by the federal government. An Associated Press review of the National Response Center's database shows a wide variety in the types of spills and releases reported - from seemingly insignificant releases of hair spray to tens of thousands of gallons of ethanol. In about six of every 10 incidents, the chemical or substance reached a body of water, usually a nearby river or stream, the analysis found...Water Sentinels Go 'Knee-Deep' Kruzen is one of eight regional staffers in the Water Sentinels program. Now in its second year, the program educates the public about local water-quality problems and the lack of environmental law enforcement. Sierra Club chapters recruit, train, and equip teams of volunteers and field them to threatened waterways, where they take regular water samples, compile evidence, and build momentum for state-level enforcement actions focused on specific watersheds...New dam rivaling Grand Coulee suddenly not so unthinkable Workers in coveralls are drilling through the basalt beneath this empty, wind-torn basin to see what it would take to erect a mighty new dam -- a colossal structure as tall as the Space Needle and as wide as the Grand Coulee. It's an odd backward lunge to early-day Northwest efforts to corral nature through monumental feats of engineering. The enormous project pushed by drought-weary Eastern Washington farmers calls for siphoning millions of gallons from the Columbia River and piping it into a downward-sloping valley between Yakima and the Tri-Cities...'Halt water deals', Senator calls on General Land Office to halt water deal negotiations Senator Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, asked the Commissioner of the General Land Office to postpone further negotiations with private companies on prospective water deals until legislators can examine the proposals. Fraser, in a letter to GLO Commissioner Jerry Patterson, said he was troubled by recent newspaper accounts of potential water deals being negotiated by the state agency. "In reading about these proposed ventures, I am also surprised at the pace of the negotiations, especially given that the Texas Legislature has not been afforded the opportunity to review the proposals in detail," Fraser wrote. Fraser noted that the Legislature in 1997 enacted major water policy legislation, Senate Bill 1, which created 16 regional water planning districts throughout the state to ensure local control of water planning decisions...Editorial: Waterway words Along some of its course, the river is not much Rio and even less Grande, but its water brings life to fields and cities -- and has been very much in dispute for many years. It is refreshing, then, to see a proposal that would bring the governors of New Mexico, Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas together to draft a water agreement. Water from the Rio Grande has been a source of conflict between Mexico and Texas for generations. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, which also has an interest in the river, doesn't think the U.S. and Mexican governments are paying enough attention...Deer dispute is now federal case Just outside the window of Hollywood Park's town hall, a deer herd was seen Monday afternoon quietly strolling through a hilly yard next door. The four were naturally unaware that a longtime explosive debate about managing their abundant population in this North Side town had just moved hours earlier from nearby town hall to a federal courthouse. Town residents and members of the Hollywood Park Humane Society joined together to file a lawsuit claiming that a much-debated 2002 municipal ordinance is both inhumane to the deer, and unconstitutional to homeowners who should be able to use their land as they want. Under the ordinance, anyone caught feeding deer is subject to a $500 fine, even if the feeding is done on private property. About two dozen citations have been handed out since its December 2002 inception, officials said...Gunfire punctuates Montana's bar culture After he shot his dog but before he murdered the jukebox, Gregory Michael Pepin explained to the bartender that he would dearly love to shoot himself. He just didn't have the nerve. What he did have, as he sat at the bar, was a snootful of tequila and a semiautomatic rifle with 30 bullets in the clip. The bartender, his hands trembling, poured Pepin a drink and tried to talk of happy days. It was going rather well, Roger Malmquist, the bartender, remembers thinking, when the jukebox suddenly started up. As the bartender tells the story, Pepin whirled on his barstool and fired four rounds into the jukebox. The music stopped. Moments later, the phone rang behind the bar. Pepin silenced it with five more bullets. Then the jukebox, wounded but not yet dead, erupted with another song. Pepin whirled again, fired two more rounds and finished it off. The bartender, trembling still, poured Pepin another drink...In Dewey, Mont., blame it on the jukebox "Almost all of these bars had a shooting in them," said Louie Rivenes, bartender for 20 years at the H Bar J. And here in Dewey last month, there was Gregory Pepin, his semiautomatic rifle and the bullet-riddled jukebox. "I talked him out of shooting the five televisions, the mirrored back-bar, the kegs, the windows and the doors," Malmquist said. "I reminded him of how he had changed that flat tire for the gal and how I tabbed him, and he started to calm down." Then, that jukebox played, the phone rang and all hell broke loose. Malmquist said he watched in fear and disbelief as Pepin emptied his 30-round clip...