NEWS ROUNDUP

Lion Attacks O.C. Biker; Man Found Dead Nearby A bike rider was attacked by a mountain lion as she rode through a popular Orange County wilderness park Thursday, and the body of a man, who may have been killed by the same animal, was found nearby. If confirmed, the death would be the first killing of a human by a mountain lion in California since 1994. Hours later, sheriff's deputies shot to death a mountain lion spotted near where the man's body had been found. They said they were not certain they had killed the animal responsible for the attacks. Witnesses to the attack on the woman said the mountain lion clamped its jaws around her head and dragged her off the trail before she was rescued by other riders. "I have never seen anything like this — it was a tug of war between the mountain lion trying to drag her down the ravine by her face" and another cyclist "who had her by the legs," said Mike Castellano, 41, of Dana Point...Outgoing forester headed to D.C., Powell ends bid for elk foundation job Outgoing Northern Region Forester Brad Powell will work for the Forest Service in Washington, D.C., the agency said Thursday, and has declined a key position with the Missoula-based Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Powell, the Northern Region forester since 2001, had earlier turned down a Washington reassignment offered by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, officials say, saying he would retire after 32 years with the Forest Service and work for the elk foundation as the conservation group's senior vice president of lands and conservation. The Office of Inspector General had investigated allegations that Powell used government computers to access pornography, the Missoulian newspaper reported last month. Bosworth told the paper the investigation found nothing criminal, said Powell was not being demoted, praised his work spanning three decades but said he had "concerns out of the investigation."...Feds ponder how to curb rogue OHVs Calling off-highway vehicles one of the four "great threats" to ecosystems, the U.S. Forest Service is considering new rules that would clamp down on unregulated OHV use. A special planning team of Forest Service officials met in Salt Lake City on Wednesday to begin planning strategies to better manage the exploding popularity of OHVs, particularly the ubiquitous all-terrain vehicle. In the near future, the Forest Service is expected to announce proposed changes to federal rules to virtually prohibit so-called cross-country OHV travel, in which vehicles depart from designated routes. The initiative is being met with cautious optimism by environmentalists and OHV advocacy groups, which still are trying to learn more about it...Timber sale south of Livingston stopped by environmentalists The U.S. Forest Service's Northern Region office in Missoula has halted a proposed sale of 4.5 million board feet of timber in grizzly bear habitat south of here, environmentalists announced Wednesday. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Park County Environmental Council, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Native Ecosystems Council and two individuals all appealed the planned Windmill sale. "We're happy with the decision," said Jim Barrett, executive director of PCEC...Environmentalists seek to halt planned Jemez Mountain logging project A federal court has been asked to halt a proposal to salvage logs from 950 acres of burned Santa Fe National Forest in the Jemez Mountains. Two Santa Fe environmental groups—Forest Guardians and Santa Fe Forest Watch—filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to stop the project. The groups contend the U.S. Forest Service failed to properly evaluate the project in light of protected habitat around a pair of threatened Mexican spotted owls...USFS seeks alternatives to poisoning rainbow trout The U.S. Forest Service is looking at ways other than using poison to kill rainbow trout so native Paiute cutthroat trout can be restored in the southern part of Alpine County. The promise to create and analyze a list of alternatives less drastic than poison is in response to a successful legal challenge filed in August by the Center for Biological Diversity. The center and Nancy Erman, an aquatic ecology specialist who used to teach at the University of California at Davis, filed suit saying the project was in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act because of inadequate environmental analyses...Parcels ready for swap The Bureau of Land Management is poised to trade almost 6,500 acres of federal land for 970 acres of private property across from Lakeside marina on Hauser Lake. If the exchange goes through as expected, the federal agency will have swapped a total of about 8,000 acres of BLM land for the 2,000-acre Ward Ranch, making that formerly private property public. The BLM lands used in the exchange were scattered throughout about 10 counties and included about 100 parcels ranging in size from 1 to 920 acres. The total dollar value of the swap will be about $3 million, although the BLM only needs to come up with about $63,000 in cash to make up the difference in land values...Officials investigate deaths of six wolves The Michigan DNR is investigating the deaths of as many as six wolves killed recently in the Upper Peninsula. Several appear to have died from gunshot wounds. On Nov. 26, conservation officer Durance Paul was investigating a report of a radio-tracking collar that was emitting a mortality signal. Preliminary examination suggests that the animal was killed by gunshot. The female wolf was originally captured this past July in Mackinac County, and was found dead in Chippewa County. Tracking collars are equipped with mercury trigger switches that set off a mortality signal when there is no longer any activity of the collared animal. Even movement as slight as breathing will prevent the collar from emitting this signal...National panel meets in Colorado on environmental legislation Environmentalists expressed guarded optimism Thursday about a regional forum on efforts to modernize one of the country's landmark environmental laws. They said a task force looking at updating the National Environmental Policy Act wants to involve the public from the start when such activities as oil and gas drilling or ski-area expansions are analyzed for their potential impact on the environment or endangered species. The Colorado meeting, also scheduled for Friday, was the fourth in a series across the country to gather public comments on a report released last fall by the National Environmental Policy Act Task Force. The panel was formed by the White House Council on Environmental Quality in 2002 to study the law and includes federal employees and experts...Grijalva proposes new 84,500-acre wilderness On Saturday at 10 a.m., Congressman Raul Grijalva will release a proposal for a bill to preserve the Tumacacori Highlands as a federal wilderness area, totaling 84,500 acres. He has been working with members of the community, local elected officials and environmental groups to develop the plan, said his press spokeswoman, Natalie Luna...Drilling on top of Roan Plateau not necessary: Environmentalists cite BLM report Energy developers could access at least 90 percent of the natural gas reserves in the Roan Plateau planning area without drilling on public lands on top of the plateau, environmentalists say. They base that conclusion on an internal document prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Called a reasonable foreseeable development document, or RFD, it outlines the amount of gas development that might be expected in the planning area northwest of Rifle if there were few limitations in place...U.S. will need Bush energy bill, panel declares America's insatiable demand for energy will require the development of vast new sources of natural gas, coal and oil and the construction of billions of dollars worth of pipelines, transmission lines and power plants, experts say. That will require new tax breaks and other incentives to encourage businesses to invest in new infrastructure and more liberal policies about extracting natural resources from government lands, including national forests and wilderness areas. And, at the bottom line, Congress needs to pass a controversial national energy bill proposed by the Bush administration. That was the message delivered by a panel of government officials and energy industry leaders Thursday at the annual Summit of the West conference sponsored by the Western Business Roundtable and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...Drilling on mesa riles up environmentalists Restrictions allowing natural gas drilling on Otero Mesa were proposed Monday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, angering environmentalists who say the guidelines are too lax. The agency's proposed Resource Management Plan was released after more than four years of study and discussion. It covers oil and gas leasing and development in Otero and Sierra counties in Southern New Mexico -- about 1.2 million acres on the border of Texas and New Mexico northeast of El Paso. "There will be a number of groups that will be protesting the issue, and this will ultimately end up in the courts," said Stephen Capra, associate director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and an opponent of the proposal...Federal Charge of $25,280 to Fulfil Records Request Angers Activist The U.S. Bureau of Land Management answers about 100 Freedom of Information Act requests a year in California, usually without charging fees for its services. So it came as a shock to Sierra Club representative Edie Harmon of San Diego to learn recently that it would cost her group $25,280 for the BLM to provide the information she had sought in seven FOIA inquiries about off-road vehicle activity in California desert land managed by the agency. The Sierra Club plans to appeal the bureau's denial of a fee waiver in Harmon's case, and incorporate it into a lawsuit filed in March against the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the BLM. In that lawsuit, the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, the Wilderness Society and the Alaska Wilderness League accused the Interior Department of illegally denying FOIA requests by environmental groups...Brucellosis testing could cost Wyoming ranchers millions Mandatory testing of breeder cattle for brucellosis could cost Wyoming ranchers more than $1 million a year, based on estimates from livestock and state officials. "It could become fairly costly," Wyoming Agriculture Department Director John Etchepare said. "It definitely is going to increase their cost of doing business." The Wyoming Livestock Board on Tuesday approved emergency testing rules to address concerns from other states about the safety of Wyoming cattle. In early December, 31 cattle in a western Wyoming herd were found to have brucellosis...It's a ropin' good time: From toughest cowboy to most-prized sheep, stock show delights Every January when he was growing up, J.D. Crouse would hop into the family rig, wave goodbye to his Nebraska ranch and ride six or seven hours to Denver - to a calf-ropin', steer-sellin', extended family reunion of sorts. This year, you should do the same, whether you've hit the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo & Horse Show all 97 times or never seen a sheep. When the 98th stock show draws 375 vendors, 15,000 farm animals and an estimated 650,000 people, you should be there. And your experience should be as authentic as possible...Canine cowboys at work: Cattle dogs save ranchers time, money The tiny ball of black-and-white fur darted back and forth behind the half-dozen calves, deftly dodging kicking heels to herd the livestock first left, then right. Mickey, an 8-year-old border collie that belongs to Land of Oz Cattle Dogs, of Colwich, was in the Expocentre's exercise arena Thursday, demonstrating prowess taught to her by owner John Mannebach. "If you have patience with them, they're going to save you a lot of time," Mannebach said, as he helped a younger pup, 9-month-old Dude, load the cattle into a waiting trailer...Lone vaquero storyteller energizes Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering A lone vaquero storyteller stands among the nearly 50 cowboy poets and musicians congregating this weekend for the 15th Annual Colorado Cowboy Poetry Gathering. Angel Vigil does not mind his solitary status. The gathering affords him an audience he might not otherwise reach. "A lot of people who are there, including the other performers, are either very interested in or directly connected to the ranch and cattle culture in the United States - the cowboy culture," Vigil said. "So to be able to do my work with those audiences is very fulfilling to me." Vaqueros were the world's first cowboys. In Spain, vaqueros were akin to shepherds and goat herders but watched cattle. They became cowboys when they started using horses to do their work in Spanish colonies in the New World...