NEWS ROUNDUP

Ski industry takes aim at NEPA reform It’s not every day senior White House officials visit the Colorado high country, but in mid-January, Horst Greczmiel, a top advisor on environmental policy, came to Copper Mountain Resort to participate in a regional roundtable on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 30-year old federal law ensures that government officials consider environmental impacts when they make decisions affecting federal lands. Under NEPA, agencies like the U.S. Forest Service must try to include the public in the decision-making process from its earliest stages. The law also requires agencies to evaluate and disclose the potential impacts of proposed activities on federal lands, not only to the environment, but to cultural resources and local economies....Cause of fire still cloudy What caused the Grand Prix fire? So far, no one knows, not even the investigators. In fact, they haven't classified the fire that destroyed nearly 200 homes in San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties as either an accident or arson....Lawsuit seeks snowmobile bridge removal A lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula Thursday to force the Flathead National Forest to remove a snowmobile bridge. The bridge was recently installed under a special use permit issued to the Flathead Snowmobile Association. The Swan View Coalition filed the lawsuit because it wants the bridge over Lost Johnny Creek in the northern Swan Mountains removed by March 15, when grizzly bears emerge from their dens after hibernation....With attention from sightings, environmentalists want plan to manage cougars Indigenous to the region before the arrival of European settlers, cougars and other predators were hunted and trapped in the 1800s and early 1900s to the point where they were listed as vanished from the state. Recent sightings have fueled a debate over whether the animals were wiped out. The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy wants to foster a cougar management program that ensures enough genetic diversity to support a small, sustainable population. But it also wants recognition of its argument that a potentially viable, breeding cougar population exists in the Upper and Lower peninsulas. The state Department of Natural Resources, however, says there’s no proof the animal makes Michigan its home....Salmon Advocates File Suit Seeking Basin-Wide Analysis: Biological Opinion violates ESA, groups say Conservation groups and Pacific Coast commercial fishermen filed suit today asking a federal judge to declare illegal a NOAA Fisheries' Biological Opinion (Bi-Op) governing the operation of Bureau of Reclamation irrigation projects in the Snake River basin. On behalf of Idaho Rivers United, American Rivers, National Wildlife Federation, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Institute for Fisheries Resources (PCFFA/IFR), Earthjustice attorneys asked the court to order the fisheries agency to correct numerous errors in its analysis of the effects of these projects on endangered salmon and steelhead and develop a comprehensive plan to restore these fish....Federal government sued over cuts in vernal pools' protection Three environmental groups have sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its decision to cut by more than half the number of acres it will protect for seasonal ponds that support 15 species of rare plants and tiny shrimp. The service's original 2002 proposal was to protect nearly 1.7 million acres of vernal pools in 36 counties. However, developers said the designation would hurt housing construction in the fast-growing Central Valley, while farmers said it would hurt agriculture and land prices. The service said in August it would instead designate 740,000 acres in 30 California counties and one in Oregon as "critical habitat" for the vernal pool species....Environmentalists win timber battle A federal magistrate has ruled in favor of four environmental groups that sued to block a timber sale near the Wild and Scenic section of the Rogue River. The summary finding by U.S. District Magistrate John P. Cooney in Medford asks the Bureau or Land Management to reconsider the Pickett Snake sale. He said the sale - completed in 2002 but held up in the courts since - violates the agency's Medford District resources management plan, as well as federal environmental law....Isleta pledges support to help minnow Isleta Pueblo Gov. Alvino Lucero stood beside the Rio Grande to say the pueblo was committed to helping restore the bosque and save the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow. The pueblo on Wednesday became the 21st government entity or private organization to join the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Work Group, which seeks cooperative ways to ensure the minnow can survive despite the ongoing drought and competing human needs for water from the river....Environment Groups Assail Bush Record President George W. Bush has the worst environmental record in American history and shows no signs of changing his tune, environmentalists said Wednesday at a press briefing. The panel of experts from many of the nation's major environmental organizations said the administration is enacting a broad agenda to relax federal environmental laws and limit the ability of federal agencies to protect the nation's air, water and public lands....Court to Decide Golf Course Development Conservation groups asked a federal appeals court to halt a golf course and subdivision planned in northwestern Wyoming because the impact on bald eagles wasn't seriously considered. Canyon Club Inc. is building an 18-hole golf course and 71-home development along the Snake River 17 miles south of Jackson, Wyo....Biology teachers admit to taking skull, horns from park Two biology teachers at Brigham Young University-Idaho have been convicted of illegally taking a bighorn sheep skull and horns from Yellowstone National Park, the National Park Service announced Friday. On Jan. 7, U.S. Magistrate Stephen Cole ordered each of them to pay $1,750 in restitution, placed them on federal probation for three years and banned them from the park for two years....Hiring allies from Durham gets Chambers in hot water Among the issues that federal officials have cited in pushing to remove former Durham police Chief Teresa Chambers from her job as chief of the U.S. Park Police are several instances of misconduct involving the hiring of two former Durham allies for top positions at the national agency. A federal memorandum outlining the reasons she should be fired notes that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel -- an independent federal investigative agency -- has been probing "alleged prohibited personnel practices" in Chambers' hiring of former Durham City Councilwoman Pamela Blyth, former Durham police Maj. Dwight Pettiford, and Barry Beam, a former officer in Prince George's County, Md., where Chambers worked before coming to Durham. The three make up the core of Chambers' command circle: Pettiford and Beam are deputy chiefs, while Blyth is her special assistant....BLM loses in court: Judge says federal agency violated rules on advisors The Bureau of Land Management violated regulations it wrote to ensure a "fair membership balance" on Resource Advisory Councils in Colorado, according to a U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. The ruling overturns a U.S. District Court ruling and allows Sarah Peters and Joshua Houdek to continue litigation against the BLM. They allege the agency politicized the appointment process for advisory councils that are intended to provide a representative voice of the public on various public lands management issues.... Leaders focus on river, fire issues The director of the Bureau of Land Management pledged Thursday to include local government representatives in major decisions that affect the lower Deschutes River, including whether to require permits to float the popular stretch. The commitment came after a coalition of local government representatives objected to plans by the BLM, Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs to implement a limited permit system on part of the river beginning July 1, 2005....Mining ties of company hired to draft Steens plan draw fire The top Democrat on the U.S. House Resources Committee says the hiring of a company with mining industry ties to prepare a plan for Steens Mountain creates potential conflicts of interest "that cannot be brushed aside or quietly ignored." Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., asked Interior Secretary Gale Norton to "take steps to ensure the integrity of the Steens planning effort."....Wyden asks for probe Sen. Ron Wyden asked for a federal investigation Friday into how the U.S. Bureau of Land Management chose a contractor with mining industry ties to help develop a management plan for public lands in southeastern Oregon. "This particular case raises such a serious perception of impropriety that it threatens to undermine the public's confidence in the protections accorded Steens Mountain," the Oregon Democrat wrote in a letter to the inspector general of the Department of Interior. Wyden's request is part of a growing amount of criticism from Democrats aimed at the Bush administration over BLM's hiring of Enviroscientists Inc. of Reno, Nev., for $670,000 to help write a new management plan for Steens Mountain and the Andrews Resource Area....Yengich hired to defend Kane County officials Kane County has hired a prominent criminal defense attorney to represent three county officials who are the subject of a federal grand-jury investigation. Ron Yengich was hired secretly in November to represent County Commissioner Mark Habbeshaw, Sheriff Lamont Smith and roads superintendent Lou Pratt in a probe related to their removal of federally owned signs inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The probe centers on Habbeshaw, Smith and Pratt, who drove into the Grand Staircase-Escalante in early August and removed 31 "Carsonite" markers, thin signs used to delineate trails, roads and travel restrictions. All of the 31 markers indicated restrictions or prohibitions on off-highway vehicles. The officials say they removed the signs after concluding they infringed on county rights of way under a 19th-century law known as RS2477....Lynx from Canada arriving in Colorado It has been an excellent trapping season so far for lynx in Quebec, and the first animals have started arriving for release in Colorado. The state Division of Wildlife hopes that 50 lynx from Manitoba and British Columbia will join those from Quebec, raising the number known in the wilds of Colorado from 78 adults and 16 kittens to more than 150....Bill to ban slaughter of bison advances A proposal to ban the killing of Yellowstone National Park bison on any federal lands has picked up more than 40 sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill is similar to a measure that attracted wide support in the House last year, failing by a fairly narrow margin of 190 to 210. I believe it was the first time most members of Congress were aware of the issue, Michael Scott, director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, said of last year's floor debate and vote....Sequoia Plan Trims Timber Cutting The U.S. Forest Service has backed away from some controversial parts of its plan to manage the Giant Sequoia National Monument, but is still calling for extensive timber cutting in the southern Sierra preserve. A final management plan released Friday by the Forest Service projects about a third less logging in the monument than initially proposed in a much-criticized draft issued a year ago. It also drops plans to create gaps — essentially mini-clear cuts — in the sequoia groves, which the Forest Service had said were necessary to encourage sequoia reproduction....STATE RULES NO VACANCY IN UPSHUR COUNTY More than 4,600 acres of Upshur County land and minerals worth untold millions of dollars don't belong to the state, but to the people who owned them before finding themselves embroiled in the state's largest modern land dispute, the Texas land commissioner ruled Friday. Commissioner Jerry Patterson's ruling still leaves uncertainty as to the outcome of the dispute, because the attorney pushing the land vacancy claim said he hasn't consulted with his clients about whether to appeal the ruling. That's good news to more than 1,600 landowners who have worried for months that their holdings could be in jeopardy. Potentially thousands more have rights to mineral royalties in the oil-rich area. The monthslong dispute has embittered scores of retirees who depend on regular checks from oil companies....Left out West The West is listening. But is anybody out there talking? In just two weeks, a chunk of Western states, including New Mexico, will choose among the nine Democrats now running for their party's nomination for president. Not a region rich in delegates, the arid West is nevertheless loaded with big issues: Water scarcity, immigration, border trade, healthy forests and growth dominate headlines. But a variety of Western experts and activists say they're still waiting to hear the Democratic candidates devote themselves to regional matters....Column: Nuke route a funny way to think The preferred nuclear waste route selection made by the Department of Energy as announced on Dec. 23 is truly ludicrous in my way of thinking. Why would anyone build a 319-mile rail line, locking up 300,000 plus acres in lieu of 214 miles and a lot less open public land, just because the U.S. Air Force objected? The state of Nevada has objected to the Yucca Mountain Project from the beginning and no one seems to be listening to them, so why should the Air Force be any different?....The nation´s forest chief warns of four threats to our forests U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth told employees Friday how to help him rebuild trust in the agency as they set up a thinning program to reduce the threat of fire. I want people to be darned sure it´s a fuels treatment project and not a timber sale project cloaked up,” Bosworth said at the Idaho Environmental Forum. No longer, he said, does the agency consider timber cutting and road building its primary mission. The new threats to the nation´s forests are fuel buildup and fires, motorized recreation, the loss of open space and invasive alien species....U.S. Official Says WTO Backs United States Position on Softwood Lumber The World Trade Organization has upheld steep antidumping tariffs that the United States has imposed on softwood lumber imports from Canada, a U.S. trade official said Friday. The decision by a World Trade Organization dispute panel was received late Friday by the U.S. government, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been made public....Mexico promises substantial payment on water debt For the first time in a decade, Mexico has not only met but surpassed its obligation of Rio Grande water to the United States, Texas and federal officials said Friday. Since Oct. 1, Mexico has transferred 383,554 acre feet of water to the United States, said Sally Spener of the International Boundary and Water Commission. The commission oversees Rio Grande water accounts. Under a 1944 treaty, Mexico is obligated to transfer 350,000 acre feet of water a year over a five-year period. Mexico had fallen behind on its payments under the treaty over the past decade. U.S. officials say Mexico owes 1.3 million acre feet....Officer kills wrong big cat The mistaken shooting of a domestic cat is prompting Redlands police to issue binoculars to officers involved in the hunt for a mountain lion that is believed to have been menacing residential neighborhoods for at least 2½ years. "We've issued binoculars to help them identify ... the animal," Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueerman said Friday, a day after an officer killed the wrong animal. "It was a big cat, but it was still a house cat."....Brochure gives city folks the poop on country life: Transplants warned about farm fumes With the warning that "manure happens," a planned brochure will tell city dwellers what to expect if they decide to move to the country. Sure, "manure happens." Other stuff happens, too: noise from animals and farm machinery; blowing dust; mud; and farm work into the evening. And, of course, odor....Bullish on Cowtown Since its inception in the late 1800s, rodeo has galloped from impromptu bronc and steer busting contests on cattle drives to a sophisticated sport that is featured in upscale metropolitan venues. And no part of the show is bigger than bull riding. For the past decade, rodeo's headline event -- and its most dangerous -- has busted into a lucrative league of its own with high-profile cowboys, TV contracts and NASCAR-like following. For the first time in its 108-year history, the Stock Show Rodeo will capitalize on the sport's growth and feature Bulls Night Out, a one-night, one-shot event showcasing some of the best bull riders and nastiest bulls around....DRAWN TO THE WEST Wallace Simpson vividly painted the cowboy life -- branding, bucking broncos, a soft blue dawn greeting a cattle drive. Fort Worth embraced him, and the one-time cowboy became one of the city's best-known artists. Throughout the 1920s, the Star-Telegram featured his full-page color illustrations and smaller drawings....High-dollar horses elevate Ranch Rodeo to high art Several big-time ranches demonstrate their daily chores at the Stock Show's "Best of the West" Ranch Rodeo today. Real cowboys will rope and ride on their ranches' best horses. On Sunday we learn just how much money those horses are worth. It will be a staggering amount. Last year's champion ranch horse, a 10-year-old gray gelding from the Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie, went for $40,000. These horses are geldings. They can't reproduce. What you buy is what you get and that's the end of it. Fifteen horses are in this invitational sale, and they'll be put to the test. Judges will watch the horses work cattle, slide to stops, roll back over their hip and change directions, drag a log and open a gate, then stand quietly in the middle of the arena when the rider drops the reins and walks away. Horse enthusiasts have come to admire ranch horses. And while not all the horses will bring tens of thousands of dollars, the average price in last year's sale was an amazing $13,600....On The Edge Of Common Sense: Diminutive dog proves to be a survivor Over the years, I've become accustomed to the incongruous sight of rugged ranching families with their weathered faces, rough hands, fearsome pickups and macho confidence, carrying a small dog. These petite pups look out of place amongst the bullying blue healers, busy border collies, exuberant shepherds, saddle horses, hay wagons, big tires and steel-shod hooves that make up the rancher's daily environment. They are like a corsage on a backhoe bucket....