NEWS ROUNDUP

Expert: Tahoe faces same fire threat as Southern California They urged more intensive logging and thinning of forests miles away from residential areas. "That's where the fires come roaring into communities from," said Bonnicksen, an expert on California forests who has testified before Congress for more than a decade in support of increased logging on federal lands. "These flames are 200-feet tall, burning at 2,000 degrees, moving at sometimes a mile a minute," he said. Some large trees will have to be cut as well as underbrush, Bonnicksen said. He criticized Forest Service restrictions putting most trees larger than 30 inches in diameter off limits to logging under the agency's latest plan for the Sierra Nevada.... Drilling expansion looming for southern Colorado Drilling could begin as early as next February on the first of 300 coal-bed methane gas wells in the northern half of the San Juan Basin, a Forest Service official says. Mark Stiles, supervisor of the San Juan National Forest, based his prediction on the expected May release of a draft environmental study of coal-bed methane gas development in La Plata and Archuleta counties. The basin itself straddles New Mexico and Colorado. It is the nation's No. 1 producer of gas from coal beds, with 20,000 wells and nearly 10,000 more planned in New Mexico over the next two decades.... Column: Sierra Club Old Guard Revives McCarthyism Most Americans remember the McCarthy era as a lesson - not to be repeated. Apparently the moral from those bleak days was lost on thirteen former presidents of the national Sierra Club, who are interfering with this year’s election for the Board of Directors. There are two types of candidates in Sierra Club elections: internally-selected candidates called, “nominating committee candidates” and candidates who get members’ signatures on a petition, abiding by all the rules in a grassroots, democratic process called, “petition candidates.” The thirteen former presidents, who are part of the old guard within the Club, put the bureaucratic, self-perpetuation of the Club above environmental protection. Their work appears on a website called Groundswell Sierra, giving new life to the dictionary definition of "McCarthyism." The main target of these McCarthyite tactics is a faction of Sierra Club members called SUSPS (formerly known as Sierrans for U.S. Population Stabilization), whose followers believe that limiting US immigration will stabilize population levels, thereby protecting the environment.... Wyoming rancher pleads guilty to poisoning prairie dogs on BLM lands A Wyoming rancher whose property extends into Powder River County in Montana admitted through his attorney Wednesday to illegally poisoning prairie dogs on federal land. Prairie dogs are a candidate species for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Billings attorney Kelly Varnes entered a guilty plea to the misdemeanor on behalf of Stanford M. Clinton Jr., of Recluse, Wyo., who owns the Three Bar Ranch in Wyoming and Montana. Clinton was charged with unauthorized range treatment on Bureau of Land Management lands and faces a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.... Senate balks at wolf law changes The Wyoming Senate on Thursday refused to introduce a bill aimed at changing the state's wolf management law to meet federal government requirements for taking the beast off the Endangered Species List and turning management over to the states. The Senate voted 15-12 in favor of introducing the bill, with three senators excused. The bill fell five votes shy of the two-thirds required for introduction.... Wyoming House votes to yield to feds on wolf management Members of the Wyoming state House voted Thursday to consider a bill that would yield to federal demands that gray wolves be protected throughout the state, but angry state senators refused. Working to avoid a court battle over wolf management, the House voted 51-8 to consider a measure revising the state management plan to conform to federal demands. But an identical proposal failed in the Senate 15-12, as opponents fumed at the last minute rejection of the Wyoming's original state plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.... Column: How broken is it? It's much the same no matter where we look at ecological zeal. For example, in the last 30 years, fewer than 30 of 1,000 species listed under the Endangered Species Act as endangered or threatened have been taken off the list. That's a 97 percent failure rate for ESA. During the 1970-2000 time period, air quality improved dramatically. Our population increased 38 percent; energy consumption exceeded that growth; and the economy exploded by an inflation-adjusted 158 percent. Yet in the face of such increases, lead, particulates, smog, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide levels all declined, according to the EPA.... Bush guts silvery minnow money The Bush administration's commitment to helping New Mexico solve its Rio Grande water problems came into question at a Senate Energy Committee hearing today. The president's 2005 budget includes only about $5 million to restore habitat for the endangered silvery minnow, $9.5 million less than this year's appropriation, said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a Silver City Democrat.... Interior secretary says she’ll consider Domenici’s minnow plan Interior Secretary Gale Norton says she’ll give serious consideration to New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici’s proposal to help the endangered silvery minnow by “taking the fish to the water.” The minnow’s primary habitat is the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque. It’s an area that sometimes runs dry, and for its survival, the fish requires water diversions from farmers and towns. Domenici and Sandia Pueblo Governor Stewart Paisano have asked the Interior Department to consider a proposal to relocate the fish further upstream to parts of the river that have more regular flows. They have also proposed sanctuaries for the fish on tribal lands north of Albuquerque....Group appeals latest sled decision A conservation group says it will appeal a Wyoming federal judge's decision to allow more snowmobiles into Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In papers filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said it will ask Judge Clarence Brimmer of Wyoming to suspend his order until the appeal is decided.... Ex-Park Service execs oppose oil leasing plan Former National Park Service executives are speaking out against a plan to sell fossil-fuel leases next door to a renowned fossil preserve. Today, the Colorado office of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to auction 27 parcels of land south of Dinosaur National Monument for oil and gas leasing. Next week, the BLM's Utah office plans to lease 28 parcels totaling about 12,000 acres around the western leg of the monument. Half of those parcels are in areas that environmentalists are trying to set aside as federally protected wilderness areas. The auctions -- which come three months after the BLM offered leases in parts of the Book Cliffs once considered by the agency for wilderness -- have fueled continued outrage from a growing number of environmental groups, outdoor recreation interests and now Park Service employees.... Nevada gov won't sue BLM over horses Governor Guinn says he came away from a weekend meeting with Interior Secretary Gale Norton convinced that she'll take steps to thin the herds of wild horses in Nevada. As a result, Guinn has decided to reject a state Wildlife Commission recommendation that he sue the federal Bureau of Land Management for mismanaging the state's 18,000 wild horses and burros. Guinn saysd Norton is trying to get money to carry out additional wild horse roundups this year, and the BLM is seeking a big budget increase next year. Despite Guinn's optimism, Nevada Senator Harry Reid says a Bush administration plan to shift money from other programs into the wild horse program is "dead on arrival.''.... NYT Editorial: An Enemy of the Environment The Bush administration has a troubling record of putting lobbyists in influential positions in the executive branch. Now it is taking the practice a step further by nominating a longtime lawyer and lobbyist for the mining and cattle industries, William Myers III, to an important judgeship. His extreme views on the environment, his hard-edged ideological approach to the law and his close ties to industries whose cases he would be deciding make Mr. Myers unqualified to be an appeals court judge. Until recently, Mr. Myers was the chief legal officer in the Interior Department. Before that, he was a mining industry lawyer and lobbyist and, earlier still, the director of federal lands for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. A partisan advocate for the interests of the industries he represented, as well as a harsh critic of environmental protections, Mr. Myers regularly took positions that, though legally insupportable, would have had a devastating impact on the environment. He argued in one Supreme Court case that Congress does not have the power under the Constitution to protect wetlands. He also demonstrated a lack of judicial temperament, at one point comparing federal land management to "the tyrannical actions of King George in levying taxes" on the American colonies.... Agriculture groups plan to appeal ban on pesticide spraying A coalition of nearly 40 agriculture and pesticide groups plans to appeal a federal judicial ban on spraying certain pesticides near Pacific Northwest salmon waterways, an industry spokeswoman said. The groups, mostly from the Northwest, will file an appeal and a motion to stay the ban within the next week or two, said Corinne Simon of CropLife America, a pesticide trade association based in Washington, D.C.... Yellowstone Elk Die Early from Excessive Fluoride Elk that graze near the hot pools and geysers of Yellowstone National Park are dying about five years earlier than elk that live elsewhere in the park, says Robert Garrott, ecology professor at Montana State University-Bozeman. Blame it on fluoride. Fluoride is found naturally in the park, and elk take it in every time they eat and drink in the geothermal areas, said Garrott who is heading an ongoing study of the relationship between fluoride and early elk deaths. That's especially the case during the winter when the elk escape deep snow by congregating around the hot pools.... Experts strive to save mule deer habitat across West Wildlife biologists are mapping mule deer habitat from Mexico to Canada and identifying specific regional problems to try to stem the deer's decline across the West. An estimated 2.3 million mule deer roamed the diverse landscape stretching from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains and the deserts of the Southwest to the mountainous terrain of the Northwest Territories in the 1950s and '60s, but their numbers have dropped sharply, the biologists reported. The Mule Deer Working Group of the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies hopes to reverse the trend by identifying and mapping habitat and recommending how best to manage it. Salmon advocates ask farmers to lease water Idaho Rivers United is asking farmers to lease water to the Bureau of Reclamation so it meets its goal for increasing flows in the Snake River to aid salmon migration. Already the bureau has leased 86,000 acre feet of water. With other water it already controls, the federal agency is only 100,000 acre feet below its goal of 427,000 acre feet of water. "The water situation looks a lot better, and we're sensing a lot of interest from irrigators in leasing water this year," said Diana Cross, a bureau spokeswoman. Idaho Rivers United is one of three groups that have sued the federal government claiming dam operations on the Snake River in Idaho are illegal.... Explosions rock canyon for river restoration Blasting that started in December continues in the American River canyon, with two back-to-back charges ripping through the temporary stillness of the Placer County Water Agency permanent pump and river restoration project site Wednesday. Wednesday’s explosion was part of a $17 million effort to prepare the site of the long-delayed Auburn dam for recreational use while building the agency’s long-awaited, year-round water hook-up from the American River to rapidly growing western Placer County.... Area farmers hurt by lack of water Clint pecan farmer Guadalupe Ramirez is trying to find ways to keep his business alive through another irrigation season that won't be significantly helped by snowpack runoff from the mountains in southern Colorado and New Mexico. Forecasters are estimating that farmers will receive about 56 percent of a full supply of water in 2004. Ramirez was one of many farmers in the area who in 2003 received only 34 percent of a full supply of water for irrigation. It was the first time in 25 years that farmers did not receive a full supply, said Wayne Treers, a hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in El Paso. Ricardo Bejarano, water master for Elephant Butte Irrigation District in Las Cruces, said the water allocation last year was 8 inches per acre, down from the normal of 3 feet per acre. "The figure for this year may be a little better, but not that much," he said.... S.D. House passes bill that would restrict game wardens' access to private property Under a bill passed by the South Dakota House of Representatives on Thursday, state conservation officers would need landowner permission to enter private land to detain hunters if there isn't an outward sign of wrongdoing. HB1258 addresses what is known as the open fields doctrine. Under that doctrine, established through a series of court rulings, state Game, Fish & Parks officers may freely enter private land to request that a hunter produce a hunting license or to check if a hunter has exceeded the legal limit of animals killed. HB1258 would require those officers to get the permission of the landowner before doing that. The officer would not need that permission if he or she observed anything suspicious or was tipped off to illegal activity.... Beef checkoff ruling to go to U.S. Supreme Court A group of Nebraska cattle producers and the U.S. Justice Department will ask the nation's highest court to review a ruling that found a national beef checkoff program is unconstitutional. The appeal will be filed this week, said Greg Ruehle, executive vice president of Nebraska Cattlemen. The case stems from a July decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that American beef producers do not have to pay a $1-per-head fee on cattle sold in the United States. The appeals court affirmed a 2002 decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann of Aberdeen, S.D., that the mandatory program violates the constitutional rights of cattle ranchers by infringing on their First Amendment right to free speech.... Water districts rescue West Texas The threat of outsiders to underground water in West Texas is real, and came as a wakeup call when news of a water mining lease between Rio Nuevo and the General Land Office on state-owned land made headlines last October. It is compounded by the fact that it's not just state-owned land that interests Rio Nuevo and others. Private land is also threatened by money-making deals for ranchers in exchange for water from their underground water resources. If West Texans have any chance to limit the impact on underground water, they then have to control who, when and where water can be produced and/or exported. This control can be found through local underground water districts.... Limit on land easements rejected Legislators were in no mood Wednesday to limit the length of conservation easements that place certain restrictions on the future use of land. Opponents of HB1194, which failed 18-50 in the state House, argued that government should not interfere with the rights of property owners. Easements typically are granted by landowners to the federal government or conservation groups, ensuring that the land will be preserved as open space that will not become speckled with businesses or homes. Landowners may donate easements or get paid for them. The bill would have limited future conservation easements to 99 years. It initially contained a 30-year limit, but Rep. Jim Lintz, R-Hermosa, asked the House for the longer period Wednesday.... Lawmakers propose mandatory US animal ID system The Agriculture Department would be given $175 million to quickly launch a mandatory U.S. livestock identification system, three farm-state lawmakers proposed in a House bill on Tuesday. The system would be used to combat outbreaks of foodborne disease, such as mad cow or foot and mouth disease, by tracking down suspect animals and their herd mates, the lawmakers said. Their bill would give USDA 90 days to establish a nationwide, electronic livestock identification system that could track farm-raised animals, such as cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry, from birth to slaughter.... Famed photographer to show off work today Celebrated photographer Bob Moorhouse will ride into town with the annual Texoma Farm & Ranch show this year. "These are photos I've taken on the Pitchfork Ranch," Moorhouse said. "Things I see that I want to preserve or natural settings I want to keep." Moorhouse's art is a byproduct of his work as vice president and general manager of the Pitchfork Land and Cattle Co. of Guthrie and Benjamin and of Eskridge, Kan. Besides presenting slides and commentary, Moorhouse will be on hand to autograph his recently published book "Pitchfork Country: The Photography of Bob Moorhouse.".... Western Writers of America Hooks Up With Festival of the West Western Writers of America joins the National Festival of the West at Westworld March 18-21 in celebration of the literature of the American West. More than 20 WWA members will be on hand to talk about their craft and sign books. Festival of the West, in its 14th year, is the country's largest celebration of the Old West and the American Cowboy. This will be the first time the nonprofit WWA, which has approximately 600 members and was founded in 1953 to promote and recognize Western literature, has been part of the festival....