NEWS ROUNDUP

Nature group marks 30 years In its earliest days, the Oregon Natural Resources Council was a local environmental group based in a Eugene bungalow trying to protect the most beautiful parts of Oregon’s national forests from logging through wilderness legislation. Then it switched gears, becoming a major player in the Northwest timber wars by moving into federal courtrooms to stop logging on ecological grounds, arguing old-growth forests were critical habitat for threatened species like the northern spotted owl and salmon. ONRC this month is celebrating 30 years of saving wild places from chain saws, dams and geothermal plants, proudly pointing to landscapes around Oregon and the nation that would not be the same without its lobbying, legislation and litigation.... Park Service wilderness in disarray Rather than transfer, Walters retired in early January. Soon after, he sent a five-page letter to Park Service Director Mainella, in which he wrote that: "(1) the agency has failed to properly identify and protect its wilderness resources, (2) senior level managers continue to demonstrate either a lack of concern and/or an open hostility to the Service’s wilderness responsibilities, and (3) park managers continuously attempt to ignore or circumvent the instructions of the Wilderness Act and NPS wilderness policies in carrying out their other duties.".... Wandering bison captured for testing In the first action of its kind this winter, 18 bison were captured outside Yellowstone National Park on Tuesday and were being tested for brucellosis. Those that have signs of the disease will be sent to slaughter and the rest will be marked and set free, according to Karen Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Montana Department of Livestock.... Column: A West that works Ranchers, struggling to stay in business, are on the verge of becoming an anachronism in America; the conservation movement, struggling with its vision, has fallen into a rut; the federal management agencies, struggling with their courage, have appeared to lost their heart; and everyone else, struggling with political and social gridlock now endemic to the West, appears to be pretty much exasperated.... Endangered Wolves Make a Comeback The North American gray wolf, wiped out at Yellowstone National Park in the 1930s, is thriving once again after being reintroduced less than a decade ago. Now the government is moving to end federal protection for the wolf under the Endangered Species Act. Only 38 species have been taken off the endangered species list since 1967. More than 1,200 species are still considered to be in peril. The wolf population in Yellowstone has grown more than five-fold -- to nearly 170 -- since their reintroduction in 1995. The recovery has been extraordinary, due in large part to the national park where its natural habitat has been protected, Arnold reports.... Global Environmental Conference Under Way In Malaysia Environment ministers from about 70 countries are meeting in Malaysia to discuss how to protect endangered species and boost ways for poorer nations to profit from the development of their natural resources. The officials, gathered in Kuala Lumpur, are also using the United Nations-backed conference to find ways to slow down the world's current extinction rate of more than 60,000 species a year.... Editorial: The Eagles Return We hesitate to disagree with so learned a Founding Father as Benjamin Franklin, but we see our national symbol differently. Franklin complained in 1784 that the bald eagle was "a bird of bad moral character. He does not get his living honestly." The more enduring opinion belongs to the Second Continental Congress, which in 1782 had named the bald eagle as our national symbol. It is therefore gratifying to see the bald eagle staging a phenomenal comeback after being listed 26 years ago as endangered in 43 states and threatened in five states, including Washington. Now, more than 6,500 nesting pairs of bald eagles have been counted in the contiguous 48 states, up from 417 in 1963.... Lawsuit to test habitat rules Santa Rosa and 40 other public agencies, development and nonprofit groups in Sonoma and San Barbara counties are expected to file a lawsuit today challenging federal endangered species protection for the California tiger salamander. City Attorney Brien Farrell said the case is to be filed in federal court by Steve Quarles, chairman of the natural resources and environmental group of the Washington, D.C., law firm Crowell & Moring.... Park County poised to take over on wolf situation Park County Commissioners would give themselves the authority to kill wolves if the federal government doesn't hurry up and remove its protections, under a resolution the commission is now considering. "Should wolf delisting be delayed the Park County Commissioners reserve their right to protect our county and citizens by ordering lethal wolf control," the resolution says. The document was written by the Park County Stockgrowers, according to commissioner Jim Durgan. He said he supports it.... Environmentalists sue to prevent desert Hyundai track Environmental groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday, objecting to permits it issued allowing Hyundai Motor Co. and California City to build an automotive test track in the Southern California desert. The Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife said the track would destroy or degrade nearly 4,500 acres of desert wildlands that are home to threatened species including the Mojave ground squirrel and desert tortoise.... Livestock predation, wildlife issues drive worries Six county commissioners from two states agreed Tuesday that counties in the West should consider suing the federal government about wolves. "If the state's not going to sue, maybe it's time for us to," Park County Commission Chairman Tim Morrison said during a Tuesday work session in the courthouse.... Agency refuses to ban snowmobiles The National Park Service won't stop grooming roads in the winter or try to prohibit snowmobiles throughout the park system, federal officials said Wednesday. Craig Manson, the Interior Department's assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, said a request by environmental groups to ban snowmobiles from all national parks has been denied. Limiting the number of snowmobiles in national parks and relying on cleaner and quieter machines will help mitigate any harmful effects of the machines, Manson said, so an across-the-board ban is not needed.... Norton explains positions on issues The Powder River Basin will be an important source of natural gas in coming years but development shouldn't overrun local landowners, Secretary of Interior Gale Norton said Wednesday. "We've taken a strict line that the energy producer needs to work with the surface landowner. We want the companies and the ranchers to be talking and planning for each individual ranch," Norton said. "If they don't have that dialogue and reach that agreement, then we will force the company to post a bond.".... Special Counsel to Investigate Chief Chambers' Case Embattled Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers received some news Wednesday about her fight to keep her job. WTOP has learned that her complaint against her boss is going to be investigated. A letter from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to Chambers' attorney states that "reasonable grounds exist" for a full investigation into her proposed removal.... Battling smugglers saps park rangers Violence in the Huachuca Mountains has National Park Service rangers here spending more time chasing drug smugglers and illegal immigrants and less time with taxpaying park visitors, the rangers say. And it's dangerous work. The threat of smugglers willing to resort to violence to escape run-ins with law enforcement is becoming all too familiar.... Editorial: Endless litigation blocks snowmobile policy Yellowstone Park's winter season has deteriorated into management by litigation. On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan of Washington, D.C., ruled that: "NPS is bound by a conservation mandate and that mandate trumps all other considerations." Regrettably, the Bush administration's snowmobile rules and Sullivan's ruling reinstating a 2001 snowmobile phase-out came on the eve of the park's winter season, so vacation and business plans were thrown suddenly into chaos. On Feb. 10, U.S. District Judge Clarence Bremmer of Cheyenne, Wyo., ruled that: "Public interest is served by protecting the business owners and concessionaires ..." Bremmer ordered the Park Service to revert to the unregulated snowmobile situation that predates the 2001 final rules for phasing out snowmobiles. Back to square one.... Former Chairs of Council On Environmental Quality Join in Sonnenschein Supreme Court Brief Opposing Government's Position On NEPA The law firm of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP Tuesday filed an Amicus Brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, No. 03-101, the first case involving the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that the Court has taken since the 1980s. In a unique aspect to the filing, every surviving Chair of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) extending back to the Nixon Administration and every surviving former General Counsel joined in the brief. The case before the high court deals with the failure of the Bureau of Land Management to prepare analyses under NEPA of the environmental impacts of increasing numbers of off-road vehicles on Bureau lands currently under consideration for permanent wilderness status. The Government contends no further environmental analysis is currently required.... U.S. energy, mine royalties to states jump 46 pct Federal royalties from oil, natural gas, coal and mineral production shared with the states increased by 46 percent last year, thanks in part to higher energy prices, the government said Wednesday. Close to $1.1 billion in royalty fees was distributed to 36 states last year, up from $753 million during the prior year, said the Interior Department, which collects the fees.... Saving Black Mountain: Whose land is it anyway? It's a battle being fought around the Valley as the traditional eco-alliance among conservationists, hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts starts to fray. Conservationists are advocating more extreme measures for protecting open space, including setting aside public land simply for the sake of setting it aside. Recreationists, on the other hand, argue that the new definition of preservation flies in the face of the Interior Department's Recreation and Public Purposes Act, which guarantees public access to public lands.... More lawsuits expected after Tyson verdict A $1.28 billion jury verdict against Tyson Foods Inc. over cattle price fixing could give ranchers momentum as they pursue similar litigation against Excel Corp., a unit of Minnetonka-based Cargill Inc., and Swift & Co. Legal experts said the verdict also could lead to a flood of lawsuits against large meatpackers. "This is an attractive case to bring against the other companies," said Tim Greaney, a law professor at St. Louis University and a former Justice Department official who specialized in anti-trust issues.... Panel says USDA not forthright on sick cow After a monthlong investigation, the Republican and Democratic leaders of a congressional committee Tuesday accused the U.S. Department of Agriculture of misleading the public about a central fact in the nation's first known case of mad cow disease. Since federal officials announced in December that an animal had tested positive for mad cow disease, they have consistently said the animal was a "downer," an ailing animal that could not walk. The USDA national surveillance system for mad cow disease is based primarily on sampling brain tissue of downer cows. But an inquiry by the House Committee on Government Reform reported Tuesday that three eyewitnesses to the slaughter of the sick animal in Washington state have testified that it was not a "downer" and did not appear to be sick at all....