NEWS ROUNDUP

Officials hope to have prairie dogs removed from threatened species consideration South Dakota has nearly double the number of prairie dogs that officials earlier believed, providing ammunition for efforts to get the animal dropped from the threatened species candidate list. An aerial survey has found 6,300 prairie dog towns occupying 327,500 acres in South Dakota, according to George Vandel, the top biologist for the state Game, Fish & Parks Department. The survey has not been completed on another 1,000 dog towns in Dewey and Corson counties because of weather and other problems, Vandel said. "We are going to be close to 400,000 acres when we get all done," Vandel said this week.... Lack of Awareness to Blame for Avalanche Deaths There is no trend in the snow sports industry as hot, no buzz or vibe more ringing and relished, than the pursuit of the backcountry experiences on skis, snowboards, snowmobiles and snowshoes. Leaving designated ski areas for the largely unexplored is so common, one wonders how much longer the backcountry can remain unexplored. Although the number of avalanche fatalities in the United States in the 1980's was approximately 15 annually, that number has doubled, on average, in the last five years. More people are now killed on public land by avalanches, avalanche researchers report, than by any other natural event, including lightning, fires or tornados. Last year, the Forest Service National Avalanche Center says, 30 people were killed in avalanches in the United States and another 28 died in Canada. Half were backcountry skiers or snowboarders, most of the rest were on snowmobiles.... Sheepish Delbert Chipman had been part of Utah County's growing sheep business for as long as he could remember. It was the flocks of Chipman and Adams sheep and herds of beef cattle that brought his family to settle along the American Fork Creek in 1850. The economy of Utah is spurred on by one of theoldest and most productive industries in the state - sheep raising.... Major land conservation effort awaits federal funds Five Humboldt County properties will remain working ranches while their 17,000 acres are protected from development in a major new conservation effort. The North Coast Regional Land Trust and the national Trust for Public Land have been developing the Six Rivers to the Sea Project since June 2002. They now await $2.8 million through the U.S. Forest Service Federal Forest Legacy, contained in President Bush's 2005 budget, which will fund the lion's share of the project.... Boldt Decision 'very much alive' 30 years later Hailed by some legal experts as the most significant ruling on Native treaty law in the past century, U.S. District Judge George Boldt's ruling held that the United States' mid-1850s treaties with Washington tribes provided that Indians always were entitled to half the salmon and steelhead harvest in their traditional fishing grounds off reservations. Boldt ruled that Washington state virtually had no authority over tribal fishing; in fact, it was the tribes that ceded to non-Indian settlers the rights to fish -- not the other way around. The decision also would instate tribes as "co-managers" with the state over Washington's salmon fisheries resources. For sport and commercial fishermen, Boldt's ruling amounted to blasphemy -- "special rights," they argued, that afforded a group making up less than 1 percent of Washington's population far too large a slice of the fisheries pie.... Oceans in peril: 'We have to change course,' say scientists The first new federal study of oceans in 35 years will suggest we did so, with alarming efficiency. Next month, a report from a panel appointed by President Bush is expected to paint a stark picture of oceans in trouble, and will call for sweeping new oversight measures to reverse decades of ecological decline in marine waters.... Lawmaker proposes avoiding fight over wolves A leading state lawmaker said Wednesday he will sponsor a measure adopting the federal government's stance on wolf management in Wyoming and allowing the process of removing federal protections for endangered wolves to go forward. "I've made a commitment that I will bring a bill that will yield to the federal position," Rep. Mike Baker, R-Thermopolis, told The Associated Press following a meeting between his legislative committee and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams. Baker said he is sponsoring the bill in an attempt to break a logjam over the state's plan to manage wolves once they are removed from the federal Endangered Species List.... Wolf delisting two years away at best, Williams says If Wyoming conformed today with a wolf management plan acceptable to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and no bureaucratic hassles arise, the soonest wolf delisting could occur would be about two years from now, USFWS Director Steve Williams said Wednesday. Williams met with the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee to listen to its members and explain further why the Fish and Wildlife Service has rejected the state's plan to manage gray wolves.... Supervisor: Mohave Co. being denied tax base Buster Johnson is seeking a resolution that would make the federal government reimburse the county for a loss of property tax revenue. He said federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management, is buying or trading land with private owners, causing the county a loss in tax revenue. Over the past four years, Johnson said the county has lost more than 8,500 acres to the federal government, while the state has lost more than 106,000. He said those numbers were put together by a consultant for the Quad State County Government Coalition, an organization Johnson belongs to. In a lot of cases, Johnson said the swapping and buying is being done in conservation efforts to protect endangered species. “There are more land trades (with the BLM) and also more threats of making people give up land for endangered species,” Johnson said. “These businesses will give up the land. That takes it off the tax rolls for us.” Johnson’s solution is to get the rest of the board to approve a resolution, which would endorse the Property Tax Endowment Act of 2003. He has placed the item on Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting agenda. The act says that if the feds buy up a large portion of privately owned property — which is taxed by local jurisdictions — they have to endow those local entities full funding for the payment in lieu of taxes for five fiscal years.... Fees for public lands suffer blow in Senate The ability of the U.S. Forest Service to charge a fee to visit places like the Maroon Bells and possibly expand the program to cover hiking on public lands was dealt a potentially lethal blow in the U.S. Senate yesterday. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 23-0 to make the Recreation Fee Demonstration Project permanent for only the National Park Service. The ability to charge the fee would lapse for three other federal agencies — the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service.... Yellowstone hastily crafts temporary snowmobile rules for rest of season Responding to the latest ruling by a federal judge, the National Park Service issued rules Wednesday that allow more snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks for the remaining few weeks of the winter season. The temporary rules increase from 493 to 780 the number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone each day.Only some of the machines will need to be the cleaner, quieter-type snowmobiles, park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis said, but all must be part of commercially guided trips.... Snowmobiles: Issues get fuzzy when judges disagree On Dec. 16, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington overturned the Bush administration's 2003 plan to allow snowmobiles to operate in Yellowstone. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in Cheyenne overturned a 2001 decision by the Clinton administration to ban snowmobiles. Although the judges were deciding different issues, the results attempt to answer the same fundamental question: should snowmobiles be allowed or not? In the face of a sort of judicial stalemate on that question, the National Park Service was left to decide which opinion to follow.... Federal land deals could be regulated A state legislative committee on Wednesday backed two bills that would require the state Legislature to sign off on land purchases by the federal government. On a 10-3 vote, the House State Affairs Committee backed that idea in cases of state land going to the federal government. A similar proposal that would apply to sales of private land squeaked out on a 7-6 vote. Rep. Larry Rhoden, R-Union Center, sponsored HB1297 and HB1296, he said, because he believes the federal government owns too much land and is always seeking more.... Buffalo Commons researchers offer views on Buffalo Commons idea Back in 1987, researchers Frank and Deborah Popper created outrage among many rural residents by suggesting the Great Plains be allowed to return to its days of native grasslands where buffalo roamed. Included in their Buffalo Commons concept was the prediction that the Plains region faced a future with fewer people, an aging population, economic declines and depleted natural resources. On Wednesday, the husband-and-wife research team was part of a discussion group at Kansas State University about what might happen to the Plains region....