NEWS ROUNDUP

Study Predicts Massive Mudslides In Burned Areas Heavy rains in areas burned by the Cedar and Paradise fires could trigger massive mudslides over the coming years, according to a federal study. The study of more than 400 basins burned by the fires found that storms could set off flows and peak discharges of up to 6,000 cubic feet of mud and debris per second. "If it's raining, leave," Susan Cannon, lead author of the study and a mudslide expert, told The San Diego Union-Tribune. "To think that you've built a sandbag wall that's going to protect the house ... is naive.".... Judge awards injured snowmobiler $11 million Montana federal judge has ordered the U.S. Forest Service and a snowmobiler to pay more than $10.7 million to a Michigan man who suffered severe brain injuries when he was struck in the head by a snowmobile in 1996. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula, Mont., ruled that the Forest Service must pay 40 percent of the award for the February 1996 crash near West Yellowstone, Mont., that left Brian Musselman of Hope, Mich., with permanent disabilities. Molloy ruled in late January that the agency failed to fix dangerous conditions along the groomed trail or warn snowmobilers of the dangers that existed.... Judge blocks salvage logging plan in Missionary Ridge burn area A federal judge blocked a logging project on land burned by the devastating Missionary Ridge wildfire after a conservation group said the Forest Service failed to do a wildlife count as required by law. A timber industry official said the decision effectively kills the plan because the fire-killed aspen, spruce, fir and ponderosa pine would be valueless by the time the objections are resolved. Colorado Wild, a nonprofit conservation group in Durango, filed a lawsuit in December saying the Forest Service had not properly accounted for population trends in key wildlife species, including the Abert's squirrel, the American marten and four types of birds.... Walden urges Endangered Species Act reforms Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., offered testimony Wednesday in support of legislation he has introduced in Congress to reform the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Walden's legislation, the Sound Science for Endangered Species Act Planning Act of 2003 (HR 1662), would require that greater weight be given to field-tested and scientifically peer-reviewed data under the ESA. Walden's testimony was delivered today before the Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, which held a hearing today entitled, "Issues Affecting Jobs in the Forest Industry.".... State Parks denies mountain lion breeding program exists State Parks officials have declared false the allegations made by local residents in a Jan. 15 article in The Malibu Times that the Malibu Creek State Park Preliminary General Plan involves a provision to breed mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains. "We have no plan whatsoever to breed mountain lions. To think otherwise is false," said Hayden Sohm, Malibu Sector Superintendent of State Parks. The fears expressed by residents came after attacks in Orange County by a cougar that left one cyclist dead and another with severe injuries, and the killing of goats in Malibu by another cougar.... PLF sues to remove plover from endangered list The Pacific Legal Foundation, a property-rights legal firm that represented Coos County in its effort to overturn critical habitat designations for the threatened Western snowy plover in 2003, has asked a federal court to remove the shorebird from the endangered species list. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Surf Ocean Beach Commission and the city of Morro Bay, Calif., was entered in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on Tuesday. In an announcement, PLF attorney Greg Broderick said the listing is based on "junk science" and is hurting West Coast economies. "The government is kicking people off of beaches from California to Washington, while refusing to look at hundreds of pages of scientific data showing that the plover is not threatened," said PLF attorney Greg Broderick in an announcement of the lawsuit. "If the government is going to keep people off the beach and cripple the coastal economy, they should at least look at the science.".... Wild salmon see glimmer of hope Since the dramatic turnaround in ocean conditions, the risk of extinction for many wild salmon stocks in the Pacific has diminished, according to the latest status reports from the federal government. Of the dozen Columbia Basin salmon stocks listed under the Endangered Species Act, all except Snake River sockeye are "clearly in less jeopardy of extinction" than they were three years ago, according to the October reports from the National Marine Fisheries Service.... Timeline Documents Three Years of Consistent Failure and Neglect On the heels of the Bush administration's budget announcements, today the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition (SOS), a nationwide coalition of more than 50 businesses, conservation organizations, commercial and sportfishing associations, river groups and taxpayer advocates, released a chronological report of the Bush administration's record on recovery of imperiled Pacific wild salmon and steelhead. The report summarizes 35 separate Administration actions in the last three years, which together document a consistent pattern of failure to restore salmon, comply with laws and treaties, or build the Northwest's salmon economies.... Appeals court says scientists can study Kennewick Man Scientists can study the 9,300-year-old remains of the Kennewick Man, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a decision last August by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Jelderks in Portland that the remains, which Northwest Indian tribes consider sacred, can be studied. The tribes wanted the bones, found on the north bank of the Columbia River in 1996 by teenagers going to a boat race, to be turned over to them for burial. The three-judge panel found that the remains do not fall under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and can be studied under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.... Kempthorne, lawmakers at odds over wolf pact The first deep rift this year between the Legislature and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne tore open over wolves and Native Americans on Tuesday, and a House committee meeting ended in an argument between Republicans. Legislators have been steaming over the “memorandum of understanding” since a draft of the agreement was handed out to key leaders a few days ago. Republican leaders angrily left a meeting with Kempthorne last week, and some key lobby groups, including the Idaho Farm Bureau, have been bashing the agreement in their updates to members. The agreement basically hashes out the role of Idaho Fish and Game, the state Office of Endangered Species and the Nez Perce Tribe in wolf management once the wolves are taken off the Endangered Species List..... Groups give views on new grazing rules Ranchers and environmentalists lined up Tuesday night to speak their minds on the Interior Department’s new plan for managing livestock grazing on 160 million acres of public lands. The department’s Bureau of Land Management released a draft environmental impact statement Jan. 2 that conceded “some short-term adverse effects” from the new rules but promised long-term improvements in rangeland and BLM management. In the last of four Western meetings, representatives serving both livestock groups and conservationists raised several questions and concerns on the new rules, which go into effect in December.... Sierra Club Criticizes New Grazing Regulations for Public Lands The Sierra Club is criticizing the Bush Administration’s new rules regarding livestock grazing on public lands, as citizens across the West speak out about the proposed changes. Late last year the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released proposed changes to grazing regulations which will ultimately hurt the long-term sustainability of America’s western landscapes. “The Bush administration’s changes will put us back decades in the effort to improve the health of our public lands,” said Sierra Club President Larry Fahn. “The West’s landscapes have been overgrazed for decades. Over the years the BLM has made some progress, but these recent moves threaten that progress.”....Coalition Sues to Limit Drilling for Oil and Gas in New Mexico A group of Navajo officials, cattle ranchers and environmentalists sued the Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday over federal efforts to increase natural gas exploration in northwestern New Mexico, an area rich in mineral resources. The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Washington, also names the Department of the Interior as a defendant. It seeks to limit the drilling of oil and natural gas wells in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. Federal officials recently said that they would permit nearly 10,000 new wells in the basin over the next two decades. Over the last year, Navajo officials and environmental groups have tried to roll back plans by the bureau to permit energy companies to explore for natural gas on religious sites and in areas they consider environmentally fragile. Despite Navajo protests, however, the bureau has approved the drilling plans and the construction of 1,000 miles of roads to give drillers access to the area.... Brothel move could start again next week The move of buildings from the Mustang Ranch, Northern Nevada’s most famous brothel, to a controversial new bordello nearby may resume next week. Storey County commissioners agreed Tuesday to allow transport of the Mustang’s buildings to the Wild Horse Canyon Ranch & Spa, a brothel that opened in 2002 along Interstate 80 about 20 miles east of Reno. “We are hopeful we can start moving on the buildings next week,” said Lance Gilman, who operates Wild Horse Canyon and owns the Mustang buildings.....