NEWS ROUNDUP

Firefighters Battle Calif. Ski Area Fire Firefighters made steady progress Friday against a blaze that got out of control after it was ignited to destroy dry brush and dead trees. The 350-acre fire, about two miles south of the resort city of Big Bear Lake, was 65 percent contained and had stopped moving Friday, authorities said. Full containment was expected Saturday. About 1,500 skiers were ordered to leave Bear Mountain and adjacent Snow Summit but no homes were evacuated and no one was injured, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Carol Beckley said. A hut used by the resort's ski patrol was destroyed.... Angry residents want answers from Forest Service An angry crowd of about 150 residents confronted Forest Service officials Thursday, March 25, after a prescribed burn jumped its perimeter lines and burned straight up the mountain toward Bear Mountain Resort. The communities of Sugarloaf and Moonridge were put on alert to be prepared to evacuate, just in case. The town hall meeting at the Convention Center put the Forest Service on the hot seat, as emotions reached close to the boiling point. With the Old Fire just six months from memory, the recollection of evacuation and the threat of wildfire was still very fresh for those in the room facing down fire officials, asking what happened....Group says Forest Service PR campaign was second proposed A watchdog group says U.S. Forest Service officials who approved a $90,000 public relations blitz backing plans to triple logging in 11 Sierra Nevada national forests proposed an even bigger PR campaign five years ago. The officials who approved the Sierra Nevada campaign proposed a $600,000 PR effort in 1999 seeking to persuade reporters covering the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to do positive stories about the role national forests play in providing recreation and protecting the environment.... Wyden floats idea of nearly doubling wilderness Protected wilderness on Mount Hood could nearly double in size if a proposal by U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden gains traction in the nation's Capitol. The Oregon Democrat said Thursday that he's prepared to introduce legislation designating an additional 160,000 acres of congressionally protected wilderness within the Mount Hood National Forest and Columbia River Gorge. Wyden also wants to bring four stretches of rivers, totaling 36.9 miles, into the national Wild and Scenic River System.... Scuffle mars mountain lion news briefing Arizona Game & Fish Department officials booted an opponent of the Sabino Canyon mountain lion hunt out the door and threatened to arrest him after a news briefing yesterday afternoon. Daniel Patterson, an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, spoke out after a statement that Gerry Perry, Game & Fish regional supervisor, made about who would pay for housing the lions at a Scottsdale center.... Bald eagles nesting in Chicago for first time in a century Bird experts say a pair of bald eagles are nesting in Chicago for the first time in more than a century. State officials and birders are trying to keep the eagles' location a secret. They don't want curious onlookers to scare the birds from their nest. U-S Fish and Wildlife Service officials say they are nesting somewhere next to the Little Calumet River. The waterway marks part of Chicago's southern border.... Column: End costly spills and pay anglers not to catch salmon A ll this talk about reducing or eliminating summer spills at Columbia River dams to rescue, at most, an estimated $77 million in lost hydroelectric power sales misses the point. Never mind how many salmon would die as a result of eliminating or reducing summer spills. We ought to be talking instead about strategies to save as many salmon as we can the old-fashioned way: by reducing the harvesting of returning adult salmon. Allowing regulated killing seasons on an endangered species has always struck me as the ultimate form of stupidity in the great Northwest debate about saving our salmon. Think about it: The Bonneville Power Administration has spent more than $6 billion on fish recovery in the past 25 years to protect and preserve salmon. Yet society thinks nothing about allowing the citizenry to kill them off, good years and bad.... Editorial: Putting people last Carpetbagging "environmental" groups have convinced U.S. District Judge David Hagen to delay a scheduled auction of some 6,300 acres of federally controlled land in Lincoln County near Mesquite, so that greens and bureaucrats can spend years traipsing through the desert, counting tortoises. On Monday, Judge Hagen ruled that before the Bureau of Land Management can dispose of the land, as authorized by the federal Lincoln County Land Act of 2000, the agency must complete an environmental impact statement. As a result of this decision, the BLM has canceled the auction, which had been slated for August. Mind you, the good folks in Lincoln County (pop. 4,000) would like nothing better than to conduct the auction, sell the property, and put it on the local tax rolls. Roughly 98 percent of the land in the county is in government hands, and with so little property in private hands to generate revenues, times are so tough there the taxpayers had to lay off the county manager.... Florida panthers in Arkansas? A federal study has ranked two national forests in Arkansas as the most promising sites for returning the Florida panther to parts of its former range, but any proposal to do that would face intense opposition from farmers and other state residents. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service commissioned the study as part of its efforts to save the panther, now confined to a shrinking habitat southwest of Lake Okeechobee.... Snail plan calls for preserving streams One of the recommendations to protect the Newcomb's snail is to preserve minimum flows in Kaua'i streams where the threatened animals live, according to a draft recovery plan released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A series of problems threatens the tiny freshwater snail, including predation by frogs, toads, fish and carnivorous snails. But diversion of water from streams, causing diminished flows in areas where the snail lives, could wipe out entire populations, the plan said.... Panther family being taught to avoid humans Wildlife officials are using dogs and slingshots to teach a family of Florida panthers not to get too comfortable around humans. The three cats have been spotted several times around homes in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Southwest Florida since last fall. While it's not unheard of to encounter the endangered panthers in the region, these animals seem to have lost their fear of humans.... Park Service Removes Yellow Ribbons To Welcome Troops Yellow ribbons tied around utility poles to welcome soldiers home from Iraq were removed by the National Park Service (search), which says they are a political statement. About a dozen ribbons were posted along a park service-owned street that runs through the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site (search), where his presidential library, birthplace and gravesite are all located. A resident who was involved in placing about 40 ribbons around town Tuesday said she cannot understand the objection. "We wanted to let the troops know that we are welcoming them home," Sandy West said. "I was very disappointed in a government organization that wouldn't even support the kids.".... BLM, producers dispute undrilled gas The Wyoming Bureau of Land Management is feuding with coalbed methane gas producers over federal parcels in the Powder River Basin that may have marginal volumes of gas. Producers blame the BLM for limiting the amount of federal minerals it allowed to be drilled during the three years it took to complete an Environmental Impact Statement to extend the coalbed methane play in the area. They say the slow permitting pace created a situation where pockets of federal gas were drained by neighboring state and private wells over a number of years.... BLM chief pleased with federal permitting Stepping back from remarks she made in October about "problematic" personnel at field offices in Wyoming, Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke said she is pleased with the oil and gas permitting work being done in Wyoming.... Supreme Court Eyes Land Management Case A wilderness area that has been proposed for government protection stands next to a state-run ATV park where people go joy-riding across the red sand on knobby tires, much to the chagrin of environmentalists. Environmentalists say the proposed protected area -- with its dunes and ancient stands of ponderosa pines -- is in danger from ATV damage while the federal government ponders the future of the land. They want it safeguarded now, not months from now when a final decision is made. The dispute has given rise to a U.S. Supreme Court case that will be heard on Monday. At issue is whether citizen groups can sue the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to force it to more aggressively safeguard public land awaiting a decision on protected status. The case could have sweeping implications for the management of federal land across the West.... Column: High-gas-price blues? Blame the greens As gasoline prices continue to climb, finger pointing is becoming a national pastime. Led by Sen. Ted Kennedy, of all people, Senate Democrats say they are "outraged that the administration is not doing everything in its power to alleviate the strain on drivers, consumers and businesses." This same Ted Kennedy, and Tom Daschle, have led Senate Democrats to block the administration's energy bill. They have done everything in their power to increase the strain on drivers, consumers and businesses by blocking every attempt to increase domestic oil production. Americans have every right to be angry, as they watch the rising price of gasoline take a bigger bite out of their paychecks. But their anger should be directed toward the real cause of the unnecessary price increases: irresponsible reverence for the environment. Anger should be focused on the League of Conservation Voters and the senator they have endorsed for president. Anger should be focused on the Sierra club, the National Wildlife Federation, Greenpeace, Defenders of Wildlife and the horde of environmental organizations that go ballistic whenever anyone proposes to drill a new oil well or build a new refinery.... How much is left? Millions of barrels of oil have been discovered on Alaska’s North Slope, but how much more could there be, yet undiscovered? The U.S. Geological Survey has assessed undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern side of the North Slope and in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the western side, and is now looking at what it calls the “middle ground.” The middle ground of the North Slope, says Ken Bird of the USGS, is the area between ANWR and NPR-A, north of the Brooks Range and south of the three-mile offshore limit of state land.... Book accuses Justice Dept. of nuclear plant coverup Secret midnight burning of radioactive waste. An FBI spy flight with infrared cameras. An employee who contends she was contaminated by fellow workers for reporting safety violations. It sounds like something out of a paperback thriller. But the allegations are contained in a new book that says the Justice Department covered up environmental misconduct at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver more than a decade ago. Federal and state health officials say they are looking into the claims raised by the book, "The Ambushed Grand Jury: How the Justice Department Covered Up Government Nuclear Crimes and How We Caught Them Red Handed." The book was written by Wes McKinley, the foreman of a grand jury that investigated activity at Rocky Flats, and attorney Caron Balkany. They said the book is worth the risk of jail for violating grand jury secrecy rules. "I am doing my patriotic duty," McKinley said. "These people are criminals.".... Judge rejects argument against fish poisoning A federal judge has rejected an effort to halt the poisoning of fish in Cherry Creek so that the stream may be replanted with westslope cutthroat trout. "Everything that reasonably could have been done to fully satisfy all requirements of the law has been met," U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon ruled Wednesday, in upholding the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks project. Bill Fairhurst of Three Forks had sued the agency to halt the project, maintaining that using antimycin to kill Yellowstone cutthroat, rainbow and brook trout constitutes water pollution and violates the federal Clean Water Act.... Hoover Dam considering banning vehicles once bridge is done Hoover Dam might be closed to all motor vehicles once a bypass bridge over the Colorado River is completed in 2007, a dam administrator said. Bob Walsh, spokesman for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, said security and maintenance concerns were behind a proposal to ban passenger cars from using the winding two-lane highway across Hoover Dam after the alternate route opens.... Water deal becomes law in Snake River Canyon signing Water users from above and below the Snake River Canyon rim joined Gov. Dirk Kempthorne Friday at the signing of legislation that will keep water flowing for another year north of the river. The ceremony was a show of unity among the state and water users in resolve and cooperation to protect the vitality of the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer. It supplies groundwater on the plateau and spring water at the river's edge, sustaining the region's economy and the Snake River.... History Channel to explore technology of the Old West Consider the bandanna. A simple square of cloth filling so many needs for a cowboy on the trail. He could use it to wipe his brow. Or fashion it into a sling for a broken arm. It could be waved in the air as a signal. He could pull it over his nose to keep the dust out. And if a morally unencumbered cowboy came to realize that being a drover was never going to make him rich, he could pull it up over his face and rob a bank. This is an entry level example from the History Channel's newest series, "Wild West Tech," debuting Tuesday at 8 p.m. The series opener, "Cowboy Tech," looks at the gear used by the cowboy from the end of the Civil War to the turn of the century.... Pistol packin' mamas R.L."Larry" Wilson knows this about women: they aren't afraid to pull the trigger. The San Francisco author and firearms expert is out with what he says is the first book to tell the whole truth about females' natural, historical, existentially joyful affinity for firearms. In "Silk and Steel: Women at Arms, " Wilson has collected thousands of bits of documentary evidence from his 35 years in the field to prove that women and weapons have been inseparable since the invention of gunpowder....