NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service plans will reduce sheep grazing The U.S. Forest Service plans to reduce the number of acres available for sheep grazing in the Sawtooth National Forest, according to a draft environmental impact statement. Ranchers said they are just beginning to review the 320-page document, which would also change the management of four sheep grazing allotments on the land. The grazing allotments, which cover 147,200 acres, include habitat for mountain goats, threatened bull trout and federally reintroduced wolves. Three ranchers are allowed to graze up to 7,500 ewes and lambs on the land, and they must pay $1.35 for every five ewes that graze there.... Giving a Major Lift to Denver's Winter Park Resort Two hours out of Denver, the so-called Ski Train emerges from a 6.2-mile tunnel that travels under the Continental Divide, revealing a ski area that has long occupied a special niche in its industry. As the largest municipally owned ski area in the country, Winter Park has belonged to the City of Denver since it opened in 1940. Denver area skiers consider it their local mountain. In recent years, however, the buildings at Winter Park deteriorated, and the ski area struggled as many of its competitors were bought by large corporations with more resources.... Forest Service to enforce new food storage rules in Wyoming With mountain snows melting and grizzlies emerging from hibernation, rangers in northwest Wyoming's national forests are preparing for what could be a contentious first season with stricter rules aimed at keeping human food away from bears. But they have drawn sharp criticism from outfitters and several Wyoming counties and prompted threats of lawsuits and disobedience. Officials in conservative Fremont County threatened to sue the U.S. Forest Service over the rules and wrote Vice President Dick Cheney in hopes of a last-minute intervention.... Energy panel denies bid to remove Soda Springs Dam Removing Soda Springs Dam is still not an option for the North Umpqua Hydroproject's renewed license, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has ruled. The decision may pave the way for a lawsuit over renewing the project's license. The energy commission on Friday denied conservationists' request to reconsider removing the dam, the lowest in the eight-dam system located about 50 miles east of Roseburg and within 3,000 acres of the Umpqua National Forest.... Homeless men evicted from cave home Two homeless men have been evicted from the cave that they made into a home in the Coconino National Forest. Randall Guerrero and Vaughn George, both 43, were told Monday that they had two days to remove their belongings so that no sign of their occupation remained. Failure to do so could result in arrest, U.S. Forest Service officials said.... State could be liable if lion attacks Sabino Canyon is being reopened after a failed hunt for mountain lions said to be behaving in ways that could indicate a threat to humans. So who's on the hook legally if that threat pans out? That question might have been answered fairly easily had not legislators a month ago discarded a bill to immunize the state against lawsuits over damage by wildlife, managed by the Game and Fish Department on behalf of the public. The bill (SB1347) was introduced in the wake of a recent court decision upholding a $3 million jury award for a motorist whose car struck an elk on Interstate 40 near Flagstaff. Before that, a girl mauled by a bear on Mount Lemmon won a $2.5 million settlement from the state.... Court requires BLM consultation to protect fish A federal judge has thrown out Bureau of Land Management policies that irrigation diversions initiated under the Mining Act of 1866 are not subject to its oversight and therefore don't require assessment for harm to endangered species. In a 13-page order issued last week, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill found that modifications to the 1866 law during the following 110 years left the BLM with control over the diversions. That control, Winmill wrote, requires that those irrigation diversions and ditches across federal land be evaluated with federal fish and wildlife managers to ensure they will not further threaten species protected under the Endangered Species Act.... Green Groups Seek Protections for Alaska Loon A coalition of U.S. and Russian environmental groups petitioned the U.S. federal government on Tuesday for new protections for a species of loon that breeds in an area of Alaska targeted for new oil development. The groups, led by the Center for Biological Diversity, want an Endangered Species Act listing for the yellow-billed loon, a type of waterfowl with a global population that they say is only about 16,650, the smallest of any loon species.... Tribe creates plan to help fish adapt better to wild In an old rhubarb field tucked behind a farmhouse, a smiling man in rain gear stands between two massive holes in the ground. One is lined with concrete. The other is covered in fist-sized rocks and cedar stumps hauled in by earth movers. Symbolically at least, Puyallup Indian Tribe fisheries biologist Blake Smith is positioned between the past and the future of salmon hatcheries.... Father of 'Green Revolution' Derides Organic Movement NPR's Robert Siegel talks with biologist Norman Borlaug, who turned 90 years old this week, about the "Green Revolution" in agriculture his research helped to spark. Borlaug promoted inorganic fertilizers to create higher yields crops -- and for his efforts at curbing world hunger, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. But today, many environmentalists are challenging the "Green Revolution" and urge a shift back to organic fertilizers. Borlaug says the theories of who he calls "extreme greenies" would be inadequate to feed the world.... Group seeking changes to Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program The Center for Biological Diversity is asking the federal government to change its Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program, according to a report by The Associated Press. The environmental group officially petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday, the sixth anniversary of the first release of endangered wolves into the wild of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona.... Wolves making trek back to Utah Gray wolves have been considered extirpated from Utah since 1929, but they're coming back. At 175 pounds, a full-grown male is a formidable enemy in the woods. That's if he is alone. But wolves are pack animals, hunting and living together. Packs can be as small as three animals or as large as 27. No one is bringing them to Utah. They are finding their way from a wolf population started in Wyoming in 1995.... NWC suspends wolf program The increasingly volatile climate about wolves has caused the suspension of a tracking program at Northwest College. But NWC officials value the program and hope the suspension is temporary. Hitchcock coordinates the wolf-tracking program with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and agent Mike Jimenez, who faces allegations of trespassing on a Meeteetse ranch. "It'll blow over, for sure," Hitchcock said.... U.S. Justices debate their role in land-use issue The U.S. Supreme Court doesn't want to see a judge in the driver's seat of the Bureau of Land Management's off-road-vehicle program in Utah. But, several justices wondered during oral arguments Monday, at what point does the agency's approach to protecting potential wilderness areas from damage caused by motorized recreation require judicial intervention? "I'm not willing to accept it's the role of the courts to make sure agencies toe the line," Justice Antonin Scalia told an attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), which asked the court to uphold a 10th Circuit ruling compelling BLM to consider prohibiting all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) use on public lands being studied for possible wilderness designation. A decision in the case, not expected for several months, could dramatically affect the amount of undeveloped backcountry across the West available for Congress to consider for wilderness protection.... Moab couple, OHVs on collision course The 5,000 or so off-road vehicle enthusiasts expected to descend on Moab over the weekend are looking for rough roads. But they could run into some unexpected bumps. A popular trail known as Strike Ravine near the headwaters of Kane Springs Canyon is locked in a bitter dispute between San Juan County and a Moab couple who claim ownership of the road and want to keep the rumble of Jeeps off their land.... Smith pushes land for tribe A plan to return a large swath of federal land to one of Oregon's poorest Indian tribes requires a leap of faith, Sen. Gordon Smith says. But potential payoffs justify that, the Oregon Republican said Tuesday at a Senate hearing on his plan to transfer nearly 63,000 acres of the Siuslaw National Forest near Florence to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, to hold in trust for the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.... Demos set to block judicial nominee President Bush's controversial nomination of William Myers to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appears headed for action on Thursday. Environmental groups and Indian tribes oppose the nomination of the former cattle industry lawyer and aide to retired Wyoming Republican Sen. Alan Simpson. Myers' nomination is expected to be approved by the committee on a party line vote with all 10 Republicans voting for him and nine Democrats against. He likely will face a tougher test by the full Senate. Democrats are expected to try to block the nomination, requiring Republicans to gather 60 votes rather than a simple majority of 51.... Environmentalists sue over approval of Columbia River dredging Environmentalists went to court Tuesday to try to block a $136 million government project to deepen the Columbia River shipping channel, saying the dredging could harm salmon and other wildlife. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, Northwest Environmental Advocates argued that dredging three feet from the 100-mile channel along the Washington-Oregon line would devastate salmon habitat and worsen erosion.... Bush Mining Regulatory Change Is Denounced Tales of floods and flattened peaks and of homes swept away or devalued in central Appalachia were laid out Tuesday by opponents to the Bush administration's plan to ease a buffer-zone regulation protecting streams from coal mining operations.... 'Pharm crop' debate takes root in California An experimental new form of rice, engineered to produce commercial quantities of prescription drugs, is placing California in the middle of a raging international dispute over the use of genetically modified crops. Sacramento-based Ventria Bioscience is seeking state approval to grow rice that can make two human proteins, normally found in breast milk and tears, for use in treating human illnesses.... Editorial: The road to ANWR The environmentalists are fooling around with a triple-edged sword these days, though most wouldn't recognize it. In the interests of clean air, particularly in California and especially in Southern California, the enviros have been pushing for ways to mandate both less consumption of gasoline and cleaner burning gasoline for decades now. Among their favorite solutions to cleaner air are mixing gasoline with ethanol, a corn-based additive that supposedly burns cleaner than regular gasoline (though that's disputed) and opposing "suburban sprawl", the free market's solution to overcrowding and high real estate prices. So what are the real results of such solutions? Come with us now to the land of unintended consequences, a land populated by an overabundance of people who know what's good for the rest of us, and thus impose — through litigation and activist judges, mostly — solutions that more often than not don't solve the problem at hand, but result in conditions 180 degrees out from what was intended.... Wells Are Going Dry All Over Eastern Idaho Water woes are starting early this year! The low water table is just getting lower and wells are going dry all over eastern Idaho. An upper valley well company says it's getting 2 to 3 calls a day from people who are going dry. “Sunday when I went to take a shower the water just really wasn't there. So that's when we first realized something's wrong with the well,” says Rick Bell, well going dry. Come to find out Rick Bell's next-door neighbor’s well has been totally dry since Friday and the four houses in his neighborhood have the same problem.... Wool contract details fuzzy The federal agency that is ordering wool berets for Iraqi security forces disputes a news report that the bid specifications call for the use of Australian wool. But the Washington Post reporter who two weeks ago wrote about the beret order stands by his story. "There is no specification for Australian wool, absolutely none," said Jonathan Thompson, a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, the temporary governing authority in Iraq.... Three Grunts for the Queen Every April, the good people of Sopchoppy, Florida, honor their local practice of worm grunting. This form of bait harvest involves driving a wooden stake into the ground and rubbing a bar across it to create vibrations that force worms to the surface. ON April 10th, the fourth annual Sopchoppy Worm Gruntin’ Festival will draw an estimated 5,000 attendees for a day that will include the Worm Grunting Competition, worm Grunter’s 5k Race, and end with the star-lit Worm Grunter’s Ball. But the true jewel of the day’s events is the crowning of the Worm Gruntin’ Queen....