NEWS ROUNDUP

Judge Orders FBI-Wanted Fugitive Detained A Canadian judge ordered a radical environmentalist wanted by the FBI detained Monday, after the American was caught allegedly trying to steal bolt cutters from a tire store. U.S. officials are working with the Canadian government to extradite Michael Scarpitti, a suspected member of the Earth Liberation Front group, a Canadian government spokesman said. The FBI, which considers ELF a terrorist organization, has offered a $25,000 reward for his capture.... Forest Service drops 385 sites from controversial fee program Hikers, birders, and picnickers will no longer have to buy a Northwest Forest Pass to visit 385 sites in Oregon and Washington, starting May 1. The U.S. Forest Service will drop that many trailheads and other areas from the fee program, reducing the total number of day-use sites that require a fee payment to 679 in the two states.... Column: End Game for Northwest Forests During the dark days of the Reagan and Bush I regimes, grassroots forest activists forced the DC politicians and the big green DC groups to take notice of what was happening to the precious Ancient Forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest. They elevated the fate of these forests to a national concern, despite being told it couldn't be done. As irreplaceable forests fell to the saws, the consistent word from DC was that in order to end Ancient Forest logging, "you have to elect Democrats to power." So, come 1993, the issue was "ripe." An Injunction against logging was in place (gained in 1991 during Bush I; issued by courageous Reagan-appointee Judge William Dwyer, the Northern spotted owl was on the cover of TIME and Democrats controlled the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives.... National Media Campaign to Protect Pacific Leatherback Sea Turtles Launched The San Francisco office of DDB Worldwide has helped launch a cutting edge national multi-media campaign to raise awareness about the looming extinction of the Pacific leatherback sea turtle for the San Francisco Bay Area-based environmental organization Sea Turtle Restoration Project and its international Save the Leatherback Campaign.... Salvage logging from Biscuit Fire could clear the way for jobs boon The trees charred in the 2002 Biscuit Fire look to Doug Robertson like jobs for the picking - but you've got to know where he's coming from. He's a six-term county commissioner from Douglas County, a region with double-digit unemployment, the highest rate in Oregon. He's flown over blackened hillsides with harvestable fire-killed trees as far as the eye can see. He instigated a study last year that found fire-killed trees deteriorate and lose economic value if they aren't logged right away.... Management Plan for California Desert Protection, Development Limps Forward The West Mojave Plan, a sweeping blueprint for the management of 9 million acres of public and private land, is limping toward completion, estimated for mid-2004. The plan, created by the Bureau of Land Management, has a twofold intent: To protect endangered species and their habitats, and to streamline the permitting process for developers and the counties. The plan has drawn criticism from everyone. Miners, off-highway enthusiasts, ranchers, county officials and environmentalists have all assailed the plan for different reasons.... Wal-Mart takes on pink-lipped bats A Wal-Mart store in Ohio could have its planned expansion blocked by an innocuous and endangered species of pink-lipped bat. The store has applied to double its retail space onto neighboring wetlands, but at a public hearing March 15 sponsored by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, residents said the project would displace yellow spotted salamanders, frogs, turtles, crayfish and other wildlife, including the 3-inch pink-lipped Indiana bat.... Column: Down for the Hatchery Count We talked awhile about how the entire ecological underpinnings of the Northwest had adapted over time to the nutrients that salmon gathered out in the ocean, stored in their fat bodies, then deposited on the gravel and in the streams of their home watershed after they spawned. All sorts of things -- from insects to bears and even trees -- had evolved to depend on the nutrients provided by the salmon carcasses. In this way, salmon sacrificed their bodies to nourish the watershed community, a community that in turn would ensure the success of salmon's offspring. Of course, the decline in wild salmon spawning resulted in a plunge in the available nutrients to all the critters in the home watershed. More than a 94 percent decline, as salmon researchers calculated. That means the watersheds and ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest are malnourished from lack of salmon.... Feds Offer Voluntary Wetlands Reserve Program to Farmers More than a year after federal officials gave up on a wildlife refuge proposal along northwestern Indiana's Kankakee River, they've found a more politically palatable way to recreate wetlands along the waterway. They're offering landowners a chance to take part in the Wetland Reserve Program, a voluntary program in which the government leases land from private owners. Agriculture officials say that near areas of the Kankakee River that flood, enough Indiana farmers have signed up to cause a waiting list for approval.... Cruelty at Padre Island includes 'coyote fishing' Some pelicans, deer and other creatures at Padre Island National Seashore must flee for their lives from threats that include poaching, target practice and cruelty from human visitors, park rangers say. For the six rangers who patrol about 133,000 acres, some of the worst animal cruelty involves so-called "coyote fishing," where the predators are baited with food attached to a fishing line, then dragged and tortured. Several people were arrested for killing a coyote they caught with a hot dog on fishing line strung down the beach.... Column: Park Service Follies But that's just the stupid part. Here's the outrageous part. It turns out that one reason the Park Service is short of money is that Park Service officials have been doing a lot of traveling. They spent $44 million on official travel at home and abroad just last year. And that includes stops in such exotic locales as China, South America, France and Italy. Park Director Fran Manella was hauled before Congressman Charles Taylor and Norm Dick's House committee last week and ordered to cut the travel and keep the parks open. She promised to comply. From now on, she said, no more overseas trips. Well, that is a start, but it is just the latest chapter in a tale of Park Service mismanagement in which multimillion-dollar projects have been launched without congressional approval and authorization and the Park Service police chief was fired for revealing she didn't have enough police officers to guard the national monuments.... Cross land swap begins The early stages of the land swap designed to save the Mojave Cross have started. The federal government has started doing the required land surveying and may be done with it in a couple weeks, National Park Service spokeswoman Holly Bundock said last week. After the land exchange is complete, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post at the Veterans Home of California-Barstow will acquire ownership of the disputed cross and the acre of land it's on, in the Mojave National Preserve. A federal court in 2002 found the cross unconstitutional because it is on federal land.... Parachute wildflower threatened Conservation groups and botanists filed Monday for endangered species protection for the Parachute penstemon, as gas drilling creeps closer to the plant's habitat. Discovered in 1986, botanists have found the rare desert wildflower in only five spots, including two spots on the Roan Plateau. The Bush administration is pushing to open the plateau for gas drilling and environmentalists say drilling threatens the plant with extinction.... Project Aims for One-Stop Online Shopping for Federal Rules Where there are many, there will be one. Under an ambitious plan recently approved by Bush administration officials, by early 2006 the average citizen will be able to go to a single federal regulatory Web site and dive into an electronic rulemaking repository that will show proposals, final rules, comments, supporting documents such as cost-benefit analyses and just about anything that goes along with the regulatory process. Currently, there exists a simple portal called www.regulations.gov, where users can see proposed rules and comment on them. But for anything more elaborate, they must go to individual agencies.... Supreme Court wades into Western land dispute Supreme Court justices seemed unsympathetic Monday to a lawsuit that accused the federal government of doing too little to protect undeveloped land in Utah's back country from off-road vehicles. The court is considering whether a judge can force federal Bureau of Land Management to more aggressively safeguard the land which is being considered for wilderness designation. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said she was disturbed by photographs of damage to the areas - a landscape that includes sand dunes and ancient stands of ponderosa pines. At the same time, O'Connor said critics of land managers seemed to be trying to use a legal shortcut to force changes.... Future of Wilderness Weighed Before Supreme Court: Bush Admin Seeks Immunity from Public Challenge to Land Management Decisions Attorneys general from 14 states, every living former head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and its General Counsel, a coalition of 38 law professors, a veterans' advocacy group, and numerous conservation groups asked the nation's highest court today to retain a central check and balance that protects America's environment. The groups asked the court to reject a Bush administration effort to usurp the right of average American's to bring environmental enforcement cases to protect America's natural resources. The case before the court centers on undeveloped public lands in the west. The federal government is required by law to maintain the wild character of these lands. When off-road vehicle drivers damaged the lands with their vehicles, the federal government refused to take protective action until citizen groups initiated legal enforcement action. Although the government admitted that it was breaking the law by not adequately protecting these pristine and wild areas, it has offered a radical new legal theory in the Supreme Court under which the public would be helpless to enforce this and other legal duties.... Column: Where the Wild Things Are I mention all this because today's Supreme Court case ostensibly concerns the effects of off-road vehicles on potential wilderness areas. Which sounds like it might make for some glorious, wind-blows-through-your-hair oral argument. But this case is ultimately just about statutory construction, and the only thing blowing through your hair at the high court today is the sound of Justice Antonin Scalia's infinite follow-up questions. I also mention all this because—try as I may—I can't understand the appeal of buzzing around the wilderness in an ATV, digging up the fragile cryptobiotic crust, eroding the delicate soil, and polluting the rivers. But someone will enlighten me, I am sure.... BLM Web site is back online after being shut down for two weeks The Bureau of Land Management's Web site is up and running after being shut down since March 15. An appeals court Wednesday blocked a judge's ruling that ordered most of the Interior Department's computers disconnected from the Internet.... Sabino will reopen with restrictions Wednesday While Sabino Canyon reopens Wednesday and a state hunt has ended there, authorities will still chase down mountain lions reported to be frequenting Foothills neighborhoods. If authorities catch a lion that's considered to be a safety threat in the residential areas, they will ship it by vehicle to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Scottsdale, said Gerry Perry, the Game and Fish Department's regional supervisor.... For an Environmentalist, Victory Toasts Are Rare BARBARA L. LAWRENCE, like the mythic Celtic king who waded into the surf to command the waves to stop, has been fighting the tide of what she calls "environmentally irresponsible" development for most of her adult life. Statistics, if they are the measure of success, would seem to indicate colossal failure. But for Ms. Lawrence, a self-described child of the 60's, the campaign for smart growth, the struggle against suburban sprawl, is a movement. And the movement, she believes, is slowly fostering a consciousness and a push for legislation to stop what will be, if left unchecked, self-immolation.... Student pleads innocent in SUV vandalism, firebombing spree in Southern California A college student with alleged connections to a radical environmentalist group pleaded innocent Monday to charges he took part in a vandalism spree that damaged or destroyed 125 sport utility vehicles. Billy Cottrell, 23, a graduate physics student at the California Institute of Technology, entered the plea in federal court. Trial was set for May 11.... Tearing limbs from limbs Tree-sitters and their supporters view Schatz as Enemy No. 2, just behind the company, Pacific Lumber, that hires him to forcibly extract redwood squatters. His arrival with harness and rope incites the final chaotic scene in a standoff that the activists rarely win. Once Schatz and his crew clear out the sitters, loggers with chain saws go to work de-limbing or topping or felling giant trees. Yet the 46-year-old climber, who developed a passion for trees early and still spends much of his life deep in the woods, takes no great pleasure in a job well done.... Public parks grazing divides officials and environmentalists In the dappled light of a pleasant day, the Sunol Regional Wilderness seems an unlikely place for the center of controversy. But it is. Over cows. Some environmentalists want them out of this and other East Bay parks because, they say, cattle destroy habitat for fish, amphibians and birds, they sully waterways and they detract from the parks' aesthetics. But East Bay parks officials are steadfast in their support for grazing. They say cattle reduce fire danger and enhance park ecosystems -- claims that are hotly contested by anti-grazing activists and contradicted by at least some scientific evidence. They have another supporting reason, too, although park officials do not normally use it to defend their grazing program. They acknowledge that part of their support for ranching has to do with their long-term plans for open space. Some day, they would like to buy neighboring ranches. And allowing grazing in the East Bay's public park system in the meantime allows the park district to preserve good relationships with ranching families. It also makes it easier for ranchers to stay in business, which in turn makes them less likely to sell their property to developers.... The Beast in the Garden: A Modern Parable of Man and Nature(Book Review) Weaving together deep research, meticulous reporting, vivid characterization, disciplined prose, informative political and historical asides, lucid science, incisive wit, and narrative pacing as smooth and suspenseful as a stalking mountain lion, Baron has created a wily page-turner out of an arcane concept -- "habituation," or the behavioral adaptation of predators to people -- that, frankly, does not excite many environmentalists, much less anyone else. Much of Baron's success results from using Lancaster's death to explore a deeper story of human folly and from telling that story through impeccably executed narrative journalism. Baron traces a series of lion sightings and focuses on the tireless crusade of Boulder, Colo., researchers Michael Sanders and Jim Halfpenny to persuade the city, county, and state that Colorado has a lion problem.... Air pollution panel accused of industry tilt Several members of a panel formed by the National Academy of Sciences to study the regulation of air pollution from coal-burning power plants are too biased against the regulation to serve, according to a group of environmentalists. The regulation, known as "New Source Review," would allow old, coal-fired power plants to upgrade equipment without having to install pollution controls. In a letter Friday to Bruce Alberts, president of the academy, four environmentalists argued that the chairman and one member should be removed from the proposed panel and replaced by scientists whose views might offset those of still other members, who have consulted for the electric power industry....Anschutz aims to quench Texas thirst Denver financier Philip Anschutz, a veteran investor in energy, telecommunications and entertainment, is launching a foray into a more basic commodity: water. Anschutz and other west Texas farm owners are negotiating to supply water to the city of El Paso in a deal that could be worth nearly $100 million a year. Anschutz, in partnership with El Paso developer Woody Hunt and other landowners, agreed earlier this month to a 90-day exclusive negotiation period with El Paso Water Utilities. If a deal comes out of the negotiations, the water-rights owners could send 70,000 acre-feet of water to El Paso, enough to accommodate the city's growth for decades.... State demanding activist return records on official After conservative Houston activist Mary Williams received documents confirming that Gov. Rick Perry's head of Texas-Mexico relations is a Mexican citizen, she shared the information with some of her political friends. That apparently prompted an anonymous letter sent to farmers and ranchers claiming Mexico isn't paying its water debt to the United States because Helena Colyandro, a resident alien, is negotiating on Texas' behalf. Now, the Texas secretary of state's office is demanding Williams return all the documents she received, citing the inadvertent release of confidential information. The letter also demanded a list from Williams of everyone with whom she had shared the Colyandro documents.... FDA Failed to Inspect Nearly Half of California Animal-Feed Handlers in 2003 Nearly half of California companies that handle feed were not inspected by the government last year, despite regulations calling for annual checks – a key brick in the U.S. firewall against mad cow disease. Scientists think feed made from cows and other ruminant animals infected with mad cow and similar diseases is the main way mad cow disease is spread. Federal law prohibits making cattle feed from cows and other ruminant animals, such as sheep, elk and deer.... It's All Trew: Locking ourselves away is progress? About three years ago, we began locking all doors and gates here at the ranch for the first time in more than fifty years. Theft by a friend of a friend of a friend took advantage of open access and brought to a close our habit of trusting everyone. My father often advised, "trust everyone but don't tempt anyone." I can now testify from experience this old adage will prove true more times than not. Remember hearing the saying, "the latchstring is always out?" To all you young whippersnappers that means that way-back-when crude frontier doors were often made without door knobs. A bar device, just inside the door held it shut for secure protection. If all was well, a leather thong that lifted the bar was thrust through a hole in the door to hang outside. To open the door, merely pull the latchstring to lift the bar. For privacy, pull the thong inside and you were protected....