NEWS ROUNDUP

Some hunters push state to restrict ATVs The group of hunting purists is behind a push to get the Nevada Wildlife Commission to restrict hunter use of ATVs — a move the board acknowledges might be necessary to protect wildlife and public lands. Traditional sportsmen accuse the mechanized hunters of disturbing their hunts, engaging in unfair chases for game and carving out more and more new roads in the remote regions of Nevada every year.... Ex-Forest Service chief: Spare old growth trees Former Forest Service Chief Mike Dombeck told a group of environmental law students in Portland that President Bush could burnish his legacy by protecting old growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. Dombeck, delivering the keynote address of the National Center of Environmental Law Societies conference at Lewis & Clark College, addressed the lingering controversy over cutting old growth in the so-called spotted owl forests of Western Washington, Oregon and Northern California.... Problems as deep as a river Put your finger on the town of Three Forks, Mont., just west of Bozeman, on your map, and your digit will be covering up the headwaters of the Missouri River. Trace the river's meandering route, and 2,341 miles later, and you'll note the river empties into the Mississippi River in the vicinity of St. Louis. From beginning to end, the "Big Muddy," as it's nicknamed, flows through, or touches, seven states. Its flow is regulated by six dams. Its uses are grouped into six categories: flood control, water supply and water quality control, irrigation, navigation, power and -- finally -- recreation, fish and wildlife.... Snowy plover runs up against beach economy He has never seen the snowy plover — a bird so small it can fit into a child's cupped hands — but a state proposal for protecting it is now threatening his livelihood, he said. "This is the spotted owl on the beach," said Olson, 58, referring to the threatened owl that years ago brought logging to a halt on vast reaches of federal forests in Oregon. The state has proposed closing 57 miles — or about 25 percent — of Oregon's northern coast to dogs, kites, vehicles and campfires during the birds' six-month mating season in an effort to restore nesting areas for the threatened snowy plover. The concept of trading in a part of their beach for a bird most people here have never seen has infuriated residents — even though environmentalists statewide say the protections are necessary.... Column: Addicted to chasing wolves Hi, my name is Amy, and I'm a wolfaholic. I know there are others like me out there. They're driving cars with bumper stickers saying "Little Red Riding Hood Lied." Their walls display dreamy paintings of wolves that look gentler than Gandhi. My wolfaholism manifests itself in a different way: I'm addicted to watching wolves.... Speculator's deals turn sensitive land into cash A land speculator who earned more than $40 million selling pristine oceanfront properties to conservationists after announcing plans to develop them is poised to cash in again in Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains. Using a complicated series of business partnerships, Manhattan Beach-based Brian Sweeney has made a specialty in California of buying land in environmentally sensitive areas, threatening to build homes on it and then selling the land to conservation groups that pay for it with state and donated money.... Deadly ending The mauling deaths of Californian Timothy Treadwell and girlfriend Amie Huguenard at Alaska's Kaflia Bay in October may have begun with something as simple as the celebrity bear-man leaving his lunch to shoo away a wandering grizzly. After more than a decade of summers spent hanging out among the bears of the Katmai coast, Treadwell considered himself a friend and companion of these bears. But Alaska State Troopers and other people who have reviewed evidence gathered after the couple died believe Huguenard was becoming increasingly nervous about life among the bears. Newly released reports from troopers hint the two may have been arguing about the danger. Nearly 70 pages of troopers memos, on-the-scene reports from National Park Service rangers, property records and maps were obtained by the Daily News in response to several Freedom of Information Act requests over a span of almost six months.... Fund to aid wild habitat proposed Harm to habitat and wildlife from oil and gas development in Wyoming could be made up for by setting aside a penny for every million cubic feet of natural gas produced in the state, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said. "I don't intend to preside over the end of wildlife in this state," he told a Conservation Congress gathering Saturday. "The moneys could be used to focus on securing more habitat and wildlife resources," he said. "We would treat that fund separately from assistance for towns and counties … I believe community impacts should be funded out of the general revenue of the state.".... Editorial: Pristine Wilderness, in Court The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today on one of the most important federal land cases to come before it in years. The legal issue is whether the courts can require a recalcitrant federal agency to enforce a specific Congressional mandate — in this case, a mandate to protect America's wilderness. The larger issue is whether wilderness will be managed in ways that ensure its survival for future generations. The case involves thousands of acres in Utah set aside as "wilderness study areas" by the Bureau of Land Management. Under law, such areas are to be protected against "impairment" from commercial or recreational activity until Congress decides whether to designate them as permanently protected wilderness.... Greens, ORVs toe to toe over 'feet vs. fuel' in U.S. top court To hear opposing sides tell it, the U.S. Supreme Court must decide between a flood of lawsuits paralyzing federal agencies or swarms of dirt bikes and four-wheelers trashing pristine public lands after it hears oral arguments in a Utah case Monday. The Bush administration is asking the high court to overturn a 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in a 1999 lawsuit brought by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) against Interior Secretary Gale Norton. In August 2002, the Denver-based appeals court reversed the decision of a Utah federal judge and found the Bureau of Land Management can be legally forced to consider limiting off-road-vehicle (ORV) use on public lands under study as future wilderness areas until Congress determines their status.... Drilling surges in state Soaring national demand for gas and oil has triggered the biggest energy boom in Colorado history, with drilling permits for wells in this state expected to hit an all-time high of 2,500 this year. But the increased rate of drilling - and a push by the Bush administration to expedite energy production in the Rockies - is not enough, experts say, for producers to catch up to two realities: Production in the Gulf of Mexico is rapidly dwindling, and the nation is increasingly using natural gas to fuel generation of electricity. The Energy Information Administration predicts that the United States will need between 29 percent and 51 percent more natural gas by 2025. But U.S. production has flat-lined despite ambitious exploration and innovative extraction technologies. These shifts in supply and demand caused the National Petroleum Council recently to predict that prices will be high and volatile.... Editorial: Wild about Mount Hood Sen. Ron Wyden has started a debate that should end with more protected wilderness around Mount Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. The Oregon Democrat released a draft plan Thursday to give wilderness protection to another 160,000 acres of forest around Mount Hood, nearly doubling the existing wilderness areas. For now, Wyden's plan is just lines on a map, drawn in pencil, likely to be changed by political give and take. Yet one thing is certain: This state is overdue for more wilderness. It's been 20 years since Congress approved any broad-scale addition to Oregon wilderness. In that time, the state's population has exploded, especially in the counties surrounding Mount Hood.... Editorial: How does this protect nature? "Seems to me," the senator said, "rather than tell people they are going to be restricted from using our public lands, the solution lies in providing more opportunities for them to enjoy our great places." Exactly right. But how does the designation of additional wilderness serve that purpose? According to the 1964 law that created the designation, wilderness is supposed to be "an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man." In such areas there are to be no improvements -- no roads, no motors, no mechanical transport such as bikes, and no structure or installation such as outhouses at popular and often overrun camping sites. So, within easy reach of the metropolitan area, where hundreds of thousands of people can be expected to flock to the woods over the next 50 years, trampling through the brush, leaving their trash, polluting the ground -- how does it make sense to preclude a type of forest management that tries to prepare for and cope with such an influx? On the surface, faced with hordes of people, prudent forest management -- with trails, working toilets, other facilities for visitors -- might help nature more than declaring more acres to be wild.... Sabino hunt for mountain lions ends indefinitely After five days of failed attempts to trap mountain lions in Sabino Canyon, a controversial state hunt for the animals has been called off indefinitely. The Arizona Game and Fish Department, which has been concerned that the lions will attack humans, said it will release more information about the decision at a press conference with officials from the Coronado National Forest today. Sabino Canyon, a popular recreation area, remains closed to the public.... Cheers, jeers sound for Delta dam plans Water officials looking into increasing the dam holding the San Joaquin River back believe a bigger barrier could help bring the river back to life -- but environmentalists are already protesting the idea, even as farmers cheer the possibility of getting more water for their land. "We have a goal of helping the river by capturing more floodwaters that would otherwise be lost," said Jason Phillips, project manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.... Animas-LaPlata pushed back two years Bureau of Reclamation officials have moved back the completion date of the Animas-La Plata Project from April 2008 to July 2010. The news was presented to the project's Construction Coordination Committee on Friday by Rick Ehat, A-LP project engineer and chairman of the coordination committee....Whose water? As Albert Miller stands next to a stock tank on his ranch outside this far West Texas town, he can't help but feel a vague sense of unease. The tank still holds water from a recent rain, and the springs that seep out of the nearby mountains and canyons continue to feed the ranch its much-needed water supply. But in a region that views water as a precious resource, especially in the midst of a decadelong drought, Miller and his neighbors say they are worried that the next threat could come not from Mother Nature but from the state of Texas.... Appeals court to hear challenge Nearly seven years after Steve and Jeanne Charter first refused to pay a $1-per-head fee on cattle they sold, a federal appeals court is set this week to hear the Montana ranchers' challenge to the national beef checkoff. Oral arguments are set for Wednesday in Seattle before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.... The new pioneers of sprawl Sprawl, of course, is hardly a new issue for Colorado, a state whose population is growing faster than that of Bangladesh. But the focus is usually on dense subdivisions and the endless expanse of malls that creep over hills along the interstates. Now, as more and more of the West's open space is carved up and converted into 35-acre "ranchettes" - the lower limit for avoiding subdivision restrictions in Colorado - some worry that the trend of exurban growth, while more subtle, could cause lasting damage to a countryside and culture that's already disappearing. "This is the unknown threat to Colorado's landscape," says Will Coyne, a land-use expert at the Environment Colorado. "The focus on growth has been around urban and suburban growth, while we're watching millions of acres be consumed by ranchettes.".... Fourth-generation cattlewoman strives to continue her forebears' longtime way of making a living Micaela King McGibbon can stand on the spot her great-grandfather homesteaded in 1895 and lean on the corrals he built more than a century ago. On a nearby hillside overlooking the breadth of the Kings' sprawling Anvil Ranch near Three Points, a small cemetery cradles the bones of her grandpa and grandma. Behind the main ranch house is the old adobe building used as a schoolhouse when her dad was a young boy. McGibbon, a fourth-generation rancher, is as much a part of this landscape as the cactus that serve as fodder for cattle in times of drought.... On The Edge Of Common Sense: I write for readers who need a Baxter break Who reads this column? That I can't answer, but I do know who I write for. I write for the guy (or lady or kid) with his feet in the stirrups, seat on the tractor, arm in the cow, and squint in the eye. For the one who's been hangin' on so long, not because he's afraid of fallin', but just for the pure sake of bein' there. One who still takes pride in a well-set post, plowed furrow, or a perfect brand....