NEWS ROUNDUP

Wolverine expert argues against helicopter skiing A wolverine expert is asking the U.S. Forest Service to stop helicopter skiing in some areas of northwest Wyoming to protect the rare species. The Bridger-Teton National Forest is considering issuing a new five-year permit for High Mountain Heli-Skiing, but biologist Jeffrey Copeland argued that could hurt the chances of wolverines recolonizing the Snake River Range and Palisades Wilderness Study Area. He urged the Forest Service to reconsider the permit.... Officials say no easy answers in prairie dog debate One of the largest prairie dog colonies lies on the western side of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western South Dakota, but wildlife biologists and ranchers disagree whether the animals are a menace that should be destroyed or a necessary part of the ecosystem. The prairie dog town is spread over an estimated 25,000 acres that stretch from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Highway 41 north of Oglala on the reservation to near the Fall River County line, about eight miles west.... Rhoads pleased with D.C. attitude on issues According to state Sen. Dean Rhoads, the Nevada Legislative Committee on Public Lands found a receptive audience during its recent trip to Washington, D.C. The possible listing of sage grouse on the endangered species list and the wild horse herds in Nevada were among the big topics of discussion during two days of meetings with federal officials and legislators.... Outfitter wants hot tubs in Idaho wilderness A backcountry outfitter has asked the Forest Service for permission to install hot tubs for tourists at three locations in central Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, but agency officials say the application is drawing protests. Mile High Outfitters in Challis wants to install the tubs at Cabin Creek, Mile Hi and Cold Meadows to benefit people it guides on hunting, fishing and wolf viewing trips.... Column: Shooting on public lands is legal Too few managed areas for target shooting have been established by the Forest Service, forcing most shooters to find the closest forest land for their sport. Using the closest public land presents an issue of conflict with other users because national forest land is managed under a multiple-use philosophy. With population growth, i.e. urban sprawl, there is an increased desire to build homes close to and even adjacent to these lands. As the result of such growth, there has been an initiative by local governments and residents to prohibit recreational shooting sports on national forest lands.... Column: The Politics of Timber Theft But this was just a tune up for much bigger fish, namely the largest privately-owned timber company in the world: Weyerhaeuser. The investigation was code-named "Rodeo." The task force had compiled evidence that Weyerhaeuser had illegally cut more than 88,000 trees off of the Winema National Forest in southern Oregon. The pilfered trees were valued at more than $5 million. Moreover, investigators suspected that managers in at least three different Forest Service offices had gotten wind of the investigation, tipped off Weyerhaeuser, destroyed documents and tried to silence agency whistleblowers. Yet, just as the task force was closing it on its culprits its work came to a crashing halt. Less than a four weeks after the Denver meeting with Jack Ward Thomas, Marion received a bizarre letter from the chief thanking him for his service and disbanding the task force immediately. The letter was hand delivered by Martinez.... Salmon's Return Spurs Debate on Spill at Dams As penance for their late beloved salmon, residents of the Pacific Northwest have taken about $1 billion out of their pockets in the past decade and flushed it down the Columbia and Snake rivers. The money was lost because the region chose to limit electricity generation in the summer, forgoing lucrative power sales to sweaty Californians during the air-conditioning season. Water was diverted away from fish-killing turbines and poured downstream so endangered salmon could migrate safely to the sea. The summer spill began in the 1990s, when the Northwest was happily getting rich on high-tech enterprises, when people were moving here as much to recreate as to work, and when regional politicians were tripping over each other to vote greener than thou.... Duck hunters win one for wetlands — or do they? When conservationists decided to fight for the wetlands, they called in their big gun. Perched at President Bush’s elbow for an hour-long White House meeting was John Tome, president of Ducks Unlimited, the nation’s largest waterfowl hunting group with 1 million members. It looked like a cozy gathering. George W. Bush’s father is the organization’s most celebrated member since John Wayne.... Fluttering Into Oblivion? Two of Southern California's rarest butterflies, the tiny Hermes copper and Thorne's hairstreak, could become the first known species in the state to be driven into extinction after the sweeping autumn wildfires. The butterflies are among two dozen endangered and threatened species that researchers are tracking after the devastating blazes, which scorched more than 740,000 acres and destroyed thousands of homes.... New council will strive to protect nature Gov. Gary Locke last week signed an executive order to establish the Washington Biodiversity Council. The council will develop the first comprehensive state strategy to protect Washington's biological heritage.... Farmers hunting for profits open land Fee hunting, long practiced in some southern states such as Texas, is growing more widespread. Farmers have turned outbuildings into lodges, become paid guides to people they once let hunt for free and negotiated hunting leases that pay when the crops sometimes won't. "It's getting to be a big business," says Steve Meng, who arranges leases between landowners and hunters in nine states for Base Camp Leasing, an Indiana firm. "Farmers struggle and they see an opportunity to capture some additional income off the resource they already have.".... Killing of wolf assailed A wolf pack attack in the Madison Valley this week brought stern demands for action from local officials, two members of Congress, Gov. Judy Martz and the Montana Stockgrowers Association. Rep. Denny Rehberg, Sen. Conrad Burns and the governor, all Republicans, called for liberalized authority for residents to kill troublesome wolves, action that is now restricted under the animals' federally protected status. The stockgrowers association reiterated its appeal for wolf control.... Three wolves shot after calf deaths Three wolves which strayed as far south as the Twin Falls area were shot from the air after some cattle deaths. Fresh calf kills both Wednesday and Thursday night on rancher John McCallum's property near Hammett led to the authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to track and kill the wolves believed responsible, said Mark Collinge, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services in Idaho. Agents in an airplane found three wolves in the area Friday and killed all of them, he said.... BLM: Coal production may double A new report forecasts an 80 percent increase in Powder River Basin coal production over the next 16 years, a double-edged sword that could also triple the amount of disturbed lands. Currently, the basin yields 360 million tons of coal each year. That figure could jump to nearly 646 million tons by the year 2020, according to the Bureau of Land Management's 2003 Coal Planning Estimates Report.... Trust would fund future mine cleanups Newmont Mining Corp., which wants to revive its operations here, has acknowledged that both the old and the new projects may produce enough acid to pollute the groundwater 100 to 10,000 years in the future, though they say this is unlikely. So for the first time, the Interior Department is invoking new federal regulations and requiring Newmont, the world's largest gold producer, to set money aside in a trust fund to pay for any pollution that surfaces, even when Newmont may no longer exist.... Interior Attorney Pushed Land Deal Last June, at the suggestion of the Interior Department's chief lawyer, William G. Myers III, two congressmen from Northern California introduced a bill that would have given away $1 million worth of public land near this city north of Sacramento to a private firm. Myers, who had represented mining and cattle interests as a private lawyer before taking the job as solicitor of the Interior Department, acted without consulting the federal government's land managers on the scene. Those officials believed the private company, Yuba River Properties, had no valid claim to the land....