NEWS ROUNDUP

Dead Pines Pose Risk of Another 'Mega-Fire' Half of all the pine trees between Idyllwild and Lake Arrowhead are expected to be dead or dying from drought and bark beetle infestation by the fall, according to forest officials who have concluded that the risk of a massive fire is far greater than previously believed. Forest experts said the grim findings required a more aggressive campaign to thin forests and construct fuel breaks in and around Southern California's mountain resort communities, home to 80,000 people.... Dude ranches spin gold from Montana land Two were forged by ranch families looking to supplement their income and remain on the land. Two grew from families that chose to settle along Bridger and West Bridger creeks and turned to tourism to make ends meet. Each operation started on a shoestring with a build-it-yourself attitude. Each relies on family members to do what needs to be done — from wrangling dudes to cleaning cabins or cooking home-style meals.... Agencies hatch plans to protect wild salmon runs Proclaiming a "new era" in rebuilding Puget Sound's wild salmon runs, state, federal and tribal officials Friday unveiled more than 1,000 recommendations for reforming Washington's salmon hatchery system -- the world's largest. A panel of top fish scientists concluded it's possible to revamp how some hatcheries are run and close others so people can keep raising and eating hatchery-bred salmon without seeing them overwhelm protected wild runs.... Petition to list Sand Mt. butterfly irks Nevada off-roaders Conservationists petitioned the government on Friday to declare the Sand Mountain blue butterfly endangered, saying off-road vehicles at a Nevada sand dune are destroying its only known habitat. “It only involves about 1,000 acres of habitat, but it’s the only habitat left for this butterfly on the planet,” said Daniel Patterson, a desert ecologist at the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz.... Colombia Debt Swap Yields $10M for Tropical Forest Conservation Colombia unveiled today a debt-for-nature swap with the United States that will allow it to invest at least $10 million over the next 12 years to protect nearly 11 million acres of its tropical forests. Under the agreement, the U.S. Department of the Treasury will contribute $7 million to the deal, while Conservation International's (CI) Global Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will contribute an additional $1.4 million. The funds will go toward canceling part of Colombia's debt to the United States. In exchange, Colombia will invest at least $10 million to protect tropical forests in key areas of the Andes, the Caribbean coast and the Llanos, or plains, along the Orinoco River -- the world's third-largest river in terms of volume.... Sierra Club, Inc., The Best Directors Money Can Buy Never before has a candidate for the Board of Directors won with a stunning total of nearly 142,000 votes. And never before has so much money been spent on candidates for the Sierra Club Board. The Club can now boast the very best, new Directors that money can buy. We know that an expensive mailing was sent to about 550,000 members. Many Chapter newsletters nationwide carried a message supporting the Chosen 5--in violation of the Club's bylaws and the California law. The problem is that we don't know exactly how much money was spent. We do know that printing and postage to such large lists costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Despite many questions to those directly involved, no one seems to be willing to provide answers.... Provo River flow to increase for fish Conservation officials will begin artificially raising the flow of the Provo River this week to help an endangered fish spawn. Chris Keleher of the June Sucker Recovery Program said the artificial flows will begin almost immediately and last until about mid-June. "We'll monitor it, and if the river flow starts to drop as irrigators turn on, we'll adjust the flow to make sure it keeps the June sucker alive with as little water as we need to send down," he said.... Column: ESA needs to be friendlier to people In the 30 years since its enactment, the Endangered Species Act has emerged as one of the most powerful, and ineffective, environmental statutes on the books. Of the 1,260 species listed as "endangered" or "threatened" under the ESA, fewer than 30 have been taken off the list. And this is even worse than it looks. Some species were removed from the list because they became extinct; others, like the American alligator, were taken off because it was determined they were never endangered in the first place. These meager results, however, are not the worst aspect of the ESA. In rural America, far away from urban skyscrapers and suburban malls, the ESA has imposed severe land-use restrictions on property owners.... U.S. lands bring $11M in visit fees More than $11.3 million was collected in fees from people visiting federal lands in 2003, and 80 percent of that money was funneled back into the Bureau of Land Management, National Forest and National Park Service lands in Wyoming. Most of that money, $10.7 million, was collected on National Park Service lands, and Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., is pushing legislation to permanently continue the National Park Service's ability to charge entrance fees. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Thomas' bill, SB1107, in February, but it has gotten caught up in a debate about imposing fees on people who visit other federal lands.... Column: Endangered Species Act can be saved by making it proactive Conservationists praise the ESA for saving creatures like the gray wolf, the California condor and the very symbol of our national pride, the bald eagle - all of which survive in the wild because of its protections. ESA critics decry what they see as an infringement of private property rights and burdensome federal regulations. Neither side concedes merit in the other's position, but neither has the political muscle to impose its will. Unable to break the stalemate, both sides have gone to court, forcing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to spend its scant resources on defending itself from lawsuits. Conservation, in the process, has suffered.... Grass-roots groups conserve land with trust Land trusts, mostly grass-roots groups, have popped up like wildflowers on a spring prairie. Their number nationwide increased 164 percent from 479 to 1,263 between 1985 and 2000, according to the Land Trust Coalition. The area protected by land trusts increased from 1.9 million acres to 6.2 million between 1990 and 2000, the coalition estimates. In Contra Costa and Alameda counties, Save Mount Diablo, Muir Heritage and Tri-Valley Conservancy land trusts have preserved some 12,800 acres or 20 square miles of fields, range land, marshes and vineyards in the last decade.... Bush Administration Stonewalling Public on Phantom Roads Conservationists sued the federal government late Thursday for continuing to withhold documents from the public concerning their supposedly open process for resolving claims to disputed dirt tracks across Utah and the rest of the West. The lawsuit, filed by Earthjustice on behalf of The Wilderness Society and the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, challenges the Department of the Interior’s failure to release public information concerning jeep tracks and cattle paths claimed as constructed highways by Utah and other western state and county governments under the repealed Civil War-era law known as R.S. 2477.... Yakima Valley water supply drops Citing low rainfall and high snowmelt from warm temperatures, the Bureau of Reclamation has dropped its estimate of summer water supplies for many farmers in the Yakima Valley. The federal agency on Tuesday projected that junior water rights holders could get only 65 percent of a normal water supply. Junior water rights users account for more than half of the 460,000-acre Yakima Irrigation Project, which stretches from Kittitas County to Benton County. People who hold older, senior water rights will get a full supply of water this year, the agency estimated.... USDA: Wetlands increase at 131,400 acres U.S. farmers and ranchers have produced a net gain of more than 130,000 acres of wetlands, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, in ceremonies associated with Earth Day, said most of the increases occurred in the Corn Belt and delta states where people have been participating with the Wetlands Reserve Program, Conservation Reserve Program and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program.... Maasai head to Arizona to swap cattle lore Maasai warriors and Arizona cowboys appreciate many of the same things -- healthy cattle, roasted meat and the open plains -- so it's no wonder they struck up a friendship. A group of Maasai departed for Arizona on Wednesday to learn how to merge ancient Kenyan traditions with modern American agro-economics, reciprocation for a visit by a group of Arizona cowboys in 2002. Ranchers from the Douglas, Ariz.-based Malpai Borderlands Group will be showing off the conservation and economic benefits of open rangelands when Maasai from Kenya and Tanzania spend a week with them.... OCM says Judge Wrong to Throw out Pickett Verdict on Technicalities: Plaintiff’s Will Appeal The Organization for Competitive Markets today expressed extreme disappointment in the decision, released today, of Judge Lyle E. Strom to overturn the $1.28 billion jury verdict in the Pickett v. Tyson Fresh Meats trial. The order was based on technicalities, not the finding that captive supplies harm price. The attorneys for the 30,000 cattlemen plaintiffs have said that they will appeal the ruling. Judge Strom left intact the finding that captive supplies harmed all cash sellers of fed cattle to Tyson in the amount of nearly $1.3 billion. The Court also left intact the finding by the jury that the market for fed cattle is national. However, the Court found that there were legitimate business reasons for captive supply, specifically (1) that Tyson was guaranteed a consistent, reliable supply of cattle and (2) that Tyson needed captive supplies to meet the competition where other packers engaged in the practice.... Canada eases meat import rules The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Friday that it was changing import requirements to allow a wider range of meat and meat products to be imported from the United States. Canada had restricted imports of various American products after bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, was detected in Washington state in December. The agency said that effective immediately, Canada will let U.S. exporters ship products from cattle younger than 30 months old, including boneless and bone-in beef.... TRAIL TALES: A conquistador's footprints People were living here in 1540 when an expedition led by Francisco VÝsquez de Coronado arrived in this part of New Mexico searching for fabled golden kingdoms with names such as Cibola and Quivira. Coronado, who turned 30 in 1540, was the governor of the Mexican province of New Galicia, northwest of Mexico City. On April 22, 1540, he set out from Old Mexico to scour what is now the American Southwest for fantastic treasures rumored to exist there.... Custer historians vs. L.A. Times While the Los Angeles Times was awarded five Pulitzer Prizes for its work in 2003, one of its editorials in that year, on May 17, headlined: "Custer Saga's Other Side," has evoked the headline: "L.A. Times Ignores Facts – and Rebuttal." The Advocate is published by lifelong historians like Bill Wells and Wayne Sarf, Ph.D. With other members of the Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, they regularly contend with assorted "politically correct" efforts to distort what really happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876.... It's All Trew: Farm experiences prove animals not so helpless As my lifetime of animal experience passes in review, I distinctly remember begin trampled, tromped, kicked, pawed, butted, horned and stepped on countless times. My body has been bitten, punctured, scratched and skewered, requiring tetanus shots, antibiotics, stitches, bandages, trusses and casts in order to recover. My life has been endangered as I've been treed in mesquites, on top of pickups, gates and fence posts. My bones have been slammed against barns, truck bumpers, cactus and barbed wire fences, all while trying to help these so-called helpless creatures. Now, in the final quarter of life's game, with little playing time left, I look up at the scoreboard and see Helpless Animals 96, and Delbert Trew 2. In my opinion, anyone who calls animals "helpless" has never owned anything except a toothless, anemic, neutered Chihuahua....