NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Peaceful protest under attack In 2002, members of the activist environmental group Greenpeace tried peacefully to board a freighter headed for Miami in order to unfurl a banner calling for an end to illegal logging. Greenpeace said the freighter was hauling illegally harvested mahogany, an endangered species. The activists were arrested and fined. Fifteen months later, the U.S. government went after Greenpeace with zeal that should be reserved for threats to national security. But this case isn't about security; it's about political retribution. Federal prosecutors charged Greenpeace with a misdemeanor under an obscure 19th century law that forbids pimps from intercepting ships bound for port. The law against "sailormongering" has been used only twice, the last time more than 100 years ago, and in one case the judge said the statute was vague.... Hunters, Conservationists Get Tour of Bush Ranch President Bush on Thursday opened his expansive central Texas ranch to sporting aficionados and conservation groups, including the National Rifle Association, Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever. Bush showed off the scenic canyons, streams and trails of his 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel ranch property to 23 representatives of the organizations, a spokeswoman said.... Bush Administration Illegally Delays Protection of Pacific Fisher The Bush administration announced today that the Pacific fisher, a rare relative of the otter and mink and denizen of old-growth forests, warrants protection as a threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, but is precluded by other higher priority listing actions. The finding was issued in response to a petition filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity and Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign. The ESA allows the administration to delay listing a species by declaring it "warranted but precluded" if it can demonstrate other species are more in need of protection and hence a higher priority for listing, and that they are making expeditious progress towards listing these other species. Neither applies in the case of the fisher.... Corps acts to beef up wetlands protection Stricter conservation rules will apply to ditches, irrigation canals and nearby wetlands in the Northwest as a result of a new interpretation of a 2001 federal court decision. The corps will begin treating ditches, irrigation canals and nearby wetlands with a surface water connection to natural streams as "waters of the United States," qualifying them for protection under the Clean Water Act. Wetlands protected under the act may not be filled without a permit from the corps, which typically requires construction of artificial wetlands elsewhere. Corps attorney Ron Marsh said the new direction brings the corps into compliance with a 2001 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said irrigation ditches and canals qualify as tributaries to navigable rivers, also known as "waters of the United States." Corps regulations already protect wetlands adjacent to tributary streams.... Bush to decide endangered salmon status Geneticists can´t tell the difference between the wild and hatchery salmon swimming up the Snake River toward Idaho in their annual migration. Yet biologists agree that differences between salmon reared in hatcheries and those that emerge from the gravel of wild rivers are significant. Uniquely adapted to the streams where they live, wild salmon pass their robust survival traits to their progeny. Hatchery salmon are far less productive, biologists say, reduce the fitness of wild stocks through interbreeding, support larger predator populations, and allow increased harvests that inevitably include wild fish.... Freudenthal objects to Preble's mouse panel Gov. Dave Freudenthal says some members of a scientific panel that will review Wyoming's petition to remove the Preble's meadow jumping mouse from the threatened species list supported the decision to list the species in the first place. The Fish and Wildlife Service asked the Colorado Division of Wildlife to select the peer review panel. One of the members chosen has said that he believes the mouse should remain listed, according to Freudenthal. Another member co-authored a study that was called into question by a Denver Museum of Nature and Science study that was requested by Wyoming and concluded that the mouse is not a genetically distinct subspecies. A third panelist wrote an unpublished report saying the research relied upon when the mouse was listed was correct.... Report: Most grizzly deaths preventable Bird feeders and trash bins are proving more deadly to grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone area than conflicts with cattle ranchers, according to a new report. In the past 30 years, at least 79 grizzlies have been killed for rummaging in garbage, homes and camp sites compared to just 16 that were shot over livestock grazing problems, said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen, who helped prepare the interagency report.... NM Game Commission endorses wolf program The state Game Commission has unanimously endorsed the Mexican gray wolf reintroduction program. While considering an agreement formally boosting New Mexicos involvement in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife program Wednesday, the commission went a step further and expressed its full support for the program. The commission is pro-wolf, Commissioner Jennifer Montoya of Las Cruces said during the commissions meeting here. Commission Chairman Guy Riordan said Gov. Bill Richardson supports the program. The 6-0 vote is a 180-degree switch from the mid-1990s, when a prior Game Commission and then-Republican Gov. Gary Johnson opposed the reintroduction program.... BLM requests for stockwater permits expire In what was the first test of Nevada's new law concerning stockwater rights, a number of applications for permits submitted by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have been denied by the state engineer. Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said he received a report during the March meeting of the Public Lands Committee, which he chairs, that State Engineer Hugh Ricci turned down 19 BLM applications for stockwater rights in White Pine County. Rhoads said the BLM did not file any appeals, the deadline for which expired last week.... Appeals court refuses to open 'roadless' wilderness area A federal appeals court has refused to allow off-road vehicle groups to sue the Bureau of Land Management. The Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the Southwest Four Wheel Drive Association and the Las Cruces Four Wheel Drive Club. The suit filed in 2000 challenged the closure of most of the trails in the Robledo Mountains. The recreation groups argued the trails were public roads, protected under an 1866 law that allows states to claim rights to roads built over federal land. The law was repealed in 1976, but Congress said states and counties could continue using roads built before then.... Ag department blocks mad-cow testing The Agriculture Department has rebuffed a meatpacker's plan to test every animal at its Kansas slaughterhouse for mad cow disease. The refusal quiets a firestorm in the cattle industry sparked by Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a small Kentucky-based meatpacking company that was seeking to privately test each animal at its Arkansas City, Kan., plant.... Largest U.S. cattle group says border must open Representatives of the largest American beef industry group said last week that American ranchers trying to pressure their government to keep the U.S. border closed to Canadian cattle have it wrong. "There are producers out there wishing for the Canadian border to be closed for the next millennium. If you look at that in a sensible, economic, scientific and neighbourly way, how could we stand for that kind of activity?" said Chandler Keys, policy analyst with the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. As well, he told reporters April 2 that if the United States wants to convince international buyers to resume beef trade with the U.S., then the U.S. must resume trade with Canada.... 58 countries still reject U.S. beef It has been nearly four months since one cow among 96 million head of cattle in the United States tested positive for mad cow disease, yet 58 countries still have some form of ban on U.S. beef. The economic toll is considerable. Of the total U.S. beef production in 2003 -- an estimated 26.30 billion pounds valued at $27 billion (2002 figure, the latest available) -- 2.58 billion pounds worth an estimated $3.266 billion was exported, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture....