NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: The sad repetition of Forest Service errors Before fighting a forest fire, wouldn't it be worthwhile to get the weather forecast? Yet, that is one of many omissions by the U.S. Forest Service that contributed to the deaths of two firefighters, according to a new report from U.S. Labor Department inspectors. The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the Forest Service failed at all 10 of its basic standards for safety. The deaths of two firefighters last July at the Cramer fire in the Salmon-Challis National Forest could not be made sadder or more disturbing than by the results of the OSHA investigation.... ‘Tre Arrow' awaits fate in Victoria jail For 19 months, Tre Arrow was one of the most wanted fugitives in the United States, accused of firebombing logging and cement trucks in Oregon and having links to a group of radical environmentalists viewed as terrorists by the FBI. Now he's in a jail cell here, facing charges of trying to shoplift bolt cutters. He's begun a hunger strike to protest what he calls injustices in the U.S. legal system, and is eager to talk about the evils of corporate culture, although not the FBI's case against him.... Rock climbers: Ban at Tahoe promotes religion A U.S. Forest Service climbing ban on a Lake Tahoe landmark is unconstitutional because it promotes religion, a rock climbing group contends. In papers filed Thursday in support of its federal lawsuit against the agency, The Access Fund claims the ban at Cave Rock gives control over public property to the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.... Road plan held up by fish studies Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Supervisor Bob Vaught said Friday the final environmental study on repairing South Canyon Road at Jarbidge is taking longer than originally predicted. "We continue to work collaboratively with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the project to minimize impacts to the bull trout," Vaught said.... Column: Limit off-road vehicles? YES It's hard to find anybody these days who'd even try to argue that off-road vehicles don't damage public lands throughout the West. The U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded in 1999 that "with an increase of off-highway vehicle traffic - motorcycles, four-wheel drive vehicles, all-terrain vehicles - the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service have observed the spread of noxious weeds, user conflicts, soil erosion, damage to cultural sites and disruption of wildlife and wildlife habitat." In response, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth formed a national OHV (Off-Highway Vehicle) Policy Team in January 2004. One hope of the team is that designating trails will eliminate a lot of the destructive cross-country travel, lessen damage and reduce conflicts with hikers and other, quieter recreationists.... Column: Limit off-road vehicles? NO I've had motorcycles in some form, on- or off-road, since I was 11 years old. That's how I went fishing or just exploring, dodging logging trucks as I gallivanted through the Flathead National Forest in Montana. It was, and still is, great fun. That's not to say there aren't problems with motorized recreation. Most things worth having - motorcycles, guns, automobiles, ORVs, chainsaws, power tools, snowmobiles, cellphones - all share a common trait: Stupid people shouldn't have them. Only a small number of recreationists of any kind belong to organized groups that try to teach responsible behavior outdoors. There are 65 million gun owners, but less than 5 million actively defend their rights as National Rifle Association members. On a smaller scale, the same reality faces motorized recreation advocacy groups such as the BlueRibbon Coalition, to which I proudly belong.... Salvage logging debated Eighty-eight conservation groups this week lambasted Rep. Scott McInnis, R-Colo., for what they said are false assertions about his Healthy Forest Restoration Act and its applicability to salvage logging in such places as Missionary Ridge. Blair Jones, press secretary to McInnis, responded in kind Friday. A February letter from McInnis to Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman about post-fire timber sales on Missionary Ridge drew the ire of the conservation groups. McInnis, they said, passed off salvage logging as fuel-reduction projects and took issue with a legal claim by Durango-based Colorado Wild that halted post-fire logging on Missionary Ridge.... Editorial: The need to act now to avert fire The clouds of smoke billowing over Fort Collins the past few days ought to persuade more residents in Colorado's foothills and mountains to fireproof their homes. Unfortunately, some didn't learn this lesson after the terrible fires of 2002. Fueled by unseasonably warm, dry and windy weather, the so-called Picnic Rock Fire ignited Tuesday and raged unpredictably. By Friday it had consumed more than 8,000 acres and forced the evacuation of some 120 people living in homes nestled among the rocky outcroppings of Poudre River Canyon. A forecasted cold spell with showers will undoubtedly help the more than 225 firefighters trying to contain it, but the blaze is an ominous sign of what could be a long, devastating fire season.... Editorial: Are fire resources adequate? Last summer, 12 firefighters were stationed on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. This year there will be half that number. The change, coupled with other shifts in federal fire-fighting resources, stirs concerns about whether there will be enough people and equipment on hand to cope with a bad wildfire season. Federal officials insist that there will be. Still, the resource shuffle should prompt state leaders and Colorado's congressional delegation to ask tough questions.... E Pluribus Undone Did you know that older federal workers are more interested in money than younger workers? That women workers should engage in more "earthy" humor to get along better in the workplace? Or when Mexican-American workers do something praiseworthy they want managers to recognize the teams on which they work, not their individual accomplishments? All Agriculture Department employees will soon know these "facts" as they complete this year's required civil rights training by reading Handling Diversity in the Workplace: Communication is the Key, a 106-page book by M. Kay duPont, an Atlanta-based business etiquette and diversity specialist. The book, provided to USDA by Novations Training Solutions of Urbandale, Iowa, has been posted on the civil rights section of the department's intranet. Employees have begun to get notices saying that they are expected to read Handling Diversity and another 90-page book on sexual harassment. The employees must notify their supervisors when they have completed reading the materials.... Column: Lion fiasco shows need for reforms Now that the Sabino Canyon cougar hunt is halted, let's make needed changes at the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Forest Service, to improve accountability and respect for public input. Gov. Janet Napolitano, Congressman Raul Grijalva, and 27 state legislators were right to criticize the mishandling of the lion issue by Game and Fish and the Forest Service. There never should have been a hunt. The government failed to show good evidence of a threat to people. Even in their own reports, more than 90 percent of alleged lion sightings were unconfirmed, and most unconfirmed sightings are inaccurate.... SUMMARY OF THE 20TH MEETING OF THE CITES ANIMALS COMMITTEE The 20th meeting of the Animals Committee (AC-20) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convened from 29 March to 2 April 2004, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The meeting drew together some 150 participants representing governments, intergovern­mental organizations (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Participants met in Plenary throughout the week to discuss 23 agenda items on a range of topics, including review of significant trade in specimens of Appendix II species (RST); review of criteria for amendment of Appendices I and II; periodic review of animal and plant taxa in the Appendices; transport of live animals; budget; trade in hard corals; trade in alien species; sea cucumbers; seahorses; and sharks.... A Wildlife Sanctuary Withers The sanctuary, however, is now shriveling for lack of water. Eagles and geese are performing their adversarial dance in a partially dewatered wetland that is less wildlife refuge than busted plumbing system. It's a problem endemic to the elaborately engineered river systems of the arid West. In the Klamath River Basin, too many interests are chasing after too little water, with politicians posturing, farmers protesting, Native Americans suing, environmentalists pouting and judges laying down arcane operating rules that bureaucrats struggle to enforce and the public struggles to understand. Lack of water in the wetland has helped shrink the annual migration here from more than 7 million birds to fewer than 2 million, according to Dave Mauser, a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.... Panther report hits home on land-use, development issues The report, titled "Evaluating Impacts to Florida Panther Habitat: How Porous is the Umbrella?," is being published in this month's Southeastern Naturalist, a peer-reviewed scientific journal with an emphasis on the southeastern United States. This latest criticism comes at a critical time for panther conservation because federal agencies are in the process of developing new guidelines for reviewing development in panther habitat. A key claim in the report is that federal permitting for developments, both public and private, are based on flawed science.... Myths surround wolves Despite their tendency to make headlines, Ed Bangs says wolves are actually pretty boring animals. Yet the intensity of people's reaction to the toothy critters is fascinating. "It's pretty much the same worldwide, people are people and wolves are wolves; when you mix the two, the reaction is very predictable," Bangs, the man in charge of wolf recovery in the Northern Rockies for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said recently. "You hear the same stories about the same kinds of things." Things like, wolves kill for fun.... U.S. Is Investigating Use of Donors' Gifts to Statue of LibertyFederal investigators have begun an inquiry into the National Park Service's dealings with a nonprofit foundation it relied on to handle the reopening of the Statue of Liberty, according to a government official. The inspector general of the Interior Department, which oversees the Park Service, is investigating how the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation spent donations it raised for projects at the monument and whether it followed federal guidelines on competitive bidding for certain contracts, the official said.... Too civilized? Cell phones a challenge for parks It was a sunny spring day in Yellowstone National Park, and tourist Judy Brendalen paused for a midday snack at a roadside picnic table. Close at hand in her purse was her cell phone - just in case. "I think for emergency purposes, you need it," Brendalen, of Clearbrook, Minn., said as she relaxed, not even noticing a cell phone antenna tower on a nearby ridge. Cell phones have long been virtually unavoidable on city streets and in shopping malls. But they now are showing up in some of the very places people go to escape such things: national parks.... Water ebbs, worry flows Lake Powell, the desert oasis that has served Colorado as a crucial fail-safe for water deliveries throughout the Southwest during five years of hard drought, is now more than half empty. If the drought persists a year or two more, the 186-mile-long reservoir in Utah and Arizona could be drained dry as early as 2007, federal officials say. That would propel Colorado - and 30 million other Westerners who depend on the Colorado River for their drinking water - into an uncertain future punctuated by recurring water shortages and decades of litigation, experts warn.... N.D. authorities probe tribe's handling of bison Authorities are investigating the Three Affiliated Tribes' management of bison for the second straight year, after finding more than 30 of the animals dead and others emaciated. A veterinarian for the Board of Animal Health inspected some 600 bison over the weekend and found 34 dead. The conditions of the rest ranged from emaciated and weak to fair, the report said. State Veterinarian Larry Schuler received the report Wednesday. Tribal spokeswomen Glenda Embry said tribal officials did their own inspection Thursday and found only seven dead bison - less than standard winter kill - and the rest in good condition.... Dry forecast spells danger in western USA Much of the West faces the danger of major wildfires this year, climate and fire specialists forecast. Potential hot spots include areas of Southern California hit by catastrophic fires last fall. The threat of major fires could rival the summers of 2000 and 2002, the worst wildfire seasons of the past half-century, teams of federal scientists and land managers predicted last week in a wildfire forecast for 2004. Fire losses in those two years spurred Congress to fund projects to thin forests by logging and controlled burning. But those efforts, which are steeped in controversy, are in the early stages and will take years to complete.... Deal near Telluride signals end of mining era The federally funded Trust for Public Land today will close on a benchmark land purchase that protects 2,500 acres of pristine property above Telluride from development. The $3.6 million deal with Denver-based Newmont Mining's Idarado unit is the largest the trust has completed since it embarked on the Red Mountain Project to bring a chaotic maze of mining claims under public control five years ago. It also signals the end of the mining era in southwestern Colorado....Article: Changing All the Rules Of the many environmental changes brought about by the Bush White House, none illustrate the administration's modus operandi better than the overhaul of new-source review. The president has had little success in the past three years at getting his environmental agenda through Congress. His energy bill remains unpassed. His Clear Skies package of clean-air laws is collecting dust on a committee shelf. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remains closed to oil and gas exploration. But while its legislative initiatives have languished on Capitol Hill, the administration has managed to effect a radical transformation of the nation's environmental laws, quietly and subtly, by means of regulatory changes and bureaucratic directives. Overturning new-source review -- the phrase itself embodies the kind of dull, eye-glazing bureaucrat-speak that distracts attention -- represents the most sweeping change, and among the least noticed.... Wilderness designation is sought With support from environmentalists and some Nogales-area residents, an Arizona congressman is pushing to designate 84,500 acres of national forest as wilderness, which would close roads and prohibit motorized recreation in the area. "The key thing is that it's in perpetuity . . . You assure that public resource forever," said U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz.... Bush and the Environment: Potential for Trouble? It is fair to say that the Bush administration has been unpopular with the environmentalist movement. Since his inauguration, George W. Bush has taken a series of positions, ranging from rejecting the Kyoto global warming treaty to encouraging oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, that have raised the ire of the environmentalist community. The result is that major environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council have posted blistering critiques of the Bush administration's policies on their Web sites, while the nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters gave the administration an "F" for its environmental record during its first two years. Despite this criticism, this year's Gallup Environmental/Earth Day poll finds Americans expressing less worry about environmental issues than was the case prior to 9/11. (The same can be said for crime, drugs, energy, race relations, and poverty.) Just 6 in 10 Americans today (62%) say they worry a great deal or fair amount about the quality of the environment; this is down from 77% who worried this much in March 2001. As is evident in the graph below, most of this drop (11 out of 15 points) occurred between March 2001 and March 2002, spanning the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After a small increase in 2003, the measure dropped another notch (6 points) over the past year.... Editorial: Misplaced Energy THE BUSH administration's struggle to keep secret the workings of Vice President Cheney's energy task force has been going on since early in the president's tenure. The White House fought the General Accounting Office's examination of the task force and won. It is currently litigating before the Supreme Court to keep task force records from being disclosed in the lawsuit most famous for Justice Antonin Scalia's ill-timed duck hunt. And in a separate legal skirmish, it is fending off Freedom of Information Act lawsuits from environmentalists and a conservative watchdog group that seek to force federal agencies to release information about their employees' work for the task force. Last week, in that latter case, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman ordered the administration to search for and release a large volume of material, rejecting the government's arguments that it could lawfully be kept under wraps. The government can appeal, and it probably will -- just as it has appealed other adverse judicial rulings related to the task force. But it ought to think hard about simply releasing the information and letting the matter rest.... Enviros Target Bond Funds To Buy Boats, Underwater Land Environmentalists who successfully tapped taxpayer money to buy thousands of acres of California coastline to stop development are now targeting the Pacific Ocean, with a plan to curb human activity by buying boats, fishing permits and possibly underwater land. The idea is provoking a renewed struggle between some of the world's wealthiest and most powerful environmental groups and California fishermen who fear they gradually will be booted off the ocean they prowl for recreation and profit.... Pesky crickets on the march Mormon crickets attacked 2.7 million acres of western Utah rangeland, farms and desert last year, and this year's onslaught probably will be worse. Year by year, as drought continues, crickets have generally increased in number. "We expect that to happen again, barring some weather pattern that changes," said Matt Palmer, the Utah State University extension agent who covers Tooele County.... Making access to history a win-win A short walk from Amy Wortman's ranchhouse at Judith Landing is the spot where Lewis and Clark spent the night on the bank of the Missouri River 199 years ago next month. In a grove of cottonwoods just downstream, the Wortmans pasture Angus cattle where the U.S. government signed two pivotal treaties with Indian tribes in 1855. Until now, the ranch's historical significance was invisible to the thousands of floaters who drift by each summer on their way into the Upper Missouri River Breaks.... John Wayne to Be Honored by U.S. Postal Service on a Postage Stamp Legendary actor John Wayne will be honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a commemorative postage stamp that was unveiled at the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary's Odyssey Ball, a fund-raising gala for the Institute in Santa Monica, CA, on April 3rd. The stamp will be issued later this year during a special ceremony.... Singer, novelist, detective - and governor? Finally, he emerges, dressed all in black with a cowboy hat to match. His signature Cuban cigar is lit - violating city code - and he waves it around the room without regard. But it's no joke. Kinky Friedman, country musician, mystery writer, animal lover, and "the oldest living Jew in Texas who doesn't own real estate," is running for governor. Ask him why, and he repeats his campaign slogan: "Why the hell not?".... Burkholder, 65, holds record in calf roping Jack B. Burkholder, 65, whose record of four consecutive National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association calf roping titles has never been broken, died of cancer Friday in McAllen. Burkholder was attending Texas A&I — now Texas A&M-Kingsville — when he won the string of championships from 1957 to 1960. "Some have come close, winning three years in a row, but no other college student has done it four years in calf roping or bull riding or anything else," said his sister, Mary Ann Hill of Boerne.... On The Edge Of Common Sense: Doctors, lawyers could be nationalized am blessed to have a brother with the ability to solve complex problems with the wisdom of Solomon. Something as simple as two brothers sharing what's left of the pie: One cuts it, the other gets first pick. His solution to the dilemma of gay marriage: They can adopt each other. I was discussing the prickly issue of national health care....