NEWS ROUNDUP

OSHA Finds Violations in Deadly Idaho Fire The Forest Service committed serious safety violations last summer in battling an Idaho fire that claimed the lives of two firefighters, federal inspectors said Thursday. The report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, however, did not directly link the violations to the deaths. The report said instructions to crew members were unclear and escape routes were not identified. Also, fire managers failed to get the weather report the day the men were killed, and they didn't know stronger winds were expected that afternoon in the Salmon-Challis National Forest. As the fire shifted and grew to 5,600 acres on July 21-22, the Forest Service failed to increase firefighter support or properly analyze the blaze, according to the report.... Supertanker could bolster aerial firefighting With the threat of another devastating forest-fire season approaching, an Oregon aviation company is pitching a huge new tool to help firefighters. Evergreen International Aviation is testing a modified 747 Supertanker in Arizona to demonstrate that it can be used to drop as much as 24,000 gallons of fire retardant. That's about eight times more retardant than is typically carried by the biggest aerial firefighting tankers today.... Foresters decry double standard Some of Montana’s U.S. Forest Service employees are irate over the way they’ve been treated since they were caught sharing dirty jokes in their office e-mail. Their complaint: While they’re being suspended and reprimanded and six of them may even be fired, their ex-boss in Missoula, Brad Powell, committed similar infractions yet wound up with a prestigious new government position in sunny Arizona. “It really raises some questions about equality of treatment,” one Forest Service worker told the Independent. “This guy gets this plum assignment, but other guys are getting fired over some goofy e-mails. Everybody says it’s a witch-hunt. It’s a big scandal here internally in our office.”.... Forest promotions deal questioned Environmental and watchdog groups say the U.S. Forest Service's top administrator in California violated federal law recently when he hired a San Francisco public relations firm to promote a controversial Sierra Nevada logging plan. Nor was it the first time that Jack Blackwell, the service's regional forester for California, violated the statute, the groups say. Blackwell, the service's regional forester for California, also came under fire for hiring a PR firm in 1999, when he supervised national forests in Utah.... Editorial: The biggest predators THE BUSH administration has so thoroughly embraced the priorities of the mining, timber, and petroleum industries that its aggressive land use policies have galvanized not just environmentalists but also some sportsmen. Even more hunters and anglers should join the coalitions that are opposing such administration actions as cutting old-growth woods in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Mobilizing against the policies of a Republican president does not come easily for many sportsmen, but late last year representatives of 470 gun clubs from around the nation signed a petition calling on the Forest Service to maintain the Clinton administration's roadless rule for much of the Tongass. Their views were ignored. The administration proceeded to invite timber companies into the most intact temperate rain forest in the world.... Bear proofing: New forest rules fuel box business In designing the perfect bear-resistant container, Steve Richards didn't get too fancy. He just built a box that was light and sturdy. Then he dropped 500 pounds on it. When it didn't break, Richards - and the Forest Service - knew it was a winner. That was almost 15 years ago. Now the owner of Wyoming Outdoor Industries does a brisk business in bear-resistant containers, selling thousands every year. He ascribes his fortune to the Forest Service Food Storage Order, which requires hikers and hunters to keep food out of bears' reach in containers or hung from trees. "Basically, it built my business," Richards said. "I didn't make the rules, but I made something that worked.".... Missouri River politics heating up Angry lawmakers are considering what role they should play in the dispute over how to manage the Missouri River. Montana’s delegation and their fellow upstream lawmakers are furious at the Army Corps of Engineers’ plan for managing the river. They say it is tilted toward the downstream states, specifically Missouri, and are considering their options for adjusting it. “It seems as if Montana’s endangered species and recreation have taken a backseat to the barge industry,” Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., said. “Honestly, that’s a poor excuse for a plan,” Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said.... The missing science The Eagle Valley Land Trust and other groups around the West are spending millions of dollars on conservation easements to ensure that ranches are not subdivided. But beyond the ranches themselves, what are the easements protecting? Do ranch lands play an important role in the greater ecosystem? The answer, based on a recent study in Gunnison, is that no one knows for sure. "I wish I could say someone has looked at how important ranch lands are from a systems standpoint," says Susan Lohr, an ecologist herself and a founder of the Gunnison Ranchland Conservation Legacy. "But no one has." There are good reasons to believe that preserving ranch lands provides important benefits to the surrounding ecosystems. It’s a matter of faith and common sense.... Column: Fish protection may have a price tag Anyone familiar with the operation of state and federal water projects in California recognizes that the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is the heart of the state's elaborate plumbing system. A recent federal court decision also places the Delta squarely at the heart of an intensifying debate over one of the nation's bedrock environmental laws, potentially throwing into question the protections afforded a host of threatened and endangered species throughout the water-short West.... Column: This National Park Is Brought to You By... Over the past few months, the National Park Service has quietly imposed a hiring freeze, abandoned maintenance projects, cut visitor services and reduced park hours at a number of America's national parks. And, according to Ski magazine, "Forest Service officials appear to be leaning toward a policy change that would allow more visible displays of sponsors, whose logos, names or ads could appear on items they underwrite." The theory, according to Scott Silver, the executive director of Wild Wilderness, a Bend, Oregon-based environmental advocacy group, is that the NPS can attract park goers – customers – with the help of private partners in the tourism industry. He speculates that as early as this summer the NPS could announce a public-private partnership initiative.... Montana Game Poaching Dogs Officials Two strangers wandered into the Stevensville tavern and the conversation turned to hunting and fishing -- not unusual in any Montana bar. They asked about one bar regular, a local named Ben Ruiz. Before long, Ruiz approached the pair and said he could not only arrange a hunting or fishing trip, but could get one of the men, from Iowa, an illegal Montana-resident hunting license -- for a price. What Ruiz didn't know was the two strangers were undercover state game wardens investigating reports that Ruiz, not a licensed outfitter, was arranging illegal hunts.... Many proposals on table to fix lion problem Lawmakers, policy-makers and environmentalists are pushing ahead with proposed solutions to the root causes of the problems with Sabino Canyon mountain lions. Many of these causes come back to people's behavior, they said: feeding wildlife that is lion prey, planting non-native grasses that draw javelina, moving into mountain foothills and filing lawsuits against government when wildlife damages people and property.... Judge orders release of documents related to Cheney case A federal judge ordered several government agencies to release documents related to an energy policy task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney. In an opinion released late Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman ordered seven government agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Bureau of Land Management to hand over pertinent documents by June 1. He was ruling on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch and the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).... Committee split on 9th Circuit Court nominee The Senate Judiciary Committee split along party lines Thursday in voting to support President Bush´s nomination of a lawyer for mining and cattle interests for a lifetime seat on a Western federal appeals court. But Idaho attorney William G. Myers´ fate is uncertain as his nomination to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals moves to the full Senate for a vote. Democrats this week vowed to block all of the president´s nominees for federal posts and judgeships until Bush promises to stop bypassing senators by appointing stalled court nominees when the Senate takes a recess.... Alaska to open waters to oil, gas leases Gov. Frank H. Murkowski said he will open lease sales in state waters offshore of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Citing frustration with what he calls "America's extreme environmental community," the Republican governor said Wednesday he will do what he can as governor to spur Arctic oil development.... Column: The Invasion of the Elegant Trogons Today these men are opponents in a pitched battle for control over the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club’s $95 million budget, 750,000 members and high-powered lobbying apparatus make it arguably the nation’s premier environmental organization. But in a quirk of fate, the club is incorporated in California, which means its board is subject to the same low-bar election laws that enabled former child-actor Gary Coleman to get on the ballot in last year’s gubernatorial election. Over the past three years, an oddball coalition of anti-immigration zealots and animal-rights activists has gained three seats on the Sierra Club’s board of directors as petition candidates. Now five more insurgents, including Dick Lamm, are running a well-funded campaign, threatening to take control of the club’s 15-member board of directors. Many Sierra Club leaders, including more than a dozen former presidents, are worried that should the insurgents prevail when election returns are counted this month, the club’s credibility and political effectiveness will be seriously threatened.... Suit Brought to Aid Recovery of Fish Environmentalists have sued the federal government with hopes of jump-starting recovery efforts for the humpback chub, an endangered fish that lives in the Grand Canyon. The suit, filed in federal court in Phoenix, could affect operation of Glen Canyon Dam, which transformed the Colorado's flows from warm, muddy and mercurial to cold, clear and calculated.... Hoax Shows Gullibility Over the Environment The warning seemed forboding. It involved dihydrogen monoxide, an "odorless, tasteless chemical" that could "threaten human health and safety" if "accidentally inhaled." It's used in the production of Styrofoam cups, already a favorite target of radical environmentalists. City commissioners in Aliso Viejo, Calif., therefore were about to ban the use of Styrofoam cups when they learned what every high school chemistry student knows: "dihydrogen monoxide" is a technical name for water. "Inhaling" water can result, of course, in drowning. It turns out a civil servant fell victim to a hoax Web site and passed on the "warning."....CAP executive blasts Napolitano The general manager of Arizona's largest water provider accused Gov. Janet Napolitano on Thursday of ignoring critical Western water issues, including one that could help the state recover billions of gallons of water now going to Mexico. David "Sid" Wilson said that since taking office 15 months ago, Napolitano has yet to meet with him or anyone from the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson. He characterized her administration as arrogant, ignorant and indifferent when it comes to water.... U.S.: Japan spurned mad cow proposal The U.S. government said Thursday it had been rebuffed by Japan in a proposal to work out joint standards to test beef for mad cow disease. Meanwhile, U.S. cattle producers backed recently planned testing increases, but vigorously opposed additional proposed tests to guarantee food safety. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a March 29 letter from Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman to Japanese agriculture minister Yoshiyuki Kamei, proposing that both countries convene a panel of experts to answer certain key questions about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the fatal brain disease commonly known as mad cow.... Old-time legal system more entertaining than today's The Lugo deal was on a vaster scale — grand theft horse with hundreds of counts. One minute they were happily grazing; the next minute there was just a dust cloud headed for Cajon Pass and the echo of a whinny in the wind. Antonio Lugo, regional patriarch and victim-in-chief, organized a posse. They got to the Cajon a bit after the fact, but there was a white teamster coming up the far side with his helper, a Native American named "Charlie.".... Rock art shows Comanches armored horses for battle About 300 years ago, Comanche warriors placed heavy layers of buffalo hides over their horses and riders, then marched them through enemy lines in the same way that armored tanks lead infantry troops in modern warfare. These 18th-century Comanches were unstoppable. It was an early form of shock and awe as their steeds - layered in glued buffalo hides with occasional layers of sand - were turned into cumbersome battle animals.... Cowboy way is just fine with him While most 5-year-olds are still asleep, Clay Mello is up, dressed, fed and out doing chores. He's the grandson of Tuolumne County cattle ranchers Willie and Gayle Ritts. Clay's cowboy attire, adult mannerisms and outgoing personality draw attention wherever he goes, but his grandmother said his work ethic and attitude are typical of the children of ranching families....