NEWS ROUNDUP

Wildfires contained Six small forest fires near this resort community were quickly doused Monday and authorities looked for an arsonist who may have set at least one of the blazes. Arson was also blamed for October's weeklong Old Fire that killed four people, burned 91,281 acres and destroyed 993 homes. On Monday, some 120 firefighters responded to the 9:30 a.m. alarms near State Highway 189 west of Lake Arrowhead near the small town of Twin Peaks. The series of fires were each between a quarter-to a half-acre in size, U.S. Forest Service fire information officer Maria Daniels said.... Forest watch group launches at FWA meeting Last Friday, fire crews from the Bitterroot National Forest headed up Smith Creek, west of Stevensville, to begin a prescribed fire. They had been there the day before, laying fire hoses around the containment lines and getting prepared for the morning burn. But someone shot up their plans, literally. When fire crews got to the unit, there were bullet holes in one of the hoses and a wye on the bottom of the unit, said Kayla Jaquith, a Forest Service law enforcement officer on the Bitterroot National Forest. Crews had to replace the piece of hose and fitting and then check the rest of the hose on the unit to make sure no other pieces were vandalized, she said.... Column: A 10-Step Program for the U.S. Biologists have a term for species whose habitats or gene pools are so diminished that extinction is only a matter of time: "the living dead." The Bush Administration has banished many of our most important environmental protections to this limbo. The Clean Air Act is still on the books but is not being enforced. The national forests that Teddy Roosevelt mapped out still show in green on the map, but on the ground chainsaws are converting them into clearcuts and tree farms. Superfund, bankrupt, is a shadow of itself; polluters no longer fear it. The Clean Water Act still calls for swimmable streams and fishable rivers, but its jurisdiction no longer includes the huge factory feedlots or some 60 percent of the nation's wetland habitat. What we have not lost is love for the land – the same love that runs in a powerful undercurrent throughout US history. Here are ten steps to reverse the Bush initiatives and transform the nation.... Boy fends off brown bear with his fists A 15-year-old boy on a Southeast Alaska wilderness expedition for emotionally troubled youths woke up to find a 400-pound brown bear with a bad attitude sitting at his feet. The Barrow boy thought at first it was a camp counselor rustling around at the foot of his tent Saturday morning on Deer Island between Wrangell and Ketchikan. But when he figured out it was a bear, the young man - keeping his wits about him - tried to quietly slip away. The bear would have none of it.... National forests try to simplify paper chase The Forest Service has to account for growing demands on national forests, but that should not translate to more complicated red tape in the agency, Regional Forester Gail Kimbell said. Under the leadership of Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth, the agency has made it easier to pursue forest management projects, and that trend will continue, Kimbell told the Inter Lake's editorial board this week. The Forest Service has recently approved "categorical exclusion" rules that allow projects of limited size to proceed without the formulaic and often detailed documentation required under the National Environmental Policy Act. And there's been a gradual shift in the mind-set of top agency officials to be constantly cognizant of the amount of paperwork required by new policies, Kimbell said.... 'Earth To L.A.!' - A Star Studded Sold Out Benefit for Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC's (Natural Resources Defense Council) biennial fundraiser "Earth to L.A.! - The Greatest Show on the Earth," featuring Tom Hanks as host and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as keynote speaker, has emerged as the hottest ticket in town. The irreverent evening of music, message and comedy, to be held on Thursday, May 6 at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles, sold out in record time. It has also already exceeded NRDC's financial goal by raising over $2.5 million to advance the environmental organization's mission to safeguard the Earth's natural resources; far surpassing previous benchmarks. The live show will include standup comedy, musical performances and sharp-edged commentary and appearances by Jack Black, Sheryl Crow, Larry David, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Ferrell, Diane Keaton, Stephen Colbert, Eric Idle, Willie Nelson and Meg Ryan. The night also features a "green carpet" celebrity arrival event with some of Hollywood's top talent who are NRDC supporters, including: Toby Maguire, Ben Stiller, Pierce Brosnan, Albert Brooks, Carole King, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tom Ford, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, Martin Short, and Mark Burnett.... Endangered Species Act Will Be 'Modernized' The House Resources Committee will begin a hearing on the Endangered Species Act on Wednesday, 30 years after President Richard Nixon signed the controversial measure into law. "On its 30th anniversary, it is now more clear than ever that the Endangered Species Act has failed," said Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) in a press release. "Unintended consequences have rendered this a broken law," Pombo said, noting that while species continually are added to the list, they are rarely removed. "Congress has a responsibility to improve the ESA to focus our efforts on...species recovery.".... Chairman Pombo Issues ESA Report House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) issued a report on the Endangered Species Act (ESA) today titled, The ESA at 30: A Mandate for Modernization. View the report at http://resourcescommittee.house.gov. The full committee will begin its efforts to improve the Act with a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, April 28, at 10 a.m. in 1324 Longworth.... Grazing battle Driving out of Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge, Jerry Rodriguez worried Tuesday that the refuge would soon resemble the grassless Bureau of Land Mangement tracts nearby. "This is biological desert," Rodriguez said. "No wildlife comes here, except some elk and deer, and they just pass through." The grass is gone, eaten by cows from Vermillion Ranch, Rodriguez said. Sagebrush remains, but there is no forage for deer or elk or nesting coverage for birds. The Dickinson family, which owns Vermillion Ranch, leases the land from the BLM. The Dickinsons also lease Hoy Draw, one of two State Land Board parcels traditionally leased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and treated as part of the wildlife refuge. The Dickinson family has a 90-day lease on Hoy Draw. Cattle grazing on another BLM lease south of the refuge cross the draw to get access to the Green River.... 9th Circuit Court of Appeals court orders more flows down Trinity It's going to be a wet summer on the Trinity River. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday ordered that flows in the Trinity - a major tributary of the lower Klamath River - be increased by nearly 50 percent more than had been scheduled for this summer. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had planned to release about 453,000 acre-feet of water from reservoirs, but the appeals court ordered an increase to more than 650,000 acre-feet.... Settlement Will Protect Sensitive Ecosystems From Air Pollution The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has agreed to adopt rules protecting vital ecosystems across the U.S. from harmful air pollution levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The settlement between EPA and Environmental Defense will aid in protecting premier ecosystems that are hard hit by excessive NOx pollution, including the Adirondacks, the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Smoky Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains. The parties to the settlement were notified late Monday that the settlement has been approved by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. In January, the National Academy of Sciences issued a well-publicized report finding that the protection of ecosystems from airborne contaminants “has not received appropriate attention” and calling for enhanced safeguards.... BLM plan to restrict ORV travel Off-road vehicles in the rugged badlands of the McCullough Peaks will be limited to "designated roads and trails" this summer, as set out by the McCullough Peaks Travel Plan released Tuesday by the Bureau of Land Management. According to the document, ORV use in the area is increasing, and managing the traffic is necessary to protect resources, promote safety and strike a balance between the recreation, ranching and utility interests that use the land.... Gas reserves held hostage? A lawsuit seeking to stop seismic testing near Utah's Nine Mile Canyon is holding hostage vast reserves of natural gas that could help ease a volatile market, according to representatives of Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. Officials from the energy exploration company say as much as 400 billion cubic feet of natural gas may lie beneath an 85-square-mile area in the southern Uinta Basin, located roughly 30 miles east of Price. That's enough natural gas to heat all the homes in Utah for nearly five years. But the property also is adjacent to thousands of prehistoric rock art formations that environmentalists worry could be irreparably damaged if testing and drilling is allowed.... Environmentalists revisit grassroots to oust Bush Environmentalists who want President Bush pushed out of the White House in 2004 are getting back to their roots: their grassroots. The League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club say they believe an old-fashioned, door-to-door campaign can tip the November election in John Kerry's favor, especially in combination with cutting-edge marketing technologies to identify pro-environment voters, talk with them, and get them to vote for the Democratic candidate.... Pollution rules confuse Calif. farmers Thousands of confused California growers have failed to comply with new state regulations monitoring water pollution from farms. Regulators, however, are unsure of how to enforce the rules, which environmentalists consider too lax and are challenging them in court. Between 25,000 and 80,000 growers who have irrigation water or stormwater running off their lands had until April 1 to report what they grow, what pesticides or fertilizers they use and how they will test canals and creeks that eventually empty into the Central Valley's rivers.... Hearst offers green deal The Hearst Corp. is offering California a way to permanently preserve the property surrounding Hearst Castle, a stunning stretch of land ranging from rugged beaches to thriving ranchland. For $80 million in cash and $15 million in tax incentives, the company will sell the state 1.8 square miles of coastal land between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and place another 128 square miles of ranchland east of Highway 1 under a conservation easement that would bar most development.... U.S. may cut water to state: Southwest drought slashes Colorado River flows The Bush administration is threatening to impose unilateral water cutbacks on California, Arizona and Nevada if the three states can't come up with a plan to deal with a historic drought on the Colorado River. Following five years of dry weather, the two largest reservoirs on the Colorado are roughly half-empty and dropping fast, and Interior Department officials are urging water agencies to work together on a contingency plan or have one imposed on them.... Trout Unlimited, landowners reach unique water lease deal A landowner along the North Fork of the Blackfoot River has agreed to lease a portion of his water rights to Trout Unlimited to help retain critical habitat for native bull trout and cutthroat trout. The agreement announced Tuesday is expected to leave as much as 18.5 cubic feet of water per second in a portion of the river that has run so low in at least one previous year that bull trout have become stranded and unable to migrate.... Column: The West's Lost Working Class A specter is haunting the mountain resorts of the West, not the specter of a working-class revolt against the owning class, but the specter of no working class at all. In western Colorado in recent years, some restaurants and shops have had to cut business hours due to a lack of workers to fill their shifts. And many employers complain about the quality of the worker pool available. The problem has been exacerbated by the booming second-home construction industry, where grunt laborers get wages much higher than restaurants, shops and hotels can afford. Large resort employers now import planeloads of seasonal workers from Mexico, Africa and Europe to fill the gap, but small businesses lack that option.... Veneman Announces Framework and Funding for National Animal Identification System Veneman also announced that $18.8 million would be transferred from the USDA Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to provide initial funding for the program during FY 2004. The implementation of a NAIS will be conducted in three main phases. Under Phase I, USDA would evaluate current federally funded animal identification systems and determine which system(s) should be used for a NAIS, begin the process of communicating with and educating producers and other stakeholders on the operation of a NAIS, identify staffing needs and develop any regulatory and legislative proposals needed for implementing the system. Phase II would involve the implementation of the selected animal identification system at regional levels for one or more selected species, continuation of the communication and education effort, addressing regulatory needs and working with Congress on any needed legislation. In Phase III, the selected animal identification system(s) would be scaled up to the national level.... Feds pick A&M to help fight terrorism The federal government picked Texas A&M University on Tuesday to figure out ways to keep terrorists from spreading diseases through America's livestock. The university will negotiate with the Department of Homeland Security on how to spend up to $18 million on blocking bioterrorists from inflicting foot-and-mouth disease and other ailments on livestock; such an attack would damage the agriculture industry and in turn the national economy, officials said.... Cow drug kills Rockham man A Rockham man has died after accidentally injecting himself with a livestock drug. Terry Ehrich, 50, died Saturday evening after injecting himself with Micotil, according to Brandon Leslie, who works with the Brown County Coroner's Office. Ehrich was trying to give pneumonia medication to a head of cattle at his Rockham ranch when the animal moved and the syringe went into Ehrich. The Micotil likely caused Ehrich's heart to start beating faster than his body could handle, Leslie said.... U.S. Farmers Get a Lesson In Global Trade It took Texas cotton farmer George Hoelscher a few minutes yesterday to get his mind around the news that a panel of judges sitting in Geneva, Switzerland -- one from Poland, one from Chile and one from Australia -- had issued a ruling that threatened his livelihood. But upon learning that the judges were with the World Trade Organization, and that they had ruled U.S. cotton subsidies to be in violation of international trade rules, Hoelscher began to perceive some dark truths. Hoelscher and the rest of the nation's 25,000 cotton farmers are getting a rude introduction to the rules of the global trading system, courtesy of the decision issued Monday by the Geneva-based WTO in a case brought by Brazil against the United States. The WTO panel, in a potentially major blow against the farm-subsidy programs run by rich nations, found that federal payments to cotton farmers unfairly depress world cotton prices.... FDA: Most Cos. Honor Mad Cow Regulations Fewer than 100 of about 14,000 livestock companies have violated regulations meant to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, federal regulators say. The Food and Drug Administration inspected 14,037 businesses in the last five months and found 12 that warranted its most serious action, according to its online database. Another 80 firms had minor violations and were recommended for voluntary action; two were referred to state regulators, records show....