NEWS ROUNDUP

Environmentalists make final bid to block energy leases The Pitkin County commissioners and a coalition of environmental groups made a desperate attempt Wednesday to prevent 1,560 acres of rugged forest land from being leased for natural gas development. The commissioners and the environmental coalition filed separate protests with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to try to remove the land in extreme western Pitkin County from being offered at an auction in Denver Thursday.... Guard Deployments Worry States With so many National Guard troops in Iraq, officials in some states are worried they could be caught short-handed if an emergency flares up at home. More Guard members are deployed now than have been since the Korean War, about a quarter of the 460,000 nationwide. Their more frequent and longer overseas deployments "absolutely" affect states' emergency response, said Chris Reynolds, a battalion fire chief in Tampa, Fla., who also teaches disaster management at American Military University.... Report finds other fires depleted resources to fight Biscuit fire A government review of the initial fight to stop the massive 2002 Biscuit fire found that delays in marshaling firefighting forces, mostly because of other fires burning around the West, allowed the blaze to grow to nearly 500,000 acres. "These delays were primarily due to the severe fire season — there were many higher priority fires within and outside the region," according to the report by the General Accounting Office released Wednesday. By the time highly experienced teams arrived, the fire had already grown from a few hundred acres to almost 200,000 acres, the review found.... Lawmakers Promise Return Of Firefighting Air Tankers Lawmakers said Thursday they'll try to get grounded air tankers back in the air to fight wildfires. "I don't think we have an adequate substitute out there," Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said at a hearing of the House Resources subcommittee on forests. Officials with the Forest Service and Interior Department testified they had no choice after the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the airworthiness of the big fixed-wing aircraft could not be ensured. One problem is the Federal Aviation Administration lacks the authority to inspect the former military tankers and certify them as airworthy for firefighting because the FAA deals with civilian -- not government -- flights. The Forest Service and the Interior Department are not equipped to carry out such inspections, officials said. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., pledged to meet Tuesday with the head of the FAA to resolve the problem. The FAA does inspect and certify many of the same aircraft for non-government purposes.... County looking to protect gas To protect gas development in Moffat County, residents have begun working with gas companies to complete a sage grouse management plan. The working group met with representatives from Tom Brown Inc. and Western Gas Resources Inc. last week to open a dialogue on management of the greater sage grouse, said Jeff Comstock, Moffat County Natural Resources Department director. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting a study to determine whether the greater sage grouse requires protection under the Endangered Species Act. They're scheduled to make a decision by the end of the year. The county's sage grouse working group opposes a listing of the greater sage grouse. Indeed, the purpose of the plan is prevent the need for a greater sage grouse listing, said Jean Stetson, a member of the working group.... Court Enjoins Blue Rock Country Club Development A judicial panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today temporarily enjoined the grading of land for a golf course development known as the Blue Rock Country Club east of the City of Hayward, CA, on Walpert Ridge. The court agreed that the development’s proposed golf course may imperil endangered species and has scheduled oral arguments in the case. The housing aspect of the project includes 614 luxury homes proposed to be constructed over a 356-acre area. But what conservation groups opposed was a golf course sprawling nearly three quarters of a mile across Walpert Ridge, in prime open space and habitat for the imperiled Alameda whipsnake and the California red legged frog.... Bush Administration Refuses to Release Otero Mesa Development Documents Earthjustice filed suit in federal court in New Mexico today to acquire documents relating to the government’s plan to open unroaded wild areas of the Otero Mesa to oil and gas drilling. Representing New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, the public interest law firm filed its complaint after the US Fish and Wildlife Service failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted five months ago. The Bureau of Land Management submitted a biological assessment to the US Fish and Wildlife Service in April 2003 that identified likely negative impacts to the falcon from oil and gas development. Later that same year, under goading from the Bush administration, the BLM concluded that its proposed oil and gas development plan wouldn’t impact any federally protected species enough to warrant a formal consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, as required by law.... Go here(pdf) to view the complaint....Water supply forecast down again for Northwest Water supply forecasts for the entire Columbia River Basin have been below normal this spring, pointing to a difficult summer ahead for electricity management and protection of threatened fish, energy planners were told Thursday. Runoff at six hydroelectric dams in the basin bottomed out at 63 percent of normal for January through July 2004, according to a forecast produced by the National Weather Service's River Forecast Center and presented to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council.... Preble's mouse decision may not end the saga A decision next year on whether to remove federal protection for the Preble's meadow jumping mouse may not end the controversial environmental and economic saga surrounding the elusive critter, the regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned Thursday. Ralph Morgenweck said he is concerned Coloradans may believe the “game is over” for the Preble's because a recent scientific study found it was not a distinct subspecies from a mouse found in northern Wyoming and South Dakota, the Bear Lodge jumping mouse. Yes, Morganweck said, that finding could play a key role in the agency's decision - expected in late December or early 2005 - on whether the Preble's mouse should be removed from protection afforded by the Endangered Species Act. But there's a complication, once that could delay or prevent a ruling on the Preble's mouse protection that some critics say has cost highway builders, developers and landowners millions dollars. That's because Morgenweck said the federal agency is hearing “rumors” that environmentalists may soon ask that the Bear Lodge mouse itself be listed as a threatened species.... Chinook run appears 48 percent under forecast The spring chinook salmon run headed for the upper Columbia and Snake rivers appears to be 48 percent smaller than predicted. State, federal and tribal biologists have updated the forecast, downgrading it from a prediction of 360,700 in December to 189,200 adult chinook.... Column: Condors, Salmon and the Land One rides the summer thermals; the other glides through rivers and streams like a pale torpedo. They could not be more dissimilar, this big buzzard and the silvery fish, yet they have a great deal in common: Both are icons of the environmental movement, and both challenge us to deepen our understanding of the relationship between living creatures and the landscapes they inhabit. California condors and Pacific salmon both reached milestones in the past month. For the condors, still the rarest birds in North America despite a 20-year campaign to boost their numbers, the milestone was superficially a happyone: Three chicks hatched in the backcountry of Ventura County, Calif., the product of breeding by birds in the wild.... Pete Seeger's environmental sloop Clearwater designated historic The National Register of Historic Places on Thursday acquired a new member that sails the Hudson River, with an engine that will soon be fueled by soy oil. The 35-year-old sloop Clearwater, which helped inspire the nation's environmental movement, is now a waterborne classroom that teaches new generations about clean air and water. The 108-foot tall ship, made mostly of white oak, with a yellow pine deck, was constructed to fulfill folk singer Pete Seeger's 1968 pledge to "build a boat to save the river.".... Activists fight McCullough Peaks road plan Environmentalists are blasting a plan to manage motorized vehicles in the McCullough Peaks area east of Cody, calling it an unbalanced proposal that could ruin the fragile desert landscape. The Bureau of Land Management already allows cars, all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and other vehicles on designated roads in the 120,000-acre travel management area. Under the plan, BLM officials hope to better tailor motorized vehicle use to individual roads and trails and determine which routes should be closed to such use.... Gas lease dispute The federal auction Thursday of 72,000 acres of Colorado land for oil and gas drilling came under a cloud, as activists led by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette disputed most of the sale for the lands' wilderness values. Amid beefed-up security, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned 70 parcels at its Lakewood office. Companies forked over $6.62 million - the second-highest amount for a single auction in the BLM's Colorado history - for drilling rights to the natural gas-loaded areas in the Rocky Mountains.... SD expands aerial hunting Aerial hunting of coyotes that threaten livestock will be allowed on certain state-managed land under a decision by the state's Game, Fish & Parks Commission. The panel's vote last week opens up land owned or managed by the Office of School and Public Lands to aerial depredation hunting, which is allowed when coyotes or fox have attacked livestock or are a potential threat to do so.... Column: Celebrating 40 years of the Wilderness Act Wilderness, as the conservationist Aldo Leopold put it, is “the very stuff America is made of.” As pioneers settled our continent, their encounter with wilderness shaped our national character. Today, as Americans flock to our national forests, parks and other federal lands, many seek the wilderness, savoring its scenic splendors and a quiet that’s increasingly rare. Hikers and hunters, birders and anglers, families with kids and those like us, who are closing in on their 80s, find in wilderness the opportunity to reconnect with pioneer skills and relive our national history.... NM leases land to Texas wind farm company The New Mexico State Land Office has signed an agreement with a Texas wind farm company to lease 1,840 acres of state trust land to establish a wind power facility in Quay County. The wind farm will consist of 80 turbines, eight of which will be built on state land, which are predicted to produce 80 megawatts of power. Another 72 turbines will be located on private land. The Cielo project units will join 136 other turbines spread across Quay and De Baca counties that are part of the New Mexico Wind Energy Center, the third-largest wind power facility in the nation.... Missouri lows may hit record Spring runoff is so poor this year that flows on the Missouri River below Holter Dam could hit record lows this summer, officials say. And, if the water gets too warm on the blue ribbon trout stream between Holter Dam and Cascade, fishing will be restricted. That could happen as early as late July. "It was grim in April. It is grimmer now," said Steve Leathe, regional director of fisheries for Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.... Signs point to judge allowing Green Mountain lawsuit The lawsuit concerning how Green Mountain Reservoir water was allocated during Colorado’s driest summer on record will likely be allowed to proceed, with intervention from the state. Western Colorado water providers sued the Bureau of Reclamation over how it assigned a shortage of water in Green Mountain in 2002; the shortage was caused by the drought and compounded by release restrictions to avoid aggravating the Heeney slide.... Globe Grows Darker as Sunshine Diminishes 10% to 37% n the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place. Defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as much as 10 percent from the late 1950's to the early 90's, or 2 percent to 3 percent a decade. In some regions like Asia, the United States and Europe, the drop was even steeper. In Hong Kong, sunlight decreased 37 percent. No one is predicting that it may soon be night all day, and some scientists theorize that the skies have brightened in the last decade as the suspected cause of global dimming, air pollution, clears up in many parts of the world. Yet the dimming trend — noticed by a handful of scientists 20 years ago but dismissed then as unbelievable — is attracting wide attention. Research on dimming and its implications for weather, water supplies and agriculture will be presented next week in Montreal at a joint meeting of American and Canadian geological groups.... Dry Times: Cattlemen Start Selling Producers are starting to cull their herds after another dry spring leaves little in the way of grass or water for cattle in western South Dakota. Some areas in the south central part of the state are classified in extreme drought and Congress is considering giving producers some financial leeway if they have to sell cattle. The Fort Pierre Livestock Auction is adding a second day of auctions each week because of the increased volume, said manager Dennis Hanson.... Prosecutors probing cattle futures trade Federal prosecutors are looking into possible criminal violations by commodities traders who may have received advance knowledge about the first U.S. case of mad cow disease and used it to reap profits in the cattle futures market. The disclosure of an investigation by criminal authorities, being conducted in tandem with a previously known civil probe by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was made by agency Chairman James Newsome on Thursday in testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee.... Lowe to President Bush: Howdy, partner It's not very often that a rodeo cowboy will trade in his Resistol and Wranglers for a tie and sport coat. So when Will Lowe's wife suggested the world champion bareback rider update his wardrobe for a recent after-hours function, he began to grumble. I mean, you would think he was meeting the President or something. Exactly.... People who live at the end of dirt roads Do you really want to know what is wrong with American society today? Too many of our roads have been paved! There's not a problem in America today...crime, education, drugs, the divorce rate, that could not be improved with more dirt roads. Dirt roads build character. People who live at the end of dirt roads know that life is much more enjoyable when taken at a slower pace. They know that life can be dirty, boring and can jar you right down to your teeth at times. But they also have a greater appreciation for what's waiting at the end of the bumpy ride...their kids, a frisky dog and a loving spouse....