NEWS ROUNDUP

Government Not Truthful on Air Tankers? CBS 5 News has obtained evidence that the U.S. Forest Service may not have been telling the "straight story" when it announced it was grounding 33-air tankers last week. To the public and the media Forest Service officials minimized the importance of the air tankers. But according to a confidential Forest Service Briefing Paper, the agency knows there could be in big trouble this summer without those planes. But a Forest Service Briefing Paper obtained by the 5 i-Team puts the impact in black and white terms. It says "...increased acres burned would be inevitable..." without air tankers. The paper is dated May 11th and is labeled "for internal use only." Oregon seeks air tankers to fill federal gap The Oregon state forester has declared a state of emergency over the shortage of large air tankers and is looking for more planes to contract on its own to make up for planes whose federal contracts were canceled over safety issues. The Oregon Department of Forest said Monday it is looking for two air tankers to be available as early as July 1 in addition to two tankers and two lead planes due to arrive Aug. 1 after they have completed work in Alaska. "Aircraft are integral to our aggressive firefighting strategy," said Bill Lafferty, director of fire protection for the department, said in a statement....Forest Management Practices Fueling Western Wildfires Wildfires that burn hotter, spread faster and occur more frequently than they might naturally may be the unintended legacy of decades of misguided forest management practices, says a Duke University fire ecologist. Large wildfires now blazing in California, Arizona and New Mexico are the latest evidence that the plan to ``fireproof'' the West's forests has backfired, says Norman L. Christensen Jr., professor of ecology and founding dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke. Current wildfire management practices, he says, fail to take into account local conditions like weather and topography, and don't give top priority to the most hazardous fuel source in most Western forests -- ground fuel such as dry grasses, pine needles and low shrubs. ``Ignited ground fuels can create enough heat to scorch a tree up to a height of 150 feet,'' Christensen says.... North Umpqua Hydropower License Illegal Seven conservation groups today sued the federal government for issuing an environmentally damaging hydropower license for a hydroelectric project on the North Umpqua River. For more than 50 years, the North Umpqua Hydroelectric Project has harmed species and habitat within the North Umpqua River basin and on Umpqua National Forest lands. According to the lawsuit filed by Earthjustice, the Forest Service ignored the advice of its own scientists when it agreed to the issuance of a new operating license for the project without requiring adequate measures to protect wildlife and their habitat.... Bedwell's rise In the relatively few years since Drew Bedwell erupted onto Nevada County's political scene, many words have been used to describe him: tenacious, radical, passionate, outspoken, militant. His politics have been loved, loathed and lambasted, but all admit that he is a man who had an impact. When the Natural Heritage 2020 Program - an environmental project to study and protect open space - was approved by the Board of Supervisors in May 2000, Bedwell felt that his favorite pastime was threatened. He decided it was time to speak out for property rights and defend home ownership. He founded the group Protect Your Property Rights in March 2001 and led fellow opponents in sporting yellow armbands at board meetings and public hearings in protest. He launched a petition campaign against NH 2020 that was so effective, even those who rallied behind it from the beginning are now skeptical of the program's future.... Protected toad's hopping grounds may be changed U.S. Forest Service officials this summer will begin to reanalyze what areas of Little Rock Creek can be reopened to the public and what parts must remain closed to protect a rare toad. The Forest Service will bring in a staffer to coordinate the examination of how to manage the 3,000 acres upstream of the Littlerock reservoir that have been closed to off-roaders, fishermen and campers since 1999 to protect the Southwestern arroyo toad.... Thousands Urge Governors in 11 States To Fight Federal Takeover of Sage Grouse Efforts Organizations representing more than a quarter million Westerners are urging the governors of 11 states to oppose a federal takeover of state and local conservation programs aimed at preserving the Greater Sage Grouse. More than 400 companies, associations, coalitions and individuals that collectively represent over a quarter of a million Westerners are calling on the governors of California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming to "do all that you can do to prevent the federal government from imposing the regulatory straightjacket of the Endangered Species Act on the citizens of the West and on our sage grouse populations." In letters to individual Governors, released Monday, the Greater Sage Grouse Conservation Task Force said that "an effort to list the greater sage grouse as a 'threatened' or 'endangered' species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could cause extraordinary economic damage to the West (go here to see the letter).... Lynx birth gives endangered species hope Spanish television has broadcast footage of what is said to be the first Iberian lynx cub to be born in captivity. The Iberian lynx is one of the world's most endangered wild cat species and is nearing extinction. The three-week-old cub was born in an animal conservation centre in the western Spanish town of Sierra de Fuentes.... Young lamb-killing bear caught, released A young grizzly bear has been captured and released after killing three lambs and some chickens in the Madison Valley. The capture took place last Thursday, said Kevin Frey, bear management specialist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. A federal Wildlife Services agent caught the 3-year-old to 4-year-old male bear with a leg snare after it had repeatedly come to a ranch in the Cedar Creek drainage southeast of Ennis.... A full-fledged comeback Nearly extinct 30 years ago, peregrine falcons have a fruitful life among Portland's bridges Peregrine falcons, back from near extinction in the 1960s, have found life good in Portland and many other cities. They showed up 10 years ago to nest at the Fremont Bridge, and now Portland bridges have become some of the most productive falcon nesting sites in Oregon. Despite some new threats, biologists say cities are expanding -- if only by accident -- the range available for these dive-bombing carnivores. "Buildings and bridges are ecologically equivalent to cliffs, and in some ways better," said Brian Walton, coordinator of the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group in California. "In the San Francisco Bay Area, we have them nesting on cranes, buildings, bridges and cliffs," Walton said.... Yellowstone-area grizzly count dips Observations of female grizzlies with cubs - an important indication about how well the overall population is faring - dropped from 52 in 2002 to 38 last year, according to the grizzly study team's annual report. More than likely, that drop is tied to a poor food year in 2002 and a slight reproductive increase in recent years that left few females available to breed and show off their offspring in 2003, Schwartz said. "It's no cause for concern," Schwartz said. "It's just normal environmental noise, and we'll probably see slightly higher counts next year." The recovery of the bear population is about more than numbers, biologists say. It has more to do with available habitat, tolerance by people and the food supply.... Judge orders agency to pay for farm water The heavy-handedness of at least one federal environmental agency toward agricultural water users in California has been dealt a serious blow by a court in Washington, D.C. The judge ruled recently that water diverted from farmers in California in 1992 and 1994 -- some 300,000 acre feet -- to provide protection for Delta smelt must be paid for by the government agency involved to the tune of $26 million. The water was withheld from the farmers by order of the Endangered Species Act in violation of contracts they hold with state water agencies. Four water distribution agencies in Kern, Kings and Tulare counties were denied the water. The attorney who represented the local water agencies, which are administered by boards comprised primarily of farmers, is now preparing a case on the same grounds that calls for water users in the Klamath Basin to be similarly compensated in the amount of $100 million.... National Parks fast falling into disrepair Leaky lodge roofs. Potholed roads. Beaches closed for lack of a lifeguard. Not enough rangers in their Smokey Bear hats teaching kids about flora and fauna. It's not a picture Americans want to imagine for their national parks - the "crown jewels" often likened to European cathedrals. But as the nation approaches the year's first holiday weekend when families head for the mountains, seashore, and battlefield monuments, there's a groundswell of concern (bordering on revolt) among current and retired US Park Service employees over the condition of national parks. Meanwhile, a coalition of environmental groups has just sued the Interior Department over its failure to minimize the air pollution impacts of nearby development on more than a dozen national parks and wilderness areas in the Rocky Mountain West. Interior is charged with failure to uphold the Clean Air Act around parks.... Rafting dispute roars on mighty river But upstream at Lees Ferry, where each year up to 20,000 people begin their journey down the canyon's renowned whitewater, the Colorado has become the symbol of the latest debate over who should be able to use national parks and how. A draft version of a new management plan for Grand Canyon National Park is due this summer. As part of that plan, the National Park Service must decide how to allocate the limited number of permits to float through the canyon. For now, commercial river outfitters, who lead large groups down the river, get the lion's share of those permits; about 700 to 750 launches a year are reserved for them.... Rec industry joins fight for wild lands Conservationists aren't the only ones fighting the Bush administration over protections for the nation's wild lands. A group of mostly small-business owners is increasingly joining the fray. The Outdoor Industry Association argues that preserving wild lands is not only good for people who like to hike, bike and raft there but also for the businesses that sell them gear. The association represents 4,000 companies that make and sell outdoor gear and guide city folks on backcountry trips. These businesses employ 500,000 people and generate $18 billion a year in sales. The association this month launched its "Protect today, play tomorrow" campaign to educate its members' customers about the need to preserve their undeveloped playgrounds. The association's nonprofit arm is running ads in four national outdoor magazines, distributing posters to specialty retail outdoor stores and traveling to member businesses to educate employees as part of its Business for Wilderness program.... CBM water may be leaking into Wyoming groundwater Water discharged from coal-bed methane drilling may be leaking from a Johnson County reservoir into area groundwater, state and federal officials say. The impact of any leak is likely tiny. The Skewed Reservoir holds just 15 acre-feet of discharge water, and is used primarily for research by Anadarko Petroleum and government agencies. Some, however, say the leak could be a sign of things to come for the thousands of similar discharge reservoirs dotting the Powder River Basin. In a letter dated March 12, the Bureau of Land Management said discharge water had leaked through about 15 feet of shale and coal below the reservoir and possibly penetrated underground aquifers.... Race course nixed by bureaucratic snafu Miscommunication about the actual course layout for the Eagle Spring Classic mountain bike race forced the Bureau of Land Management to tell race organizers that their new and improved route would not be allowed for this year. Dorothy Morgan of the Bureau of Land Management said that the original course map she received and approved was identical to last year's with regard to what federal land it crossed.... Gibbons defends Shoshone claims bill U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said Saturday that a claims bill he supports for Western Shoshone "is merely for distribution of money. The money doesn't do any good sitting in the bank." He told a handful of Western Shoshone and Western Shoshone Defense Project representatives at his town hall meeting that the Western Shoshone can still seek more land under separate legislation. "Nothing stops land distribution. We're for that," he said.... Nine Mile Canyon on list Utah's Nine Mile Canyon, sometimes called the world's longest art gallery because of its thousands of ancient Indian rock art images, was listed Monday as one of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places." "Today the canyon is threatened by growing tourism and vandalism, as well as by extensive oil and gas exploration plans recently approved by the federal Bureau of Land Management," said Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which released the annual list Monday at the National Press Club. Veneman will review plans for National Scenic Area Activities as disparate as getting married and canning fresh fish could both be permissible in the 80-mile National Scenic Area of the Columbia River Gorge, under a plan that's being reviewed by U.S. Secretary Ann Veneman. But the revisions authored by the Columbia River Gorge Commission have drawn concern from environmentalists who say the scenery of the area will be marred. Property rights groups, on the other hand, say the decisions don't go far enough. The management plan for the area is now in Washington, D.C., where Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman has until August to review it and decide whether it is consistent with the scenic act. Any appeals or lawsuits will probably be filed after she makes her decision. Maverick environmentalist's conference to list solutions to global ills A maverick environmentalist brought together eight prominent economic experts recently for a conference aimed at finding cost-effective solutions to the world's most urgent woes, including climate change, conflict, disease, and malnutrition. The weeklong meeting was organized by Danish statistician Bjoern Lomborg, who wrote the 2001 international best seller The Skeptical Environmentalist, which was criticized by many mainstream environmentalists for downplaying the impact of global warming. Four of the experts participating are winners of the Nobel Prize in economics: Robert W. Fogel, James J. Heckman, Douglass C. North, and Vernon L. Smith, all of the United States. The panel has already identified 10 problems, including education, financial instability, migration, sanitation and water scarcity, trade barriers, bad governance, and corruption. When the conference ends Friday, they will have discussed how to solve these woes and come up with 38 solutions that are ranked by their cost benefit, Lomborg said, calling the panel his "dream team.".... Is Water Flush helping Cutthroat Trout? Have you been to the Falls lately? There's an unbelievable amount of water splashing over. It's the result of a flush, sending saved water from Palisades to American Falls in one week rather than a few months. It's supposed to create natural conditions on the river and help cutthroat trout. It's still early in the experiment. But so far it doesn’t seem to be working. Checking for any sign of success means being on the river when conditions are less-than-friendly. Gaia Guru: Turn to Nuclear Now A leading Green researcher and environmental advocate who was among the first to warn of the effects of global warming has caused a stir with his idea that a faster, more troubling timetable of climate change requires an embrace of nuclear energy. While warnings over global warming and an end to nuclear energy have been basic tenets of the Green environmental movement, James Lovelock, 84, wrote in the United Kingdom's Independent this week that the only way to act effectively against rising temperatures and arctic melting is to turn to nuclear energy, which he called "the only one immediately available source" that does not cause global warming. "Opposition to nuclear energy is based on irrational fear fed by Hollywood-style fiction, the Green lobbies and the media," Lovelock wrote. "These fears are unjustified, and nuclear energy from its start in 1952 has proved to be the safest of all energy sources.".... Fast Arctic Thaw Portends Global Warming Global warming is hitting the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet in what may be a portent of wider, catastrophic changes, the chairman of an eight-nation study has said. Inuit hunters are falling more frequently through the thinning ice with habitats for plants and animals also disrupted. The icy Hudson Bay in Canada could be uninhabitable for polar bears within just 20 years. The melting is also destabilising buildings on permafrost and threatening an oil pipeline laid across Alaska.... PETA Ad Calls for an End to Killing Cows for Car Interiors PETA had hoped that its new billboard—showing a blood-spattered tire tread next to the tagline, "Killer on the Road: 4 Cows Killed for Every Mercedes Leather Interior," and steering motorists to its Web site LeatherIsDeadSkin.com—would rise in time to usher in the busy summer driving season, but Detroit outdoor advertisers Viacom and Lamar stopped the idea dead in its tracks, claiming that the ad was too controversial. The billboard is the newest weapon in PETA’s international campaign to get DaimlerChrysler, maker of Mercedes-Benz automobiles, to offer non-leather upholstery options for all models of its cars. The campaign follows PETA’s successful efforts to pressure DaimlerChrysler India to make alternatives to leather interiors available in Mercedes cars manufactured and sold in India.... Heinz Kerry: SUVs Are Safer To the environmentalists she funds with her billion-dollar philanthropy, SUVs are public enemy No. 1. But when it comes to her own personal driving needs, Teresa Heinz Kerry says she drives SUVs because they're safer. "Safety first," she tells USA Today, which notes Monday that "four [of her] close relatives were killed in car crashes." What's more, Heinz Kerry says she needs the SUVs "to drive safely in snow and sand at her various homes," the paper explained. The would-be first lady is said to be "angry that U.S. car manufacturers have taken so long to build a fuel-efficient four-wheel-drive vehicle." So she's now planning to buy a gas-electric hybrid Ford Escape.... Supreme Court to hear beef checkoff appeal The US Supreme Court said this morning it will hear an appeal of a lower court decision declaring the mandatory beef checkoff unconstitutional. The appeals court in 2003 found that the program violated farmers' rights to free speech and should end, in a case brought by the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) and the Livestock Marketing Association. The final ruling in this case could also have an impact on the pork checkoff program, which has also been deemed unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds by a lower court.... Got drought? Tax help for ranchers passes Senate In passing the Jumpstart Our Business Strength (JOBS) Act in mid-May, the Senate approved important tax cuts for US cattle producers suffering from drought conditions, National Cattlemen's Beef Association reports. Finance Committee Chairman Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) won full support with a 92 to 5 vote in the Senate. The legislation includes a provision which would allow for the extended deferral of capital gains tax from drought-related sales of livestock, previously referred to as the "Rancher Help Act."....U.S., Australia sign FTA U.S. and Australian officials signed a free trade agreement last week that may - or may not - result in a confrontation between American manufacturing and agriculture and even between American economic and security interests. U.S. manufacturers desperately want this agreement because it would remove all Australian tariffs on 99 percent of U.S. manufactured goods. Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., a co-founder with Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Calif., of the Australia caucus in Congress, noted at the elaborate signing ceremony on May 18 that it would make it easier for the Boeing company to sell airplanes to Qantas, the Australian carrier. But most American farm groups and agribusinesses are not supporting it, although for opposite reasons. The farm groups don't like the U.S.-Australian agreement because it reduces tariffs and other restrictions on most Australian commodities coming into the United States and is likely to result in increased imports of beef, lamb and dairy products. Many agribusiness groups such as the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the National Food Processors Association don't like the agreement because it did not reduce restrictions on U.S. sugar imports. The American Meat Institute, whose members include importers of meat from Australia, is supporting the agreement but the National Chicken Council is opposing it, a spokesman said, because Australia won't let in any U.S. chicken unless "it's cooked for such a time and at such a high temperature it is not edible.".... U.S., Some Ranchers Clash Over Mad Cow Tests Under a 1913 law, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has sole authority to license "veterinary biologics," such as diagnostic tests. So far, the agency has licensed the mad cow test kits only to itself. They can be used only by USDA scientists or at seven USDA-approved labs. And they can be used only to further the USDA's surveillance system, which monitors the nation's herd for BSE by testing less than 1% of cattle sent to slaughter. "Let's say you're conducting your own testing, and you get a false positive. You yell out: 'Guess what? We have a positive!' Know what would happen? Everybody in the world would stop trading with the U.S.," USDA spokesman Jim Rogers said. "Or let's say you get a cow that tests positive, but instead of telling us, you go bury it out in the pasture," Rogers said. "That's why we need to have one confirmatory agency in charge.".... Group doubts USDA chief's beef denial The cattlemen's group that uncovered the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been allowing banned Canadian beef products into the United States despite concerns about mad cow disease said it doubts Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman's denial she was unaware the products were being imported. The group, the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, told United Press International there were numerous indications Veneman would have been aware millions of pounds of Canadian ground beef and other processed beef products -- such as hot dogs and sausages -- were moving across the border for months after the agency banned such items last year. Despite struggle, sheep ranchers sustaining ancient calling Skye Krebs parks his truck next to a gray box trailer, set among bunch grass and sagebrush. Other than the trailer and the power lines running across the desert between Arlington and the Blue Mountain Scenic Highway, not another sign of civilization is in sight. Inside, the small trailer contains a tiny wood stove, two gas burners, a bed and a table. A portable stereo takes up most of the table space. There is no shower. No toilet. The man who calls the trailer home arrives on horseback, with several dogs for company. Jeronimo Quispe-Valario is from Peru. In a slow exchange of Spanish, he and Krebs discuss the more than 1,000 head of sheep Quispe-Valario watches over day and night, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Right now, the herd is several miles away, just white speckles in a green valley.... Editorial: Kill the death tax The very rich aren't campaigning against the death tax, because they don't pay it. The death of a Kennedy or Rockefeller is a non-event to the taxmen. Such ultra-wealthy families have retained the best estate-planning lawyers and bankers for generations. Their assets are held in virtually immortal family trusts and foundations. So who does pay the estate tax? The surviving children of moderately wealthy farmers and businessmen who leave behind ongoing enterprises worth more than $3 million. Think that could never be you?.... Film stunt double to be honored by Kanab About the only thing you'll ever find playing on Jackie Hamblin Rife's television is a good, old Western. For her, offerings on the cable television network Westerns are more than just good stories -- they're also nostalgia, history and a family scrapbook. The 70-year-old former extra and stunt double appeared in about 50 movies filmed in Kanab during the genre's heyday, movies that have found a new generation of viewers on cable. Rife's movie career hit pause in 1957 after she was trampled by horses during the filming of "War Drums," but the granddaughter of a Kanab cattle rancher didn't forsake the business she grew to love.... Onetime One-Man Town Has Its Own Kind of Boom Deep in the high desert of Central Oregon, on a lonely terrain thick with sage brush and juniper trees where there are far more antelope, bobcats and jack rabbits than people, lies one of America's tiniest towns. With its seven residents, all members of the Murray family, Millican's population is actually booming these days. For more than 60 years it was Oregon's one-man town, a dinky outpost with one store and two wooden cabins, where two different men were, for several decades each, mayor, postmaster, hotelier and lone resident.... Book Review: A Return Trip to the Prairie With Its Timeless Rhythms ith "Eventide" we are back in the small prairie town Holt, Colo., which Kent Haruf conjured with such intimacy and fidelity in his critically acclaimed 1999 best seller, "Plainsong." The McPheron brothers, Raymond and Harold, who gave a pregnant young woman named Victoria a home in that novel, are back at the center of "Eventide," and some of their neighbors put in return appearances as well. We see the changes that the passage of a few years has wrought: the losses, hopes and disappointments that have blown through these characters' lives, and the small and momentous ways in which they have tried to cope with them.... High noon for the Winchester mob These people take their nicknames and leisurewear seriously, and all belong to the Single Action Shooting Society, a Yorba Linda-based for-profit venture. Born in 1981, SASS claims 60,000 members worldwide, each with a badge and nickname, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (or, as he is known on the range, Trinidad Slim). Every month, thousands dress up and assemble in posses. "It goes beyond shooting," says Ken Amorosano, the society's marketing director. "The most defining aspect of American culture is the Old West…. Our culture and the gun go hand in hand.".... Historic nuptials: Cody couple melds love of history, love for each other Chalk it up to seeing "Gone With the Wind" one too many times. Or having a love of history. Or better yet, loving someone who loves Old West history enough to grow out a handle bar mustache and play Buffalo Bill Cody every weekend during the summer months. Whatever the reason, Tricia McCullough spent this Friday in Greybull, getting pinned into a dress straight out of the 1890s for her upcoming marriage to Alan Baker. And when the crowd forms in front of Cody's Irma Hotel on June 25 to see the nightly gunfight, they will find love, not gun smoke, in the air. "It's not every day that a girl gets to marry Buffalo Bill," said McCullough, referring to her husband-to-be, who has played the colonel on the weekends with the Cody Gunfighters for four years.... Another way to rodeo This is charrería, a Mexican tradition similar to rodeo, with hundreds of years of history. The cowboys, or charros, displayed their skills Saturday at the Texas State Competition of the 2004 Jose Cuervo Tradicional Charro Championship. Ten regional competitions will be held around the country. The winning teams and individual competitors will head to the national finals Sept. 3 and 4 in New Cuyama, Calif. "It's just a very old tradition," Francisco "Paco" Gaona said as he helped load horses and bulls into the chutes. "Family members pass it down to their sons and kids and continue the tradition.".... CHILEAN RODEO RIDERS DEMONSTRATE NATIONAL SPORT An hour south of Santiago is Rancagua, one of Chile's agricultural centers and home of the national rodeo finals. Every year, hundreds of riders gather in April to compete for Chile's highest equestrian honor and for a chance to win the first prize - about $19,000 and a double-cab pickup. About the only thing Chilean rodeo shares with its American counterpart is its name, derived from the Spanish word for circle. In the Chilean sport, teams of two riders run alongside a steer and guide it into a padded area on the arena's wall, where they bump the animal against the surface. Judges award the teams points based on which part of the steer's body touches the wall: four points for the back leg, three for the ribs, two for the shoulders and no points for the neck....