NEWS ROUNDUP

Shift on Salmon Reignites Fight on Species Law Three years ago, Mark C. Rutzick was the timber industry's top lawyer trying to overturn fish and wildlife protections that loggers viewed as overly restrictive. Back then, he outlined to his clients a new strategy for dealing with diminishing salmon runs. By counting hatchery fish along with wild salmon, the government would help the timber industry by getting salmon off the endangered species list, Mr. Rutzick wrote. Now, as a high-ranking political appointee in the Bush administration who is a legal adviser to the National Marine Fisheries Service, Mr. Rutzick is helping to shape government policy on endangered Pacific salmon. And in an abrupt change, the Bush administration has decided for the first time to consider counting fish raised in hatcheries when determining if some species are going extinct. The new plan, which officials have said is expected to be formally announced at the end of the month, closely follows the position that Mr. Rutzick advocated when he represented the timber industry.... Energy Groups to Fight Bird Protection The natural gas industry and environmental groups are squaring off in the Rocky Mountains over a small chicken-like bird that makes its home in one of America's hottest gas drilling regions. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed last month to look into the possibility of protecting the greater sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, a move that would limit development around its habitat in 11 Western states. Energy producers are concerned that more protection for the sage grouse will hamper drilling in states like Wyoming and Colorado. The Rocky Mountain region has become a key area for natural gas drilling, especially the methane-rich natural gas contained deep within underground coal beds. About 80 percent of Wyoming is considered greater sage grouse habitat, according to Dru Bower, vice president of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.... 'Endangered' cactus may really be prolific The Pima pineapple cactus may not really be endangered. In 1993, the government declared the tiny plant at risk of extinction. It has since preoccupied developers, environmentalists and county officials because it lives on Tucson's quickly expanding southern fringes. The inconspicuous cactus is usually found on ridgetops and flat land that's not too rocky - perfect places for building homes. It has therefore shaped the county's Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, and helped decide the content of $174 million worth of open-space bonds voters that will decide on May 18. Botanists, however, continue to clash over whether the cactus was properly classified as a separate subspecies. Some think it should be lumped together with other varieties of pineapple cacti that are more numerous and stretch all the way to Texas. That's how the new edition of the influential Flora of North America deals with the situation, though other books stand by the existing labels.... Plywood renaissance Six months later, Killgore's company is out of the red, one of 34 mills in the Pacific Northwest that has been revived by an unprecedented increase in plywood prices. Last May, the price of 1,000 square feet of plywood sold for $392, according to Random Lengths, a trade publication in Eugene, Ore. A month later, prices took off "like a rocket," said Jim Enright, general sales manager at Rosboro Lumber, another plywood manufacturer in Springfield. By June, the same product sold for $435, and in August, prices topped $500. Prices reached an industry high of $650 in November -- a record that was broken month after month in the first part of this year, with the latest peak at $735.... Struggling to survive: Biologists changing strategies to aid reintroduction of ferrets After 10 years of effort and expenditures of more than $2 million, a federal program to re-establish the endangered black-footed ferret in Montana remains far from its goal. While 440 captive-raised ferrets have been released at three sites on the prairies of north-central Montana, and another 191 ferrets have been born within the reintroduced population, the latest surveys put the state's ferret number at just 23, give or take a few. A major problem for the reintroduction program has been sylvatic plague, a disease deadly to ferrets and to prairie dogs, whose fates as species are closely linked. Ferrets' main food source is prairie dogs, and they use their burrows for shelter.... Column: Wolves at the door My family has been ranching in Bear Valley on the south side of the Strawberry Mountains since 1885. The meadows along Bear Creek and the Silvies River, where our cattle spend the fall and winter, are turning green now. Soon we'll be moving them to the rolling sage and grassland beyond the meadows. Our ranch is up high, topping out at more than 6,500 feet. We average just a month of frost-free weather. It's not exactly a good spot for growing tomatoes. All we can grow is grass, and the way we can use that grass is through livestock. In our case, it's cattle, of which we have several hundred. Our passion is to raise cattle without antibiotics or growth implants in a way that's good for the land and provides a good life for the four families this ranch supports. Because I'm a rancher, you're probably thinking I see wolves from Idaho running in ravenous packs to Oregon, wiping out our cow herd. You'd be wrong.... Panthers Start to Peek Out of the Shadows In this corner of the country, nature, on occasion, bites back. Alligators have been known to slither from the primeval ooze and snatch unsuspecting pets. Surfers sometimes get attacked by sharks. Sinkholes open up and swallow homes. Carol Balman, who lives west of Miami in a former Navy bus that's been converted into a cozy home, experienced one of those Florida moments recently: She was sitting outside with visitors when a friend's Chihuahua began to growl. A tawny Florida panther, a superb killing machine that can reach 150 pounds, came into view. Over the past six months, Balman said, she has seen the normally furtive and nocturnal animals at least eight times near her home — often in broad daylight. "They've been in the yard, and I've had them in here as close as the fire," the 55-year-old Balman said, pointing to a campfire ring between the road and her bus. "They've been walking down the road. They're cool to watch, actually.".... Eagles to cost developer $20 million A pair of bald eagles chased from their treetop perch by a great horned owl spent days circling the luxurious Tesoro development in southwest Port St. Lucie this winter before settling on what Tesoro officials call "the most pristine, expensive land" in the project: a pine-studded lakefront tract overlooking what was supposed to be the eighth hole of a Tom Watson-designed golf course. As the eagles spent the next few months gathering twigs for a nest and raising two eaglets, Tesoro officials scrambled to redesign the golf course and $20 million clubhouse complex right below the eagles' new digs, abiding by federal rules that prohibit development within 750 feet of a bald eagle nest. The pricetag for the birds' new home? A cool $20 million in forgone lot sales alone.... Grazing dispute stirs on W. Slope A clash of philosophies between a powerful rancher and a national wildlife refuge is headed for a showdown in dusty northwestern Colorado. At the center of the dispute is T. Wright Dickinson, former Moffat County commissioner and vocal proponent of county efforts to gain control of federal lands. Each spring for 10 years, federal officials say, cattle owned by the Dickinson family have grazed on Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge.... Ranchers accused of illegal use of toxin on prairie dogs Some western South Dakota ranchers are accused of killing prairie dogs with a pesticide that is registered only for below-ground use on pocket gophers. With drought gripping the region for many years, prairie dog towns have been expanding, provoking many ranchers - who consider prairie dogs pests - to step up legal poisoning. But dry conditions also have led some to use Rozol, a cheaper poison that is legal only for pocket gophers.... Hunting, fishing restrictions ruffle village feathers Village leaders in Southwest Alaska are threatening civil disobedience to protest recent federal and state restrictions on subsistence hunting and fishing. Delegates to the Association of Village Council Presidents voiced their opposition to changes in federal migratory bird regulations and state-mandated closures to subsistence salmon fishing in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta at the council's midyear convention here late last month.... Fearless dogs scare away bears with tough love The mere mention of the word "bear" is enough to get Mishka, Tuffy and Cassidy to stand at attention, poised to attack an animal that probably weighs at least 10 times more than they do. Say "Bark at the bear!" and they'll do it like actors on cue. Give them a crack at an actual bear, and they'll send it barreling away as if it had never encountered something so unpleasant. After centuries of breeding in Finland, these Karelian bear dogs don't show a hint of fear when they run toward a bear, pulling their handlers along as they bark furiously.... Column: A River Losing Its Soul Four decades after one of the West's last big dams blocked the free flow of water into the wild recesses of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado still manages to roar through here like the granddaddy of Western rivers. But it has become the Hollywood version — strikingly beautiful and in vital ways, fake. With every passing year, the Grand Canyon's stretch of the Colorado River bears less and less resemblance to its former self. The fine, white sand beaches on which thousands of weary boaters unfurl their sleeping bags every summer are disappearing. So are native fish species that have been in the canyon for millions of years. Millennium-old Native American burial sites are washing away with the eroding sands.... Winged dreams An anxious voice crackled over Joe Burnett's two-way radio: "Bird coming in." Whoosh! Massive wings split the still air, then boof! California condor No. 134 landed hard, inches above Burnett's hiding place in a shallow pit camouflaged by branches and leaves. Burnett remembers looking up and watching the big bird's spindly feet step toward the bait, a calf carcass rotting in 90-degree heat. Flies swarmed the rancid slab of flesh and buzzed Burnett's ears.... Pershing checkerboard land plan advances A bill to consolidate Pershing County's "checkerboard lands," a legacy of the building of the transcontinental railroad, is coming closer to reality. Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, said Friday that the Nevada's Legislative Committee on Public Lands, which he chairs, heard a report Thursday in Lovelock on a plan that would transfer more than 200,000 acres of private land to the federal government at fair-market value. The proposal also calls for 950 acres around Lovelock to be made available to the city for economic development. Also, the company will pay 20 years worth of ad valorem taxes to the county on the land being conveyed to the BLM to make up for the loss of property taxes. In addition, the federal government is to put out for auction 34,000 acres to the private sector in an "orderly manner, so that it doesn't blow out the real estate market," Rhoads said. The county will have a say on how that land is sold, he said.... BLM gas leases harm roadless areas, enviros say Environmentalists claim four proposed roadless areas in the White River National Forest will be at risk, along with wildlife and plant species, when the Bureau of Land Management auctions oil- and natural-gas leases Thursday. The auction will lease more than 73,000 acres. Six of the 77 parcels are within the Thompson Creek, Middle Mountain, Reno Mountain and Mamm Peak roadless areas. The roadless-area conservation rule bans the construction of new roads. The Forest Service, however, considers the rule invalid because of an injunction by a federal judge in Wyoming. Conservation groups argue a federal circuit court ruling declared the rule valid.... BLM wants to round up abandoned llamas The Bureau of Land Management Uncompahgre Field Office is taking steps to remove a herd of 15 abandoned llamas in the Escalante Canyon area. Officials believe the llamas were abandoned approximately a year ago on the mesa tops east of Escalante Canyon, eight miles west of Delta. Since then, ranchers and recreationists in the area have reported encounters with the llama herd. The llamas will be removed for their own health and safety, in accordance with BLM land-use regulations.... Judge halts BLM grazing decision in Craters Judge James H. Heffernan, an administrative judge with the U.S. Department of Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals in Salt Lake City, had harsh words for the BLM in his written decision dated April 28. "The new grazing system may only exacerbate the poor vegetative conditions and hasten the listing of the sage grouse," the judge wrote. "The public's interest in maintaining the integrity of its lands and sensitive species outweighs the interest of BLM and the permittees in keeping livestock on the allotment. The potential hardship to be suffered by the public -- permanent or long-lasting damage to the land -- outweighs the largely economic hardship which the permittees face." Grazing within the monument will continue but will revert back to the previous grazing decision for now because of the judge's order, said Rick VanderVoet, manager of the Craters monument for the BLM. That plan is more than 10 years old, he said.... Suspected rogue bear snared, killed The bear is gone, but the stories about it will linger for decades to come. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) officials Friday killed a black bear snared at the site of an attack on a sleeping man Wednesday in Desolation Canyon along the Green River. Later on Friday, officials learned the bear may have gone through the screen of a tent at another camp and bitten another sleeping man in the same area on Tuesday. "It sounds like it was the same bear. The description in size and color is the same, and because it happened on the west side of the river two miles apart from each other leads me to believe it was the same bear," said Sgt. Carl Gramlich, a conservation officer with the DWR.... Development crowding military Now builders are voicing similar alarm over a statewide alliance of admirals and environmentalists who want to slow development beneath all of California's military flight paths. Aerial routes 10 miles wide, created during the 1950s and 1960s to train fighter pilots flying 500 mph at 200 feet are fast becoming growth corridors, worrying the military and those who want to keep it in California. Environmentalists want to save "vast areas of habitat" beneath military flight paths carved out when the state held half the population it does now. Indeed, as the Defense Department prepares to announce nearly 100 base closures next year, stricter growth management is becoming a key strategy in California and several other states to keep bases off the hit list. California, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington and more are passing laws and putting land off limits -- signaling the Pentagon of their seriousness about keeping bases viable.... Sierra Club leader blasts Bush environment polices in new book Carl Pope has helped turn the Sierra Club into a prominent voice in national politics by recruiting new members, lobbying government and motivating voters to think about the environment when they head to the polls. The executive director of the nation's most influential conservation group is plunging deeper into politics this election year, writing a book that accuses the Bush administration of rewriting regulations to help polluters and stripping protections for 235 million acres of wilderness. "Bush has done his best, in only three years, to break our national compact on environmental progress and turn the clock back - not years or decades but a full century," Pope writes in "Strategic Ignorance" with co-author Paul Rauber.... Editorial: The Arid West ven in May, an extraordinary number of Westerners — especially those who live in the Rocky Mountain states — are still talking about March. In many places, it was an unusually warm month without precipitation. March put an end to the hope — a well-worn hope by now — that the weather would return to normal in a region that is now entering its fifth year of drought. Every indicator is grievous. Ranchers have radically destocked the range. In Arizona and New Mexico, more than a million acres of pinyon and ponderosa pine have died off. Critical reservoirs, like Lake Powell, are holding less than half their capacity. The Rio Grande is a trickle. The entire drainage of the Colorado River — the ultimate source of water for much of the metropolitan West — is at risk. A drought of this severity naturally calls into question the definition of "normal." It appears, in fact, that what is normal is an oscillation in climate, from wet periods, like 1976 to 1998, to dry periods, which have recurred with some regularity. So far, this is a five-year drought. But no one knows how long it will last. The climatic history of Arizona, for instance, has been reconstructed by painstaking analysis of tree rings. That research shows that there have been two droughts that lasted 18 years and one, near the end of the 16th century, that lasted 28 years. Tree-ring evidence also shows that for parts of Arizona, 2002 was the driest year in the past 1,400 years.... Some breaks in corporate tax bill assembled by the U.S. Senate _Let farmers avoid taxes for replacing livestock due to drought, flood or other weather problems, at a cost of $25 million. _Give farmers and ranchers in drought areas a 30 percent tax credit on the purchase and installation of irrigation equipment. _Allow nonprofit organizations to use tax-exempt bonds to acquire forest land, with up to $1.5 billion in bonds.... Column: A Meeting of Cattlemen From Two Cultures on the Mexican Border n modern, industrialized agriculture, the benign cow sometimes looks like a nightmare creature, a carrier of human fears about E. coli, environmental degradation, mad cow disease and dire concentration in the meatpacking business. But none of this is the cow's fault. And in a few places, the cow is still something more than a warm-blooded economic integer or a plague on the hoof. In those places cattle still anchor a way of life, a grassland culture of great subtlety and beauty. Not long ago, I visited a windswept region in New Mexico and Arizona, along the Mexican border, with representatives from two of those cattle cultures: a coalition of local ranchers and scientists, called the Malpai Borderlands Group, and a group of Masai from Kenya and Tanzania. At first, the differences seemed almost overwhelming. The Masai live intimately with their zebu cattle, naming each one, walking them long distances to water and good grazing, and they could not quite believe that the Malpai ranchers gathered and counted their cow-calf pairs only twice a year, at branding and shipping. The wildness of American range cattle amazed the Masai. It seemed just as surprising to the ranchers that Masai women milked their beef cattle, sharing the udder of a lactating cow with its calf, and that a zebu could lower its metabolism in response to drought.... Endless seasons Ranching was one of the first great post-European settlement endeavors in Humboldt County. It continues to be an element of the economic and cultural picture, but changes have set in. One thing will never change: The seasons lie at the heart of ranch life. This is the first of four parts that will be spread out over the seasons of the coming year. In the rain-greened hills around Bridgeville, help is usually far away. In the spring, when there are calves to brand, help comes anyway. Neighbors and friends, cowboys and weekend ropers from the four corners of the county haul quarter horses and paint horses behind growling diesel pickups to George Brightman's ranch.... On The Edge Of Common Sense: Mountain lions cause backbiting problem In my neighboring big city of Tucson, we have a mountain lion problem. The city limit pushes up against the border of the state park like New York skyscrapers up against the East River. California studies demonstrate that the mountain lions, like coyotes, rats, cockroaches and pigeons adapt quite well to urban encroachment. They routinely stalk and eat domestic livestock, pets and the occasional human. This past winter on the outskirts of Los Angeles one lion killed and ate one person and mauled another. In our case, park visitors were reporting lions coming uncomfortably close, one being sighted crossing the parking lot of a nearby school....