NEWS ROUNDUP

American Prairie Overlooked No More Ever since European pioneers first saw North America's midsection more than 200 years ago, most people have considered its vast expanse of prairie to be "the great American desert," a barren landscape meant to be either crossed or plowed under. More than 90 percent of it has been turned into farms, towns and commercial developments. Even many environmentalists working to protect spectacular mountain ranges, wild rivers and old-growth forests have viewed the prairie as little more than empty land. That perception is rapidly changing. Across the Midwest and beyond, projects to preserve or restore prairie landscapes are winning broad support. Environmental groups are investing millions of dollars in them. When naturalists who run prairie preserves call for volunteer help, they are often overwhelmed by the number of people who turn up.... Pilot says firefighting airtankers are "absolutely safe" Thirty-three firefighting airtanker planes the Forest Service grounded across the nation this spring, reportedly because of mechanical problems, are "absolutely safe," according to a Silver City pilot. Bill Waldman, who works for the Aero Union Corp., one of the companies that leases the aircraft to the Forest Service, said he has been flying the machines for 36 years. The Forest Service's citing of safety concerns in grounding the airtankers "is a red herring," according to Waldman. The real reason for the decision, he said, was that the agency was concerned about its liability after federal officials determined the Forest Service is responsible for ensuring the airtankers' airworthiness. The agency does not "have the expertise to do so," Waldman said. "So, because of the liability, they canceled the contract.".... Column: Restoring Klamath Heartlands In Oregon’s Klamath Basin -- renowned for its water disputes -- a remarkable and little-noted story about land is unfolding. The current story begins 50 years ago, with a since-repudiated federal policy toward Indian tribes called “termination." It involves the chance to right a profound injustice, and an opportunity to achieve forest restoration on an unprecedented scale. However the story ends, it marks a profound moment in the history of Oregon and the West. When the Klamath Lake Treaty of 1864 reserved to the Klamath and Modoc Indians and the Yahooskin Band of the Snake Indians “the Klamath heartlands, including Upper Klamath and Agency lakes, as well as the Williamson and Sprague drainages,” that two-million-acre territory contained one of the greatest ecological treasures of the American West.... NRA head blasts feds for shortchanging hunters The president of the National Rifle Association said Tuesday that a government assault of red tape, rising costs and closure of millions of acres of public lands limits the ability of average hunters to pursue game. In a speech before the Outdoor Writers Association of America and a subsequent press conference, NRA president Kayne Robinson said the most vulnerable hunters are being driven out of their sport by factors that make hunting more elite and legally difficult.... Pesticide controls near salmon streams remain in effect pending appeal Controls on the use of pesticides around salmon streams will remain in force through the summer growing season while judges in California review a legal appeal. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied motions from pesticide manufacturers and farmers to lift the controls while the court considers the case, said Patti Goldman, an attorney for Earthjustice in Seattle. The first hearing will be in September. "The court protections will keep pesticides out of our salmons streams while the government complies with its obligations under the Endangered Species Act," Goldman said.... Habitat for Species Recovery Seen Wanting The Bush administration is approving only about one of every two acres that federal biologists propose setting aside to help vanishing species recover. Between 2001 and 2003, the government cut 42 million acres from plans to create nearly 83 million acres of critical habitat for threatened and endangered species, a National Wildlife Federation study found. The administration also more often cited economic reasons to justify decisions to reduce acreage. In 2001, that rationale was used to trim about 1 percent of the acreage; by 2003, that had risen to 69 percent. The federation contends the administration is trying to undermine the Endangered Species Act.... Suit Filed to Save Coastal Cutthroat Trout Earthjustice, representing the Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pacific Rivers Council and WaterWatch, filed a formal 60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for illegally denying protection for Columbia River and southwestern Washington populations of the coastal cutthroat trout under the Endangered Species Act.... Norton: Sage grouse listing would hurt energy production Interior Secretary Gale Norton says listing the sage grouse as an endangered species could significantly impact energy production and grazing. "Some say the grouse could become the spotted owl of the intermountain West," Norton told Western governors at their annual meeting Tuesday. "But the sage grouse occupies nearly 12 times as much land as the northern spotted owl." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering whether the once-abundant game bird is in need of protection under the Endangered Species Act.... Column: The Nature Conservancy joins forces with the US Corps of Engineers The $5.3 billion needed for the ecosystem by the environmentalists would be funded primarily by the federal government. For years, environmentalists have blocked the updating of these badly-needed lock and dam improvements and it has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars for the delay. This project is now allowed to move forward, but with excessive ecosystem structures being demanded and an agreement that The Nature Conservancy be a partner. It is not clear whether the shipping funds or the federal government will pay for fish passages, floodplain restoration, water level management, backwater restoration and wing dam and dike restoration. But what is clear is The Nature Conservancy has partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help maintain the Mississippi River’s ecosystem even though the Corps has their own environmentalists.... FERC must respond to Hells Canyon dam petition A federal court Tuesday ordered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to answer a 7-year old petition from a coalition of environmental groups asking the agency to examine the impacts Idaho Power Co.'s Hells Canyon dams have on threatened or endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead. The order by the Washington, D.C., Circuit Court of Appeals gave FERC 45 days to answer either yes or no to the group's petition asking for further analysis.... Jarbidge River proposed as critical trout habitat The Jarbidge River, home to the southernmost population of bull trout and a source of contention between the federal government and citizen activists, would be declared critical habitat for the threatened fish under a proposal the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday. The proposal targets 131 miles of the river and its tributaries in northeastern Nevada and southwestern Idaho that the agency believes is crucial to the species’ recovery.... Big Hole irrigators agree to save water and save species Several southwest Montana ranchers plan to stop irrigating more than 15,000 acres to protect a shrinking population of arctic grayling that they want to keep off the endangered species list. Irrigators began shutting off their water this week along the Big Hole River, home of the last native population of river-dwelling arctic grayling, and preventing any water from moving downstream and away from an area where grayling spawn.... County warns it may sue over wolf protection The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's failure to adequately manage the gray wolf has directly and negatively affected the citizens of Park County, commissioners wrote in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton. The county is supporting a plan, rejected by the FWS, that would allow the wolves to be shot as a predator in most of the state. The three-page letter, dated June 15, served as a 60-day notice of intent to sue the service for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act. "Park County intends to file a civil action to require you to comply with the ESA, its implementing regulations and applicable interagency peer review guidelines," commissioners wrote.... Video of panther attack spurs wildlife agency investigation A Florida panther spent weeks feasting on easy prey at an Everglades petting zoo, leading a local resident to set up a video camera and film the panther attacking a tethered goat. Now he is under investigation for possible violation of wildlife laws. It is the latest fight over panthers, people and the value of wilderness, as a growing population of panthers tries to survive among the Miccosukee villages, housing developments and tourist attractions of the western Everglades.... Park's snowmobile study cost: $6 million and rising Controversy doesn't come cheap. More than $6 million has been spent in recent years studying whether snowmobiles should be allowed in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks - and the National Park Service is gearing up for another round. Since 1996, the money has paid for 4,200 pages of studies and analysis, 90,000 pages of related documents and responses to more than a half-million comments from the public.... Cutting roads: Advisory group, BLM struggle to develop Missouri Breaks plan The number of roads open in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument is shaping up to be one of the most difficult issues in formulating a Resource Management Plan for the area. Grazing permittees want to ensure access to their Bureau of Land Management allotments. Conservationists want minimal road access to maintain the area's wild character and protect wildlife. And sportsmen are divided between those who want few roads to ensure game animals mature and those who want vehicle access to make hunting and retrieval of game easier.... Advocates Lobby to Keep Wild Horses Don't blame the wild horses for overrunning the West, their protectors say: It's the millions of cattle grazing public rangeland that should be rounded up, not the mustangs. The advocates are making themselves heard loud and clear here in Nevada, where more than half the nation's 32,000 wild horses live. Every week for the past two months, they've staged anti-roundup demonstrations at the state capitol in Carson City. And they've picketed the Reno office of the Bureau of Land Management to protest its efforts to cut wild horse populations nearly in half across the West.... Moab site named troubled treasure Campaign for America's Wilderness on Wednesday released "Wild . . . for How Long? Twelve Treasures in Trouble," spotlighting a dozen of the nation's wild lands facing threats of logging, road building, drilling and off-road vehicle abuse. Environmentalists are using the report — released just two months before the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act — to generate public support for wilderness protection.... More sensitive BLM offers paint swatches A color like desert tan doesn't blend well against a background of juniper trees and shouldn't be used to paint oil and gas field facilities in vegetated areas, according to a new Bureau of Land Management policy. Paint is one tool in the Best Management Practices (BMP) approach the BLM wants its project managers to consider when reviewing applications for permits to drill, said Rebecca Watson, the assistant secretary of the Interior for Land and Mineral Management.... Freudenthal: State, federal lands not equal Contrary to reports from state officials on Monday, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said on Tuesday that he was indeed aware that the State Lands Office was preparing to offer state mineral lease parcels in the same Pinedale region that he protested several federal mineral lease parcels earlier this month. Oil and gas industry leaders questioned why the governor would list environmental and legal concerns over leasing federal lands for mineral development in the same region that he approved the sale of state mineral leases.... Now this truly is a mammoth auction Head of triceratops, tooth of T-rex. Dinosaur embryos on the half shell. Exquisite fossil fish. The skull of a saber-toothed tiger. And a one-story-high woolly mammoth skeleton from Siberia. All for sale. Guernsey's -- a New York auction house known for its sales of a $3 million Mark McGwire baseball, meteorites from Mars and 200,000 pre-Castro Cuban cigars -- puts dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures on the auction block this week.... Toxic pollution rose 5 percent in 2002, reversing trend Toxic chemical releases into the environment rose 5 percent in 2002, marking only the second such increase reported by the Environmental Protection Agency in nearly two decades, and the first since 1997. The increase reversed a recent trend and was a big turnaround from last year's report by EPA that chemical releases in 2001 had declined 13 percent from a year earlier.... Venereal disease found in South Dakota cattle Five cattle herds in western South Dakota have been struck by a venereal disease that is endemic in many Western states but uncommon in South Dakota, Dr. Sam Holland, state veterinarian, said Wednesday. He identified the malady, which is caused by a parasite, as trichomoniasis. The infection causes infertility and abortions in cattle. Holland said the disease is rare in South Dakota. Only one case was reported last year, he said.... The Hank Williams Story More than 50 years after his death, Hank Williams's short life and enduring music are the subjects of a darkly entertaining documentary airing tomorrow on PBS. Born Sept. 17, 1923, in Mount Olive, Alabama, Williams wasted no time settling into a stormy existence that inspired songs such as ``Cold, Cold Heart'' and ``I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.'' Director Morgan Neville shot this latest installment of PBS's ``Masters'' series in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana and Florida, a land of flat fields, tall trees, and plenty of shacks. We meet several 80-something members of Williams's band -- the Drifting Cowboys -- along with his son, grandson and widow. Interspersed are clips of Williams, his largely absent father, and other family members and friends now dead....