NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service plan shot down by court A federal court has put the skids on a U.S. Forest Service plan that would have allowed logging on Monroe Mountain in the Fishlake National Forest. In a 30-page ruling released Wednesday, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver overturned a U.S. District judge's decision to dismiss a Utah environmental group's challenge of the "Monroe Mountain Ecosystem Restoration Project." The appeals court said the plan, which would apply to 50,000 acres, did not adequately address possible impacts to several critters identified in forest regulations as "management indicator species." The Forest Service, the appeals court ruled, "must gather quantitative data on actual [management indicator species] populations that allows it to estimate the effects of any forest management activities on the animal population trends.".... Bill aims to increase feds' property taxes If you're preparing to pay your annual property tax bill, you probably would like to have the same property tax rate that Uncle Sam gets when tax time comes due. It's less than a $1 per acre, based on the federal 'Payment In Lieu of Taxes' paid by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. The former federal agency owns 235,000 acres in the county while the Forest Service owns approximately 600,000 - that's 75 percent of the county's 848,592 acres.... Litigation put on hold The county's attempt to buy time for a political settlement of the fate of South Canyon Road has the blessings of the U.S. Attorney's office. Elko District Attorney Gary Woodbury received word Wednesday that Assistant U.S. Attorney Blaine T. Welsh does not have a problem with asking a U.S. District Court to delay further action on the Jarbidge settlement for six months while the county seeks congressional action to resolve the dispute. County officials have asked the Nevada congressional delegation to seek a legislative resolution that would have Congress declare that South Canyon Road is a county road in the wake of a court ruling challenging the settlement agreement between the county and the U.S. Forest Service.... Groups want Jarbidge road closed Elko County Commissioners reacted bitterly to a demand from environmentalists that the U.S. Forest Service immediately close the South Canyon Road near the Jarbidge River and deploy agents over the July Fourth weekend to restrict public access. "That road will not be closed," Commissioner John Ellison said during Wednesday's meeting. Jarbidge District Ranger Dan Dallas said as far as he was concerned the road would remain open during the holiday weekend.... Greenpeace steps up S. Oregon logging protest Greenpeace continued to spotlight destructive logging practices on U.S. public lands Thursday, this time in Oregon’s Umpqua National Forest, administered by US Forest Service. Four activists attached themselves to a three-ton cargo container placed in the middle of active logging operations at the site of the ‘Peanuts’ Timber sale, where felling, yarding and hauling of old growth trees is underway by the D.R. Johnson company. Surrounded by stumps, the bright yellow container, which reads ‘Bush’s Forest Destruction Stops Here’ is the latest staging ground for Greenpeace’s campaign calling for a moratorium on commercial logging of ancient forest on public lands.... McCain’s exchange idea spawns federal water control fear U.S. Sen. John McCain’s draft amendment to the Yavapai Ranch land exchange bill has caused quite a stir back in Arizona. The draft appears to expand federal jurisdiction over the Verde River Basin. “We were a little concerned about the draft,” Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) Director Herb Guenther said. ADWR had been discussing the “Verde River Basin Partnership” legislation with McCain’s staff, but the draft needs more state presence and less federal presence, Guenther said. Local officials who obtained a copy of the draft from sources other than McCain’s office had stronger comments about it.... Group seeks hikers to document waterways Forest Guardians is a Santa Febased environmental group formed 15 years ago in response to degradation of public lands by private industry. Recently, the group formed Watershed Guardians to document the effects that private cattle grazing has on streams and rivers in national forest areas. So here’s where the excuse to go hiking with a camera comes in: Watershed Guardians is assembling volunteers to document changes to waterways in Arizona and New Mexico by digitally photographing them. The photos will be filed by GPS coordinates and posted on the group’s Web site. Watershed Guardians said the images could help change the grazing policy of the National Forest Service to be more environmentally friendly.... FERC approves 50-year dam habitat plan The federal agency that regulates hydropower dams has approved a 50-year habitat conservation plan as part of the relicensing process for Rock Island, Rocky Reach and Wells dams on the Columbia River. The agreements were developed by the Chelan County and Douglas County public utility districts. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of the plan took effect Monday. The FERC order commended all of the participants in the negotiations for developing a plan that "aids in the recovery of the endangered species and helps to prevent additional listing of Mid-Columbia salmonids.".... Baucus upset that trees not thinned Legislation that gave the U.S. Forest Service authority to thin trees to reduce the risk of wildfire has gone largely unused, Sen. Max Baucus charged Wednesday at a Senate hearing. "I don't think the Forest Service has done a very good job," said Baucus, D-Mont. "I think there's something wrong up there. I don't know what it is, whether it's management, dollars, lack of mission or guidance. But they're not getting the job done we all thought they would." Baucus, who helped pass the Healthy Forest Restoration Act last year, said the Forest Service has used the law to thin only about 12,000 acres in Montana's nine national forests.... Cattle grass bank stirs controversy The "forage for conservation" exchange is the idea of the Heart Mountain Grass Bank, which is run by The Nature Conservancy as part of the 15,000-acre property the nonprofit organization bought in 1999. Nature Conservancy administrator Laura Bell got the grass bank off the ground in 2001 with funding from foundations and local backers. Pilot projects included a critical elk winter range project on Sheep Mountain on the Shoshone National Forest, and a fuel reduction burn project on the Bald Ridge allotment of the Forest Service in 2002. Based on the BLM's work with the Heart Mountain Grass Bank, that idea is beginning to take root, said Tricia Hatle, BLM range and wild horse specialist. Not only does it allow the agency to rest or improve the public lands, but it can also improve grazing opportunities, she said. "Before we were only using 50 percent of the AUMs (animal unit months, a standard measure of grazing activity), but a grass bank allows for ranchers to run full numbers out there," Hatle said. "It's a great opportunity to help the environment all the way around.".... Sage grouse of Western plains seen as next 'spotted owl' Hundreds - soon to be thousands - of oil and gas wells pound the earth outside Pinedale, drilling for a natural bounty that is bringing much-needed revenue to a recovering state that once served as a backdrop to the Marlboro Man. But the energy boom spawned by the Bush administration, conservationists say, comes at the expense of the greater sage grouse, whose last robust population lies directly in the path of the drilling. "This is a robbery of national proportion," says librarian turned activist Linda Baker, who commutes to work every day past the beehive of drill pads and pipelines in the Jonah Natural Gas Field and equally rich Pinedale Anticline. "It's as far from balanced public land management and multiple use as you can get.".... Area to be off-limits until further notice All access to the Rio Grande bosque from Cochiti Dam to the Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge will be closed indefinitely starting Friday. While city officials relaxed as the sun set over Albuquerque, they said the fire could have easily been much worse because it ripped through a dense wooded area that happens to be home to the endangered willow flycatcher. The mayor said federal restrictions applying to endangered species habitat barred the city from clearing brush in the area, a fire prevention tool officials are using after two major bosque fires threatened homes last year. "I respect the need to preserve the endangered species habitat, but in my opinion we just lost the habitat today by not clearing some of it in the short term," he said.... Off-Road Enthusiasts Protest Federal Agency's Political Use of Endangered Species Act The 30-year-old Endangered Species Act is being abused to pursue a political agenda that is unrelated both to the spirit and letter of the law, a group of off-highway motorsports enthusiasts contend, and it's time for reform. More than 200 people attended a rally on Friday, June 18, outside the offices of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service here to protest a decision that, on its face, appears to violate both federal law and peer-reviewed, unimpeachable science. The Fish & Wildlife Service recently announced its intention to leave a plant called the Peirson's Milkvetch [cq] on the federal endangered species list. This decision was issued despite a three-year scientific study by a respected biologist, Dr. Arthur W. Phillips III, that conclusively demonstrated that the plant was not just surviving, but thriving. The PMV is also prevalent in a part of the same desert ecosystem south of the California/Mexico border.... Lawsuit set to gain cutthroat protection Environmental groups announced Wednesday they will sue over a Bush administration decision not to list Columbia River cutthroat trout under the Endangered Species Act. In July of 2002, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service withdrew a 1999 proposal by the National Marine Fisheries Service to list the cutthroat in Oregon and Southwest Washington as a threatened species. The agency cited relatively healthy populations of river-dwelling cutthroat, assuming those resident fish would be able to produce offspring of the sea-run variety. On Wednesday, two years after the Bush administration withdrew the listing proposal, environmental groups said they will take the issue to court. The Pacific Rivers Council, Center for Biological Diversity, Oregon Natural Resources Council and WaterWatch delivered a 60-day notice of intent to sue.... Pregnant Bat Halts High School Construction An Ohio congressman is calling on federal officials to immediately conduct surveys after a pregnant, endangered bat was found near a northeast Ohio school construction site. During a survey by a private company hired by the school last Thursday and Friday, officials netted 16 bats near the school property, including a pregnant Indiana bat that is on the endangered species list. In the meantime, all construction at the 123-acre Lakeside High School in Saybrook Township has been halted until June 30 at the earliest, when officials from the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planned to discuss the matter. "A $44 million project (is) being held hostage by one pregnant bat," said LaTourette, a Republican from Madison in northeast Ohio. "I can't believe local officials have to wait 10 days for a meeting.".... Wyoming Wants Gray Wolves Delisted 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 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. "Park County asks that you (approve) the Wyoming plan as written and, by proceeding without delay, to delist the gray wolf.".... The Bureau of Land Management to Again Auction Off Wilderness-Quality Land in Utah The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is continuing its sell-off of wilderness-quality land in Utah with its latest quarterly lease sale scheduled for June 25, 2004. Although the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, The Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) protested the sale of 25 of the parcels, the BLM announced on Monday that it has decided to offer the protested parcels for lease at the auction. The sale will include approximately 30,000 acres of wilderness-quality land.... Mantle Ranch sells for $6 million A Rock Springs, Wyo., resident has purchased the Mantle Ranch, a private holding within Dinosaur National Monument, for $6 million. Jim Carollo finalized the deal with the Mantle Ranch on Monday, said Tim Mantle, who, along with his wife, has taken care of the historic 520-acre ranch for the past 40 years. "The beauty of it is the federal government don't own it," Mantle said.... EPA removes ban on new drilling in Gulf of Mexico Under mounting political pressure, the Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday lifted an eight-month ban on new oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Mexico imposed out of concern that drilling could be contributing to the "dead zone" at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The decision marked the end of a peculiar episode in which the agency blocked exploration at a time when gasoline and natural gas prices are at record highs and the Bush administration has called for more domestic production....