NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service Policies Threaten Rural Travel Businesses Attempting to Recover From Recession Some seasonal businesses operating in the rural West are under increasing pressure from the Forest Service to pay higher fees or reduce their use of national forests to levels that will force them out of business. In South Dakota, for example the Forest Service is trying to charge a fee equal to $25 dollars per person per day for hiking. In other areas guest ranches are being forced to reduce their use with little or no valid justification. "Many of these businesses are just recovering from the steep recession that occurred in the wake of 9/11 and the Iraq war," said David Brown, Executive Director of America Outdoors, the nation's leading association of outfitters and guides. "These businesses have faced higher insurance and fuel costs, among other challenges, and managed to survive. While we understand and appreciate the agency's authority to collect fees and manage use, the Forest Service approach in some areas is cold-hearted. When an outfitter charges $100 a day for a guided hike and the Forest Service wants a $25 fee, the business cannot survive.".... A burning policy issue That policy of letting some fires burn, under special circumstances, is known in the U.S. Forest Service as "fire for beneficial use." The policy has been expanded under the new White River Forest Plan to include more of the 2.27 million-acre forest than earlier plans did. It's designed to reintroduce fire into the fire-dependant forest ecosystems to bring them back into balance after nearly 100 years of aggressive fire suppression by humans. Fires actually help keep forests healthy by renewing the vegetation. But letting fires burn can be devilishly tricky. Any fire that's allowed to continue must fit a narrow set of circumstances that include location, the proper weather, fuels and even computer-generated fire behavior models.... Governors press for air tankers Gov. Bill Richardson led his fellow Western governors in hammering a federal forest official to get more air tankers released for use in fighting fires. The governors of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and South Dakota are meeting in Santa Fe through Tuesday. Richardson, a Democrat, has pushed hard to get the federal government to allow some of the air tankers that had been used to fight fires in the West back in service.... Rainbow Family gathers on Modoc National Forest Each year for over thirty years, the Rainbow Family has held an event on public lands they call the Gathering. This is a very loosely structured event that attracts anywhere from 8,000-20,000 people. Gatherings are held in rural areas, usually some distance from the nearest town. The climax of the Gathering is on July 4, when participants gather in one place to pray for world peace and Mother Earth. This year the main location for the gathering is located in the southern Warner Mountains in Homestead and Bearcamp Flats. This area is just south of the South Warner Widerness on the Warner Mountain Ranger District.... For smoke jumpers, it's flight and (fire) fight Walter Wasser epitomizes the smoke jumper's desire for adventure and uncertainty. At 49, Wasser has jumped on more fires -- 297 -- than any other firefighter with the Bureau of Land Management. A U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper assigned out of Winthrop, Wash., has Wasser beat by just four jumps. Smoke jumpers occupy an elite position as "initial-attack" crews in fighting wildland fires. They jump into remote areas wearing puncture-proof Kevlar clothing and helmets with face masks that look like wire baskets.... Corps of Engineers wins river ruling The Missouri River can operate without changes sought by environmentalists to save endangered fish and birds, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled Monday in favor of the Army Corps of Engineers on all counts. His 51-page order came nearly a year after a different federal judge ordered the changes and, when corps leaders refused to act, cited them for contempt. Magnuson, a St. Paul, Minn., judge, blocked the contempt citation last year after taking over the river litigation. Conservation groups will weigh whether to appeal.... Nation's water czar seen as honest broker When Bennett Raley was named the Bush administration’s top water official, environmentalists who battled him for years feared the worst from the cowboy-turned-lawyer. Three years later, many environmentalists say Raley has been a surprise. He helped wrangle rival water agencies into signing a landmark Colorado River accord last year. And environmentalists cheered when ideas they had been urging for years turned up in a program aimed at helping cities face looming water shortages. The 47-year-old Coloradan has shown an ability to get along with people on all sides of an issue. It’s a trait he’ll need as Western states race to cope with one of the most severe droughts in modern times. As assistant interior secretary for water and science, Raley oversees both the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation.... Column: 'Endangered Species'Cost USA Billions At a time when this nation is engaged in a war, putting the lives of its soldiers in harm's way to end the threat of Middle Eastern terrorism, it would seem inconceivable that it would also be wasting billions to protect some species of salmon or the shortnose suckerfish. But it is. Unfortunately, when the truth is revealed, the mainstream press often ignores it. For example, on April 14 of this year, the Pacific Legal Association, in association with Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC), released a study that demonstrated the mind-boggling costs of the Endangered Species Act.... Editorial: Let's welcome the wandering wolves For many Coloradans, wolves are a symbol either of all that should be protected and preserved in the wild or of aggressive government intrusion threatening all that is good about rural life. Between the two, middle ground can be tough to find. But that's precisely what the state's wolf-management panel should be aiming for. The panel met for the first time recently after the discovery of the first gray wolf in Colorado in nearly 70 years - a single dead female from Yellowstone National Park found on I-70 30 miles west of Denver. But there was little agreement as to whether the state should accommodate naturally migrating wolves, catch them and relocate them, or kill them on sight.... House passes long-stalled bill to pay Western Shoshone for land A measure to reimburse thousands of Western Shoshone Indians for the loss of their ancestral lands passed the House of Representatives on Monday, putting the bill in reach of becoming law after years of dispute. The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act passed on a voice vote. The bill would provide about $145 million to as many as 6,000 of Nevada's Western Shoshone Indians, who lost their homeland to settlers and others in the 19th century.... Greenpeace activists still camped at southern Oregon site A 48-hour deadline for Greenpeace has come and gone and the activists are still camped at the site of the proposed timber sale, 38 miles west of Galice. The Bureau of Land Management ordered Greenpeace to leave the area by this Saturday morning, after revoking a camping permit. This, after activists protested at a logging sale near Glendale last week.... Court hears challenge to Pennaco's coalbed mining leases A lawyer for conservation groups told a federal appeals court Monday that approval of methane gas leases in northeastern Wyoming was based on faulty environmental analysis that should be redone. Attorney Susan Daggett of the law firm Earthjustice argued that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's sale of three coalbed methane leases to Pennaco Energy Inc. were illegal because the review of potential effects on the water and air was inadequate. Two members of a three-judge panel, which will rule later, asked for more information about recent analyses of gas drilling in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.... Yellowstone cutthroat trout in trouble, but there is hope They're sly, these fish. They hide out in pockets and pools, button-shaped eyes trained over thousands of years to watch for predators from above. These are gloomy days for Yellowstone cutthroat, an iconic fish of the West that has survived thousands of generations and, until recently, thrived in a protective stronghold at Yellowstone Lake. Non-native lake trout, whirling disease and the ongoing drought have pushed the population down to levels not seen since the 1950s, when cutthroat were heavily fished and eggs were removed for hatcheries.... House unanimously OKs tribal forest bill The House of Representatives on Monday unanimously approved H.R. 3846, the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004, introduced by Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-CA). The legislation establishes a process for tribes to work with federal agencies to perform hazardous fuels reduction and forest health projects on federal lands adjacent to tribal lands in order to prevent catastrophic wildfire.... State could send away county helicopter during next fire The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department helicopter has played a major role in fighting recent Bosque fires and is credited with saving a number of homes. But now, with wildfires becoming more frequent and fewer airborne firefighting assets available, the State Forest Service says the water-dropping helicopter is no longer welcome. The forest service has issued a statement saying the department’s helicopter doesn't have an “Intra-Agency Card”, which certifies that it has adequate radios, maintenance and a trained crew for fires. Sheriff Darren White says his crews are certified and their helicopter is safe, but just doesn't have the official intra-agency certification.... New Online Database Gives Public Access to Recent History of Conservation Ballot Measures Across the country, dozens of state and local governments each year vote to raise public funds in support of land conservation. In fact, over the last five years over 640 ballot measures have been approved by voters, creating over $26 billion in funding for parks, conservation and recreation. For the first time, a public database is available online to research these statistics. Developed by the Trust For Public Land (TPL), a national conservation organization, the new LandVote Database serves as the premier source of information about conservation ballot measures. The database, accessed online at http://www.landvote.org , brings together a five-year, comprehensive history for all conservation-related ballot measures that have been voted on since 1999. A full ten-year database dating back to 1994 is expected by October, well in advance of the November elections.... Column: Grant of highway rights cannot be revoked Revised Statute 2477 was adopted by Congress in 1866. It provides that "the right of way for construction of highways over public lands not reserved for public uses is hereby granted." In 1976, Congress presumed to revoke this granted right. Subsequently, federal land managers and self-appointed public land guardians have objected to certain state road claims. They say that these claimed roads were not "mechanically" constructed or that they were not constructed "before 1976," or that they "go nowhere," or that they are impassable to modern passenger cars and therefore cannot be "highways," notwithstanding that in 1866 carrying places between water bodies for canoes were also termed "highways." I suggest to Rep. Pombo that these objections to state road claims are specious and irrelevant and that a radical redirection of the R.S. 2477 discussion is in order. This redirection concentrates on three heretofore ignored considerations: the literal words of the statute; the nature of a grant made by a sovereign; and the retained rights of member states in the federal union.... Editorial: Lincoln County land sales In Washington on Wednesday, Nevada's congressional delegation introduced a bill designed to speed up the designation of pipeline routes to bring purchased groundwater to drought-stricken Las Vegas from rural Lincoln and White Pine counties to the northeast. The bill is also designed to overrule a March federal court ruling which -- based on an obstructionist lawsuit by the environmental extremists at the Sierra Club -- delayed the sale of BLM lands north of Mesquite by more than two years. Nevada's five federal lawmakers said they modeled the act after a program that has sold off almost 8,200 acres of former federal land -- raising $1.4 billion in the process -- in the Las Vegas area. (Eighty percent of Clark County is controlled by the federal government.) Like the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998, the Lincoln County measure would set aside 5 percent of auction proceeds for schools. But it differs in designating 45 percent of the proceeds for Lincoln County economic development, while returning only 50 percent of the funds to the federals....Western Governors Support Regional Presidential Caucus/Primary to Increase Western States' Influence in Elections Western governors today called for a regional presidential caucus and primary in the West to draw attention to regional issues and increase their states' influence in future presidential elections. "A 2008 regional caucus will strengthen the role of Western states in the presidential nominating process and will focus attention on the region's unique issues, including public lands, energy, immigration, water and tribal concerns," said Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, chairman of the Western Governors' Association, who sponsored the resolution adopted by the governors.... Column: Tilting at Wind Farms Even though the way we explore and produce energy has changed dramatically in the past two decades, environmental groups, and their allies in Congress remain blinded by the smog of past battles. For instance, the House of Representatives last week passed three bills aimed at reducing gasoline prices for consumers. Unfortunately, none will become law this year because most Democrats are too busy tilting at political wind farms — paying homage to outdated environmental symbolism and filling the fundraising coffers of the Sierra Club — rather than lowering energy prices for their constituents.... Eco-extremists rely on violence Utah's legacy of activism in the name of earth, plants and animals reaches back to the earliest days of Edward Abbey's lament against the construction of roads in the desert and Sierra Club leader David Brower's fight to stop dams on the Colorado, Yampa and Green rivers. Those were gentler days. Last Monday's arson at a West Jordan lumber company, supposedly because the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) was upset at the pollutants emitted by forklifts, was the most recent in a decade of violent attacks at Utah establishments, including animal farms, leather shops and fast food restaurants.... Calif. Wine Country Clashes With Ecosystem In Sonoma County, the grape is king. But as California winemakers seek to capitalize on the popularity of their chardonnays and cabernets by spreading vineyards over as many acres as possible, they have steadily encroached on the rivers, streams and creeks that crisscross the scenic valley. The rapid narrowing of the wooded corridors along these waterways worries wildlife specialists and environmental researchers, who say their studies show that these riparian, or streamside, lands play a complicated and vital role in the ecosystem, far beyond providing water for farmers and wildlife. But proposals to require wider corridors have run into heated opposition from vineyards.... FBI accused of 'scare' tactics Police in Portland and nine other cities across the country received an FBI bulletin earlier this month warning that radical environmentalists planned to protest on June 12, and that "eco-terrorism" could not be ruled out. Portland police responded by stepping up patrols where "eco-terrorists" might hit and by placing the building the FBI warned them about under surveillance. The targets of the bulletin and the surveillance, however, turned out to be events publicized on the Internet to gather support for an Oregon activist jailed for arson.... House dumps sled ban After a debate that seemed to pit nature against the economy, an effort to impose a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks was rejected by the House of Representatives by a vote of 198-224 on Thursday. The attempt to ban the snowmobiles was an amendment to the $19.5 billion Interior Department's fiscal year 2005 spending bill.... Nye County officials seek to keep their water If the Las Vegas area is like a thirsty cottonwood spreading its roots in a dry season, Nye County wants to be like a rototiller. In response to the Southern Nevada Water Authority's renewed push to tap groundwater in rural areas, Nye County officials have filed a barrage of protests and pre-emptive water applications meant to keep their most precious natural resource from flowing down a pipeline to Las Vegas. The filing frenzy began last month and now includes 13 applications for new water rights and more than a dozen protests of similar applications from Clark County as well as entities that Nye County fears will sell water to Las Vegas.... Deathbed remark prompts fight over ranch Shortly before Ray Fernandez' grandmother died, he says she made a startling statement that made him question his family history. ‘‘You look like your grandfather — John Kenedy,'' Maria Rowland told him from her nursing home bed. Fernandez, 44, thought she meant the former president or his son, and brushed it off as something said by an ailing 93-year-old woman. But the words haunted him. He traveled to Waco to pull his mother's baptism certificate. The line for the father's name was blank. He asked a librarian, was there a local John Kenedy?.... A young horse trainer tangles with a cruel man's pride "The Work of Wolves" sometimes reads like the work of golden retrievers. It's a little too big, a little too beautiful, and it jumps all over the place, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Kent Meyers's new novel is the kind of book that demands and rewards fierce loyalty. Meyers lives in South Dakota, which serves as the setting and thematic reservoir for this philosophical western that manages to corral native American spirituality, Nazi Germany, Old Testament myths, and unbridled capitalism. If Paula Cole is still wondering where all the cowboys have gone, she should meet Carson Fielding, the sensitive, steady-eyed hero of "The Work of Wolves.".... It's All Trew: Panhandle has plentiful wind Few of Nature's elements have been cursed as much as the wind. Here in the Texas Panhandle, with nothing to slow it down, the wind is thoroughly cussed and discussed daily. If it blows too hard we complain about the damage and if it doesn't blow we complain because the windmills don't pump water for the livestock. Recently, I acquired a book giving some facts about wind I didn't know. It seems in 1806, British Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort developed The Beaufort Wind Scale giving titles and descriptions of the various wind velocities. Here are those titles and the original descriptions. I have taken the liberty and added the relative Texas Panhandle versions.... Drooler’s new dance Apparently there’s no end to rattlesnake stories. Maybe it’s the drought. Maybe overpopulation of people causes more encounters with the noisy leg-less twisters. Maybe the Post Office should develop a snake stamp. Maybe the poisonness slitherers should be declared endangered and the government can throw away another $100 million “saving” them. But don’t express those thoughts to Drooler Hodkins who is distinctly anti-rattlesnake. He does, however, adore bullsnakes because they can exterminate a rattler. Drooler claims he wants to open a bullsnake breeding farm and has applied for a government grant to help with any problems such as breech births. Drooler’s hostility toward rattlers stems from a camping trip. He’d been hired to scour the brush and coulees for stray cattle on a jillion acre ranch....