NEWS ROUNDUP

Jarbidge dispute may go back to court Elko District Attorney Gary Woodbury warned Elko County commissioners Thursday that barring a political solution, the county may once again find itself in court over the status of South Canyon Road. Woodbury said that if congressional action is not forthcoming to resolve the controversy over the road once and for all, then it would be his recommendation that the settlement agreement be severed and just the road status be heard in court.... Forest Service Tracks Fire Violators Pilots wearing night-vision goggles are flying night patrols over two national forests in Arizona, looking for campers who ignore bans on campfires and cigarettes. The Forest Service announced the restrictions last week to help prevent wildfires as the summer heats up. Officials in Coconino and Prescott national forests arranged with the Arizona Department of Public Safety for state police to fly over forests and report the coordinates of suspected illegal fires. The two national forests, both north of Phoenix, total about 3 million acres combined. With the night-vision goggles, even lit cigarettes can be visible up to a mile away, said Dave Brookshire with the DPS air rescue unit based in Flagstaff.... Governor signs forest health bill that gives tax incentive Companies that locate in forest communities to help clear out small trees and underbrush will get a tax break under the terms of legislation signed into law Thursday by Gov. Janet Napolitano. The forest legislation allows a firms that hire at least 20 new people to get a state corporate or personal income tax credit that could be equal to up to one half of the salary paid to these workers. There also are exemptions from having to pay sales taxes for the purchase of certain equipment. Backers said the idea is to replace the state's now defunct logging industry with companies that process wood, helping to reduce the fuel that feeds fires.... Budget juggling targets menacing fire season Heeding warnings of a menacing fire season ahead, congressional budget writers Thursday added more than $200 million to the national fire budget that President Bush had requested, pulling funds from arts programs, land acquisition and energy research. A House subcommittee recommended $2.6 billion on forest fire prevention and suppression for the 2005 budget year. That includes an increase of $89 million for firefighting and $58 million for preventative fuels reduction efforts.... It was an eye-opening experience It was the summer no one in this Rocky Mountain town of 12,000 will ever forget. The summer of the Rainbows. Ask what it was like last year when the Family came to town, and folks seem to either snicker or sigh. Grocer Gary Nelson recalls when 40 Rainbows crowded into a public car wash, stripped off their clothes and took a much-needed shower. Then again, how could he forget? One Rainbow member supposedly went into Wal-Mart and gave his hair a quick scrubbing with a produce hose. When store officials discarded those fruits and vegetables, the Rainbows wanted to scoop them up and take them with them.... North state forests brace for Rainbow' gathering There are no leaders, no laws and anyone with a bellybutton is invited. One month from now, the "Rainbow Family" will flock 1960s-style to a national forest somewhere in Northern California for an annual gathering that could attract as many as 25,000 people. The loose-knit group of everyone from pierced teenage runaways to pleated Wall Street stockbrokers hasn't met in this state for 20 years.... Female firefighters claim sexual harassment Nine female firefighters, including one each from the San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests, have filed a complaint alleging a pattern of sexual harassment and discrimination within the U.S. Forest Service. The class-action complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture accuses Forest Service officials of harboring a culture of fear and sexism at forests across the state, specifically claiming that women firefighters have been unfairly passed over for promotions and treated in a derogatory manner. The USDA oversees the Forest Service.... Tiny crustacean delays new well A tiny aquatic crustacean will at best delay drilling of Socorro's new water well and could, under an unlikely worst-case scenario, force the city to relocate the well. The "Socorro Isopod," a 14-legged, shell-less invertebrate about three-eighths of an inch in length that resembles a "roly-poly" or pill bug, is an endangered species that exists naturally in only one place — Sedillo Springs on the western edge of Socorro. The thermal spring is more than a mile from the site of the city's planned new well, but it's close enough that the state Department of Game and Fish is concerned construction might damage the habitat or that pumping water from the new well might affect the water at Sedillo Springs that the isopod needs for survival.... Wildlife advocates win ruling on petitions Relief may be coming up the river soon for dozens of plants and animals foundering in legal limbo. A federal judge this week put an end to a 5-year-old policy that allowed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to delay decisions on flora and fauna proposed for endangered-species protection. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton on Wednesday ordered the agency to stop adhering to an internal policy in which certain outside petitions could be ignored. "For years, this has been a bureaucratic black hole," said Amy Atwood, an attorney for the Western Environmental Law Center, based in Eugene, Ore. The black hole was the "Petition Management Guidance Policy," begun during the Clinton years. Under the policy, the FWS did not have to consider petitions from outside groups if the petitions dealt with species that the agency already had deemed "candidate species.".... Effect of snakeheads on ecosystem remains a mystery Fisheries officials say it is too early to tell whether the rash of northern snakeheads caught recently in the Potomac River will upset the balance of the ecosystem. The sixth snakehead found in the area since April was caught Thursday in the Potomac River by Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) biologists who were analyzing the Virginia side of the river near Fort Belvoir.... Lawsuit filed urging recovery of North Cascades grizzly bears Conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday, urging the agency to implement a species recovery plan adopted years ago for grizzly bears in Washington's North Cascades. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, seeks to force a start to the process of identifying recovery alternatives, which one day could include relocating bears from Canada, where grizzly populations are healthier, said Joe Scott, international conservation coordinator for the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance. The lawsuit also seeks to "uplist" the North Cascades grizzlies from threatened to endangered - a move that would signify the bears are in danger of becoming extinct.... Plants adapt to drought by becoming more water efficient, Nature study shows Plants in wet tropical forests adapt to changes in precipitation and become as efficient in their water use during droughts as plants in arid deserts, according to a study being published in the June 3 issue of Nature. While scientists have known for a long time that desert plants are efficient with water use, they were surprised to find that plants in grasslands and forest ecosystems demonstrate the same ability to acclimate.... Mountain Lion Caught After 6-Hour Standoff A mountain lion was safely caught and returned to the wild after holing up in a garage for nearly six hours Thursday. The animal was chased into the garage in Monterey County at around 2:30 p.m. and was caught in there until about 8:20 p.m. State Department of Fish and Game officials got to the scene, drilled two holes in the garage and waited for a clear shot before shooting the mountain lion with a tranquillizer dart. It took hours for the firefighters and police officers to lure the big cat into an open space. Finally, wildlife biologist Jeff Cann hit the mountain lion on its back with his second shot.... Panel urges rancher cooperation State and federal decision-makers in natural resources management Friday stressed the importance of open and ongoing communication with Wyoming ranchers and landowners, who in turn questioned the agencies' public comment procedures. The dialogue was part of a panel discussion about how to best manage natural resource issues when there are conflicting viewpoints and was organized by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, which is holding it's summer conference this week at the Parkway Plaza in Casper.... Gas drainage to private leases is costing government Drainage from federal coal-bed methane leases to private leases in Wyoming is costing the federal government and the state more than $3 million a month in lost revenues, Bureau of Land Management officials said today. "Last fall we'd already lost $56 million in royalties, and that continues on," BLM Buffalo field office Assistant Field Manager Richard Zander said during a panel discussion on regulatory concerns at the sixth annual Coal-bed Methane Fair in Gillette today.... County protests BLM police power Commissioner Joni Eastley brought an item to the board for review regarding Bureau of Land Management police power at Tuesday's meeting in Tonopah. Eastley asked the board to sign and submit a letter to the BLM in protest of a recent Federal Register notice proposing supplementary rules and giving power to the agency to enforce Nevada drug and alcohol laws on public lands. Sheriff Tony DeMeo said, in talking with other law enforcement officers in the state, that generally nobody had been alerted to the recent notice. He said under current law the BLM must offer a contract to local law enforcement officers if a problem arises on public lands.... $50 Billion Question: World, Where to Begin? What would you do with $50 billion? (Assuming that the goal was the benefit of humankind as opposed to owning a personal Lear jet or a tropical island.) To answer that question, Bjorn Lomborg, a statistician and environmental iconoclast, brought eight economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, to this harbor city last week to rank the world's 10 worst problems. Forget politics, they were told, just look at how to get the most bang for the buck. After studying all the contenders and running the numbers, the economic "dream team" decided that the best of the worst was controlling the spread of AIDS (worth $27 billion), followed by $12 billion for malnutrition and $13 billion to combat malaria. Spending money on other scourges, like global warming or government corruption, by contrast, would be a bad investment.... Editorial: Some friend Imperial County thought the big guy, the federal government, was on its side in a lawsuit brought by environmentalists who didn't think the county should have been allowed to have Mexicali-generated PM10, or small air particle, pollution taken into consideration on air-pollution attainment standards. Imperial County thought that its big guy friend would stay on its side throughout the battle. So much for friendship. That's when the federal government, led by Solicitor General Ted Olson, decided it would switch teams in the middle of the game. Olson, in an 11-page brief, lays out reasons the Supreme Court should not hear the case and thereby let the appeals court ruling stand. Using twisted logic that would be funny if it didn't have such serious implications for us here in the Valley, Olson states the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong in stating there wasn't enough evidence to support the PM10 exceedances were caused by dust from Mexico, "further review is not warranted." Federal officials declined to comment beyond Olson's remarkably non-sensical stance.... Russia Seen Ratifying Kyoto in 2004-UNEP Head Russia is likely to ratify the Kyoto protocol this year, salvaging the stalled U.N. pact aimed at curbing global warming, the head of the U.N. Environment Program said on Friday. Kyoto's fate hinges on Russia after a U.S. pullout in 2001. President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) said last month that Moscow would move to ratify the 1997 deal after an agreement with the European Union (news - web sites) on entry to the World Trade Organization (news - web sites). Putin set no deadlines but UNEP head Klaus Toepfer told Reuters he expected Russia would ratify by the next meeting of Kyoto signatories, scheduled for December in Buenos Aires.... Senate agrees to pave over nuclear dump The Senate on Thursday agreed to ease cleanup requirements for tanks holding millions of gallons of highly radioactive waste from Cold War-era bomb making. The provision allows the Energy Department to reclassify radioactive sludge in 51 tanks at a South Carolina nuclear site so it can be left in place and covered by concrete, instead of being entombed in the Nevada desert. While the plan has been approved by South Carolina officials, it brought sharp criticism from officials in Washington and Idaho who feared the change would put intense pressure on them to agree to a similar cleanup plan at nuclear sites in their states.... Rancher charged with bringing cattle into U.S. A rancher accused of illegally bringing bulls into the United States after the mad cow ban was put in place pleaded not guilty to the charges Thursday. Greg Kesler, 59, who keeps animals on both sides of the border, is charged in Montana with two counts of fraudulently importing live ruminants. The U.S. alleges that Kesler brought 24 animals into Montana from Canada last June, and six more in January. Thirty bulls were placed in quarantine in March because they didn't have import permits, the Montana Department of Agriculture says.... Sheriff, facing federal charges, resigns Glacier County Sheriff Gary Racine, who has been on administrative leave since his February arrest on federal fraud charges, has resigned, and court records indicate he and a deputy who was also charged with fraud intend to plead guilty. Racine and Deputy John Evans were charged with defrauding the Farm Service Agency's American Indian Livestock Feed Program of more than $30,000. The program provides financial assistance to ranchers on reservations who are affected by natural disasters that cut into their livestock feed. If they have to buy feed, they can submit claims through the tribe to be reimbursed for the purchases. A federal grand jury indictment accused Racine and Evans, both of whom have ranch operations on the reservation, of submitting fake receipts to the tribe for reimbursement.... Cattle producers scramble as testing deadline nears Dairy and breeder cattle producers are far behind schedule to meet an August deadline for testing hundreds of thousands animals in order to regain the coveted tuberculosis-free status for Texas herds. Texas is the nation's leading cattle-producing and exporting state, but the U.S. Agriculture Department stripped the TB-free status in 2002. If the USDA deadline of Aug. 31 isn't met or extended, other states might not allow Texas feeder cattle in....