NEWS ROUNDUP

Mountain lion attacks hiker in California A woman was attacked by a mountain lion while hiking in central California, but was rescued when her friends stabbed the animal with a knife and threw rocks at it, officials said. Shannon Parker suffered deep lacerations to her right thigh and injuries to her eyes during Saturday's attack, said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game. Parker, 27, of Santa Monica, was transferred to UCLA Medical Center, where she underwent reconstructive surgery Sunday morning, Martarano said....
Forest bomb rumors won’t die Eco-terrorists have placed PVC bombs with mercury- detonators in the lock cans of metal gates that block access to forest roads to all those without keys, the story goes. Reach into the metal bell-like covering for the gate’s lock and, boom, there goes your hand. And when a Washington state agency spokeswoman last week issued a warning about the bombs after saying a spate of such booby-trapped gates occurred around Medford, the gate bombs joined the Kentucky Fried rat as yet other bogus story the public won’t let go away. "It’s an urban myth, as far as we can determine," said Frank Mendizabal, a spokesman for Weyerhaeuser Co., whose Western Washington lands were among several where the bombs were rumored to have been found....
Land sale may fund ranch deal Revenue from a recent auction of federal land near Las Vegas is being recommended to buy about 490 acres on Lake Tahoe's North Shore that make up part of the famed Ponderosa Ranch. Federal executives meeting in Las Vegas last week recommended that $35 million generated from the auction be used by the U.S. Forest Service to purchase the land, according to Jeannie Stafford, Forest Service environmental improvement program coordinator. The recommendation still must be approved by Interior Secretary Gale Norton....
Even some hunters horrified by sudden attack by NRA president The National Rifle Association locked, loaded and fired its best shot at the Sierra Club this past week only to have the blast explode in its face. Given a chance for an alliance with the Sierra Club and other hunting and environmental organizations to fight for common-ground wildlife habitat issues, NRA President Kayne Robinson said the NRA would go it alone -- throwing in a nasty and false charge against the Clinton Administration that appeared designed to further smear the Sierra Club and inflame hunters....
New twist to Yavapai Ranch trade A leaked rough draft of a proposed addition to the U.S. Senate bill facilitating the Yavapai Ranch Land Exchange has been circulating through the Verde Valley just as Clarkdale's council has officially reversed the town's stance on the swap. What would basically amount to an add-on to the current legislation, the proposed Title II section of the bill authorizes a Verde River basin partnership. That partnership would be between federal, state and local agencies. The group would work to identify water resource planning and management objectives regarding water supplies in the Verde River basin. The current bill allows for an exchange of land between Yavapai Ranch and the Forest Service. About 21,000 acres of ranch land would be traded for various parcels of forest land throughout the state....
Back Country Horsemen help other outdoorsmen With a project planned nearly every week of the summer, the Back Country Horsemen prove their contention that they are a service organization - not a riding club. The group volunteers its time, manpower and equine labor to the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies each summer for many projects ranging from packing in supplies for wilderness crews to building bridges....
Adding to fires' risk The 2004 fire season has not yet truly begun in the Rocky Mountain West, and already three firefighting pilots have died in crashes. While investigations into the causes of the accidents are underway, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself crushed between a rock and a hot place. On May 11, with aerial tanker-training in full swing, top-ranking administrators in the Forest Service pulled the rug out from under the agency's tanker contractors and regional fire managers. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth declared all large tanker contracts null and void, leaving a gaping hole in the bag of tools needed to fight wildland fires. The impetus behind his decision was a horrifying video accompanied by a National Transportation Safety Board report on the catastrophic failure of wings on two aerial tankers that crashed in 2002. All crew members aboard the planes died. The tankers involved in the accidents were both owned by Hawkins and Powers of Wyoming, but safety board officials recommended against using any of the available U.S. fleet....
Famous frog's survival threatened When Mark Twain first published his classic story in 1865 about a jumping frog called Dan'l Webster from Calaveras County, locals had no trouble recognizing the hero as a California red-legged frog. Before the importation of the bullfrog, it was the largest of the frogs west of the Continental Divide, thriving across the state from San Francisco through the Central Valley and south to the tip of Baja California in Mexico. Gone from more than 70 percent of its historic range, the California red-legged frog now only exists in isolated pockets of wetlands and remote streams. Its population has been so decimated, the species was listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act in June 1996, and 4.1 million acres in California have been designated as critical habitat....
Needed thinning of forests creates glut With another fire season under way, crews in Southern California have stepped up efforts to reduce the fire danger on private and national forest land by cutting down thousands of trees killed by drought, fire and bark beetles. It's an enormous, expensive effort, but even so, officials are discovering that it's a relatively easy task compared with getting rid of the wood....
Cowboy-booted President is blamed as ranchers drive out Nevada's wild horses Nevada's wild horses have been celebrated in paintings, folk tales and Hollywood films such as The Misfits. Now, depending who you believe, they are either an endangered species or a menace to society. The Government's Bureau of Land Management has been rounding up thousands of horses and removing them. Officials say the horses are breeding unsustainably, and - amid the longest recorded drought in the West - taking food and water resources from the cattle herds....
Debate Swirls Around the Status of a Protected Mouse The Preble's meadow jumping mouse is a timorous nocturnal beast of the highland prairie, protected from human dominion in Colorado and Wyoming since 1998 by the Federal Endangered Species Act. Dr. Rob Roy Ramey II is a scientist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science who will tell anyone who asks, including Congress, that he thinks the trouble with Preble's is that they are not threatened with extinction at all. Not even a proper subspecies, he adds. Dr. Ramey believes that the mouse got on the protected list based on guesswork and outdated science, and that it is genetically identical to its cousin, the Bear Lodge meadow jumping mouse, which hops in happy abundance in Montana and South Dakota. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service, spurred in part by his research, which it helped finance, is midway through a Preble's reassessment and is scheduled to make a recommendation about the creature's legal status by early next year....
Kerry for President Conference Call Monday with Babbitt, Former National Park Service Employees on Bush Neglect of National Parks On Monday, June 28, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and former senior officials of the National Park Service will kick off a week of events to expose the Bush administration's failure to protect America's national parks. As American families plan for summer vacations and holiday weekends, America's National Parks are scaling back services, hours and staffing due to the broken promises of the Bush administration. Joining Babbitt on the call: David Hayes, former Deputy Secretary, U.S. Department of Interior; Jim Coleman, former Regional director of the National Park Service; Mike Finley, former Superintendent at Yellowstone National Park; and Rob Arnberger, former Superintendent at Grand Canyon National Park....
BLM strives to care for wilderness study areas As state director of the Bureau of Land Management in Utah, I was gratified to see the Supreme Court rule to curtail unnecessary litigation and unanimously reject the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance's off-road vehicle lawsuit. I was disappointed, however, as I read various follow-up media accounts and felt compelled to provide additional information and background. I have three main points I'd like to focus on: 1) The court's decision addressed a specific issue but still allows for legal challenge of agency decisions. 2) Our wilderness study areas (WSAs) are being appropriately managed and protected. 3) OHV management is a continuing challenge that BLM is actively addressing....