NEWS ROUNDUP

5 air tankers to be restored to firefighting service Five large air tankers that had been grounded over safety concerns will be back fighting fires Monday, after their private operator demonstrated they are safe to fly, federal officials said Friday. The five planes, P-3 Orions owned by California-based Aero Union Corp., were among 33 planes grounded in May because officials had no way to tell if they were safe....
Rainbow family's latrines worry tribe Participants of the Rainbow Family Gathering are digging latrines by the hundreds on the Modoc National Forest, and thereby raising the ire of the Fort Bidwell Paiute Indian Tribe. The tribe based in northeastern Modoc County called on the Forest Service to remove the Rainbow Gathering to protect archaeological resources, and faulted the agency for issuing a permit for the gathering. "We don't question their right to assemble. We protest their right to dig up cultural artifacts," said Ken Williams, tribal administrator....
ALASKAN WILDFIRES CONSUME MORE THAN ONE-MILLION ACRES A pall of smoke the size of Texas continues to blanket most of Alaska, as several dozen wildfires continue to burn out of control. More than a million acres have burned in the state. There are currently 61 active fires in the state, mostly in the eastern interior, and in an area starting roughly 20 miles north and east of the city of Fairbanks. Of the 61 fires, 51 are uncontained, according to the NOAA National Weather Service....
Feds reply water can't meet tribal requests Federal water managers said there is not enough water in the Klamath Basin to release extra for diseased fish in the Klamath River as tribes downstream had requested. Upwards of 80 percent of young salmon collected in some parts of the river this year have been infected with often lethal parasites, said Gary Stacey of the California Department of Fish and Game. The parasites are native to the river system, but the outbreak this year seems severe, he said....
Column: Dropping the species requirements from the Northwest Forest Plan T he undersecretaries of the U.S. Interior and Agriculture Departments recently signed off on a plan to eliminate the survey and management requirements originally included in the Northwest Forest Plan. That decision has stirred us to respond. We make two points at the outset. First, we are all on record as favoring a policy of no further harvest of old-growth forests and old trees from public lands included within the Northwest Forest Plan. Second, we support the decision to drop the survey and management requirements. The forest plan was intended to evolve following principles of adaptive management. If the plan did not achieve its objectives, it was to be modified....
Choteau man receives $2,000 fine for killing grizzly The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has fined Lew Clark of Choteau $2,000 for killing a grizzly bear. Grizzly bears are listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act. After a four-month investigation, Fish and Wildlife Service special agents identified Clark as the person who killed the bear. Clark admitted to shooting and killing the bear in the spring of 2000. After killing the sow grizzly, Clark removed and destroyed the radio collar from the bear's neck. Clark returned to the scene of the killing in 2002 and disposed of the bear's skull in a remote location, according to the USFWS, but he has agreed to cooperate with authorities in locating and retrieving the skull....
$13.2 million land deal finalized Conservation groups, Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley Association of Governments pulled together $13.2 million to buy nearly 5,000 acres on the northern edge of the valley, about half the land once tagged for a mini-city south of Joshua Tree National Park, it was announced Thursday. "This means the Coachella Valley will never be wall-to-wall urban sprawl," said Bill Havert, executive director of the Coachella Valley Mountains Conservancy. The group contributed $6.5 million from Prop. 40 funds, a parks bond passed by voters in 2002....
Bear attacks federal wildlife agent A federal wildlife agent, called to dispatch a bear that had attacked and killed a West Slope rancher's sheep, was injured Thursday by the bear but recovered to shoot the animal dead. Todd Malmsbury, spokesman for the state Division of Wildlife, had few details about the encounter, other than to say the agent's injuries were not life-threatening.
State offers help on prairie dogs The state will step in to pay for emergency control of prairie dogs on some private land in western South Dakota, Gov. Mike Rounds said Friday. The governor said he is authorizing the use of state money to treat 10,500 acres of private land that adjoins federal land where prairie dogs live, dig holes and eat vegetation. "Let's face it, the federal government hasn't been a good neighbor in regards to the management of prairie dogs on their land," Rounds said in a statement....
Environmentalists, Government Spar Over Drilling Plan In a federal courtroom Friday attorneys for several environmental groups criticized the B-L-M's plan to allow 26-thousand new wells on federal land in the Powder River Basin. But government attorneys stood by the plan, saying a three-and-half-year study was exhaustive and covered all the salient issues. The Western Organization of Resource Councils and the American Lands Alliance want more study on better ways to protect sage grouse and prairie dogs, and to prevent a significant draw-down of ranchers' well water....
Trespassing charges dropped A U.S. District Court judge dismissed on Wednesday charges of trespassing and littering against a federal wolf biologist and a private contractor who were found on private property near Cody. Judge Alan Johnson dismissed the case orally from the bench in Cheyenne. He heard from both sides for just less than two hours, and said he "labored" over the decision....
Climber's body reburied in snow The body of Gary Cole, a Wyoming man who died 35 years ago of altitude sickness on Mount McKinley, was buried in a quiet ceremony. The body was lowered into a snowy grave at about midday Thursday near the outer edge of a glacial basin at 14,200 feet below the West Buttress route. The ceremony was attended by mountaineering rangers and National Park Service volunteers. Rangers dug a grave 12 feet into the snow, said Daryl Miller, South District ranger of Denali National Park....
Sierra Club Lodge Focus of Yosemite Tug of War But the three days of centennial events have come to carry significance far beyond the lodge's reach, drawing renewed attention to a political struggle between the liberal Sierra Club and one of its staunchest conservative critics in Congress, Representative George P. Radanovich of California. Mr. Radanovich, a Republican who grew up near Yosemite and represents the farming district that borders it, has written legislation that would require that the lodge be removed from the park. Mr. Radanovich says it is only fair to strip the Sierra Club of its "special use" since the club pushed for provisions in a plan by the National Park Service that would reduce camping and vehicle use in the Yosemite Valley, the most visited part of the park....
DA opposes new BLM authority Churchill County's District Attorney is asking the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to take another look at its proposal for new rules in Nevada, or drop the idea altogether. "That would be my preference, that they pull it completely," said District Attorney Arthur Mallory. The BLM's Nevada office asked the U.S. Department of Interior earlier this year to add supplementary rules regarding drugs and alcohol to the list of laws bureau rangers can enforce. As a federal agency, the scope of BLM law enforcement officials is limited to federal statutes. Underage drinking, drinking under the influence of drugs or alcohol and possession of drug paraphernalia are all state and local crimes, not federal, and the BLM can only report such activities to local authorities....
Funding sought for Blackfoot Valley deal Sen. Conrad Burns has included $18.3 million in an Interior Appropriations subcommittee bill that may help bolster the ongoing effort to buy Plum Creek Timber land in the Blackfoot River Valley. The money is earmarked for use by the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service, to purchase lands adjacent to existing federal properties in those areas. It's part of a recent complicated, three-part land deal involving the timber company, the non-profit Nature Conservancy and the Blackfoot Challenge, a group of private landowners, public agencies, and conservation groups that reside or work in the 1.5 million acre Blackfoot watershed....
BLM plans land swap with Phelps After 10 years of studies, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced Friday a massive land swap with copper producer Phelps Dodge Corp., which should let the company open a mine near Safford. The federal government would receive about 3,900 acres throughout the state in exchange for 16,300 acres the company would add to its existing 20,000-acre planned open- pit mine site. Phoenix-based Phelps Dodge would get four times more land because its property has a higher value, according to both parties....
BLM to increase wild horse spending Congress late last week approved part of a Bureau of Land Management request to shuffle funds within its budget to increase spending on wild horse management. The leaders of the House and Senate appropriation committees gave the agency permission to immediately transfer $7.6 million from other programs to wild horse and burro controls. The agency said the extra money will enable work to start soon on program reforms. Approval came a day after the House passed a bill that will boost wild horse spending starting in October....
BLM announces new mining claim fees The Bureau of Land Management has announced that it has had to increase mining claim fees, which, by law, must be adjusted for inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index. The fee increase takes effect on September 1, but the notice about the fee increase had to be made on or before July 1. "This is the first mining fee revision since August 1993 and reflects a 25 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index since that time," said Bob Anderson, deputy assistant director for Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection with the BLM's office in Washington, D.C....
Home of Champions Rodeo marks 75 years of competition in Red Lodge The images seem to leap off the walls. There's Bill Greenough, high atop a bucking bronc, the dust kicked up for the horse's airborne hooves. Nearby are pictures of Greenough and some of his siblings - sisters Marge Alice, along with brother Turk - standing tall against the chutes, all three world champions during their careers. And usually standing with them is the family patriarch, "Pack Saddle'' Ben Greenough. Another picture shows Turk Greenough, a study of concentration, as he tries to control his difficult ride. On the same wall, more rodeo history comes to life....
Rodeo on the menu The history of the rodeo is alive and well and on display at the Ranchman's Restaurant, which has been home to the professional rodeo cowboy since 1972. More than 90 Canadian and world champion trophy saddles hung from the rafters -- each one filled with memories -- act as a tribute to the spirit of the rodeo. From steer wrestling to bull-riding saddles, each one is a testament to the cowboys who risked their lives in a showdown of man versus beast. Saddles from rodeo greats Rod Hay and Mel Coleman, Harold Mandeville, Tuff Hedeman and many others act as a reminder that rodeo isn't just a sport, it's a way of life....
Banjo dodged demons, rodeo bulls "Once this feisty gal named Moose gave me a 36-year-old horse named Old Red when I was ranchin' near Steamboat Springs. He was special, that crippled geezer -- the last wild mustang from the Red Rocks, Colorado, wilderness area. He lived on my place till he died at 46, the oldest horse I ever heard of. "I'll never forget the day he passed on. He was flat-blind, senile, no teeth and couldn't hear. Red was in perfect health otherwise. "The day he died that horse walked up on my front porch -- horses don't do that to my knowledge -- and he pawed the floor. Then he trotted absent-minded up the drive like he'd lost his way. After a spell Old Red turned around and walked down to the hay pile behind the house, laid down and went to sleep."....
NANA's RAID — APACHES IN SOCORRO COUNTY A band of Mimbreno Apache considered their home to be what is today Socorro, Catron and Sierra Counties. They lived and hunted in the San Mateo Mountains, the Black Range and parts of the Gila. They called themselves Tcihene, the Red Paint People. The Mexicans and Anglos began calling them the Warm Springs Apache after their fondness for the warm springs at Ojo Caliente, west of Monticello. They lived in the thousands of square miles of this country in virtual obscurity until the early 1800s. It was then that the growing numbers of Mexican settlers and Anglo miners were seen as encroachment onto their land. This triggered many raids, killing the settlers and miners, in an attempt to purge the country of the foreign invaders....