NEWS ROUNDUP

Bush Plan Opens More Forests to Logging Governors would have to petition the federal government to block road-building in remote areas of national forests under a Bush administration proposal to boost logging. Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Valetkevitch stressed that the proposal was preliminary, but called it an accurate statement of the administration's intentions. Officials had said last year they would develop a plan to allow governors to seek exemptions from the roadless rule. The latest plan turns that on its head by making governors petition the Agriculture Department if they want to maintain restrictions on timbering in their state. "The roadless rule is struck down nationwide," Valetkevitch said, referring to a 2003 ruling by a federal judge in Wyoming. "We are trying to create a rule that will pass legal muster."....
The activist strikes back Earth First! environmental activist Rebecca Kay Smith has filed a civil suit against several Forest Service and law enforcement officials, hoping to reverse the courtroom roles of her trial last January, at which she and fellow activist Joel Wyatt were found guilty of four misdemeanors from their month-long tree-sit protest of the Bitterroot’s Big Bull timber sale. During the protest, Smith’s food and water supply was allegedly cut down from tree branches via cherry-picker and taken from her directly when Missoula County Deputy Sheriff David Ball punctured containers holding drinking water....
American alleged eco-terrorist says he wants to be Canadian refugee One of the FBI's most wanted fugitives said Wednesday he wants to be a refugee in Canada and that a decision by Canadian officials on whether he can apply for such status is expected within days. Tre Arrow is wanted for his alleged role in the 2001 firebombing of logging and cement trucks in the U.S. state of Oregon. The FBI claims he is associated with the eco-terrorist group Earth Liberation Front(ELF). Obtaining refugee status would prevent Canadian authorities from extraditing him to the United States....
Ranch added to public lands will provide outdoors access Sen. Craig Thomas on Wednesday helped commemorate public acquisition of an 11,000-acre ranch at the base of the Big Horns and its access to blue-ribbon trout streams and prime hunting grounds. "Devil's Canyon Ranch is truly a hunter and fisherman's paradise that contains extraordinary archaeological sites and critical non-game habitat," Thomas said. "In the process we have also ensured public access to adjacent BLM and Forest Service lands. I am extremely pleased that the public will have access to this natural treasure.".... Seems like everything the government acquires is a "national treasure".
County commissioner fined for shooting wolf Valley County Commissioner Phil Davis has been fined for letting one of his ranch hands kill a wolf as it was moving through a herd of cattle five weeks ago. Davis paid $1,500 to satisfy charges that ranch hand Jerry Ussery shot the wolf on May 24, that both he and Ussery illegally moved the animal and that he failed to report the incident. The penalty could have been up to $100,000 and a year in jail for killing a wolf protected under the Endangered Species Act....
Groups have doubts about future snowmobile season With snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park once again in limbo, at least one person knows how the winter will operate: it won't. Mike Perikly, president of Flagg Ranch Resort at the southern gate to the park, said if the Park Service doesn't know whether snowmobiles will be allowed this winter by September, he isn't going to staff anyone or prepare for a winter season. "There is no way we can hire people, and we have to begin some winterizing," Perikly said. "We should have placed an order for snowmobiles already and we haven't, and we aren't going to."....
Judge declines to step aside in Yellowstone snowmobile controversy A federal district court on Wednesday rejected an effort by the National Park Service to hand over a case concerning whether snowmobiles should be allowed in Yellowstone to a federal district court in Cheyenne. The park service and the International Snowmobile Manufacturers had asked the appeals court in Washington to hand the case over to the federal court in Cheyenne because the two courts had issued contradictory rulings on whether snowmobiles should be permitted in the park....
Federal CBM case begins today A few dozen men will drill five new coalbed methane gas wells today in northeast Wyoming. A hundred or so will toil to construct pipelines, and hundreds more will work to maintain this multi-million-dollar-per-day industry that is expected to grow beyond 50,000 wells. And at the same time, about a half-dozen lawyers will enter the Joseph C. O'Mahoney Federal Center building in Cheyenne today to argue to suspend the work....
Agency: Marines didn't pay $10 million bill for 2002 Sierra fire A $10 million bill sent to the Marine Corps to cover the costs of fighting a 22,750-acre Sierra Nevada wildlife two years ago remains unpaid, the U.S. Forest Service confirmed Thursday. "The Forest Service is still trying to collect $10 million from the Marines," Reno-based agency spokeswoman Christy Kalkowski said. Lt. Nathan Braden, of the Marines' public affairs staff at Camp Pendleton, Calif., that handles media queries about the Pickel Meadows mountain warfare training base, said he wasn't aware of the bill for the fire....
Bear kills sled dog Rather than leave his prize lead dog, Mandy, in Tanana for the summer with his four other sled dogs, Martin Scharf decided to bring her to Fairbanks so he could look after her. But when a bear attacked the dog in Scharf's yard near 4.5 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road early Wednesday morning, there wasn't much he could do. "I just heard the dog barking, then she started yelping," Scharf said of his 9-year-old leader....
Tribes say Range Creek decisions exclude them Archaeologists quietly spent the past two years exploring a remarkable and secret community of Fremont Indian sites in eastern Utah's Range Creek. Now, some American Indian groups say they were too quiet and secret. Melvin Brewster, tribal historic preservation officer for the Goshute Skull Valley Band, said regional American Indian groups have had no say in the exploration of Range Creek. Many Western American Indian groups consider the Fremont to be their ancestors....
Deputies seize Greenpeace gear Greenpeace said Wednesday that the seizure of a truckload of camping gear by sheriff's deputies investigating two anti-logging protests is an attack against free speech and will not stop continuing protests against cutting down old growth forests. ``The forest rescue station was a symbol of free speech,'' said Greenpeace campaigner Ginger Cassady. ``It gives the public a voice in opposition to timber sales. Now it's like they're taking that right away from us.''....
COURT RULES PARK SERVICE VIOLATES WILDERNESS ACT The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has slammed the door on the National Park Service's motorized sightseeing tours through the Cumberland Island Wilderness. The three judge panel ruled that the motorized tours violated both the Wilderness Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The court wrote, "The language of the…Wilderness Act demonstrate[s] that Congress has unambiguously prohibited the Park Service from offering motorized transportation to park visitors through the wilderness area." "This is one of the most important rulings in the 40-year history of the Wilderness Act," stated George Nickas, Executive Director of Wilderness Watch. "....
Montana agency warns water holders of summer shutoffs The state has sent letters to some 600 junior water rights holders alerting them that they may be asked to stop drawing water this summer to protect fish in Montana rivers. "It's hard to imagine a situation that's any more grim,'' said Bill Schenk, in-stream flow specialist for the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Park's Fisheries Division. "In spite of the recent rains, we're going to be in rough shape as far as stream flows go.'' The state holds water rights to maintain in-stream flow for fish on many streams in the Missouri and Yellowstone river basins, as well as 12 blue-ribbon trout streams....