NEWS ROUNDUP

Groups sue to stop grazing near Yellowstone Three environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Forest Service, hoping to stop cattle grazing on 48,000 acres of high-elevation meadows west of Yellowstone National Park. Filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, the lawsuit objects to 11 grazing allotments in the southern Gravelly Mountains on the grounds that they pose a risk to migrating grizzly bears, moose, elk, deer and antelope - and have already eliminated sage grouse. "The Forest Service has been converting the sagebrush-grassland habitat in Antelope Basin to grazing pasture since the 1960s by spraying herbicides and burning," said Sara Johnson of the Native Ecosystems Council....
Bush campaign criticizes Kerry's opposition to forest policy Sen. John Kerry's criticism of increasing logging in national forests to ease wildfire threats shows how badly his brand of environmentalism is out of step with most Westerners, the Bush-Cheney campaign said Wednesday. Kerry's campaign countered that the Bush administration's forest policy is aimed more at bolstering timber industry profits than protecting communities from fires....
Forest health The House Resources Committee held a hearing on House Resolution 3102, authored by congressman Steve Pearce. The bill seeks to address rangeland health and grazing on Forest Service lands. HR 3102 would require the secretary of agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements with the Southwestern region land grant universities — New Mexico State, Northern Arizona and the University of Arizona — to conduct studies required by the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 on Forest Service lands in Arizona and New Mexico....
Danger for off-roaders in the Burro Mountains Driving all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles in the Burro Mountains has become more dangerous because of hazards someone is putting on trails. Off-roaders in the Gila National Forest southwest of Silver City recently have encountered nails, wires and large rocks "strategically placed" in an apparent attempt to injure people, according to Dave Donaldson, owner of Copper Country ATV & Cycle of Silver City. "These are ecoterrorists," he said. "They're basically trying to kill somebody."....
In protest, Rainbow folks to get naked Rainbow Family members unhappy with the Forest Service's ban on nudity at the remote gathering site in the South Warner Mountains plan to reveal their frustrations with a "nude-in." The Modoc National Forest has banned nudity at the gathering, called the "Rainbow Gathering of the Living Light." As of this morning, Forest Service officials conservatively estimated more than 3,500 people are at the gathering site, with license plates from 32 states and participants from Israel, Canada, Costa Rica and Austria. From 8,000 to 20,000 people are expected, with the peak numbers likely by Sunday....
Greenpeace ship visiting to 'liberate U.S. forests' WHO: The Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, her crew, members of the Greenpeace Forest Campaign, and local experts on the Biscuit salvage sale and proposed new regional protected areas. WHAT: Free public tours of the Arctic Sunrise. Visitors will have an opportunity to meet the crew of the ship as well as Greenpeace forest campaigners who have been on the frontline protecting national forests around the country, including most recently in Oregon. Visitors will see compelling visual tours of this country’s endangered forests, including images from Greenpeace’s exploration of Alaska’s rainforest last year....
Wildlife consultant to draft wolf plan Members of an advisory group trying to write a Utah wolf management plan have made little progress in six previous meetings. After another morning of disagreement Tuesday, Utah's Wolf Working Group decided to allow a Wyoming wildlife consultant to come up with a basic outline. Then the 13-member volunteer panel of academics, hunters, wolf advocates, farmers, ranchers and county government officials will form smaller groups to attempt to reach consensus on a plan....
COMMISSIONERS QUESTION WILDERNESS EXPANSION PLAN The U.S. Forest Service's rationale to add 64,000 acres to the Kalmiopsis Wilderness was a hot topic during a meeting Friday organized by Curry County Commissioner Marlyn Schafer. Schafer said she was concerned that by expanding the wilderness area it would hinder the Forest Service from fighting future fires there because of federal restrictions placed on land designated a wilderness....
Lawmakers seek details on Biscuit wilderness proposal Nearly a month after the Bush administration announced plans for new federal wilderness within the area burned by the massive 2002 Biscuit fire in Oregon, officials have released few details. No legislation has been submitted to Congress, nor have maps or detailed descriptions of the areas being targeted been distributed, beyond a general summary of 64,000 acres near the existing Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area in southwestern Oregon. Two Democratic members of Congress say it's time for the administration to put forward the details....
Thune proposes adding to buffer in prairie dog plan U.S. Senate candidate John Thune has proposed a one-mile buffer zone on federal grasslands to keep prairie dogs from encroaching onto private rangeland. The Republican said Tuesday he would renew his efforts to amend the federal Endangered Species Act and to oppose the listing of prairie dogs as a threatened species. But a more urgent issue is preventing prairie dogs from spreading onto private land, he said. If elected, Thune said he would work with the U.S. Forest Service to establish a one-mile prairie dog buffer zone on federal land that borders private rangeland....
USFS rejects Chugach wilderness appeal The U.S. Forest Service denied appeals from a coalition of groups unhappy with the plan for Alaska's Chugach National Forest, the country's second-largest national forest. The coalition appealed the 2002 Chugach land management plan, which is a blueprint on how the federal agency administers the 5.5 million-acre forest that flanks Anchorage. They challenged the plan, which guides management for roughly the next 15 years, on a number of fronts. Among their gripes were that the plan allows snowmachines and helicopters in too many areas of the forest and does not adequately protect Kenai Peninsula brown bears....
Saving the silence at Waldo Lake Three years ago, the U.S. Forest Service tried to make silence the law of the lake, forbidding any gasoline engines from operating on Waldo's pristine waters. Boaters protested, and the agency withdrew the plan to make changes. Although the Forest Service still would prefer to prohibit gas-powered boats on the lake, it has a new plan with a compromise option: Restrict the use of older, noisier boat engines, but allow the cleanest gas engines on the lake for part of the summer. The proposal also includes provisions to curb damage from lakefront camping....
Big Hole River flows increasing The water level in the Big Hole River is beginning to climb as more irrigators shut off their ditches as part of a unique federal program that pays them not to water their fields. As of Tuesday morning, a measuring station at Wisdom showed a flow of 159 cubic feet per second, up more than five-fold from a 30 cfs flow last Friday. Rains helped -- other rivers in the region also climbed over the weekend. But the Big Hole took a big spike on Sunday and Monday when ranchers started closing more headgates....
USDA Announces $26M Wetlands Project Persistent flooding of their corn and soybean fields led Robert and Verneel Noerrlinger to return 535 acres to wetlands. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is urging other landowners along the Missouri River in Nebraska to consider doing the same. This week, the Noerrlingers' property was the site chosen by the USDA to announce a project that makes $26 million available through 2007 to restore 18,200 acres of wetlands along the river from Ponca to Rulo, some 200 miles running the entire length of the state....
Bison Range agreement reached The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes said Wednesday they have accepted a proposal for the tribal government to assume significant management responsibilities for the 18,000-acre National Bison Range in Moiese. They also would gain control of specific other federal properties now administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the Flathead Reservation. The new agreement could take effect as early as Jan. 1, 2005....
New deadline set for snowmobile rules A federal judge in Washington has given the National Park Service until early- to mid-November at the latest to set the rules for snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Wednesday that the Bush Administration must have a winter use plan in place for the parks no later than 30 days before trail grooming starts. Typically, grooming starts in early- to mid-December....
Climbers Find Frozen Body on Mt. McKinley Climbers poking around a high-elevation camp on Mount McKinley discovered a human foot sticking out of the snow. Rangers dug out the frozen corpse of a man who died 35 years ago. Park Service spokeswoman Maureen McLaughlin said the body was that of Gary Cole, 32, of Cody, Wyo., who died of acute mountain sickness June 19, 1969. Identification was made by his wedding band and a watch with a calendar dated June 1969, the Park Service said....
Yosemite Land Grant Signed 140 Years Ago Yosemite National Park is marking the 140th anniversary of the signing of the Yosemite Land Grant. On June 30, 1864, the United States granted the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California through this piece of legislation. The Yosemite Land Grant was signed by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War. It was the first time land was preserved for its scenic values and for public benefit. This one act is the basis for the later concept of the national park and state park systems....
Archaeologist's dream Archaeologists took reporters into an ancient world Wednesday that has remained secret for half a century. They viewed half a dozen unspoiled villages of ancient Fremont Indians that lie half-buried along 12 miles of pretty little stream in a canyon cutting through the Book Cliff Mountains. When Utah State Archaeologist Kevin Jones first saw it two years ago, he felt like the luckiest archaeologist alive....
High court ruling could end dispute over use of wild lands A Supreme Court ruling last week could end eight years of litigation over seven Montana wilderness study areas. On June 21, the court returned a lawsuit filed by the Montana Wilderness Association against the Forest Service over management of the state's wilderness study areas to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The environmental group had argued that the Forest Service had failed to maintain the wilderness character of the areas by allowing increased motorized use....
Wild fight: Battle for wilderness designations still undecided after decades of debate For 27 years, about 1 million acres of Montana wildlands have been locked in a legal "Twilight Zone." Clifton Merritt helped bolt the door, but he never imagined Montana would lose the key. It was in 1977 that Sen. Lee Metcalf, D-Mont., pushed legislation through Congress to create the Montana Wilderness Study Act. The act protected 10 Montana roadless areas, maintaining each area's "wilderness characteristics" as they existed then. At the time, Merritt was field director for The Wilderness Society....
Nine-Mile drilling plans concern judge, but so does threat of delay A federal judge said Monday that he is concerned that natural gas exploration could damage American Indian artifacts near Utah's Nine-Mile Canyon, but expressed misgivings about forcing delays in the project. By some estimates, there are 66 billion cubic feet of natural gas beneath the canyon and surrounding plateaus, and Denver-based Bill Barrett Corp. has been given a go-ahead from the Interior Department to search for it. But the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and other environmental groups which sued over the decision argued that any exploration could damage relics that are so abundant that the area has been referred to as an "outdoor museum."....
Elite fire team back 10 years after tragedy The Prineville, Ore., Hotshots, the elite firefighters whose ranks were shattered 10 years ago in the fatal Storm King fire, are back in Glenwood Springs. But they're not fighting a fire. At least not yet. Instead, the 20-person crew was hard at work Monday on nearby Lookout Mountain, thinning trees and brush as part of a fuel-reduction project. Steven Hall, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said the Upper Colorado Basin's severe fire danger called for stationing a Hotshot crew to respond quickly to new fires, and with the 10-year anniversary of the Storm King tragedy coming up next week, "They were appropriate."....
Western Shoshone claim bill sails through Congress A bill calling for the release of money awarded to the Western Shoshone people 27 years ago sailed through Congress last week and is now only a presidential signature away from becoming official. The Indian Claims Commission awarded $26 million to the Western Shoshone in 1977 for lands lost to settlers and the U.S. government in the 19th Century. Congress funded it two years later and since then the money has sat in trust, accruing interest. The money's distribution has been blocked by a group of Western Shoshones led by northern Nevada ranchers Mary and Carrie Dann, who say the Shoshone people should get their land returned rather than monetary compensation....
Interstate Stream Commission releases water purchase contracts The New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission is releasing contracts to purchase land and water rights along the Pecos River. The contracts are part of the state’s multimillion-dollar program to retire water rights along the river to increase required flows into Texas. The commission has received more than 160 bids from landowners offering to sell more than 27,000 acres of land and water rights....
Resources Committee to hold ESA Hearing on The Klamath Project House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) announced today that the Committee will hold a field hearing in Klamath Falls, Oregon on the Endangered Species Act. The hearing, to be held at 9:00 a.m. on July 17 at the Ross Reglund Theatre in downtown Klamath Falls, will cover the Endangered Species Act's impact on the Klamath Project, one of the nation's oldest federal irrigation projects. The Klamath Project was the subject of international coverage in 2001 when Endangered Species Act regulations protecting sucker fish and coho salmon forced the bulk of the project to virtually shut down its water delivery system for almost the entire growing season. Local business leaders estimate that the termination of water deliveries in 2001 inflicted $200 million worth of economic damage on the Klamath Basin community....