NEWS ROUNDUP
 
Gray wolf makes a comeback The nearly extinct eastern population of gray wolves has recovered and will be removed from the list of threatened and endangered species, Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton announced yesterday.   The wolves were given federal protection three decades ago, but their numbers have since increased substantially, and the administration is proposing that management of the species be given to individual states from Maine to the Dakotas. The Southwestern and Western populations of gray wolves will remain under federal protection as threatened species....
Sierra Club Calls Bush Administration's Wolf Delisting Ill-Advised The Sierra Club today called the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) plan to remove the "eastern population" of gray wolves from the endangered species list a case of “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.” The USFWS announced that wolves in all of the states in and east of the Dakotas will be delisted, including the wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.  “What ought to be a celebration of a conservation success is instead a cruel hoax,” said Ginny Yingling, a member of the Sierra Club’s national working group on wolf issues....
Column: When Does Garbage Become Archaeology? A rusted cooking pot, an old stove top, bits of china and pottery. Exploring in the woods around a backcountry chalet in Montana's Glacier National Park, we poked through the remains of garbage --everything from glass chips to bed springs. We prodded these remnants of the past: Historic rubbish.  Knowing the National Park Service classifies these dumpsites as archaeological, we carefully let our findings be. But our search posed questions: When does garbage become historic and thereby protected? What separates junk left to rot and historic treasures in our national parks and wilderness areas?....
Vote Scheduled on Judicial Nominee William Myers Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) continued his attempts to divide the American people today by trying to force a vote next Tuesday on controversial judicial nominee William G. Myers III, a former beef and mining industry lobbyist. This morning, Senator Frist announced that he will file a cloture petition this afternoon to end debate on whether Myers' should be confirmed, setting off a filibuster of another of president Bush's extreme judicial nominees.  For the first time, a judicial nominee's extreme record on protections for the environment and Native American rights will be the focus of a filibuster. Myers' nomination to a lifetime seat on the powerful Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has prompted record opposition by tribal leaders, conservation groups, labor, and civil rights organizations-including many groups that have never before opposed a judicial nominee....
Calif. condors respond to W. Nile virus vaccine California condors, giant birds once driven to near extinction, are being vaccinated against a deadly virus and seem to be responding well, according to the scientist who developed the vaccine. The majority of the roughly 188 condors that have been tested since they were vaccinated against West Nile virus have developed antibodies, said Jeff Chang, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research microbiologist who developed the vaccine....
Column: How treaties trump the Constitution Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to regulate private property. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to manage wildlife or prescribe land-use regulations within the various states.  By what authority, then, has the federal government constructed the expansive bureaucracy that now forces wolves, panthers and bears on states and communities that don't want them, or levied fines, and jailed people who dare dig a ditch or dump a load of sand on their own private property?....
Demolition begins on one of most deadly buildings Demolition began Thursday on what has been called "the most dangerous building in America," where workers at the Rocky Flats nuclear plant once handled highly radioactive plutonium used in triggers for nuclear weapons.  Rocky Flats started producing plutonium triggers in the 1950s and was closed in 1989 when chronic safety violations led to a raid by federal agents. The Cold War's end scuttled plans to reopen the plant.  Work began in 1994 on decommissioning Rocky Flats, which will eventually be turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to manage as a wildlife refuge....
Editorial: Petty Politics in Yosemite  At one point late last year, when Rep. George P. Radanovich was pushing his bill to have LeConte Memorial Lodge moved out of Yosemite Valley, he told a reporter, "I think John Muir would be rolling over in his grave if he knew this thing had been built in the valley."Presumably the Republican from Mariposa has learned by now that pioneer conservationist Muir not only approved but was the Sierra Club president when the club-owned lodge was built in 1903 and had been a prime mover in having it erected.The lodge is not a likely flashpoint for political controversy....
Preserving and Promoting our National Parks   Editor's note: The National Park Service and the Bush administration have received criticism in recent months from some liberal organizations and the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry for not doing enough to improve and protect America's Crown Jewels, our National Parks. TCS Deputy Editor Duane D. Freese sat down with Interior Secretary Gale Norton to discuss those criticisms and find out what steps the administration has taken to restore luster to America's historical sites and natural wonders....
Landowner opposition sinks Gaviota seashore proposal   In the hope of keeping it that way, conservationists have urged for more than a decade that the Gaviota coast be accorded formal protection as a national seashore. They almost got their wish, persuading Congress to authorize a study of that possibility five years ago. This spring, however, the federal government dashed their hopes by issuing a report concluding that such protection was warranted but "not feasible."The finding stands in stark contrast to the expansionary tendencies of the National Park Service during the Clinton administration and illustrates the growing influence of property-rights activists in the conservation arena now that legislators sympathetic to their cause control the White House and both chambers of Congress....
Surveyors begin Caliente rail corridor groundwork  Government surveyors have been in the field in northern Nye County measuring grades, mapping terrain and marking landforms in an effort to lay the engineering groundwork for the railroad to build from Caliente, near the Utah state line. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the natives are getting restless.Pahute Mesa. Cactus Flat. Stone Cabin Valley. It all sounds like the trappings of a script for a Western movie. But instead of Indians, outlaws or a greedy banker as the villain, in this updated version it's the distant federal government that wears the black hat....
OSU creates weedmapper for war on weeds  The spread of noxious, exotic (non-native) weeds in Oregon costs the state millions of dollars annually in lost economic productivity and resources spent on weed control programs. Researchers at Oregon State University hope to enlist the help of landowners and land managers throughout the state in the war on weeds via an online-based weed information exchange called Weedmapper. "The idea behind Weedmapper is to provide agency officials, land managers and Oregon landowners with quick and easy access to the latest information available on the location and extent of noxious weed infestations around the state," said Doug Johnson, a rangeland ecologist in the OSU Department of Rangeland Resources, and leader of theWeedmapper project....
Editorial: How the West will be won The Kerry-Edwards campaign launched a Western issues agenda this week, laying out a policy position on wildfires that focuses on prevention, safeguarding communities and protecting the environment. On these dry, hot days when fires are scorching hundreds of acres in Western states, we think it's high time the presidential candidates attend to issues that will resonate in the West. President Bush and Vice President Cheney vacation in their home states of Texas and Wyoming, and enjoy familiarity with Western issues that will surely allow for a vigorous debate between the two parties....
Yeah, That's the Ticket: How does John Edwards stack up on the environment? When John Edwards was tapped to be John Kerry's veep last week, everyone interested in ousting Bush erupted into convulsions of praise -- and the enviros were no exception.  So it may come as a surprise that Edwards' lifetime voting record on the environment, determined by LCV's scorecard, is 63 percent (that would be a D-) -- quite a bit lower than Kerry's 92 percent, one of the highest records in Senate history....
Homeless horses: Wild animals major challenge for feds   This year the federal government is spending about $17,500 each day just to feed wild horses protected from slaughter and too old to adopt out. Some will live more than 30 years.  More than 20,000 wild horses and burros have accumulated in recent years in government corrals and sanctuaries. About 36,000 more roam public space managed by the BLM, competing with cattle for food, stressing the ecosystem, reproducing at a rate that can double their population every four years and facing few natural predators.  Taxpayers are picking up the bill, which is increasing rapidly. In 2000 - when the total wild horse and burro population was about 51,000 - the program cost about $21 million. In its current budget request - with 36,000 horses on the range and 20,000 in holding pens and sanctuaries - the BLM is asking for $42 million....
Hahn Rethinking Owens Valley Plan  Two weeks ago Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn talked about creating a land conservancy to protect the Owens Valley from future development.Now he's not so sure and says he won't make up his mind until he visits the valley and talks to residents.  Now Hahn finds himself caught between the environmentalists and DWP board President Dominick Rubalcava, who has been one of the mayor's top advisors and fundraisers. Rubalcava is adamantly opposed to a conservancy, wants the land to stay in DWP hands and has indicated he is not against limited development in the valley....
Maine Churches Add Environmentalism to Ministries  Efforts like those of Mr. Bliss, his congregation and other like-minded churchgoers have put Maine in the forefront of religiously motivated environmental activity, said Paul Gorman, director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, an organization of Christian and Jewish groups, in Washington.  About 36 congregations now have mostly lay-led environmental groups called EarthCare teams, up from 24 last fall, said Anne Burt, director of the Maine Council of Churches' Environmental Justice Program in Portland. Congregations have been introducing environmentalism into Sunday schools, undergoing energy audits of their churches, reducing cars idling and changing the very buildings in which they meet, with window replacements and added insulation.  "We are building an environmental movement in the pews," Burt added....
Bonneville summer spill plan opposed by Oregon Governor  Gov. Ted Kulongoski said Friday the state will join a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, fishermen and Northwest Indian tribes to block the Bonneville Power Administration summer spill plan for salmon.  Kulongoski is the only one of four Northwest governors to oppose the plan to reduce spills at four hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers in August....
Environmentalists Fear Anti-Wetlands Rules   Wetland regulation is in flux because of a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prompted states to begin retooling their rules governing "isolated" wetlands -- low-lying areas without a surface link to a waterway. The court declared that the federal government does not have unlimited authority over these wetlands, delighting developers, farmers and others who had long complained that earlier wetland regulations unduly hampered growth. Environmentalists like Tedesco, however, fear the changes will accelerate the loss of unique habitat. And she said what's often overlooked is that wetlands, even tiny ones, act as giant, filtering sponges that suck up storm runoff and ease flooding....
Questions over Hearst Ranch's value lead to conflict allegation    The California Coastal Commission is questioning an appraisal that says Hearst Ranch is worth more than twice the $95 million the state is being asked to pay to preserve it.  A Hearst attorney, however, says one of the commission employees raising the issue has a conflict of interest because she spoke out against the plan as a member of a conservation group....
Archaeologist believes find is proof of lost Indian culture  A government archaelogist believes ancient fire pits and pottery recently unearthed in south-central Montana are the works of an Indian culture that disappeared hundreds of years ago from its home range in modern-day Colorado and Utah.Glade Hadden, a Bureau of Reclamation archaeologist, said evidence found at the site near Bridger strongly suggests the area was inhabited by Fremont people, an Indian culture known for its masonry work and fine pottery."There is no doubt in my mind," Hadden said....
Extreme conditions persist on range lands  Despite a soggy spring in parts of Montana, about 40 percent of the state's counties continue to languish in a withering drought - including more than half of Montana's cattle country, the governor's Drought Advisory Committee concluded this week.  But a band from Beaverhead to Carter counties continues to weather a long-term, extreme drought. And that, said Peggy Stringer, state statistician for the Montana Agricultural Statistics Service, is where 56 percent of all the range land in the state is, accounting for 51 percent of all Montana's cattle.....
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes  In a landmark decision greeted with jubilation by representatives of the Hoopa and Yurok tribes, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the release of flows proscribed under the Trinity River Record of Decision (ROD) of December 2000.  "Nothing remains to prevent the full implementation of the ROD, including its complete flow plan for the Trinity River," the Court ruled on Tuesday, July 13.  Marshall said the decision would compel the federal Bureau of Reclamation to release 47 percent of river flows for fish and 53 percent for agriculture and power. Prior to the ROD, up to 90 percent of the river had been diverted to agriculture and power users, resulting in dramatic declines in salmon and steelhead populations....
Interior agencies win backing from House panel to recruit volunteers  The Interior Department may recruit and train volunteers to help with activities of more of its agencies under legislation approved Wednesday by the House Resources Committee.  The legislation opens up the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Office of the Secretary to volunteer assistance. Volunteer programs already exist in some other Interior agencies, including the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management....