NEWS ROUNDUP

Neptune's air tankers to stay grounded Federal officials on Monday denied a Missoula company's request to return its large air tankers to service to fight wildfires, saying additional information was needed first on the life of the planes. Officials lacked information on "operational life limit" of Neptune Aviation's aircraft, one of the criteria needed to help prove the tankers airworthy, said Rose Davis, a spokeswoman at the National Interagency Fire Center. "Though Neptune has done a great job of maintaining" the air tankers, she said, "we don't have the stuff from when they were a young airplane to see what they've been through already."....
Sea otters' revival in state waters brings new concerns The summer sea-otter count is an annual ritual for Stafford and a dozen other biologists; this year, they tallied about 700 animals from Destruction Island, near the Hoh river, to the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The first census, in 1977, found 19 animals. While most people welcome the otters' return, they already have become a nuisance to others. Voracious eaters, the otters decimated sea urchins in Neah Bay, wiping out a lucrative fishery. A large group of animals then headed down the strait toward Port Angeles, picking the rocky reefs clean and forcing the state to cut back quotas for sea-urchin fishermen....
Alaska high court denies belugas special status Cook Inlet beluga whales won't be getting special protection under the Alaska Endangered Species Act, after a ruling by the Alaska Supreme court. The high court upheld a 2002 decision by a lower court that sided with state officials who declined to list the whales as endangered. The Department of Fish and Game had decided the Cook Inlet belugas, although diminished, weren't immediately threatened with extinction and didn't qualify as a separate subspecies or species under state law....
Removing Dams Can Restore Wildlife Habitat at Small Cost By applying new mathematical techniques to river ecology, a University of Maryland biology professor has found that removing dams to reconnect rivers in a watershed like Oregon's Willamette River could result in significant wildlife habitat restoration benefits at a comparatively small economic cost. William Fagan, associate professor of biology at the University of Maryland, presented his findings at the Society for Conservation Biology's Annual meeting, last week at Columbia University....
Beetle proving effective in fight against salt cedar in Nevada A tiny beetle is proving effective in killing a weedy shrub blamed for sucking precious water out of streams and lakes in Nevada and the West. Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno say the leaf-eating beetle, called Diorhabda elongata, could prove helpful in restoring native vegetation in areas choked by thirsty salt cedar, also called tamarisk. "This has been one of the most successful biocontrol projects in all my 25 years in entomology in Nevada," said Jeff Knight, a partner in the project with the state Department of Agriculture. "It has had a dramatic impact on the ecosystems in Nevada agriculture: water levels, wildlife and riparian bird habitats."....
Wyoming to spend federal money on wolf planning The state Game and Fish Department will start spending some $203,000 in federal money this year to help Wyoming prepare to assume management of gray wolves even as the state fights the federal government over the issue in court. Some of the money from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be used to increase monitoring big game species such as elk, deer, moose and antelope that are food sources for wolves....
Foes vow court fight over land-use rules Supporters and opponents of the tough environmental policies proposed by County Executive Ron Sims said they have the law on their side, and it is hard to know how a court would rule. The most controversial proposal — and the one many rural property owners consider an illegal "taking" of their land — would require that native vegetation be preserved on 65 percent of each parcel....
Prairie dogs threaten gas development In Northwest Colorado, the white-tailed prairie dog has the potential to become as great an issue as the greater sage grouse, the president of a Denver energy company said. Environmental groups such as the Center For Native Ecosystems in Denver have gone through a variety of channels to protect the prairie dog. In Moffat County, they have protested the renewal of every gas lease in the Sand Wash Basin since November, Fred Julander, president of Julander Energy Company, told the Moffat County Commissioners during a meeting Monday....
Groups sue to protect songbird Two conservation groups are suing the Interior Department to protect a small songbird in the Black Hills. The lawsuit to protect the American dipper was filed in Washington, D.C., by Biodiversity Conservation Associates of Laramie, Wyo., and by the Center for Native Ecosystems, of Denver. Last year, the two groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place the declining Black Hills population of American dippers on the endangered species list. (The state listed the birds as "threatened" in 1996.)....
County joins state wolf lawsuit Park County will join the state's lawsuit about wolves and demand the federal government accept Wyoming's plan, de-list the wolf and allow the state to control livestock and wildlife depredation. County attorney Bryan Skoric made that announcement Monday, saying the county was notified July 26 it could intervene. "As a plaintiff in the lawsuit, Park County can now align itself with the state to argue that the federal government has failed to de-list and properly manage the gray wolf population in Wyoming," he said....
Federal court awards $2.3 million in drowning death The National Park Service was liable for the drowning death of a New York woman who fell into a Maui stream and was swept out to sea, a federal judge in Honolulu ruled Monday. Visiting U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie awarded $2.3 million in damages in the May 4, 2002, death of Xina Wang at Haleakala National Park. Wang, 42, fell while trying to cross Oheo Stream near the Oheo Pools, and was swept over several water falls and out to sea, where she drowned....
Column: Banning the Better Alternative On June 17, the House defeated an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 4568) to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The amendment, sponsored by Reps. Rush Holt (D-NJ), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Timothy Johnson (R-IL), and Nick Rahall (D-WV), would have banned all use of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in order to reduce air and noise emissions. In essence, this amendment would have effectively reinstated a since-repealed Clinton-era rule banning snowmobiles in these parks. Limited snowmobile use in these areas provides recreationists a chance to see the splendor of the parks in the winter and allows residents in related “gateway” communities to maintain their livelihoods. The Senate should follow the commonsense lead of the House and reject any proposals that would ban responsible use of snowmobiles....
3 bears in Katmai shot and left to rot Three brown bears were found shot and left dead on the tundra last week along a popular bear-viewing stream near the northern border of Katmai National Park and Preserve, prompting a criminal investigation by National Park Service rangers with help from Alaska State Troopers. The animals, including an adult female that had been actively nursing, appeared to have been killed illegally near Funnel Creek about 12 miles south of Iliamna Lake, according to rangers working the case....
BLM OKs drilling in remote area The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has approved a 385-well natural gas project east of the Adobe Town area. Marathon Oil, EOG Resources, Yates Petroleum and other companies plan to drill the gas and disposal wells at 361 sites. The project will also involve building or improving 450 miles of roads and 361 miles of pipeline, and building four compressor stations, a gas processing plant and three water evaporation ponds. Drilling will continue for about 20 years, producing about 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas....
Emergency Removal of Horses But Not Cattle Citing the threat of imminent starvation, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has announced an emergency removal of all wild horses from northwest Wyoming, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Between August 5 and 8, BLM will permanently remove approximately 140 wild horses from the 83,000-acre Fifteenmile Wild Horse Herd Management Area (located between Casper and Cody) because range conditions have deteriorated to the point where the current 210-horse herd can no longer be sustained. "Responsible range management has been utterly abandoned by BLM in Wyoming," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch whose organization nearly a year ago requested an investigation by the Interior Office of Inspector General into obstruction of BLM-Wyoming's enforcement against overgrazing violations. "Things are pretty pathetic when an 83,000-acre refuge can no longer support 200 head of horses."....
"CULTURE OF FEAR" AT INTERIOR Workers within the U.S. Department of Interior live in a "culture of fear" where "hatchet people" mete out punishment based on office politics, according to an agency-wide survey and investigative report quietly posted by the agency's Office of Inspector General (OIG) late last week. Survey results mirror reports from Interior staff received daily at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) from employees ranging from rank and file staff to park superintendents and other top managers who feel that they cannot disclose problems without facing retribution....
EPA wants 6 streams added to pollution list The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Colorado regulators to add six stream and river stretches to the state's list of polluted waters, a directive requiring cleanup plans be fashioned for the waterways. A state regulatory board that oversees water quality in Colorado had declined to include the rivers on its original list, adopted in March. But in an unprecedented move in Colorado, the EPA recently overruled that board, and wants the streams to join the 117 on the list....
Using Chain Saws, Environmentalists Protest Roadless Forest Repeal Environmentalists gave Vice President Dick Cheney (website/newsbio) a 21-chain saw salute Monday in Fayetteville. The salute was intended to protest a Bush administration plan to roll back the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The 2001 rule limits construction in national forests....
Native American Tribes Vow to Clean Up Yukon River Growing up in Galena, Alaska, First Chief Peter Captain, Sr., drank water straight from the Yukon River. "But that was a long time ago," said the 57-year-old chief of the Louden Tribal Council. "You can't do that now without getting sick." Stretching through some of the most pristine wilderness in North America, the 2,300-mile-long (3,700-kilometer-long) Yukon River has become increasingly polluted from raw sewage flowing into the river and decades of runoff waste from mines and military sites....
Trade Talks Progress, Enviros Try to Shield Natural Resources World Trade Organization (WTO) talks advanced on Saturday with agreements that will lead to more open markets for agriculture, goods and services, according to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. But environmentalists warn the deal establishes an agenda that could threaten people and the environment worldwide by liberalizing trade in all natural resources. They fear that more liberal trade rules for natural resources will lead to a rush to exploit minerals, forests and fish, depleting resources that are already stretched thin....
Judge's decision on NAWS could come within a month A federal judge in Washington, D.C., could soon decide whether a project to bring Missouri River water to northwest and north-central North Dakota requires more study. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer heard arguments in the case late last week. "Both sides have filed a motion for summary judgment," state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. "I expect we will have her decision within a month or so." The province of Manitoba sued the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and its parent agency, the Interior Department, in October 2002, challenging the Northwest Area Water Supply project. Canadian officials are worried about the potential transfer of unwanted aquatic life into the Hudson Bay Basin. They are seeking a more comprehensive environmental review....
Chuckwagon builder keeps Old West cowboy life alive Once a cowboy, always a cowboy. That sentiment certainly applies to John Wolf, who makes old-fashioned pioneer vehicles in his shop in the northern edge of Lea County. His hands are calloused from the numerous hours he toils building authentic chuckwagons. Wolf rode chuckwagons on ranches he grew up on in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico while the Great Depression gripped much of the country....
The "little woman" is a mighty force A ranch wife will leave at daylight with the boss, after breakfast is cooked and the kitchen tidied up, horses saddled and lunch packed. Many of those days there is no lunch because the all day event was one of those “it’ll only take a little while” projects. They will be horseback all day fighting cows and elements and all the things that can and do go wrong. She’ll find a way to shut a barbwire gate that only a he-man body builder would be able to pull up to the gate post. She’ll sit and wait patiently for hours on end right where he told her to wait. Then she’ll find out he expected her to read his mind when he changed his mind. She’ll take a cussin’ when it should really have been for the cow that ticked him off in the first place....