NEWS ROUNDUP

Shrimp Pose Big Problem for LAX The scrubby, rock-filled drainage ditch at the end of a runway at Los Angeles International Airport might not look like much, but to scores of endangered shrimp, it's home. The little depression, surrounded by a chain-link fence with signs warning "Los Angeles World Airports — Endangered Species — Keep Out," is part of a 108-acre area at LAX that federal officials want to designate as a preserve for the tiny creatures, which at the moment exist in egg form. The proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announced earlier this year, took both Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency that operates LAX, and the Federal Aviation Administration by surprise. The agencies have spent years trying to persuade federal wildlife officials to allow them to move the airport's Riverside fairy shrimp population....
Drought's grip has the West by throat Struggling Utah farmers sacrificed water to save a school on the verge of shutting down because its well ran dry. Montana ranchers are selling off their herds. In Arizona, the Marines pitched in to help build watering holes to keep rare sheep from dying of thirst. A persistent drought has upset lives and livelihoods from Montana to New Mexico, drawing comparisons to the Dust Bowl days. Fields have been left unplanted. Homeowners are being paid to tear out lawns. Hydropower generation is threatened. Ducks are disappearing and forests are becoming kindling....
Winds of change blow on energy horizon Prospects for "green" power look good for Nevada and the nation, but don't expect wind, solar and geothermal power to replace oil and gas anytime soon, a Bush administration official said Friday. Renewable energy, excluding hydroelectric power from dams, provides 2 percent of the nation's energy needs today, said Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the interior for land and minerals management....
Poor Southwestern tribes fear coal-mine shutdown Below the wild grasses, topsoil and heavy chunks of rock on Black Mesa sit tons of black coal, a power source for millions of people in the West. For three decades, the Black Mesa mine and the adjoining Kayenta mine, both operated about 300 miles from Phoenix by Peabody Energy, have provided millions of dollars in revenue and hundreds of jobs to the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which have few other economic resources on their remote reservations. But the Black Mesa mine - battered by water, legal and other concerns - now faces a likely shutdown....
CBM companies must bond ponds The business of producing coalbed methane gas in Wyoming will soon become a little more expensive. According to a recent solicitor's opinion, the Bureau of Land Management can require additional bonding to cover the cost of reclaiming reservoirs constructed to contain coalbed methane water -- a byproduct of producing the gas....
Editorial: Paving the way on roadless issue Last week, CCI sent letters announcing its updated, moderate position to U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Colorado's congressional delegation and top officials in Gov. Bill Owens' administration. CCI's new position is so sensible it should be embraced by many groups involved in the issue. It wisely says there needs to be a uniform federal standard for resolving RS 2477 claims, and the standard should be used by all federal land management agencies. It also says while state laws should be applied, counties' claims to rights- of-way on U.S. land should be consistent with federal law. Importantly, CCI believes county governments should hold public hearings on RS 2477 claims....
Grassland shows off its diversity Bugs rule, according to a recent 24-hour snapshot of biodiversity, but scientists are more intrigued with rare and non-native discoveries made during the Grasslands Bioblitz. Held June 25-26 on 6,000 acres of public land on the Boulder-Jefferson county border, scientists and the public fanned out to see how many species they could find....
Column: Saving the Platte River for wildlife Every spring, in one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles, great winged clouds of sandhill cranes descend upon the Platte River in Nebraska. During the day, the birds stuff themselves with waste corn from surrounding fields, fueling up for their long northerly migration to their summer breeding grounds. At night, they roost in the river's shallow, sandy channels, which - free of predator-concealing vegetation - provide an ideal resting spot. The Platte River is so uniquely suited to meeting the needs of migrating sandhill cranes that it acts as a continental funnel for the species....
Column: The American River’s Hidden Fish Kill The Klamath fish kill of September 2002, when 68,000 salmon died because of low, warm water conditions on the lower river, is considered the largest of its kind in U.S. history. However, another “hidden fish kill” that took place on the American River in the fall of 2001, 2002 and 2003 is now vying for this dubious distinction. Only a few short miles from the State Capitol, an unprecedented environmental tragedy took place on the American River in the heart of Sacramento metropolitan area over the past three years. Huge numbers of adult chinook salmon returned from the ocean to spawn, but 181,709 of these fish perished before spawning....
Klamath Indians to bend ear of dam owner Representatives of four Klamath River tribes will meet with the CEO of dam owner PacifiCorp, just weeks after visiting its parent company in Scotland. Two Yurok tribal councilmen described the visit to Scotland as successful, having drawn the attention of ScottishPower to problems the tribe sees with the continued operations of its subsidiary's hydropower facilities on the Klamath, half a world away....
As Front Range slakes thirst, headwaters towns are forced to limit growth As the state's powerful Front Range region moves to quench its thirst after five dry years, the water-rich Western Slope worries that its future is about to disappear down a long pipe to Denver. Publicly, local officials say they are hopeful of finding win-win deals that allow some water exports while protecting their quality of life. Privately, there's increasing concern about getting steamrolled by the Front Range. And every new demand for water increases their anxiety....
Recycling plant accused of polluting river Environmental volunteers along the Altamaha River say the water is being polluted by a surprising culprit: a recycling plant. James Holland, a member of the Altamaha Riverkeeper, says SP Newsprint is churning out trash and possibly even fecal matter into the river, which flows from north Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean near Darien. Downstream from the newspaper recycler's plant, Holland pointed out a yellow tint with some foam bubbling up in the middle of the river....
Washington hunters face new restriction Deer and elk hides and deer capes are allowed if heads are not attached, and skulls and antlers are allowed if all soft tissue is removed. Finished taxidermy mounts are allowed. Washington residents hunting in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan must comply with the new regulation....
Science v. Bush So far more than 4,000 scientists, including 48 Nobel prize winners, have put their names to the declaration. The scientists' statement represents a new development in the uneasy relationship between science and politics. In the past, individual scientists and science organizations have occasionally piped up to oppose specific federal policies such as Ronald Reagan's Star Wars missile defense plan. But this is the first time that a broad spectrum of the scientific community has expressed opposition to a president's overall science policy....
Setting their sights on Arizona Their trails never crossed. Even so, President Bush and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry were fighting a modern range war of sorts last week during campaign swings in Arizona and neighboring Southwestern states. It's a vast region with some common concerns and a bundle of electoral votes....
Utah Rancher Believes his Bull has the Biggest Horn on Earth A Central Utah rancher thinks one of his animals deserves to be in the Guinness Book of World Records. He believes a bull named "Woodie" has the biggest horn of any animal on earth! We can't vouch for the "world record" part of this. But we can tell you...Woodie is an astonishing animal....
Isolated ranchers find cottage industry in sewing-kit sales Fall in Montana is the season for cutting cattle, separating calves from the herd so they can be sold. At a ranch on the prairie where Montana nudges South Dakota, it's also a time for cutting fabric, yards and yards of it. Jennifer and Shane Peabody like to say they're in the business of cattle and kits. They raise Limousin-Angus on their ranch in sprawling and isolated Carter County in Montana's southeastern corner, home to 1,360 people and 53,000 cattle. Then there is the Peabodys' Big Sky Sewing Kits, selling to 325 schools nationwide what students in consumer science - formerly home economics - need to stitch up duffel bags and other totes as class projects....
Cowboy poets make rhyme, reason of land, lifestyle Rolf Flake parks his pickup out on his ranch near Apache Junction. A roadrunner jumps up onto his hood and parks itself. Flake, 72, is a fourth-generation Arizona rancher and runs up to 1,200 head of corriente cattle on 50 square miles of rangeland. Flake and 100 other cowboy poets will convene Thursday in Prescott for three days of rhyme and song during the 17th annual Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering....
Ranchers balk at cattle ID plan Montana ranchers had concerns about a new national livestock identification system during a discussion session with Undersecretary of Agriculture Bill Hawks. Most Montana ranchers aren't embracing the new system. Mary Ann Murray, president of Montana Women Involved in Farm Economics and chairman of the national animal identification program for Montana Cattlemen's Association, said she wonders how this identification system will track animals when they go to the vet, wander into the next pasture or are taken to the county fair....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Water shortages may be fixed with self-discipline In the winter of 1983, I was at a PCA meeting in a small country town. America was in a depression, farmers were mortgaged to the hilt and interest rates were 13.5 percent. The speaker stated flatly to the group of gloomy farmers, "We will never see single-digit interest again."....