NEWS ROUNDUP

Special problems -- hogs, red foxes The green slopes looked like they had been tilled by a farmer who sorely needed his medication adjusted: Hundreds of square yards of thick turf had been haphazardly gouged, uprooted and overturned, exposing the raw earth beneath. "Hogs," drawled East Bay Regional Parks District wildlife program manager Joe DiDonato. "Wild hogs. They'll tear up entire hillsides looking for tubers and grubs. We have hundreds of them here, maybe thousands. And they're a constant problem. Ideally, we'd like to eliminate them -- but that's not possible. So we just try to achieve a certain degree of control."....
Interior Will Delay Some Energy Projects The Interior Department said Monday it will begin delaying some new oil and gas drilling projects until the effects on wildlife are studied more thoroughly. Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson described the new policy as a response to American Wildlife Conservation Partners, a coalition of groups ranging from Ducks Unlimited to the National Rifle Association. She said it would apply to all 262 million acres -- about one of every 10 in the United States -- managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management....
BLM touts new directive Although Washington, D.C., is hailing a new directive as a boon to land managers, people in Pinedale will likely not see any difference in the way energy leases are issued on federal lands. Saturday, Department of Interior officials announced that Bureau of Land Management field offices would have more authority in yanking leases from energy sales if the land in question is simultaneously being studied for possible protection....
Group to Talk Coal-Bed Methane Drilling Dozens of scientists plan to converge at the University of Wyoming to talk about West Nile virus, water pollution and other issues related to coal-bed methane drilling. The first annual Ruckelshaus Institute Coalbed Natural Gas Research, Monitoring and Application Conference will be Tuesday through Thursday at the Wyoming Union. The conference will be free and open to the public....
Black Mesa coal mine threatened by disputes For three decades, the Black Mesa mine and the adjoining Kayenta mine, both operated some 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. "It's going to be a very catastrophic effect on the tribe," said Hopi Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr....
Proposals would fast-track approval of logging, oil refinery construction Logging of California's forests and construction of new oil refineries could proceed more swiftly under two new recommendations growing out of a five-month review of cost and efficiency initiated by the governor. The two proposals in the California Performance Review -- "streamlining permitting to reduce petroleum infrastructure bottlenecks'' and "improving the timber harvest plan development and review process'' -- mirror changes long sought by the timber and oil industries, environmentalists say....
Fish has a face that only a mother could glub Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, here comes a scrappy carp called "bighead." Last weekend, an angler yanked two of the large, homely looking fish from Cherry Creek Reservoir, according to the state Division of Wildlife. While it's not the first time bighead carp have been seen in Colorado, it's the first time they've been reported in a large, urban reservoir. They worry biologists because they can crowd out the native species....
LAWSUIT FILED TO PROTECT HABITAT FOR FIVE RARE PLANT SPECIES The Center for Biological Diversity and the California Native Plant Society filed suit in Federal District Court on August 13 to compel Gale Norton, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to designate Critical Habitat under provisions of the Endangered Species Act for five extremely rare plant species. The species; the Mexican flannelbush, San Diego thornmint, Vail Lake ceanothus, Yadin's rein orchid and Nevin's barberry occur in San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, Monterey Counties and Baja, Mexico. The species are threatened with habitat destruction from urban sprawl, competition from nonnative species and other factors....
New push for consensus on major salmon stream The nearby Klamath River is seductively warm at this time of year, perfect for swimming. And that's the problem. The Klamath -- after the Sacramento, California's longest river -- was once one of the continent's great salmon and steelhead streams. But salmonids need cold water, something that has been woefully lacking in recent years, due to low flows and scorching summertime temperatures....
Friends Cry Foul on Hesitation Over Park Service Official's Promotion Now, however, it appears that Hooks may no longer be a rising star at the Park Service. Her supporters fear that her job as regional director is in jeopardy. Longtime Park Service employees portray Hooks as someone who has been treated unfairly. Shortly after the media advisory was sent out, the Park Service canceled the reception. More important, Hooks has not been moved into the Senior Executive Service, the pay system for regional and other top park officials, and Mainella decided to reopen the job -- just a few months after she had announced Hooks's appointment....
Pilgrimage to the ancestral fort Just before William Clark and Meriwether Lewis left Fort Clatsop in March 1806 and began their eastward journey back home, the explorers tacked a sign to the fort's wall naming the members of the group who spent the winter there. The sign was like a message in a bottle, informing anyone who passed the tiny fort that the crew had made it that far -- in case they failed to make it back home. Saturday, nearly two centuries after Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery left the winter encampment, hundreds of their descendants returned to the fort site and walked together in their ancestors' footsteps....
Death Valley Flash Flood Kills at Least 2 A fierce storm triggered flooding in the Mojave Desert that killed at least two people and forced the closure of Death Valley National Park. Campers and visitors were evacuated from the park Monday. The intense thunderstorm struck Sunday night, closing roads, stranding vehicles and knocking out power and water....
That's sick, dude, and deadly too Yet for a century or so, the brave and stupid youth of La Jolla and beyond have been jumping from these rocks, which are collectively known as the Clam. Most of the takeoff spots — the Point, Bear Claw, the Pedestal, the Washing Machine — stand about 35 feet above the water, roughly the height of an Olympic diving platform. Or, if you truly have a death wish, there's Dead Man's at 107 feet....
Lake Powell could drain mountain water Unless it snows and rains far more than normal over the next two years, you can expect to hear a lot about southeast Utah's Lake Powell, and expect water restrictions to be a daily thing in the Vail Valley. The level of the lake has dropped so far that if drought persists, the huge hydroelectric plant at the dam may not have enough water to create power sometime in the next two years. While that could be a boon to kayakers and rafters - because the rivers would have to flow higher to meet the demand for water farther down the river - it could curtail water use here....
Landowners to sue state over big game A landowners group critical of South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department policies plans to file a federal lawsuit this week to challenge state limits on nonresident big-game hunters. Elm Springs rancher Pat Trask, chairman of the recently formed Stewards of Wildlife association, said the lawsuit has the potential to dismantle the current state licensing system for deer and other big game. And it might have been avoided, Trask said, if Gov. Mike Rounds had been willing to negotiate with the group on complaints about big-game licensing procedures, road hunting and the philosophy of GF&P Secretary John Cooper, Trask said....
Global Warming Menaces California Wine Industry California will become hotter and drier by the end of the century, menacing the valuable wine and dairy industries, even if dramatic steps are taken to curb global warming, researchers said on Monday.
The first study to specifically forecast the impact of global warming on a U.S. state also shows the snowpack melting in the Sierra Nevada mountains, more frequent heat waves hitting Los Angles and disruptions to crop irrigation....
CA GMO ban battle heats up California's agricultural establishment is gearing up for a ballot-box brawl this fall. Worried that county bans on biotech crops could spread throughout the state, mainstream farm groups from the California Cattlemen's Association to the national Farm Bureau are marshaling their resources. It's a change in tactics for biotech backers, who until now have left the ban issue mostly in the hands of biotech companies. The stakes are higher than ever. November ballot measures in Humboldt, Marin, San Luis Obispo and Butte counties could determine whether the state embraces the new seed technology or makes its mark as free of genetically engineered crops....
Don King Days planned for Sept. 5-6 in Sheridan, Wyo. Fifteen years ago, a group of ranchers, ropers and friends of Don King, who is Sheridan, Wyoming’s renowned saddle maker, put their heads together and arranged the first Don King Days. It is an event that truly honors King, who has done more than most to preserve our cowboy heritage, making him a legend in his own time. This annual celebration is held on Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-6. It is a showcase of equestrian activities and a celebration of traditions that brings people from all around the country....
Paintings at home on the range Simply put, Jim Norton is one of the best painters around today, working within the western genre. The images he portrays reflect a West reminiscent of a Howard Hawks movie. Stand in front of one of his canvases depicting Native Americans crossing a river, or scanning the horizon for game, or cowboys wrangling mustangs, and you can hear the hooves splashing in the water, feel the wind and smell the air....
Players tune their passion for fiddling There's nothing like old time country music to set toes tapping and hands clapping. That's just the sound that drifted from the grange hall in Winchester Bay all weekend as the Oregon Old Time Fiddlers hosted a statewide jamboree that drew dozens of people to the South Coast. The Old Time Fiddlers aren't known for being musical snobs. They're more likely to stuff a person with scrumptious potluck food, slap him on the back, hand him a fiddle and push him on stage with a dozen players jamming with fiddles, guitars, dulcimers, banjos, mandolins and a host of other traditional American instruments....
Mexican rodeo sparks clash over tradition, animal rights A 400-year-old Mexican rodeo tradition is clashing with modern animal rights in California. Organizers of the charreadas (rodeos) say the events are a proud and elegant cultural celebration of roping and horse-riding skills in use before California was American soil. Animal rights activists contend some of the rodeo's activities are cruel. They have focused on two charreada events that call for cowboys to force running horses and steers to trip and tumble to the ground. The sport attracted fresh attention last month when Contra Costa County, Calif., Animal Service Department officers raided a Mexican rodeo July 24 with 60 spectators at a rural home with a circular arena near Brentwood, Calif....
Southern Oregon Bigfoot Lore While tales about the legendary Bigfoot are scattered around the world, southern Oregon has its very own claim to fame thanks to a decades-old Bigfoot Trap nestled within the Applegate Ranger District of the Rogue River National Forest. As primitive as it may sound, the giant contraption was built only in the early 1970s as an attempt by some locals to validate the elusive creature's existence as well, allegedly, as to spare them its wrath....
It's All Trew: 'Nothing is invented until there is a need' Drought, hard times and little money finally ended and our lot on the family farm began to change in the late 1930s. The long-sought rains fell and the weeds came. We worked in the fields from "can see to can't see," stopping only at dark because our tractors had no headlights....