NEWS ROUNDUP

Court halts logging in burned Ore. forest A federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked logging of old-growth forest scorched in one of the nation's largest wildfires until a lawsuit brought by environmentalists is decided, making it unlikely the dead trees can be harvested before rotting. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency injunction sought by environmentalists in the two-year battle over one of the biggest federal logging projects in history. The blaze burned 500,000 acres in southwestern Oregon in 2002 and was the biggest wildfire in the nation that year....
Beetles advance in national forest Hikers, mountain bikers and other forest visitors better get used to the brown color of dead trees. They might see a lot of it over the next decade. The White River National Forest is facing a spruce beetle epidemic that threatens to wipe out thousands of Englemann spruce and subalpine fir trees over hundreds of thousands of acres in the next 10 years, according to experts with the U.S. Forest Service....
Lawyers duke it out over forest drilling The forest's lawyer disagrees with the town's lawyer, but the town may get to drill exploratory wells under the Diamond Rim yet. The proposal by the town of Payson -- to drill up to 15 exploratory wells and 13 secondary test wells to determine the presence or absence of a significant aquifer system -- was put on hold in June while the Tonto National Forest's lawyer issued an opinion regarding an opinion by the town's lawyer. At issue is whether the U.S. Forest Service has the legal right to consider the impact the project might have on the wells of nearby residents....
BlueRibbon Coalition's Urgent Action Alert The Forest Service is accepting comments on a Proposed Rule regarding OHV use on National Forests. Please do not underestimate the importance of this rulemaking. Given its potential effects to the OHV community, this could be the single most important Forest Service planning initiative in decades. As I write this message, the anti-access crowd is in Washington D.C. preparing to distribute glossy 4-color press kits to an eager media....
U.S. Faces Growing Feral Cat Problem Some feline experts now estimate 70 million feral cats live in the United States, the consequence of little effort to control the population and of the cat's ability to reproduce quickly. The number concerns wildlife and ornithology organizations that believe these stealthy predators decimate bird populations and threaten public health. The organizations want the cats removed from the environment and taken to animal shelters, where they are often killed....
Column: Time to Retire, Smokey Smokey Bear celebrated his 60th birthday this summer, and the ageless advertising icon wandered out of the woods for an elaborate birthday bash. He was feted by a crowd that included Dale Bosworth, chief of the U.S. Forest Service, and children of firefighters who sang happy birthday to him. Smokey, who never speaks, was also presented with what a press release described as "a personalized gift-wrapped shovel." Too bad it wasn't a retirement party....
Glacier officials develop new plan to keep nonnative fish out Glacier National Park officials have come up with a new plan to help turn away invaders from Canada that threaten what is considered the park's last drainage free of non-native fish. The proposal calls for building a special barrier that would prevent non-native lake trout from entering Quartz Creek, home to native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout. Fishery surveys in and around the park have shown non-native fish have crowded out native species, and interbreeding eventually pollutes the native gene pool....
SAS Helps WildTrack Save Endangered Species Newly launched wildlife conservation organization WildTrack, together with SAS, the leader in business intelligence, is using a unique, non-invasive monitoring technique to save endangered species in the wild. WildTrack's unique footprint identification technique analyzes the data collected from wild animals' footprints using advanced statistical algorithms on geometric profiles derived from digital images of footprints....
Trying to save last unspoiled piece of Florida Avid turkey hunter Carl Veaux was tracking a bigger target when he buttonholed Gov. Jeb Bush early this summer. "I told him we need to buy Babcock Ranch," Veaux said. "And Jeb quipped: `Have you got a check for $950 million?'" Veaux is working on that. The retired teacher and his statewide coalition are raising funds for what could be the most expensive public land purchase in Florida history. They have until late October to make a bid for a conservationist's dream: the 91,361-acre Babcock Ranch, which straddles Charlotte and Lee counties east of Punta Gorda....
Aerial predator control may take up to 500 wolves Private pilots could kill more than 400 wolves this winter -- twice to three times as many as last winter -- as the state undertakes its second year of aerial predator control in a wide swath of the Interior. While it's still illegal for sport hunters or commercial trappers to shoot wolves from the air or after landing nearby, dozens of pilots will be authorized to kill the animals through a state-sanctioned predator-control program. State game managers say removing most of the wolves for five years in six popular hunting areas will allow moose and caribou herds to rebuild....
Climber dies in Tetons fall A man attempting to climb the park's 11,618-foot Disappointment Peak with two friends died when his rappel anchor failed and he fell 50 feet, officials said Tuesday. Frank Olding, 40, of Seattle, died Monday of traumatic injuries, the National Park Service said....
Column: Government clearcutting park rangers National park rangers, champions of conservation, history and tradition, are on the brink of extinction. Now, because of insufficient funding, few people are doing the multi-faceted and essential job of a park ranger, and that is a disservice to all Americans....
National Park Service Recommends Including Chesapeake Bay A two-year federal study is recommending that the Chesapeake Bay become part of the National Park Service. The move wouldn't convert the bay into a park, but could establish visitor centers and strengthen an existing network of tourist sites....
Nitrogen Pollution from Denver Area Threatens Rocky Mountain National Park The National Park Service believes that pollution from Denver and its suburbs is taking a toll on the fragile ecosystems of nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. If left unchecked, ecologists worry that effects similar to those of acid rain will wreak havoc on the park's alpine environments. After two decades of research, Park Service officials believe that nitrogen compounds from regional automobile, power plant and agricultural emissions are acidifying waters and soils at higher elevations....
Reid Backs Kerry & Mining Law Reform Now one of mining's most prominent voices, Nevada's senior senator feels the Bush Administration hasn't done mining any favors, and that environmentalist and fellow Democratic Senator John Kerry might even be an improvement. Most importantly, Reid favors revisiting the 1872 Mining Law, the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) and Superfund laws in order to achieve long-term stability and peace of mind for the mining industry....
Amnesty program recoups 40 boxes of tribal artifacts An artifact amnesty program in Colorado reaped about 40 boxes of bone fragments, pots, pottery shards and two skulls - a fraction of what has been looted during the years. "Most of the good stuff was put on the black market, got sold and may not even be in this country," said Linda Farnsworth of the San Juan Public Lands Office in Durango....
Survey Spotlights Pheasant Hunting Trends Residents spent an average of just over 8 1/2 days hunting pheasants last year, brought home 14 birds and did most of their hunting on no-fee private land. Nonresidents were more inclined to pay to hunt and killed fewer birds on average, yet they expressed more satisfaction with the hunt than did South Dakotans, according to a survey by the state Department of Game, Fish and Parks....
Maryland Bear Hunting Permits Offered The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced today that hunters wishing to participate in the first black bear hunt in 51 years this fall can now apply for the permit lottery. The hunt will take place Oct. 25-30 and Dec. 6-11 in Garrett County and those areas west of Evitts Creek in Allegany County....
Dairy wary activists make Sacramento Valley next battleground With the arrival of a 3,000-cow farm outside city limits two years ago, Dixon now finds itself joining its neighbors in saying no to so-called megadairies that are blamed for pollution and a stench powerful enough to knock a buzzard off a manure wagon. With only two big dairies in the Sacramento Valley, environmentalists are using tactics that stalled dairy construction in the San Joaquin Valley to halt the northward migration of cows. Government is getting in on the act, considering stiffer regulations and even a moratorium on large dairies....
United States doing better than Canada in curbing greenhouse emissions Even though the United States has been vilified by environmentalists for withdrawing from the Kyoto accord, it's doing a better job of cutting greenhouse emissions than Canada, figures show. Heat-trapping U.S. emissions have risen 14 per cent since 1990, the base year for the climate treaty, while Canadian emissions have grown 20 per cent, according to figures from both governments....
Book Review: Blueprint for the Earth How much would you be willing to pay to stand on the stern of the last oil tanker to leave the Middle East, waving good-bye as you go?" Physicist James Trefil asks this question almost as an aside, more than halfway through his provocative new book, Human Nature. Cut back to Trefil's first chapter. Humans, like all the rest of nature's creations, once "lived out their lives in a world completely governed by the laws of natural selection." With the rise of agriculture things began to change--humanity began to separate itself from the "natural" scheme. We've been separating further ever since, and very rapidly indeed in recent decades. In the industrialized world, at least, our choices and our future are now governed not by natural selection but by science and technology. So, too, is the future of the biosphere....
Column: The Green Haze In a now-infamous memo, Republican pollster and environmental strategist Frank Luntz told GOP office seekers that it’s the buzzwords that matter. “The three words Americans are looking for,” he wrote, “are ‘safer,’ ‘cleaner’ and ‘healthier.’” He advised candidates to tell audiences that they are “committed to ‘preserving and protecting’ the environment, but that it ‘can be done more wisely and effectively.’” George W. Bush listens to Luntz....
Water watchdogs running low on staff Colorado's water pollution watchdogs are staffed 40 percent below the national average, a state report says, and funding cuts have left the personnel-starved agency at risk of takeover by the federal government. The state's 115-person Water Quality Control Division, charged with keeping streams clean and drinking water safe, falls 80 staffers short from what a program of its size and responsibilities typically employs, according to the report written by division officials....
Booming cities put Utah County to test The rooftops tell you all you need to know about what is happening on the west side of Utah Lake. There are thousands of them, they are multiplying like blood cells and there is no end in sight. The real kicker about Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs? Neither city existed a decade ago. Their climb to the top of the state's population growth chart was as unforeseen as it is prolific. And it has put planners, city officials and educators to the test....
Rural Western Counties Fading Away If Gilliam County loses much more population, its wide open spaces and collection of three tiny towns — with no stoplights and 1.6 square miles for every person — could soon become a veritable nowhere. Percentage-wise, it regularly tops the census list of Oregon counties that are losing population, a steady stream of about 80 or 100 people every year. And Gilliam County is far from the only place in the rural West that's in danger of becoming a ghost county. In places like Clearwater County, Idaho; Niobrara County, Wyo.; and Treasure County, Mont., the loss of 100 or so people regularly translates to population declines of 5 or 7 percent, year after year....