NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest fire lookout hit by hunting arrow A volunteer forest fire lookout is in stable condition at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena after being shot in the left shoulder by a hunting arrow Thursday afternoon, authorities said. The unidentified man said the arrow fell from the sky and that he did not see anyone in the area, said Kathy Peterson, spokeswoman for the Angeles National Forest. Bow hunting season does not open until Saturday, Peterson said, which makes it a more serious violation if the incident was accidental. The Sheriff's department and the U.S. Forest Service law enforcement agency are conducting an investigation into the incident....
Conservationists Sue Federal Government to Conserve Endangered Fish Habitat Four conservation groups filed a lawsuit today in Federal District Court in Atlanta, Georgia aimed at protecting the habitat of two species of endangered fish. The Goldline Darter and the Blue Shiner are species of southeastern freshwater fish whose habitat has been markedly diminished in Georgia, Alabama (and for the Blue Shiner, also in Tennessee). Both species face extinction due to habitat destruction and fragmentation from sewage pollution, the construction of dams, sedimentation, and increased sprawl development....
5 Federal Agencies To Give National Public Lands Day Volunteers 'Fee-Free' Day Volunteers pitching in on National Public Lands Day will be rewarded with a free entry day during the next year at any public land site managed by five federal agencies. For the first time, NPLD volunteers who work at a site managed by the agencies will receive a coupon good for a "fee-free" day at any of the agency sites. Those agencies, which have entry fees, are the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USDA Forest Service....
Arizona anglers concerned about decline in fishing The Mesa bait and tackle shop is suffering from a years-long downturn in sport fishing brought about by drought, wildfires, a soft economy, fish kills and maybe even a general lack of interest in heading out with a rod and reel. A federal study shows the number of fishing license holders in Arizona decreased by 60,000 from 445,000 in 1996 to 385,000 in 2002. Another government study says the number of anglers in the Grand Canyon State dropped from 443,000 in 1996 to 394,000 in 2001. When expenditures over the past decade are factored, the snag is even worse....
Montana, Wyoming ask judge to strike snowmobile ban Attorneys for snowmobile manufacturers, winter resorts and the states of Montana and Wyoming on Thursday implored a judge to strike down, once and for all, a Clinton-era rule banning snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Doing so would provide certainty for businesses that rely on winter use of the parks and prevent a federal judge in Washington, D.C., from resurrecting the ban a second time, the lawyers argued....
Extraordinary rainfall puts snakes on the move With extraordinary rainfall throughout the Big Bend Country in 2004, indications are that our legless friends are having a banner year. Snakes are on the move, and those encountered are apparently having plenty of success in finding prey. From mid-May to October, the communities of the Big Bend are inundated annually by numbers of snake collectors. During daylight hours, these collectors generally prefer to go unnoticed, but become obvious at night when walking highway road cuts with floodlights in search of their secretive inhabitants....
Park ponders bison vaccination The National Park Service is beginning a formal study on the question of whether it should vaccinate bison for brucellosis, using "biobullets" fired from a pneumatic rifle. If it goes ahead, this will be the first vaccination of free-roaming bison in Yellowstone National Park. Last winter, about 125 young bison were vaccinated after being captured in a trap near Gardiner. However, vaccinating a trapped bison with a hypodermic is one thing. Doing so at a distance with a free bison is another....
Column: DA's Office refutes National Seashore statements about probe of rangers At first I was simply shocked when two Park Service rangers on July 28 pepper-sprayed the eyes of a brother and sister from Inverness Park. It happened in Point Reyes Station far from park property, and both teenagers were restrained at the time, and the girl was in handcuffs. Now, however, I am increasingly confused by Point Reyes National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher’s handling of the incident. I have always considered Neubacher my friend even when I was decrying the Park Service’s destroying historic buildings or evicting residents from historic towns. In the past month, however, Neubacher hasn’t seemed to be the everybody’s-friend Smoky the Bear with whom we have all been familiar....
History on horseback seminar scheduled A history on horseback seminar will be offered at Big Bend National Park on Oct. 17 by the Big Bend Natural History Association. The history on horseback seminar was one of the most popular seminars introduced last year at the park. This fall, the trip will penetrate a different area of the park, taking the Apache Canyon Trail west of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to an early homestead and stone corral. Nearby is extensive evidence of the presence of Native Americans over the centuries in an area of spectacular geological variety. The trail is easy, and the views are commanding. Horses and a picnic lunch are supplied by a local outfitter....
CIRI's elite guests help bid for disputed parkland Anchorage-based Cook Inlet Region Inc. and the National Park Service are moving to resolve a long-standing legal battle over a fish camp in Lake Clark National Park that attracts high-roller executives, deep-pocketed philanthropists, and the occasional U.S. senator with a taste for silver salmon. CIRI's nonprofit organizations and the Rasmuson Foundation entertain potential donors at the rustic camp, on the western shores of Cook Inlet across from Ninilchik. The groups also hold staff retreats and strategic planning sessions at the 5-acre camp....
Official: 7 busted for illegal hunting Seven hunters received notices Wednesday morning from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for allegedly hunting dove on baited land in the south Gila Valley. Becky Wright, law enforcement program manager for the Yuma office of the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said game authorities received a call Tuesday afternoon about a possible baited area off of Avenue 7E and south of Highway 95. She said officials went out to the site and determined it was baited, and this morning they said they found seven hunters illegally taking dove on the land....
Column: We Can Still Halt Bush's Assault on Wilderness The Wilderness Act was signed into law 40 years ago because Americans feared that what remained of our wild places would be paved over or plowed under if we didn't protect it. People worried that they'd no longer have wilderness in which to fish, camp, hike, canoe, hunt and savor the beauty of the great outdoors. Our species lived in the wild for eons, and even modern humans instinctively feel a profound bond with untamed landscapes. The Bush administration, however, seems to have overcome this instinct, motivated by a desire to open public lands to logging, mining and, especially, oil and gas development....
BLM mascot ‘Sluggo’ bows to old age A “resident” at the Kingman office of the Bureau of Land Management will no longer stick out his tongue at visitors. “Sluggo, “ a Gila monster kept in a large wooden cage, died Monday, apparently of old age. Bob Hall, public affairs officer for the BLM in Kingman, said the agency received Sluggo in 1984 from the Arizona Department of Game and Fish after the lizard was displaced by a housing project on the outskirts of Phoenix....
Campground unease The daytime beauty of the wilderness can turn into nighttime danger in southern Arizona campgrounds, and authorities have a warning: Be prepared. "Take time to understand the urban influence in the wilderness areas of the Tucson basin," said Vic Brown, law enforcement supervisor for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees Ironwood Forest National Monument northwest of Marana. Illegal immigrants and drug traffickers often move through the backcountry to avoid contact with the public, he said....
Column: Wilderness Act turns 40, and people are still arguing about it Few pieces of environmental legislation have had such far-reaching effects as the Wilderness Act, which observes its 40th anniversary today. The federal act designated 9.1 million acres as wilderness, described by the bill's framers as land "where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." More than anything else, the 1964 bill planted the concept in the American consciousness that wilderness has innate public value, that it contributes to the common good....
Bear Hunt Foes Appeal to Governor Two animal protection groups asked Gov. Robert Ehrlich on Thursday to halt Maryland's proposed black bear hunt and conduct an independent scientific review of the bear population. The Fund for Animals and the Humane Society of the United States also said that if the hunt isn't stopped, it should be limited to private lands where bears have damaged crops or property....
Memorial to be built near birthplace of Geronimo A memorial will be built near Geronimo's birthplace near the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument as a joint effort of Geronimo's family, Harlyn and Karen Geronimo of Mescalero; the Forest Service; the Trail of the Mountain Spirits Scenic Byway Committee; and the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce. "We put oral history and written history together to find the birthplace," Harlyn Geronimo said. "We made a trip up the canyon to the confluence of the Middle and West forks of the Gila River, where history said my great-grandfather was born." Harlyn Geronimo; Joe Saenz, an area Warm Springs Apache descendant; and Fran Land, scenic byway committee chairwoman, held a private prayer session at the site....