NEWS ROUNDUP

Grizzly habitat a matter of debate It takes a lot of ground to sustain a viable grizzly bear population. But exactly how much land you need, and the best ways to manage that land, remain matters of debate. It proposes to designate 2.8 million acres of national forest land as a "primary conservation area," where logging and roadbuilding would be limited. Sheep grazing allotments would be phased out over time, and there would be no changes to existing motorized routes or snowmobile areas. All of Yellowstone and most of Grand Teton National Park also lie within the PCA. In total, grizzly habitat would receive high priority for protection on about six million acres, much of which is already designated as wilderness or roadless land....
Editorial: Restoring wolves: Task force proposes practical, workable strategy Quick riddle: What do you get when a task force made up of ranchers, conservationists, hunters, economists and tribal representatives agrees on a plan to introduce and manage gray wolves in Oregon? Short answer: A miracle. Long answer: A visionary but practical strategy that would make Oregon the first Western state to independently embrace the return of gray wolves - and a plan that the state Fish and Wildlife Commission should approve....
Forest Service Halts Yellowstone-Area Oil And Gas Leases Responding to intense public opposition--including detailed legal objections by Earthjustice--the U.S. Forest Service has withdrawn plans for imminent oil and gas leasing across a broad swath of scenic national forest lands south of Yellowstone National Park. The leasing would have paved the way for oil and gas development on nearly 158,000 acres in the Wyoming Range of western Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest, including 92,000 acres of pristine roadless areas that provide habitat for wildlife species ranging from elk to Canada lynx....
Forest Service swears by equines Mules and horses loaded with lumber, crosscut saws, axes and more pack a semi-truck load of materials needed to build a new bridge. They haul firefighters, equipment, food and supplies deep into the forest, where even helicopters cannot fight fires. And they are the most important tool for the handful of rangers who construct, maintain and repair the 1,000 miles of trails that were once cared for by 600 people in the Shoshone Forest....
Senate Committee Approves Funding for Key Colorado Conservation Projects The Trust For Public Land (TPL) today praised the Senate Appropriations Committee for providing $1.5 million in funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) for the Colorado Canyons National Conservation Area (NCA) in west central Colorado and $1.5 million in LWCF funds for the High Elk Corridor, a valley system running from Crested Butte to Marble. The LWCF funding will protect approximately 3,365 acres of key inholdings within public lands in Colorado. The Senate Committee recommended $217 million nationwide for the LWCF, a significant increase from levels approved by the House of Representatives, which recommended no funding for projects in its version of this bill....
Column: Don't Abandon Roadless Rule While researching a new book last spring, I had the opportunity and pleasure of interviewing Dale Bosworth, chief of the Forest Service. I found him to be an honest, straightforward, forthcoming, and, at times, courageous man. So when I read that he had agreed to the repeal of the Clinton-era Roadless Rule on our national forests--a ruling he supported as a career forester in the Clinton administration--I was shocked. I wrote to Chief Bosworth, suggesting that if he couldn't deter the Bush administration from its reversal of this epic act of conservation, he should consider resigning in protest. This public act of conscience would draw attention to a tragic step backward....
Column: Let States Broker Roadless Lands So what's the real deal? The Bush administration is dropping the roadless issue in the laps of state governors. After all, as the July 16 Federal Register notice declares in classic bureau-speak: "States affected by the roadless rule have been keenly interested in inventoried roadless area management, especially the Western states where most of the agency's inventoried roadless areas are located." How keen that interest is now, and how it will finally shake out at a state level is a function of two factors: geography and demographics. Geographically speaking, most roadless areas are a peripheral, trivial matter, of importance only to environmental groups. But at the local level, roadless policy decisions can be critical to communities....
Plan May Threaten Las Vegas Wild Lands Environmentalists are sharply criticizing a federal Bureau of Land Management analysis that they say will mean less land for rare and endangered species in Clark County. The critics say that the BLM analysis threatens a precedent-setting compromise that granted county the right to continue developing while still protecting endangered and rare desert animals and plants. The controversy is a byproduct of the Clark County Conservation of Public and Natural Resources Act of 2002, which redesignated "wilderness study areas" used, in part, for the protection of animal and plant species, including the desert tortoise....
NCPA: Kennedy Pollutes Truth About Bush Environmental Record Environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is currently promoting a new book, Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy. Kennedy argues that the Bush administration is rolling back decades of environmental laws and regulations. Yet according to experts from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), this accusation is patently untrue. "While it is true the Bush administration is not trying to ram through a host of new environmental regulations, it is absurd to suggest they are rolling anything back," said NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett. According to the NCPA, no major environmental statute has been revised and there have been no serious legislative proposals to scale back existing environmental laws....
Column: Polluting the Truth I have been quite critical of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s attacks on the Bush administration's environmental record. Where Kennedy accuses Bush of "crimes against nature," I accuse Kennedy of "crimes against fact." While I believe there are many reasonable grounds upon which to criticize the administration (e.g., the energy bill), Kennedy's attacks have been wildly inaccurate and over-the-top....
Tribes say they are able to co-manage the Bison Range For centuries Native Americans managed the bison ranges before the arrival of Europeans and they are now ready to take back the responsibility of being the stewards of the lands as their ancestors did. The Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribe (CSKT) and the United States Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials presented to the public a question and answer session this week to solidify public understanding of the controversial proposal. Under the proposal, the tribes would take responsibility for activities in five categories- management, biological programs, habitat management, fire programs and maintenance and visitor services. Head of Natural Resources for the CSKT Clayton Matt says the responsibility for the management of the Bison Range should have no effect on non-tribal members who may own private property near the range....
Park Ranger Killed in Rockfall on Maui A National Park Service ranger was killed when a boulder fell 40 feet and struck her as she was trying to remove rocks from a road at Haleakala National Park, officials said Wednesday. Suzanne E. Roberts, 36, who had worked at the Maui park since April, was struck Tuesday by a boulder more than 3-feet in diameter....
Editorial: Keep Oil Drills Out of Rockies The nation may be getting a hint of it, though, as the administration moves to open broad areas of largely unspoiled land to oil and gas exploration in the Rocky Mountains. The evolving policy is being carried out by Interior Department officials with past ties to the energy industry. Officials have lifted drilling restrictions on hundreds of thousands of acres containing oil and gas reserves in Utah and Colorado, and are pressing the Bureau of Land Management to issue new drilling permits for those areas, prized for their spectacular scenery, abundant wildlife and clean water. One area targeted for drilling is the terminus of the longest wildlife migration route in the continental United States. Yet for three of the past four years, drilling permits have been issued at a record pace....
A rumble over Clear Creek Emotions ran high between off-highway vehicle users and environmentalists at a public comment meeting concerning land use of the Clear Creek Management Area Wednesday night, however a desire to work together toward a solution emerged through the animosity. More than 60 people attended the meeting held at the Veterans Memorial Building, the majority of them off-highway vehicle enthusiasts, to voice their concerns to the Bureau of Land Management staff about a plan that could limit the amount of routes available for public use....
BLM must look before it leases It is unclear now whether the BLM must invalidate possibly hundreds or more leases that were sold in the same fashion as the Pennaco leases that sparked the lawsuit, according to BLM officials. Conservation groups have forced the BLM to rescind numerous coal-bed methane gas permits in the basin during the past year, pointing to inadequate analysis of the impacts coal-bed methane water might have on the surface. Those procedural volleys stem from the ongoing dispute about whether the BLM considered those impacts before it conveyed the right to develop through leasing....
'What are the benefits of wilderness?': Experts seek to quantify economic aspects A dominant view of designated wilderness is that of a trade-off - protecting vast tracts of land for future generations while giving up the promise of commercial gain. Whether for or against the designation of pristine land kept out of reach of commercial interests, motorized use, and energy exploration, many citizens view wilderness as an economic loss. But a number of economists, scientists and researchers are trying to re-frame the economic debate surrounding wilderness. By calculating the economic value of wilderness areas, they hope to shed light on how nearby communities benefit from wilderness areas - and provide a new framework for discussion about the economic costs and benefits of protecting wild places....
IMBA Testifies in Front of Congress The International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) will testify in front of Congress today regarding a proposed Oregon Wilderness bill. IMBA board member Chris Distefano will speak before members of a subcommittee of the Senate Natural Resources Committee in Washington, D.C. to explain how the bill would impact mountain bikers. While IMBA supports the preservation of primitive public lands in an undeveloped condition, the Wilderness designation bans bicycles. IMBA local clubs, Wilderness advocates, Oregon elected officials, recreation groups and others have been working for months on the bill. Distefano will say that IMBA supports the goal of protecting the undeveloped roadless areas of the Mount Hood National Forest, but the bill would close about approximately 200 miles of trail to bicycling....
Hunting Access Work Continues To Make Headway For the 2004 hunting season, hunters in Montana will have access to over 8.5 million acres of land statewide through the Block Management Program administered by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. The program assists landowners in managing hunting activities and provides hunters with free public hunting access to private and isolated public land....
Sierra Club campaign effort bypasses Arizona The Sierra Club is launching some aggressive homestretch campaign efforts related to this year's presidential contest. But the environmental group, which is backing Democrat John Kerry over President George W. Bush, is not targeting Arizona in its $10 million effort. The heavy hitting environmental group is focusing on 10 battleground markets, including Las Vegas and Reno, Nev.; Albuquerque and Santa Fe N.M.; Portland, Ore.; Tampa, Fla.; and Milwaukee....
Nevada lawmakers, environmentalists face off over land bill Nevada lawmakers say legislation to auction off 100,000 acres of federal land in a rural county is needed for its economic development. But environmentalists object, saying too much Lincoln County land would be sold off to private buyers and a provision in the bill could jeopardize the state's groundwater supplies. Lawmakers of both parties say they support the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act, which has the backing of all five members of the state's congressional delegation. The bill would authorize 5 percent of the proceeds from the land auction would go to the state education fund, 45 percent to Lincoln County for economic development, and 50 percent to the Interior Department for management and protection of archaeological resources and conservation....
Outdoor gear executives support Kerry The Kerry-Edwards campaign Tuesday trumpeted the endorsement of 31 top executives from outdoor recreation companies that represent a growing economic force. The executives, who work for companies ranging from Patagonia to Washington County-based Columbia Sportswear, claimed the Bush administration has rolled back protections for public lands and parks....
Objections signal high hurdles for Mount Hood wilderness bill Key Senate Republicans and Bush administration officials objected Tuesday to a plan to expand wilderness protection around Mount Hood, putting the bill on a lengthy and perhaps impossible road to passage. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced the wilderness plan in July. It would set aside an additional 160,000 acres, approximately doubling the area protected under the National Wilderness Preservation System. Among those raising concerns at a Senate hearing on Wyden's bill was Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., whose support is essential to passage....
Ex-EPA chief lashes out at Bush One of the earliest heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a lifelong Republican joined a group of Minnesota Republicans on Tuesday in a blistering attack against President Bush's environmental policies. Russell Train, who headed the EPA under Presidents Nixon and Ford, called the Bush administration's environmental record over the past four years appalling and filled with paybacks to special interests....
Committee OKs Highlands bill, sends it before full Senate Preservation of the ecologically sensitive Highlands region that provides the New York City metro area with much of its drinking water got a boost Wednesday when a Senate committee endorsed a bill authorizing $110 million in federal aid to buy and preserve land. The bill now heads to the full Senate for approval. If passed there, as supporters expect, it would go back to the full House for a final vote. Wednesday's blessing by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee was the latest in a sequence of steps that began last year with introduction of a bill asking for $250 million to protect the swath of forests, trout streams and rolling hills arching from Pennsylvania to Connecticut....
Editorial: Boost Columbia salmon without dam removal The federal government's revised plan for protection and restoration of Columbia River salmon and steelhead deals head-on with the system's fish-killing dams. Solutions are to be found in dam operations, because the dams are not going away. Last week, federal fish managers, dam operators and the river's power wholesaler released a draft of a reworked biological opinion that has an official audience of one, a federal judge in Oregon....
A crucial OK for Hearst land deal The California Coastal Conservancy approved a deal Wednesday to protect more than 80,000 acres of stunning Central Coast landscape at Hearst Ranch from development despite lingering protests from some environmentalists. The unanimous approval by the state agency follows years of acrimony, litigation and negotiation, and it marks the biggest private conservation accord in the state's history....
U.S. Senate passes CalFed water bill The Senate passed the long-fought CalFed water bill Wednesday, authorizing $395 million to restore California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and ensure a reliable water supply for millions of farmers and residents. The sweeping bill, which would enact the first major changes to California's water infrastructure since the 1960s, must still pass the House before going to the president for his signature. The bill authorizes feasibility studies for several major new storage projects, among them enlarging Los Vaqueros reservoir in Contra Costa County and raising the Shasta Dam....
Cattle test positive for rabies In the last month, two cows in the Elwood area have died and been documented as positive rabies cases which concerns Elwood veterinarian, Dr. Marshall Goodenberger and his staff. Their concern arises for the possibility of farmers and ranchers being exposed to the disease. According to Annette Bred-thauer, DVM, Nebraska Public Heath Veterinarian for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, Nebraska is currently experiencing an outbreak of rabies in animals after many years with few cases. As of the first of the year, there have been 18 cases of positive rabies cases which include 10 cases involving either a cow or a calf....
Agriculture at the symphony: Farmers hope to reach city dwellers through classical music Farmers accustomed to dusty fields and the clatter of combines have chosen the concert hall and sweet strains of the symphony to tell the story of life on the farm to city folk. Farmers will snap photos over the next year around their western Ohio farms for a slide show to be shown next fall during a classical concert by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. "We're dealing with two endangered species _ the symphony orchestra and the individual family farm," Westwater said. "By joining forces they can help each other."....