NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Forest should never close NOW that rain has soaked the forest plain, the U.S. Forest Service has magnanimously reopened three regional forests to recreational uses. Especially gratifying is to see most of the heavily traversed Angeles reopened along with the Cleveland and San Bernardino forests. Well, not all of the Angeles will welcome back visitors. Chantry Flat Road and Crystal Lake will remain closed. These areas have been off limits for two years. It's past time they are reopened. If the roadways need repair, do it. It's the kind of job the service should be engaged in, not citing folks without Adventure Passes, or consulting with the weatherman over which seasons the public can use the land it has purchased and maintains through taxes....
Searching for common ground The June sucker (Chasmistes liorus), an endangered species found only in Utah Lake, the freshwater fishery adjacent to the Great Salt Lake, has had anglers, biologists and fish and wildlife representatives at odds with one another as the recovery plan for this species unfolds. After years of losing the public relations battle, project officials, along with interested citizens groups, have come to the table this year in an attempt to find common ground and to turn an atmosphere of contention into one of cooperation. Utah Lake is a prolific fishery and has been since before the days of the pioneers. Early explorers reported that Native Americans utilized its plentiful fish populations as an important source of food. In the 1850s, the Bonneville cutthroat trout was its chief predator species and the June sucker was present in huge numbers. But as the human population grew, agriculture blossomed, and industry sprang up along its shoreline, the lake began to change....
Federal Court Upholds California Ban on Cruel Traps and Poisons This week, the federal court in northern California issued a ruling representing the final chapter in the long-running litigation over Proposition 4, which was adopted by California voters in 1998 to protect pets and wildlife from cruel traps and poisons. The National Trappers Association had challenged the legality of Proposition 4 and had claimed that the state measure is preempted by federal laws. The court has dismissed those claims, noting that the trappers do not have standing to sue, and that Proposition 4 should stand. Since the trappers could not prove they were financially harmed by Proposition 4, they instead argued that they were harmed by having to change their conduct, no longer using "preferred" devices such as steel-jawed leghold traps or M-44 explosives....
Coho bred for their DNA freed into a tributary of the Russian Two hundred salmon fingerlings were released Wednesday into Mill Creek, a tributary of the Russian River, in a campaign to restore wild coho to one of Northern California's most beleaguered watersheds. The fish looked much like any other juvenile salmon -- thumb-sized, with silvery scales and distinctive bars along the flanks. But they are the end product of a laborious three-year program that used sophisticated DNA tests and careful breeding to raise the odds of success....
The Mouse That Roared One little mouse has held up a multi-million dollar housing project in Colorado. The critter is one single Preble's meadow jumping mouse. It's a federally protected endangered species. A colony lives nearby, but one single mouse was found on the grounds of the development. Because of the mouse, work on the 372 home development was delayed for three and a half months. Now all cats in the development are banned from going outdoors. Dogs and all other pets must be leashed or kept behind fenced yards. The developer has even had to move the planned spots for foot bridges and had to change the types of grass it is planting in the community....
Three groups challenge church approval Three environmental groups filed suit against San Bernardino County this week, challenging the approval of a Mormon church in Running Springs which they said did not undergo proper environmental review. The suit, filed Tuesday in San Bernardino County Superior Court by the Center for Biological Diversity, San Bernardino Valley Audubon Society and Save Our Forest Association, said the county violated the California Environmental Quality Act by approving the project without conducting an environmental impact report. The groups said the project, a 12,868-square-foot building on 7.71 acres along Highway 18 near Nob Hill Drive, is on fire-prone forest land that is habitat to some rare and endangered species, including the Southern rubber boa and the California spotted owl....
BYU study: Mosquitofish are killing a native Utah fish For decades, thousands of imported mosquitofish have been used to protect Utah County residents from mosquitoes -- and now, West Nile virus. But a new Brigham Young University study says the fish are killing one of Utah's most threatened native fishes, the least chub. Over the past 50 years, least chub, once abundant around Utah, have all but disappeared, said BYU professor of ecology Russ Rader....
NationalParkComplaints.org Launched to Ensure Park Visitors Get Attention of Congress on Park Woes With concerns growing about the conditions in inadequately funded and understaffed U.S. national parks, the Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees (CCNPSR) today launched a new Web site -- http://www.NationalParkComplaints.org -- that allows park visitors to make their gripes known directly to their U.S. House of Representatives member and both Senators. Each complaint letter also will be copied to U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and National Park Service Director Fran Mainella....
Park Service finds rangers didn't break rules The National Park Service’s Internal Affairs Office this week announced its report on the July 28 pepper-spraying of two teenagers in Point Reyes Station has exonerated rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio. At present, the Park Service is refusing to make public the report, which summarizes its internal investigation of the rangers, although in August, Point Reyes National Seashore officials assured a community meeting that the report would be released to the public and the press. And while the Park Service said its confidential report exonerated ranger Mayo, it also said he "has been temporarily reassigned, pending further administrative review." That review will be conducted by the Pacific Western Region of the Park Service, which is headquartered in Oakland, and will consist of a "further investigation" into whether Mayo used the correct "procedures" during the events that "led to the pepper-spraying," National Seashore spokesman John Dell’Osso told The Light on Tuesday....
Column: Justice must still wait for a lawsuit It is doubtful that many people who have been closely following the July 28 pepper-spraying case are surprised that a Park Service investigation has now "exonerated" two Park Service rangers. Mind you, these were exonerations for Park Service-personnel purposes. They were not exonerations for legal purposes, no matter how the park’s press announcements phrase it. Even more unfortunate was Neubacher’s attempt to create legal cover for the rangers’ behavior by asking county government to prosecute the victims. There would have been a firestorm at the community meeting had Neubacher revealed what he had done, so he misled the audience (including the public, the press, and Supervisor Kinsey) into believing he had asked for the District Attorney’s Office to investigate the rangers. The ploy was a disaster. When members of the public learned the truth, they were furious. After reviewing the evidence, the DA said neither of the Millers would be prosecuted. No doubt seeing the handwriting on the wall, Neubacher by then was ready to withdraw the National Seashore’s request for prosecutions. "We felt it was the right thing to do towards healing the community," park spokesman Dell’Osso said afterward. Neubacher basically punched the tar-baby, got stuck, and like Brer Rabbit, the more he flailed away, the more stuck he got. In short, this has not been the park superintendent’s finest hour....
Pepper-spraying report called a 'whitewash' An internal investigation that exonerates two federal park rangers for pepper spraying a pair of West Marin teens is "a total whitewash," the teenagers' lawyer said yesterday. Gordon Kaupp, attorney for siblings Chris and Jessica Miller of Inverness Park, said the report shows the National Park Service is incapable of objectively monitoring the conduct of its own rangers. Kaupp said a lawsuit could be filed within weeks....
St. Louis arch lights plan upsets park agency The National Park Service is upset over a plan to illuminate the Gateway Arch in pink Monday in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Spokesman Dave Barna said yesterday the Park Service is opposed not to the cause, but to the precedent it sets for possible future uses of the 630-foot-tall arch, which the agency maintains. ''We consider these monuments sacred sites. The color or the style or the function was all the result of those architects and design. They're pieces of art, and we don't want to see changes, even temporarily."....
Major land exchange gets preliminary approval Utah and federal land managers and environmental groups have struck a preliminary agreement on a 70,000-acre land exchange aimed at protecting land along the Colorado River corridor. If the deal is ultimately approved, it would be the first major land swap since a proposed San Rafael Swell exchange fell apart in 2002 amid allegations that it was a $117 million taxpayer giveaway. “There have been 30,000 to 35,000 acres put on the table by both sides and the swap will eventually be organized from that acreage,” said Dave Hebertson, a spokesman for the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The checkerboard of trust lands were set aside in Utah's Constitution with proceeds dedicated to the state's school system. But in many cases the lands held by the administration are surrounded by federal land, making access and development difficult, if not impossible....
Desert group protests Steens management plan The Oregon Natural Desert Association has filed an administrative protest against the Bureau of Land Management on the agency’s final resource management plan for the Steens Mountain/Andrews Resource Area. ONDA raised substantial concerns in the draft resource management plan released last year including the fact that a private consulting company with strong ties to the mining industry was hired to draft the plan—yet the BLM failed to adequately address these issues in its final document....
Fewer hoops for solar power on fed lands The Bush administration Thursday announced new guidelines for streamlining the approval of plans for solar power projects on federal lands. Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson said in San Francisco the plan would classify solar projects as rights-of-way applications that place them under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. Watson said the new policy would serve as a framework for land managers who are charged with approving the projects but don't yet have the applications on their desks. Without the new rules, a costly and time-consuming amendment to the particular area's land-use plan would be required....
Agencies meet, talk of desalination The construction of the nation's largest inland desalination plant in El Paso has raised the interest of researchers and thirsty communities across the West. John W. Keys III, the commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the keynote speaker Thursday at a conference, said his agency has become deeply involved in helping Western states and communities develop new water sources and squeeze more use out of the water they have. He said desalination can turn billions of gallons of brackish underground water that cities such as El Paso once regarded as useless into an abundant water source for parks, golf courses and yards....
Fighting to recover water Depending on what happens on appeal, a ruling in the Court of Federal Claims here could have far ranging consequences in the decades-long battle of private property rights versus protection of fish and wildlife habitat. "There may be implications for how the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is implemented," said Alf Brandt, the Interior Department attorney who argued the government's case in a losing effort. "There may be implications for how water diversions are made," he added. Judge John Paul Wiese decided that the federal government must pay for the water that it withheld from California farmers in 1992 and 1994. The water was used to help protect endangered winter-run Chinook salmon and threatened delta smelt....
Column: Kerry's Energy Plan Renews Carter's "Hit List" on Western Water In 1977, former President Jimmy Carter compiled what was known as his "hit list" of water projects to eliminate from the Western landscape in America. Today, John Kerry's has an energy plan that would, in effect, renew Carter's contract on the lifeblood of the West. The centerpiece of Senator Kerry's energy plan is renewable and alternative energy development. He pays for this plan by taking existing revenues - paid to the federal government by energy companies that develop resources on America's public lands - and moving them into new research and development trust fund. This sounds good, but has a fatal flaw if you live in the West. Ninety percent of these monies are already dedicated to Western states and an existing account established by Congress under the Reclamation Act of 1902. Known as the Reclamation Fund, these monies pay for the management and delivery of water to 31 million Western citizens, including 140,000 farmers who produce 60 percent of our nation's vegetables and 25 percent of our fruits and nuts. The fund also pays for 58 clean hydroelectric power plants that serve 6 million American homes throughout the West and the oversight of Native American water rights....
Water rights way out West Continuing drought is forcing Montana to assert its rights for water that neighboring Wyoming is now using. "One of our concerns is that Wyoming is taking and using water for uses established after 1950 to the detriment of our uses that were established prior to 1950," explained Rich Moy, chief of Montana's Water Management Bureau. "The economic implications for us are very significant." In short, Montana asserts that it owns senior water rights to the Tongue, Powder and Little Powder rivers, and, as it is throughout the West, whoever has the oldest rights gets first drink....
More rights than water, agency head says It's official: "There are more water rights out there than we have water to fill them," Idaho Department of Water Resources Director Karl Dreher said Wednesday. But he qualified the statement by explaining that at the time the rights were appropriated, Idaho had a limited understanding of how the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer works. As a result, the water agency did not place conditions on certain rights to accommodate the problem of potential shortages....
Cyclone After roping the antelope B.E. “Cyclone” Denton and his friend, Lem Shipman, just hung around town and like true cowboys, spent most of the money they had. So they decided it was time to go to work. But by this time (early 1880) most of the large trail drives to the East had all but ended. But there was a demand for cattle in Montana to feed the army, which was fighting Indians and protecting settlers traveling through to Oregon and California. Montana was being settled by ranchers because of the open land with good grass. So the boys hired on to a herd of about 2,600 head of Texas Longhorns with an L T brand, headed for that territory....