NEWS ROUNDUP

Forest Service will limit ATV use, chief says The head of the federal U.S. Forest Service is advocating restrictions on all-terrain vehicles in national forests. Dale Bosworth backs a proposal that would allow the managers of individual national forests and grasslands to designate roads and trails where off-road travel would be allowed. When the designations are completed, cross-country travel in the federal lands would be banned. "It's reached a level in my opinion that we can no longer allow motorized vehicles to go wherever they want to go," he said after delivering a speech to all-terrain vehicle dealers at the Kentucky International Convention Center....
Salvage Logging a Key Issue in Oregon The massive Biscuit fire that scorched this forest two summers ago has become a wedge issue in the presidential race in Oregon, a swing state where the contest remains too close to call. President Bush used the Biscuit fire in 2002 as a smoldering launchpad for his Healthy Forests Initiative, a plan to fight future fires by logging burned trees, many of them in previously protected stands of old-growth timber. On an evening campaign stop in southern Oregon on Thursday, Bush criticized his Democratic opponent, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), for voting to oppose the initiative. "My opponent says he's in touch with the West, but sometimes I think he means western Massachusetts," Bush said, according the Associated Press....
Biologist finds new dens for rogue rattlers John Rohrer smiled broadly as, one by one, 17 rattlesnakes slid slowly down the dark hole that will be their new home this winter. There were no spitting tongues or threatening rattles as he lifted each with 4-foot long tongs and placed their heads at the den's entrance at the base of a table-sized rock. A few circled around and poked their heads out into the sunshine, but willingly slithered back into darkness and out of sight when coaxed. After keeping these rogue rattlers -- caught this summer in people's yards and driveways -- in a terrarium in his back yard, the U.S. Forest Service biologist was clearly happy to be releasing them into the wild....
One-third of amphibian species called threatened The first vertebrate species to begin hopping and crawling on land 350 million years ago may be the first to die out, according to a study released yesterday that found a third of all amphibian species worldwide are threatened with extinction. Isolated reports of silent forests and empty streams began to circulate about three decades ago, but the latest assessment is the first to provide a complete snapshot of a global decline in the diversity of frogs, salamanders, newts, and worm-like caecilians, and to show that they are at greater risk than both birds and mammals....
Groups seek endangered listing for grouse A broad coalition of conservation groups, led by Forest Guardians, Thursday petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Columbian sharp-tailed grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Due to threats including livestock grazing and conversion of native habitat to croplands, this bird, which once ranged across 11 Western states, has vanished from over 90 percent of its historic range, and is imperiled over at least 92 percent of its range....
Official: Grizzly shooting appears legitimate Evidence appears to back an Indiana man's story of shooting a grizzly bear in self-defense after it had mauled another hunter, a special investigator said. Roy Brown, special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who is investigating the bear's death, said it appears the bear ran in a path that led it directly to the hunter who killed it although bears normally try to avoid humans. ''From the evidence on the ground, (the story) is holding up,'' Brown said Wednesday....
Editorial: BLM action on Front drilling a welcome step Two significant things happened recently for the Rocky Mountain Front. First the federal Bureau of Land Management suspended work on permits for three controversial gas wells, opening the door for a longer-term — maybe permanent — timeout on energy development in this unique and accessible swath of spectacular scenery and wildlife. Second, a sibling agency in the Department of Interior, the Fish and Wildlife Service, announced a parallel aggressive effort to place as much as 170,000 acres of private land along the Front under conservation easements. Taken together, the two steps constitute the most significant movement toward keeping the Front the way it is since then-Lewis and Clark Forest Supervisor Gloria Flora declared Forest Service land on the Front off limits to new leases back in 1997....
Park drops efforts to prosecute four teenagers Point Reyes National Seashore and the Marin District Attorney’s Office this week revealed that neither the federal government nor county government will prosecute any of the four teenagers connected with the July 28 pepper-spraying incident. "At the request of the Park Service and based on our own review, there will be no charges filed," Assistant DA Ed Berberian told The Light on Tuesday. The Park Service request came in the form of a letter to DA Paula Kamena from National Seashore Supt. Don Neubacher. "We appreciate our working relationship with the District Attorney’s Office and your staff time on the Miller Case (No. 04002)," the park superintendent wrote Sept. 28. "After a thorough review by our office, we have decided to not proceed with pressing charges in this matter."....
Truckee River's dams helped with logging The Truckee River starts at Lake Tahoe, and the first and most important dam was constructed there for the Truckee lumber industry. In 1870, the Donner Boom & Flume Company built a wood-cribbed and rock-filled dam to back up and store water in Tahoe. The water was released in summer in surges that floated logs downstream. It backed up water at least six feet high onto the shores of Lake Tahoe. The dam has been referred to as belonging to Alexis von Schmidt. Von Schmidt proposed to tap the waters of Tahoe, and build a tunnel through the Sierra at Squaw Valley. The plan was to use the water for domestic uses in the foothills and in San Francisco. Von Schmidt had plans for another dam built near the present River Ranch. Politics in San Francisco and in Nevada prevented the completion of this project....
Column: Water and politics Water and politics have always been an exciting mix in Colorado. This election year and the upcoming legislative session are no exception. The campaigns are full of fearsome rhetoric, how one side will “sell us out” and how they, like the white knights that they all are, will save us and “protect our water.” Water issues are brought up so much, with so many twists and half truths that it becomes background noise and is often tuned out by the voters. Still, water in Colorado is a serious issue and needs to be taken seriously. As Tip O’Neal said, “All politics is local,” and there is nothing more local than the water in our streams and homes. Colorado’s political foundation is laid on water....
Pact with California agency would let Vegas 'bank' river water Southern Nevada would get a new water savings account, while California would gain access to more of the Colorado River under an accord approved by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The interstate agreement reached Tuesday seeks to send a portion of Nevada's unused Colorado River water downstream for use by California. In return, Nevada would get credit for the water and the ability to draw it out of Lake Mead at a later date, when the state needs more than the 300,000 acre-feet that make up its annual allocation. Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, called the agreement a "virtual bank" for Nevada and said the state's first deposit of 10,000 acre-feet could come before the end of the year....
State to raise water complaint Montana water rights will draw an international spotlight when a board in Canada next week considers whether the state gets its due from the St. Mary-Milk river system. Claims that too much of the water goes to Alberta and Saskatchewan while neighboring Montana gets short shrift will be taken up by the International Joint Commission, meeting in Ottawa. A 1909 treaty established the IJC, consisting of three members from the United States and three from Canada, to prevent and resolve disputes over waters that the two countries share. Montana officials believe that the state gets less water than it deserves from the system consisting of the St. Mary River, which originates in Glacier National Park and flows into Canada, and the Milk River....
Mystery Oil Spill Stains Wash. State Coast An oil spill stained Tacoma's Commencement Bay and spread to beaches on nearby islands Thursday, polluting an ecologically rich area where grebes, ducks and other birds spend their winters. State Department of Ecology and U.S. Coast Guard officials estimated the spill at 1,000 gallons, Ecology spokesman Larry Altose said. The oil, first reported about 1 a.m. Thursday, spread over five or six miles around the southern tip of Vashon Island north of Tacoma, and tainted nearby Maury Island....
Mad cow petition demands reopening of border to Canadian cattle Two Alberta businessmen, frustrated with the ongoing mad cow border stalemate, delivered a 105,000-name petition to Parliament Hill on Thursday. The paper calls for reopening the Canada-U.S. border to all Canadian cattle. The U.S. closed the border to live cattle last year after a single Alberta cow was found to have mad cow disease. The Liberal government has been pressing the Americans to open the doors again, but Washington has refused. The Open The Border petition includes signatures from hundreds of American farmers who wanted to show solidarity with their suffering Canadian counterparts....
After decades, Western-wear 'trend' holds on to its looks In the old West, cowboy clothes had a purpose: to shield ranch hands from the rigors of their job. Sturdy shirts protected their arms from rope burns, and leather saved their bodies from bruises. In the 1940s, Western wear started seeping into the American fashion culture. More than 60 years later, urban dwellers in Colorado who have never ridden a horse, baled hay or swept a stall sport Western boots and jeans, cowboy shirts and Stetsons....