NEWS ROUNDUP

Security ramped up to protect ancient finds at Range Creek The state of Utah is beefing up security at the remote eastern Utah canyon of Range Creek to protect an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 archaeological sites kept secret until last summer. Archaeologists estimate as many as 250 households occupied the canyon over a span of centuries ending about 750 years ago. They left half-buried stone-and-mortar houses, cob houses and granary caches, and painted colorful trapezoidal figures with spiky hair styles on canyon walls. Researchers had quietly conducted surveys at the site for three years, but the significance of the finds was hidden until news reports surfaced in June about the transfer of the land from a rancher to the state....
Gov. Criticized Over Stance on Forest Roads A majority of the state's congressional delegation has denounced the Schwarzenegger administration's failure to defend a Clinton-era ban on road building in some of the nation's most pristine forest lands, including more than 4 million acres in California. All 33 of the state's House Democrats issued a statement last week calling Schwarzenegger's position an outrage....
No Easy Answer for Otters For reasons that have eluded scientists for several decades, California's sea otters have been struggling while most otter populations elsewhere have thrived. Now, however, scientists studying Pink-White and her kind believe that they may be closing in on one of the most baffling mysteries involving endangered species in the United States. The latest clue is in the deaths among female otters, especially those in the reproductive prime of their lives. Females more than 4 years old have a low survival rate in the heart of their range, between Santa Cruz and Big Sur, while males are doing fine, their populations growing....
Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has been contemplated for some time. With today's record high prices, the pressures to drill have never been higher. In the November election, the pro-drilling constituency picked up, by some estimates, four votes. If that is true, then drilling is likely, for Congress has the votes to repeal the twenty-five-year-old ban on drilling in ANWR, and allow the prospecting to begin. The road from the enactment of the law to actual production of oil and gas will be long and twisty, however. Federal law protects wilderness, wildlife habitat, and air and water quality. And ANWR drilling will have to comply with all the relevant laws and regulations - which I will describe in this column....
Burns' rider ensures snowmobiling in park People who want to snowmobile in Yellowstone National Park this winter got an early Christmas present for Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont. -- a law that says the park will remain open. Language inserted into a $388 billion spending bill that passed Congress Saturday, "ensures a continued ability to snowmobile within Yellowstone... through this winter's tourism season," Burns announced in a press release. The new language, often referred to as a "rider" because it was attached to a much larger bill, caught both supporters and opponents of Yellowstone snowmobiling by surprise....
Utah man gets prison for supplying improper seed to feds A Utah man has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution to the federal Bureau of Land Management for supplying bad seed for the rehabilitation of fire-ravaged areas in the Rocky Mountain West. Boyd Goble, 66, of Gunnison, Utah, was sentenced to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay the federal government $758,394 in restitution. U.S. District Judge David Sam told Goble that the short sentence was in deference to the fact he suffers from diabetes....
Allard calls for new Rocky Flats probe After a new round of questions about whether the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant cleanup has been thorough, U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard today asked the Government Accountability Office to review the effort. Environmental activists have been critical of the cleanup, saying this year it did not take into account some contaminants that were dumped illegally. The Department of Energy and the cleanup contractor, Kaiser Hill Inc., have insisted the work is sound....
Gold production in Alaska is on the verge of a boom The number of producing hard rock mines in Alaska may soon double, growing from three to six and bumping up gold production in the state by an estimated 250,000 ounces per year. That's according to plans outlined Nov. 5 at the Alaska Miners Association's annual convention by developers of the new Rock Creek gold project near Nome, the shuttered underground Nixon Fork gold-copper-silver mine near McGrath and the reopened Kensington gold project north of Juneau....
World Watch, Kicking Dirt on Three Big Greenies Environmentalists around the world are buzzing over a controversial article printed in the November-December issue of World Watch, the magazine published by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based enviro group. The article, "A Challenge to Conservationists," is a scathing attack on the rich and powerful "Big Three" environmental groups -- World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and the Nature Conservancy. Author Mac Chapin, an anthropologist who has worked with indigenous people for 35 years, accuses the three groups of cozying up to their corporate donors and governmental partners while ignoring the native peoples whose cause they once championed....
Concrete solution for water? From Highway 151, Shasta Dam emerges through the fog and rain like an awesome apparition, a giant wall of concrete whose power generators humming eerily far below add to its supernatural dimension. As California looks for new ways to increase water supplies in the face of mounting shortages, this monstrous 602-foot facade holding back the Sacramento River seems destined to grow even taller. It's a perfect spot for expansion, although it's not the only site under intense scrutiny in this scramble for new water storage....
USDA approves live cattle, border reopening could take months The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved a regulation that allows Canadian ranchers to resume exports of live cattle and more cuts of beef, although there is no date for when that will happen. The proposal must first be reviewed by the U.S. Budget Office and members of Congress. Those reviews could take up to three months. The promise to lift the American ban on live Canadian cattle is getting a skeptical reaction from at least one premier. Lorne Calvert of Saskatchewan says the move is encouraging, but he still has some reservations. "I will believe it when I see it," he said. "When I see a Canadian cow, a live cow, crossing the border then I will be satisfied."....
It's All Trew: Old cowboys offer quotes worth passing on Some people have a way with words and few can compete with the old-time cowboys. It could be because he spent a lot of time alone or talking to his horse. Here are a few of my favorites to pass on to readers....