NEWS ROUNDUP

Bush keeps Norton as Interior secretary President Bush has decided to keep Interior Secretary Gale Norton in his second-term Cabinet, making her one of six top department heads to remain after a post-election shuffle. The news, announced by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, means the former Colorado attorney general will remain at the center of Bush's public lands and energy policies. In an interview last month, Norton said she was happy in her job, but that her future was in the president's hands. She released a brief statement Thursday confirming she had agreed to stay....
Three indicted for trying to thwart lion hunt Three men have been indicted for allegedly trying to disrupt plans to capture and kill mountain lions near Tucson last spring. A federal indictment charges EarthFirst member Matthew Crozier, 32, of Prescott and Rodney Adam Coronado, 38, of Tucson with conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, which is a felony. They also are charged with trespassing on national forest land, interfering with a forest officer and violation of a special closure order — all misdemeanors. Esquire magazine writer John Hammond Richardson, of Katonah, N.Y., also is charged in the indictment with the same three misdemeanors. He allegedly had accompanied the activists....
Forest Service officials blame log shortage on lawsuits Idaho sawmill owners say they don't have enough trees to cut, and federal forest managers blame it on lawsuits. Dave O'Brien, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman, says there are four major North Idaho logging operations currently stalled by legal action. Speaking at a Coeur d'Alene forestry conference Wednesday, he said the litigation is holding back trees that could be helping the mills. Now, mill owners have started bringing in trees from as far away as the Washington coast to keep their workers busy....
Column: Deal for ranchers - and land We all seem to agree: The old ways are not working. Something has to change on the range. We need new ideas and new opportunities to reduce unchecked urban sprawl, provide employment opportunities and protect the beautiful landscapes that make New Mexico the Land of Enchantment. So here is a radical idea: Save taxpayers money by paying ranchers to remove their livestock from public land. Nationwide, ranchers pay about $14 million to lease more than 250 million acres of national forest and Bureau of Land Management land, but it costs the agencies more than $100 million annually to manage the program....
Senate Clears Wilderness Bills in Final Hours of 108th Congress In the final hours of the 108th Congress, the U.S. Senate passed a major public lands bill which included two wilderness bills: the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Act (S. 738/H.R. 1501) and the Ojito Wilderness Act (S. 1649/H.R. 3176). Both bills had received broad, bipartisan support and the California bill’s sponsors even won praise from Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), who oversees the Senate’s public lands panel, for their due diligence in addressing stakeholder concerns....
BLM keeping 3 parcels in auction While the Bureau of Land Management withdrew two parcels near Hovenweep National Monument from an oil and gas lease sale after urging from the National Park Service and environmental groups, three nearby parcels will remain on the block for Friday’s auction. The two parcels directly south of the monument were pulled from the sale Tuesday, but three parcels roughly one mile northwest of the monument will be offered to the highest bidder. “There are other leases already in existence in that area, and there didn’t seem to be any reason why those parcels shouldn’t be leased,” said Laura Williams, spokeswoman for the bureau’s Utah office....
The Nature Conservancy buys Moen Ranch Last Thursday, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) closed a deal with Duane Moen and the group now owns 1,800 acres in the Pahsimeroi Valley and Little Hat Creek, plus holds title to the permits for grazing on 45,000 acres of public land. The group doesn’t intend to hold onto most of the property, but will sell the bulk of it to private holders. They will also sell river access to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game for public fishing, hunting and recreation....
Column: Liberal terror The nation obviously has been focused very heavily on terrorism for the last three years. Unfortunately, the overwhelming attention paid to foreign terrorist threats has tended to make people complacent about homegrown, domestic terrorism. Those living in the Washington, DC area got a wake-up call on this last week, when an apparent group of environmental terrorists torched a housing development under construction in nearby Charles County, MD. Law enforcement officials have not yet determined who the perpetrators were and it is conceivable that simple vandalism or other motives were at work. But the evidence strongly suggests eco-terrorism. The development has been under attack by environmentalists for some time for allegedly disturbing a nearby wetland. Moreover, the arson-and there is no doubt that it was arson-fits a pattern of eco-terrorism that has been seen elsewhere....
Cargo Ship Leaking Fuel Oil Off of Alaska Fuel oil was pouring out of a Malaysian-flagged cargo vessel that grounded off an Aleutian island and split into two nearly equal pieces, threatening a sensitive area of marine habitat, officials said on Thursday. The ship, which lost power and began drifting early Tuesday morning in the stormy Bering Sea, appeared to be losing much of the nearly 500,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel oil it was carrying, officials said....
Feds offer rewards in wolf killings Federal wildlife authorities are offering rewards of $5,000 for information into each of four separate wolf killings in southern Idaho during the past two months. In each case, the wolves appear to have been shot in October and November, said Scott Kabasa, special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based in Boise. The carcasses has been sent to the service's National Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Wash., for further analysis. Kabasa said it is likely the wolves were killed by hunters....
New book studies 'Grizzly Lessons' Wyoming author Geral Blanchard takes an interesting look at the relationship between grizzlies, wolves and humans in his new book, "Grizzly Lessons." Blanchard, who lives near Big Horn, Wyo., focuses on the Yellowstone National Park and Shoshone National Forest area he loves so much. While the book is full of tales from this area, it is really much more than that. It is a study of the search for coexistence between bears, wolves and people. "Grizzly Lessons" looks at this relationship from historical American Indian perspectives to wilderness explorers to present-day ranchers, hunters and environmentalists....
Large fish ladder opens on Ventura River One of the largest fish ladders in California opened Thursday to the applause of more than 100 environmentalists and local, state and federal officials. The state-of-the-art Robles Fish Passage Facility is located on the Ventura River and will help with the recovery of the endangered Southern California steelhead trout. The total cost of the fish ladder is expected to reach $9 million after an additional $1 million in enhancements to be completed by next year. The fish ladder is more advanced than others in the state because it is designed to allow fish to move both upstream and downstream....
Congress Approves Bald Eagle Commemorative Coin Act While Congress was busy debating and passing a suitable Intelligence bill to help defend our nation's security and freedoms, the very symbol of those rights (and the U.S.A. itself) was also getting a big boost to secure its own future health and welfare. The "American Bald Eagle Recovery & National Emblem Commemorative Coin Act" (H.R. 4116 & S.2889) was unanimously passed by the House and Senate by the end of the 108th Congress on Wednesday evening. When signed into law by the President (within the next 10 days), the legislation would authorize the U.S. Mint to create and market a three-coin gold, silver and clad set ($5, $1 and $.50 pieces) in 2008 (the 35th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act (ESA)). A surcharge from the sale of each coin sold will be earmarked to create an American Eagle Fund endowment managed by the AEF. If the coin set sells out, it has the potential of raising $10,750,000 for eagles....
Water rationing a possibility if drought keeps up This could be the driest year since 1989, and the second driest since 1953, according to National Weather Service data. While rainfall measured up to an inch in parts of the valley last weekend, no rain is likely in the next three weeks, as the drought that began more than a decade ago continues to worsen. Yet, few are thinking about a time when water is rationed for urban dwellers, endangered species become extinct because habitats dry up or farms become dusty, abandoned fields, said Gregg Garfin, program manager for the University of Arizona's Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, which studies the environment. It's time they did. Along with scientists, state and local officials are starting to plan for an extended drought....
Authors of Western Fiction Take Advantage of Unique Online Site It has been over sixteen months since WritersWest.com appeared online, making available books about the American West. In that time, the number of authors joining this consortium of western writers has steadily increased. WritersWest.com is an independent consignment bookstore where the books come from the western writers, and not distributors. The author sets the price and receives 75% for each title sold. Many of the authors participate in WritersWest.com's co-op advertising, which increases their visibility in venues that would be price-prohibitive for individual authors....
Joe Montana gets a rush out of competing on cutting horse San Francisco 49ers legend Joe Montana never played for Dallas, but this week he's a cowboy. The Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback even dresses the part. Wearing a black cowboy hat, cowboy boots, spurs and Wranglers, Montana competed in the National Cutting Horse Association World Championship Futurity on Wednesday at Will Rogers Coliseum. Montana, 48, qualified for the second round on two horses, Lookwhatthecatdrugin (215 points) and Dualetta Deville (213)....
Rodeo wary of wrongs in name of animal rights Nearly 50 security specialists from throughout the West Coast are at the Thomas & Mack Center to supplement Las Vegas and UNLV police officers during the National Finals Rodeo. But the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association's security effort isn't primarily to protect the nightly crowds of more than 17,000 against an international threat of violence. The PRCA is on alert for domestic foes. One group of animal rights advocates was in Las Vegas for opening weekend, waging a verbal war against rodeo and alleging crimes are committed against the calves, steer, horses and bulls of the PRCA. NFR officials remain on alert for more activist groups, believing an act meant to disrupt the rodeo could occur at any time....
Riding Out The Pain The bull raging beneath Fred Boettcher bucked out of the chute and suddenly spun left, twisting the rider backward and to the right. When the bull bucked again, the cowboy's right leg hit the ground as he started to fall. But his gloved left hand was stuck in the rigging. The bull whipped his head around to see what was hanging from his right side. The 160-pound Boettcher and the 1,500-pound bull stared at each other....