NEWS ROUNDUP

Gray Wolves Thrive in Montana It was a frigid January day a decade ago when the first gray wolfs bolted out of crates and into the wilds of Idaho. The event was cheered by environmentalists, who had once wondered if they would ever see wolves reintroduced into the Northern Rockies, and decried by ranchers and others who had hoped it would never happen. Ten years later, passions still run deep. The wolves' incredible recovery and expansion in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have ensured that. Ranchers worry about livestock being attacked. Hunting organizers worry the wolves are decimating elk herds and threatening their livelihood. Conservationists acknowledge problems but say wolves haven't been the scourge some predicted....
Sage grouse flap: Lawsuits not the way, group says Following the federal government's final decision not to list the Greater Sage-grouse as an endangered species, the Chair of the Partnership for the West grassroots alliance issued this challenge to activist groups seeking the listing: Start spending money on sage-grouse conservation efforts, rather than on lawyers and lawsuits. "We challenge those activist groups that pushed this petition to put their money where their mouth is and start funding actual conservation efforts instead of funding lawyers and lawsuits," said Diane Hoppe, chair of the partnership and a Colorado state representative. "Federal agencies, state agencies, counties, municipalities, conservation groups and many private sector stakeholders are together spending tens of millions of dollars to help conserve sage-grouse and its habitat. What are some of these so-called environmental groups bringing to the conservation table? Little beyond a never-ending stream of destructive and costly lawsuits."....
Rancher says mountain lions taking bite out of horse herd Jarrette Johnson says mountain lions are taking a bite out of his horse herd and his wallet. The Mandaree rancher said cougars have been killing his horses for about three years. "We're in the 50-head loss so far," Johnson said. "This is my income and it's hurting it." Johnson keeps about 200 horses northwest of Mandaree, on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The terrain consists of steep buttes, deep coulees and trees. Most of the horses killed have been colts and mares, he said....
Grizzlies Losing Ground Around Yellowstone The 5-year-old male was the first of 19 grizzly bears to die in the region surrounding Yellowstone National Park and one of 50 killed in the lower 48 states, making 2004 the worst year for grizzly mortality since the animal was added to the endangered species list in 1975. The death rate in Yellowstone, where the grizzly population is estimated at 600, was 2 1/2 times higher than the 15-year average. Most worrying to wildlife biologists was the fact that females made up 60% of the dead....
Boggs' Safari hunting pals are GOP pets politically connected big-game hunting group that honored Wade Boggs for killing exotic animals donated $180,000 to lawmakers last year and is run by a former federal wildlife official. Safari Club International, which animal rights activists say endorses killing endangered species, gave most of the money to pro-hunting Republican congressmen and senators and ponied up $5,000 to the Republican National Committee, campaign finance records show. The 30,000-member, Arizona-based organization is headed by Tom Riley, a former enforcement officer for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. And current Fish and Wildlife Deputy Director Matt Hogan is a former SCI lobbyist. Animal rights activists say the ties between SCI and Fish and Wildlife pose a conflict because the federal agency is responsible for regulating the import of exotic animals and enforcing endangered species rules....
Editorial: A Property Rights 'Trophy' The 31-year-old Endangered Species Act has long been a target of loggers, oil drillers and mall builders. With powerful antagonists in Congress and the White House, the act could become a stuffed mantel trophy for the property-rights crowd. Twelve Western governors, meeting in La Jolla recently, called for more loosening of the strings. Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, for instance, whined that kangaroo rat protections jeopardized his investment in a "beautiful piece of land," otherwise perfect for a golf course or housing subdivision. Insisting that the act is a bureaucratic failure, they want Congress to make it harder to bring additional species under its umbrella and easier to bulldoze, graze or drill wildlife habitat. At their side was Rep. Richard W. Pombo (R-Tracy), a former cattleman and now chairman of the House Resources Committee. Pombo sees Bush's reelection as a mandate on the Endangered Species Act and has introduced bills to do the governors' bidding. But the administration isn't waiting for Congress and has already proposed a dramatic rollback of designated habitat for imperiled salmon and trout species, and the Santa Ana suckerfish in Southern California....
Bird species face removal from Migratory Bird Treaty Act The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued a list of 113 non-native human introduced bird species to the U.S. that may be removed from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as well as federal protection. The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting written comments from the public on the list through Feb. 5. These should be mailed to Chief, Division of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Mail Stop 4107, Arlington, VA 22203; or faxed to (703) 358-2272; or e-mailed to nonnativebirds@fws.gov. "The Migratory Bird Treaty Act prohibits the taking, killing or possessing of migratory birds unless permitted by regulations promulgated by the secretary of the Interior," a Federal Register Notice states. Migratory bird species are protected under the International Migratory Bird Management Act, established under international conventions agreed to by Canada, Mexico, Japan, Russia and the U.S. A revision of which birds qualify for international protection was called for in the 2004 Migratory Bird Treaty Reform Act....
National heritage designation on the rise, as is criticism One of three heritage areas passed by Congress in November will describe the region's contributions to flying. An increase in the number of historic areas - now at 27 with more proposals pending - has created support for establishing a national program to manage the sites. It also has riled critics, who say the designations jeopardize local land rights and drive up property rates. "It has nothing to do with not wanting to see history preserved," said Carol W. LaGrasse, president of the Property Rights Foundation of America. "What we are concerned about is the designation of this area and then them bringing in money and grants to promote regional planning and landscape protection. "It makes the land too costly and exclusive and regulated for ordinary, rural people to stay." Congressional investigators have not found specific examples of a heritage area directly affecting private property use. However, the 2004 report from the General Accountability Office found that the management plans of some areas encourage local governments, sometimes through grants, to implement land-use policies that help preserve the area....
Utah BLM manager gets national award The manager of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is going to Washington next week to collect a grand award. David Hunsaker - who has been frequently vilified by rural-county officials - has been named Outstanding Public Lands Manager of the Year by the Public Lands Foundation, a Washington-based group made up of retired and current Bureau of Land Management employees who follow public-lands issues. George Lea, president of the Public Lands Foundation, said Friday that Hunsaker is being honored for his exemplary handling of the politics surrounding the controversial monument. "It was forced down the throats of people in Utah, so it takes a lot of courage to do what he has done," said Lea....
Series of storms dumps as much as 19 feet of snow in Sierra Nevada A moisture-laden winter storm piled snow deeper across the Sierra Nevada, stranding an Amtrak train, knocking out the Reno airport and shutting down major highways across the mountains. The storm was the latest in a string of powerful systems that has dumped as much as 19 feet of snow in the Sierra and 6 feet in the Reno area since Dec. 28. Forecasters called the series of storms the snowiest in the Reno-Lake Tahoe area since 1916....
Cloud Seeding's Silver Lining Hard to Prove Two years ago, as a severe drought parched much of the West, a handful of states set out to prove once and for all whether seeding clouds with chemicals could help arid regions squeeze extra rain or snowfall out of the atmosphere. Colorado and Nevada shot skyward tiny particles of silver iodide, which has a similar crystalline structure to ice, hoping to fool the clouds into creating snow. Utah tested a rarer method of snowmaking: injecting clouds with super-cooled propane gas from mountaintop tanks. It snowed. But was the snow made by man or Mother Nature?....
Stockyard Memories: Veterans recall the good, the bad and the crazy When Wade Choate was growing up in the Fort Worth stockyards, it was a rip-snorting carnival of characters, where explosives were sometimes used to settle quarrels and nobody batted an eye if a cowboy got loaded and rode his horse into the cafe. His father worked in the stockyards, as did most of their neighbors. "Some of the best people in the world lived and worked on the stockyards, and some of the worst," Mr. Choate recalls nearly six decades later. "There were cowboys and gangsters and pretty much everybody in between." The historic stockyards are a popular tourist attraction now, but in the early 1900s, so many cattle were bought and sold there that the area was nicknamed the "Wall Street of the West." By World War II, more than 4 million head of livestock were being processed a year....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: When family gatherings turn political OK, how many had a pleasant family holiday get-together disrupted by members of opposing political parties going at it tooth and nail? Me too. Was yours a tag-team match, one on one, or a mob lynching? Were they civil and did they listen to each other's opinions? Did they ask questions like, "Oh really, where did you read that?" or "Gosh, I'd really like to know more about that subject." or "Certainly, I think you're probably right. Why didn't I think of that?" If one listens closely, the debating points resemble the same ones used when two people are debating Ford vs. Chevy or Hereford vs. Angus, i.e., "It has a better tone." "I like the way it handles." "I just don't trust 'em." "He's got no mothering instinct." "The bloodline is better." "I'm sticking to what my daddy said!"....