NEWS ROUNDUP

Protection not likely for sage grouse Secretary of Interior Gale Norton is expected to announce today that the greater sage grouse is not warranted for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Listing would have meant added protection for the bird, whose numbers have dropped from 2 million in the mid-19th century to fewer than 200,000. "This is great news for everyone across the West, highlighting this administration's willingness to listen to the ideas and perspectives of the scientific community, as well as local and tribal governments and those most impacted by such a listing," said U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. He said, "Listing of the greater sage grouse would have triggered a number of cumbersome regulations and costly land-use restrictions throughout the state of Colorado." Allard said by empowering local people to develop their own conservation plans and allowing them to work in partnership to strengthen the bird population, the species can be protected and the goals of the Endangered Species Act furthered without action from the federal government....
Critter rights imperil graves The wood stork, the indigo snake and the gopher tortoise are delaying construction of a military cemetery in Florida. Environmentalists are concerned that the burial ground for veterans would harm wetlands and the endangered species that live there. Rep. Mark Foley, Florida Republican, says he is "deeply disturbed" by the Army Corps of Engineers' failure to approve quickly work on the site, west of Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County. He said animals and ponds should not take precedence over veterans....
Wolf comeback turns predator into prey The US Fish and Wildlife Service this week announced that it will now be easier for ranchers and others in the Northern Rockies to shoot wolves. Some environmentalists and animal-lovers object. But the new regulations in fact are a sign that the wolf - hunted to near-extinction over the past century - is making a healthy comeback. Gray wolves reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s are thriving, to the discomfort of elk and coyotes, who used to have the run of the place, and to the delight of tourists who gather to catch a glimpse of the mythic animal and to hear its distinctive howl. The wolf's presence there has helped restore the ecosystem to something closer to the natural, which is part of the argument for allowing wolves to live elsewhere as well - as long as they don't eat too many sheep, cows, or game animals favored by sport hunters. Meanwhile, administration officials say wolf populations in the upper Midwest have grown to the point where they can be removed from the endangered species list, and they've loosened the restrictions on shooting wolves from airplanes in Alaska....
Sierra Club Cautiously Optimistic About State Management of Wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service broke new ground in endangered species management by transferring limited management authority to the states of Montana and Idaho today – a move that comes prior to the species’ official delisting. The rule change will be published in the Federal Register today, sparking a cautiously optimistic stance from the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots conservation group. "With broader state level participation in wolf management, wildlife managers in Montana and Idaho will now have the chance to prove themselves worthy of continuing the success the federal government has had in bringing wild wolves back from extinction in the West," said Bart Semcer, Sierra Club’s Washington, D.C. Representative for Fish and Wildlife Policy....
Grizzly Bear Livestock Kills Drop in 2004 Defenders of Wildlife paid $12,795 in grizzly bear compensation funds to ranchers and sheep growers in 2004, representing a 32% drop from the previous year. Payments were for one horse, 9 cattle and 13 sheep that were confirmed kills by grizzly bears and an additional three calves that were most likely bear kills. In all, Defenders has paid $112,668 in compensation from The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Grizzly Bear Compensation Trust since its founding in 1997. "Prevention and compensation are crucial for grizzly bear recovery in the West. While overall losses may be small, individual ranchers feel the sting when it's their sheep or cattle." said Rodger Schlickeisen, President of Defenders of Wildlife. "These initiatives help prevent problems in the first place, and promptly compensate local people when they do occur."....
Citing Costs, U.S. Trims Critical Habitat for Santa Ana Sucker The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has eliminated critical habitat for the endangered Santa Ana sucker fish in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, saying the economic benefits of the new plan outweigh the benefits to the fish. The agency kept 8,305 acres of critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker in Los Angeles County along the San Gabriel River and Big Tujunga Creek. Originally more than 20,000 acres, most of it along the Santa Ana River, had been designated under a court order last February. The decision is the latest by the Bush administration to scrap critical habitat, which can complicate home and road building, dams and other development. Construction on critical habitat can require additional federal permits....
Column: Endangered act At the Western Governors Association's two-day Executive Summit on the Endangered Species Act, I told the governors that the Endangered Species Act is broken – that it was born broken. The ESA is based on a flawed understanding of the Americas at Columbian contact and on the myth of the balance of nature. In addition, it is not even an endangered species act; it is an endangered subpopulation and distinct population segment act. It uses a regulatory approach born in the Nixon administration, and it ignores the role of states and landowners. It ignores incentives. A new endangered species act should correct these misunderstandings....
Coal keeps cruising Wyoming coal miners continued to break industry records in 2004, including the high-water mark for production, surprising even market analysts. More than 4,500 coal miners in the state collectively scooped 395.8 million tons of coal, according the Casper Star-Tribune's annual statewide survey. That's 19.5 million tons more than the year before -- an increase of more than 5 percent and the largest annual increase since 2001....
Drilling battle Fight brews over Valle Vidal future The 100,000-acre Valle Vidal in Northern New Mexico's Sangre de Cristo Mountains is a place of spectacular beauty, say people who've grown up in the area and people who love to visit it. New Mexico's largest elk herd makes its home there. Rio Grande cutthroat trout swim in its blue-ribbon mountain streams. And oil and gas companies want to drill there for methane trapped in underground coal-bed seams. The threat of mineral exploration is bringing together an unlikely group of bedfellows who oppose drilling in the scenic area. The Coalition for the Valle Vidal has more than 60 members so far, from a longtime Republican businessman in Raton to the Western Environmental Law Center in Taos and the town councils of Eagle Nest, Cimarron and Taos. Members include hunters, anglers, scientists, politicians and environmental activists -- groups that don't always get along in the Land of Enchantment's political landscape....
Bill proposed to force talks before drilling Rep. Kathleen Curry says her constituents have told her, loud and clear, that she should protect landowners who don't own the mineral rights to oil and gas underneath their properties from the energy companies that do own those rights. She's working on a bill to do just that. "It basically forces both parties to come to the table and negotiate a surface-use agreement before a final permit to drill can be issued," Curry said Tuesday. Curry's bill, which Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, is co-sponsoring, would compensate landowners for damages from "loss of agricultural production and income, loss of land value, loss of land use, loss of value of improvements, damage to on-site water supplies and costs of surface reclamation."....
Fight bubbles up over vernal pools Controversy still swirls around the Central Valley's vernal pools, the seasonal wetlands now returning to the center of political struggle. Under legal pressure, the Bush administration this month is reconsidering which Valley lands should be deemed critical habitat for endangered vernal pool species. In time, several Valley counties could find themselves back in the same critical habitat zone that local officials thought they had once escaped. "I'm very concerned," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced. "We need to re-rally the troops who had fought this in the first place."....
Nevada Gets Green Light to Drill for Water in Desert National Wildlife Refuge Plans to drill for water within Nevada’s Desert National Wildlife Refuge Complex moved closer to realty yesterday when the Nevada State Engineer granted the Southern Nevada Water Authority permission to drill seven groundwater wells within and around the Refuge. Pumping from the proposed wells could potentially damage springs and streams containing habitat for endangered species, including many that are found nowhere else. “Wildlife refuges are for wildlife,” said Brian Segee, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife “The Desert Refuge is the largest wildlife refuge in the lower 48 states and one of Nevada’s greatest natural treasures. This is the last place the state should be looking to drill.”....
Drought provokes regional response: Santa Fe, Albuquerque to import water for growth, but prolonged dry spell could affect the West's source New Mexico is increasingly relying on water from the Colorado River Basin to support growth just as the federal government warns that ongoing drought might force cutbacks for all states with rights to the river. Speaking at a water conference in Nevada last month, top federal officials warned that the prolonged drought means that New Mexico and the six other states that draw from the Colorado River must devise a plan by April 1 spelling out how they can cut consumption. "We have now completed five years of drought, and we don't know when it will end," Stephen Griles, deputy secretary of the Interior, told the Colorado River Water Users Association on Dec. 17. "That is the reality we collectively face in the Colorado Basin."....
Historic AuSable River dam to be removed The AuSable River dam, built during the former mill town's lumbering days but now posing a threat to fish hatcheries, will be removed, a legislator said Thursday. After decades of debate, state and local officials have reached an agreement to dismantle the structure, which dates from the late 1800s, said state Rep. Matt Gillard, D-Alpena. The job should be done by early March. The $385,000 project will be funded by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Native Americans' income increasing Native Americans, the poorest minorities in the United States, made substantial economic and social gains in the last decade of the 20th century, according to a report released Wednesday by Harvard's American Indian Project on Economic Development. The study, which compared census data from 1990 and 2000, showed income and education increased, housing improved, and poverty and unemployment decreased. Arizona tribes shared in the gains, which paved the path to independence, local Native leaders said....
Country music has strong year in 2004 Early predictions of increased album sales of Country Music in 2004 proved true with 77,912,000 units sold from Jan. 5, 2004, through Jan. 2, 2005 – a 12 percent increase over 2003, which had sales of 69,311,000 units, according to figures released today by Nielsen SoundScan. The news was promising with a 1.6 percent rebound of the total music industry following a four-year period of steady decline, which was stemmed slightly in 2003 once Internet and digital track sales were factored into the equation by Nielsen SoundScan research. Overall music purchases in 2004 exceeded 800 million for the fist time since 2000. And while the bulk of the industry slumped since that time, Country Music pushed to develop the next round of Country hitmakers. By mid 2004, the outlook was promising when for the first time in five years, Recording Industry Association of America shipments for the first half of the year increased (RIAA tabulates store shipments which are expected to be future sales to consumers and Nielsen SoundScan tracks point-of-purchase sales of recorded music product). “Country Music held its own and even enjoyed growth during a very tumultuous period for the music industry over the past five years,” said CMA Executive Director Ed Benson....
Greeley hatter making custom cowboy hat for Bush A custom cowboy hat being handcrafted by a Greeley hatter will be presented to President Bush before inauguration but probably won't be worn during the swearing in ceremony Jan. 20. ''No president has worn a hat for inauguration since JFK quit wearing them,'' said Trent Johnson, owner of Greeley Hat Works Inc. The sand-colored pure beaver felt hat will be presented to Bush by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which each year commissions Johnson to build a custom hat for the group's president. In 2002, the cattlemen's group asked Johnson to create a one-of-a-kind hat for a Denver appearance by President Bush. Johnson said the president wears that hat regularly and keeps it handy in the Oval Office. The 2005 Republican calendar has a photograph of Bush wearing the hat on the steps of the White House....
Church favors boots-and-jeans crowd The Narrow Trail Cowboy Church in Plano may seem like a study in contradictions to some. Held beneath a covered patio at the Love and War In Texas restaurant, it attracts more suburban professionals than real rural cowhands. Yet, it's one of three so-called cowboy churches that have sprung up in Collin County in recent months with moral support from the Collin Baptist Association. Statewide, there are more than 30. This is a place where folks say they can worship God in pointy-toed cowboy boots or comfy tennis shoes without feeling judged or preached at....
Rodeo Pioneer Gerald Roberts Dead at 85 Gerald Roberts, the longtime rodeo star who worked in Western films, has died. He was 85. Roberts died Dec. 31 and was buried Wednesday in his hometown of Abilene. Roberts, whose brother and sister also were successful on the rodeo circuit, won his first world all-around world title in 1942 at the age of 22. He won a second world championship six years later. He was one of the charter members of the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in Wichita in 1961, and was later inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Roberts, who started a rodeo gear company in 1964, worked in Hollywood for some time, serving as a stunt double for actors such as Glenn Ford and Jack Lemmon....