NEWS ROUNDUP

Attorneys debate Wyoming wolf plan Attorneys involved in Wyoming's lawsuit over wolf management squared off Friday over whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trampling on state's rights or taking needed precautions to save a threatened species. The key question is whether wolves should be allowed to be shot with little regulation in nearly all of Wyoming except the greater Yellowstone area, where wolves were reintroduced in 1995. "The very reason wolves were pushed to the brink was because of unregulated taking," Justice Department attorney Jimmy Rodrigez, representing the federal agency, said in federal court Friday. "The service can't endorse a plan that allows for unlimited taking." But Wyoming Deputy Attorney General Jay Jerde accused the federal agency of not working with the state in good faith. "There's shocking evidence that they did not deal straight with us throughout this whole process," he said....
Wolf's Future in Wyoming, as Predator or Fragile Species, Is in Court's Hands Gray wolves have thrived in the West since their reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park 10 years ago last month. No one disputes that. There is also broad agreement among federal wildlife officials, ranchers and conservationists that the time is ripe to remove the protections of the Endangered Species Act under which the wolves made their comeback. Just one thing stands in the way, they all say: The State of Wyoming. Not that Wyoming loves wolves and wants them nurtured and protected by the government - far from it - but rather that the state and federal government have been unable to agree about what sort of wildlife management the wolves need or do not need as they become more established. The state argues that wolves are predators across much of Wyoming where they now roam and should be treated as such - residents should be allowed to shoot them at will, like other varmints. Federal wildlife officials said the state's plan is a recipe for annihilation of a still-fragile species and that until Wyoming comes up with a more wolf-friendly plan, the Endangered Species Act, which protects the wolves as experimental, nonessential species, will continue to apply....
Effect of court ruling on wolves' status unclear The head of wolf recovery efforts in the Northern Rockies said Friday it may be a week or two before federal wildlife officials know the effect a recent court ruling will have on the status of wolves in northwestern Montana. In the meantime, state and federal wildlife officials suggest treating the wolves as though they were classified as endangered, meaning they cannot be shot even if they're seen attacking livestock. Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery coordinator in the region, said it's too early to tell whether the decision by a federal judge in Oregon earlier this week increases protection for the 60 animals in the northwestern part of the state. However, he acknowledged that reclassifying the population from threatened to endangered would be a setback in efforts to eventually get the gray wolf removed from either list of protected species....
New wolf rules take effect Monday Starting Monday, ranchers in most of Idaho and Montana who catch a wolf chasing livestock on their property can legally shoot it dead. Feb. 7 marks the first day of a new federal rule that allows ranchers, along with permitted outfitters and grazing allotment holders on public land, to protect their own livestock. However, the new rule does not mean open season on wolves, cautioned Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "The key is chasing, harassing, molesting livestock," Bangs said. You can't legally kill a wolf "if it's standing by, looking. You can't just shoot them because you don't like them."....
Groups appeal eradication process for tui chub Three conservation groups have appealed the Umpqua National Forest's decision to use the chemical Rotenone to rid Diamond Lake of a troublesome fish, the tui chub. The minnow-like fish have taken over the lake and are blamed for poor water quality that has closed the popular lake to summer swimming, wading and water-skiing in recent years. The chemical would kill all the fish in the lake, which would then be restocked....
Hopis face uncertain future Loss of revenue from the closure of Mohave Generating Station and Black Mesa Mine would force the layoff of at least 150 of the Hopi Tribe's 500 employees. In addition, 13 percent of the Navajo Nation government's non-mine labor force would lose jobs along with 300 mine workers. Hopi Tribal Chairman Wayne Taylor Jr., at the invitation of the Arizona State Senate Natural Resources Committee, traveled to Phoenix Wednesday to brief the group on potential impacts to the tribes from the impending closures. By the end of this year, environmental lawsuits likely will force the closure of Mohave, which in turn will force the closure of Black Mesa Mine, a joint Hopi-Navajo enterprise, the chairman said....
Timber companies pocket new land-use tool Oregon timber owners heavily supported Measure 37, which requires governments to waive development restrictions or compensate landowners whose property value is diminished by land-use rules. The measure passed easily on the November ballot, and applications for relief under its provisions are starting to trickle in to various government offices. But timber company representatives say they won’t be among those applicants, although they might be eligible for waivers or compensation. A waiver could allow harvesting in areas prohibited by the state’s 1971 Forest Practices Act, or allow housing on land zoned exclusively for timber under the state’s 1973 land-use plan. Where companies can show continuous ownership dating from before either law, they could be eligible for compensation for trees that could not be harvested or for housing that could not be built....
Bush reaffirms commitment to Klamath Basin President Bush continued his commitment to finding long-term solutions to water issues in the Klamath Basin by proposing an 8.4 percent increase in his 2006 budget for Interior Department programs in the basin. The $62.9 million request will help the department work with state and local interests to address the long-term water quality and water supply challenges in the basin, while enhancing fish populations, addressing the water needs of national wildlife refuges and the interests of tribes, and providing irrigation water to farmers....
Snow scarcity increases chances of long, dry summer Sunny winter days may be pleasant, but the persistent warmth and lack of snow is increasing the risk of another exceptionally dry summer that could drain irrigation reservoirs, kill fish and cut into electric generating capacity. Across the Cascade Mountains from Oregon to Washington, many basins have gathered barely one-third the snow that is normal by this time of year. Even at elevations of 5,000 feet or more, warm temperatures are bringing rain and melting what little snow has landed. "It's not a very pretty picture," said Jon Lea, snow survey hydrologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Portland....
Invasive Species Will Now Be Watched by NASA Invasive species of plants and insects now have a new enemy - NASA satellites. Recently, NASA accepted an invitation to join the National Invasive Species Council (NISC) to assist 12 other Federal agencies combat invasive species across the country by providing information from satellites. NASA satellite data will be used by the other federal agencies to help locate various plants. The satellites will use bands of color from the spectrum to see the Sun's light reflected by different plants and the environments in which they are growing. The satellites will lock in on the combination of bands of color to determine an invasive plant's current locations and areas that may develop a future invasion. Scientists are working now with the satellite data to see different plants....
Proposals to halt use of lead ammunition, to spare condors and raptors, are voted downCalifornia's hunters dodged a nonlead bullet yesterday as the California Fish and Game Commission denied two requests from environmental groups to ban the use of lead bullets in condor country and statewide. Voting 3-1 against both requests, with Commissioner Bob Hattoy of Long Beach twice the lone dissenter, the commission denied a request from the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups to take emergency action and ban the use of lead bullets by hunters in California condor habitat. The commission also refused the request to ban lead bullets and shot in all hunting in the state to protect all raptors, which, like condors, eat remains of animals shot with lead ammunition....
They Shoot Zebras, Don't They? As the men bumped away from camp in the four-wheel-drive pickup, over rutted dirt roads and through tiny streams, the sun revealed open plains around them, dotted with scrawny oak trees. Paul Tyjewski, Paul Royce and their guide, Kal Katzer, began glimpsing exotic wildlife gathering under the trees, using the cover of daybreak to feed before predators arose. Only, in this instance, the animals' instincts had failed them, since the predators were wide-eyed, eager and getting ever closer with their 7mm Remingtons. In one area, skittish kudu, African antelopes with twisting horns rising two feet out of their skulls, hopped from tree to tree. Nearby, aoudads -- massive versions of sheep from the Barbary rocks of North Africa, with horns curving out and back from their skulls -- playfully butted heads. Katzer pointed out ibex, exotic goats with thick, scaly horns. Seeing these graceful animals in their native Africa has its own power. But the fact that the group was taking them in -- and hunting them -- near Junction, Tex., only two hours from urban San Antonio, made the moment even more remarkable....
U.S. to allow Canadian beef back in on March 7 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns told the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Friday that the U.S. border will reopen to Canadian imports on March 7. Johanns made the comments in his first speech outside Washington since being sworn in two weeks ago. He pledged that the administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture will do everything possible to keep pushing for resumed exports to Japan, promising to "just keep the pressure on" to set a date for that to happen. Japan stopped its imports of U.S. beef on Dec. 24, 2003, after a single case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, was discovered in Washington state on Dec. 23. But talks between the United States and Japan may be further complicated after Japan confirmed Friday its first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease following the death of a man who had symptoms of the fatal brain-wasting illness....
Farmers Mark Food Check-Out Day The bounty of safe, affordable food produced by America's farmer and ranchers benefits consumers, who pay less for food than citizens of any other country in the world. On average, Americans spend only about 10 percent of their disposable income on food, according to Agriculture Department statistics. This means that it takes only about 37 days for the average American to earn enough to buy their groceries for the entire year. What's even more amazing is that the percentage of disposable personal income spent for food in the United States has declined over the last 34 years, due to increased standards of living. The last time Americans used 12 percent or more of their disposable income to purchase food was in 1983. In 1984, the average dropped to just under 12 percent and it has been steadily declining since then. For the past 7 years, Americans have spent an average of just 10 percent of their disposable income on food....