NEWS ROUNDUP

Details on Cedar fire emerge in court documents The lost hunter accused of setting the deadly Cedar fire told officials he fired his gun to signal for help, laid his head on a rock to sleep and later awoke to flames ---- which he tried to smother with his hat, according documents from federal prosecutors. The information from prosecutors reveals the most detailed description to date of the statements the stranded hunter allegedly made to his rescuers and others the night the fire began on Oct. 25, 2003. Martinez, 34, of West Covina, has pleaded innocent to federal charges he lit the blaze ---- the largest wildfire in state history ---- and later lied about its origins to officers. In the new documents, the U.S. Attorney's Office claims that Martinez told his rescuers that he did not start the fire, but at one point looked at the flames and said, "I'm sorry about all of this."....
Aldo, We Hardly Know Ye A group of people interested in celebrating the legacy of famed naturalist and wildlife ecologist Aldo Leopold has formed in his hometown of Burlington. Jerry Rigdon, who will serve as facilitator of the Leopold Heritage Group, said retired University of Iowa English teacher Bob Sayre approached him last fall with a desire to do something in Burlington and possibly statewide to give Leopold the recognition he deserves as a native son and to talk about how important his philosophy regarding man's interaction with nature remains today. Both Rigdon and Sayre noted that the author of "A Sand County Almanac" is revered by naturalists, environmentalists and ecologists worldwide, yet has received very little formal recognition in the town where he grew up and the state in which he was born....
Answers sought after inert land mine found in forest A land mine found by hikers in the Roosevelt National Forest on Jan. 22 posed no danger, but officials want to know if others like it are out there. The mine - an M606 Fuze Mine - is used for training and was never designed to explode, said National Forest spokeswoman Reghan McDaniel. But there is plenty of mystery surrounding it, and it is hoped that someone can provide some answers. "We don't know how old it was, how long it's been there or who put it there," said McDaniel. "This is definitely not a typical occurrence in the forest."....
Clear cutting to boost flow of water studied A U.S. Forest Service study in Wyoming and Colorado says the amount of water flowing out of a forest would increase appreciably only if 25 percent of the forest were clear-cut and kept clear of significant vegetation. Regional Forester Rick Cables said Monday that he did not advocate the idea in discussing it with the Legislature's Joint Agriculture, Public Lands and Water Resources Committee last week. He said there are many problems and unknowns surrounding the concept. "The committee asked me about the idea last year," he said. Increased logging is seen by some as a way for Western states to get more water from national forests. Borrowing an analogy he once heard from a hydrologist, Cables said that if the water in the North Platte River basin were a pitcher of water, then the water coming out of national forests within the basin would measure about a cup....
Senate passes bill repealing open-fields doctrine South Dakota's game wardens should no longer be able to enter private land without permission to check for hunting violations, the state Senate decided Wednesday. Senators voted 19-15 for a measure that would get rid of the open-fields doctrine, which is based on court decisions and laws that give game wardens authority to enter private land to check hunters without getting permission from landowners. When officers have no probable cause to suspect the law has been broken, entering private land without the owner's permission is a violation of property rights, said Sen. Jay Duenwald, R-Hoven, the bill's main sponsor....
Column: The big cat quandary The tracks trailing across a fresh layer of March snow stop inexplicably as if suddenly swept clean by some odd wind. Upon further review, they resume fully 15 feet away, eliminating any doubt what these large, telltale pugs represent. One could only guess whether the cat had been startled by a sudden sound or some other animal or merely made this leap simply because it could. That a mountain lion had come this way in the wee hours of morning was undeniable. The fact that the other end of its path passed within hissing distance of my front door made the discovery considerably more interesting....
Column: A commitment to ensure survival of Columbia Basin salmon The Columbia River salmon is a treasured symbol of our quality of life here in the Pacific Northwest. Yet, today, 12 runs of salmon in the Columbia and Snake River basins are listed as threatened or endangered by human activity. So it's no surprise that the recently revised program to address the effects of dam operations on salmon should come under intense scrutiny. We are the officials responsible for managing the federal Columbia River dams for the benefit of everyone in the region. We are committed to taking steps that ensure no salmon species goes extinct as a result of the operation of these dams. We are also determined to act as a positive force for salmon recovery throughout the Columbia Basin. We believe our actions support these words....
The saga of the Yellowstone cutthroat Catching all four of Wyoming's cutthroat trout subspecies has been a satisfying achievement for hundreds of anglers since the program began in 1996. But if you've been putting off chasing the Cutt-Slam yourself, you better get it while you can. Two of the four sub-species may one day be off limits to anglers. U.S. District Judge Philip Figa ruled in December that a 1998 petition by several conservation groups to list the Yellowstone cutthroat as an endangered species was illegally rejected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Environmental groups want gopher protected Environmental groups seeking endangered species protection for a gopher found only in counties southeast of Denver filed a lawsuit Wednesday asking a judge to force federal officials to act. The lawsuit filed by the Center for Native Ecosystems and Forest Guardians against Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton, said Norton was required to make a decision on the Douglas County Pocket Gopher by March 2004. The groups said they filed their petition in 2003 asking to have the rodent listed as threatened or endangered. The groups say the gopher is found only in Douglas, Arapahoe and Elbert counties near Denver, an area undergoing rapid growth and urban sprawl....
Man pleads guilty to poisoning bald eagles A Casa Grande man pleaded guilty to poisoning bald eagles using a pesticide applied to sheep carcasses. Jose Antonio Manterola II, 60, put down the pesticide in the Garland Prairie area of northern Arizona in 2002. Around the same time, a dozen bald eagles were discovered, apparently after having eaten the pesticide-laced carcasses, said the Fish and Wildlife Service. Dave McKenna of Fish and Wildlife's law enforcement branch said investigators believe Manterola put the pesticide down to kill predators, not necessarily eagles. Still, the application was illegal. He pleaded guilty to violating the Eagle Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act....
Lawsuits filed over status of prairie dogs White-tailed prairie dogs, a species native to Utah County, will soon be the subject of a federal lawsuit. The Colorado-based Center for Native Ecosystems will likely issue a notice of intent to sue by the end of the month, said Erin Robertson, biologist for the organization. Any organization that intends to sue over an alleged violation of the Endangered Species Act must file a notice two months before suing, according to federal law. The lawsuit comes after a November U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to deny a 2002 petition to give the white-tailed prairie dog protective status under the Endangered Species Act....
Rare plant species nearly wiped out by culvert work crew One of California's rarest plants was nearly wiped out of existence when Marin County workers used a backhoe to clear a plugged roadside drain in the species' sole habitat. The Baker's larkspur, a purplish plant that blooms April through May and grows up to 2 feet tall, is found in only one place in the world: near a a drain along the Marshall-Petaluma Road in western Marin County. Last October, heavy rain pushed debris down a hillside into the culvert, backing it up and flooding the road. When county crews came out to clear the roadside drain with the backhoe, they cut into the hillside at the exact spot where most of the Baker's larkspur were growing. Within minutes, the population of 100 plants was reduced to five....
OK Senator Introduces New Conservation Initiative Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, introduced today the "Partners for Fish and Wildlife Act of 2005." The Partners Program has been a successful voluntary partnership program that helps private landowners restore fish and wildlife habitat on their own lands. The Inhofe bill would codify this program into law by providing additional funding and added stability....
Geese deaths baffle experts State wildlife officials are investigating the unexplained deaths of geese in rural Marion County. About 150 Canada geese were found dead Friday at a private pond owned by Morse Bros. rock products. Three months ago, about 30 dead birds were discovered near Staats Lake, a private lake in Keizer. Officials suspect the birds may have died from something they ate, because it doesn't appear that anything in the pond or lake killed them. Only cackling Canada geese, a small subspecies of the larger Canada goose, were affected, High said. Other varieties of birds, including ducks, gulls and three other species of geese were alive and well in both bodies of water....
State tightens historic site policy The State Historic Preservation Office has changed, without any direct public input, guidelines that affect how all development on federal lands -- from road construction to oil exploration -- can navigate the remains of Wyoming's rich cultural history. The new policy, outlined in an unpublished one-page e-mail to archaeologists dated Jan. 3, makes it more difficult for an area to qualify as an "archaeological site." Designation of an archaeological site can slow the pace of development considerably, and sometimes, although rarely, stop it altogether. The change follows a shakeup of the historic preservation office last year that was intended to streamline the review process before the state received a crush of applications for coal-bed methane exploration....
Budgets chop away at park funds Not so long ago, protecting visitors to Yosemite National Park from marauding bears might have been seen as an essential duty of the National Park Service. Not in these days of tight federal budgets. When it came to putting 2,000 new bear-proof food lockers at the popular California park's campgrounds and trailheads, the job fell to the Yosemite Fund, a private, non-profit group that provides millions every year to supplement government funding. With the cash-strapped park service struggling to keep up with basic needs, parks from the Sierra Nevada to the coast of Maine are increasingly relying on private donations from park "friends" groups such as the Yosemite Fund. Park-support groups used to provide the icing, but now it's the cake, too, says Bill Wade, former superintendent of Shenandoah National Park....
CLARK COUNTY FEDERAL LAND SALES: Proposal would cost Nevada President Bush will propose in his budget next week to divert millions of dollars from Clark County federal land sales to offset mounting deficits, according to budget documents and congressional officials. The 2006 budget the president will unveil Monday asks Congress to change federal law to direct into the treasury 70 percent of profits from land sales, which are set aside for land acquisitions, environmental restoration, parks and recreation projects in Nevada. The Bush administration plans to argue that federal land sales in booming Las Vegas are raising more money than ever imagined when Congress passed a 1998 law that established the sales and ordered the profits distributed within Nevada....
Editorial: Artificial scarcity in the land of plenty Ever find yourself staring in disbelief at the utility bill, wonder why it's so high? The thumbnail explanation most often given is that natural gas prices are soaring as demand outpaces supply. But exactly what's curtailing supply is harder to get a handle on — at least until now. An exhaustively comprehensive look at the supply end of the equation is offered in a new report issued by the University of Chicago's Argonne National Laboratory, an objective and credible source with no dog in the fight. At 115 densely packed pages, it's the kind of wonkish read that might put most people to sleep. For others, however, it will be an eye opener, as the lab attempts to catalog the maddening thicket of environmental regulations that combine to create a natural gas crunch (some call it a "crisis") in a country in which it is plentiful, and have led to a growing dependence on gas imports. Among the laws, regulations or land management practices that prohibit, delay, discourage or add costs to domestic natural gas development are the Endangered Species Act, various Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management policies, Clinton-era national monument designations and drilling moratoria off the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes and in parts of the Rocky Mountains. The Clinton "roadless rule" also is cited as a factor, as is the practice of managing millions of acres of public land as de-facto wilderness areas, even though the areas have never officially been designated as such....
Trust fund to restore oceans not likely, House chairman says A $4 billion trust fund to protect and improve the nation's oceans is probably not going to happen, a key House committee chairman said Wednesday, casting doubt on a top recommendation of the president's ocean commission. "There may be some money that we can shake loose to fund some of the recommendations the ocean commission has, but is it $4 billion? I don't see where we get that," House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said in an interview with The Associated Press. "In today's budget environment I'm not sure we can do that." Pombo's committee has jurisdiction over ocean-related issues and would write legislation to implement the recommendations delivered last spring by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Key among them was the proposed trust fund that would draw on royalty and other payments that now go to the Treasury from offshore oil and gas drilling....
Report: Mike Horse Dam could fail again Heavy runoff from a spring storm in 1975 tore through the tailings pond dam at the Mike Horse Mine on the headwaters of the Blackfoot River 15 miles northeast of Lincoln. Mine tailings contaminated with heavy metals, including high concentrations of zinc and iron, were flushed into the upper Blackfoot. The result, says Ron Pierce, a fisheries biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, "was an acute toxic event," which caused a major fish kill in the upper Blackfoot. Native westslope cutthroat trout were particularly hard hit, he says. After the Mike Horse Mine tailings dam failed in 1975, a new earthen dam was constructed to contain the remaining tailings. But a draft report released in January by U.S. Forest Service engineers indicates that the Mike Horse dam is slowly deteriorating and again could pose a threat to the Blackfoot River. The Forest Service report recommends that the dam should "eventually be taken out of service."....
Ecoartists: Engaging Communities in a New Metaphor Ecological art, or ecoart, is a blend of environmental activism, art, and community organizing. Patricia Watts founded the nonprofit ecoartspace in 1997 to "use art as a tool." Watts envisions the ecoartist as equal parts educator, visionary, and environmental consultant. To make her point, she describes a number of intriguing participatory art projects. Artist Gregg Schlanger, for example, working on a commission from the Providence Office of Cultural Affairs, paid local teens minimum wage to help him cast 200 concrete sculptures of animals on Rhode Island's list of endangered species, which includes a range of animals from the bobcat to the Atlantic salmon. In a much quieter project, artist Erica Fielder created large hats that double as birdfeeders....
Cowboys on the clock It used to be being a cowboy was a full-time job. It not always is so now. Being a migrant cowboy, also known as an H-2A worker, is a nine-months-a-year job. H-2A is a government classification for nonimmigrant agriculture workers. Livestock workers receive nine-month visas through the program. Sheepherders can receive three-year visas. The restriction on the time foreign livestock workers can stay in the United States is creating a hardship on some ranchers. At a meeting in January, members of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association began discussing whether the time frame for hiring livestock workers needs to be extended. The association formed a subcommittee to begin looking into the issue....
State of Washington begins registering farms, ranches as part of program to track livestock State agriculture officials have begun the process of assigning identification numbers to farms and ranches - a precursor to a broader animal identification system aimed at making it easier to track livestock in the future. In Washington state, farmers and ranchers will receive a unique identification number for farms and other property, such as grazing sites, where livestock are kept. The program initially is limited to beef and dairy cattle, sheep, swine and poultry farms, but it eventually will be expanded to include all food animals, Dr. Leonard Eldridge, state veterinarian, said in a news release Wednesday....
Canada Study Finds No Feed Ban Infractions: CFIA A microscopic study of Canadian livestock feed ingredients found animal materials in vegetable-based feed but did not find any deliberate infractions of rules to prevent mad cow disease, a report said on Wednesday. Inspectors found most of the feed mills in the study followed strict procedures for upholding a 1997 ban on feeding protein made from cattle and other ruminant livestock back to cattle, a senior official from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said. "We did not find anything that causes us to reconsider how we understand the (feed) ban to be functioning or what it's achieving," Billy Hewett told Reuters....