NEWS ROUNDUP

Environmentalists sue Bush administration over new forest rules Environmentalists sued the Bush administration on Thursday over new rules for managing the 192 million acres of national forests. The rules issued in December give managers of the 155 national forests more discretion to approve logging and other commercial projects without lengthy environmental reviews. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, claims the rules water down protection of wildlife and the environment "to the point where they are virtually meaningless." The suit filed by San Francisco-based Earthjustice on behalf of a coalition of conservation groups said the rules fail to include important environmental protection measures mandated by Congress under a 1976 law, the National Forest Management Act. The suit contends the rules reverse more than 20 years of protection for wildlife and other resources without any scientific basis for doing so and removes requirements to use measurable standards to protect wildlife....
Forest Service Becoming Rogue Agency The U.S. Forest Service lost 44 court cases during the past two years in which the agency was found guilty of violating environmental laws by a federal court, according to an internal memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The rate of adverse court findings has been steadily growing with each passing year of the Bush Administration. The list of 44 cases, covering the period 2003 and 2004 fiscal years, is limited to cases where the court found both that the Forest Service violated the law and that its position could not be “substantially justified.” In those instances, the agency was ordered to pay the attorney fees of the environmental group bringing the lawsuit. As a result, the Forest Service made payments to environmental groups totaling $2.2 million over the last two years. “More than once every two weeks, the Forest Service is found by a federal judge to be violating the very laws it is supposed to be enforcing,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “The Forest Service is becoming a rogue agency.” The agency figures point to a growing rate of court rulings against the agency, with 27 adverse rulings in FY 04 and 17 adverse rulings in FY 03. An online search of federal court decisions in cases where the Forest Service was a defendant showed 10 adverse rulings in 2002 and only 4 in 2001. The totals for prior years were even smaller with the highest total for any year back to 1994 being 3 adverse rulings....
Suit seeks to protect Utah's state fish Utah's state fish is in serious trouble, according to environmental groups. Now they're pressing their claim in court. The Center for Biological Diversity, Pacific Rivers Council and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance filed suit Thursday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to protect the Bonneville cutthroat trout as a threatened or endangered species. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, seeks to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to list the species under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act - a call the agency rejected in 2001 after conducting a status review of the fish....
Forest road gates ineffective, report finds Gates on forest roads are not doing much to keep vehicles out, according to a new report, and that could prove problematic for grizzly bears and other sensitive species. "Our survey shows that the land management agencies' reliance on gates to secure habitat for wildlife is faulty and does nothing to restore water quality and fish habitat," said Arlene Montgomery, who added that "the bottom line is that gates are simply not effective - and that isn't good for bears, big game or other wildlife." Montgomery is program director of Friends of the Wild Swan, one of a trio of conservation groups that sponsored the 2004 review of Swan Valley road closures. The idea, she said, was to "provide some good data" land managers could use in deciding how best to secure wildlife habitat in roaded forests. The survey, she said, looked at some 256 road closures and found signs of vehicle trespass at more than half....
More layoffs at SPI's county mills About 150 sawmill and planer crew employees at Sierra Pacific Industries' Standard and Chinese Camp mills will be temporarily laid off in March and April, the Redding-based company announced this morning. Neither of the Tuolumne County mills have enough logs to keep the crews working, said SPI spokesman Ed Bond. He further said work at the two mills should resume by June or July, when logs again start coming in. "We don't know how temporary this is," Steve Sias, financial secretary for the Lumber and Sawmill Workers Local Union 2652, said this morning. "We're hoping there will be some change, but it all depends on the Forest Service plan." Workers blame the shortage on U.S. Forest Service limits on timber harvests....
Recreation Group Says TRAIL Act Will Keep Public Lands Open, Penalize Bad Behavior Americans for Responsible Recreational Access (ARRA) said today's introduction of the TRAIL Act of 2005 in the U.S. House of Representatives represents an important first step for all who pursue recreation on public lands in a responsible manner. "This bill is significant because it will keep public lands open to recreational pursuits," said ARRA Executive Director Larry E. Smith. "It will also provide for consistent penalties across all public lands agencies for those who would abuse our public lands. Instead of allowing those few who misbehave to deny opportunities to everyone, the TRAIL Act will make it possible to penalize the wrongdoers while keeping our public lands open to all." Mr. Smith said ARRA wished to thank the bill's sponsor, Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO), and co-sponsors Mark Udall (D-CO), Bob Beauprez (R-CO), Butch Otter (R-ID), Joel Hefley (R-CO), and Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), for their support of this legislation....
Man, 62, Faces Count of Assault on Rangers A High Desert man accused of threatening a National Park Service ranger with a rifle in the Mojave National Preserve as an 8-year-old boy stood in the line of fire was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Leo H. Spatziani, 62, was arrested Wednesday and charged with assaulting and impeding federal law enforcement officers. Spatziani and Robert C. Parker were approached by two rangers Saturday after authorities were alerted that Parker was using a trenching machine to dig in the preserve's Cut Springs area, according to an affidavit filed in the case. Parker and the National Park Service dispute ownership of the area, where Parker was allegedly digging a trench to provide water to his cabin, Mrozek said....
Three Wilderness Bills Clear Senate Committee Three key conservation bills sailed through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Wednesday, and now move to the Senate floor for a vote. The Senate committee cleared the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, introduced by California Democratic Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein to protect more than 300,000 acres and 21 miles of rivers in the northwest part of the state. The Wild Sky Wilderness Act, introduced by Washington Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to conserve 106,000 acres of scenic wild lands in the northern Cascade Mountain Range. And the Caribbean National Forest Act of 2005, introduced by New York Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer to create the El Toro Wilderness, 10,000 acres of tropical rainforest wilderness in Puerto Rico’s Caribbean National Forest....
First Privately Owned National Park Unit Enters New Phase The National Park Trust this week will officially transfer ownership of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve to the Kansas Park Trust, concluding its 11-year stewardship of the nation's first and only privately owned National Park unit which has been owned by the National Park Trust. Under the terms of the agreement, the Kansas Park Trust will transfer the 10,894-acre preserve to the Washington, D.C.-based Nature Conservancy. In 2004, Nature Conservancy received a $4.8 million gift from the estate of the late Frank and Francis Horton of Wellington, Kan. for the express purpose of preserving the tallgrass prairie. The Kansas Park Trust was formed in 2004 by a group that includes Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius....
Bill addresses bison policy Bison migrating from Yellowstone National Park should be managed as any other native wildlife, and giving Montana's fish and game agency responsibility for any public hunting is the first step toward that goal, a state lawmaker said Thursday. Rep. Brady Wiseman, D-Bozeman, said his bill would remove the state Livestock Department from any role in the hunting of bison. But it would still leave livestock officials responsible for controlling the animals by other means when they leave the park. His measure also would declare the bison "valued native wildlife" and remove from current law references to the fact that some of the animals carry brucellosis, a disease ranchers fear could cause cows to abort if transmitted from bison. Hal Harper, chief policy adviser to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, called the bill a "symbol" of the administration's desire to nudge the state's bison management policy toward one that recognizes the animals as wildlife....
Landowners cautioned on Measure 37 claims Casting a shadow over authorization of three more Measure 37 claims Wednesday, Jackson County commissioners cautioned property owners they could be stepping into a legal thicket. "There are a number of unanswered questions with Measure 37," Commissioner C.W. Smith told the landowners. Commissioners cautioned that even though they waived zoning restrictions, landowners’ claims still might require state approval, or the claims could be overturned by the courts, or there could be questions over whether landowners can transfer the claim in a land sale. "They (the claims) were approved in the face of a lot of unknowns," said Steve Rinkle, attorney for Jackson County. The measure gives property owners the right to file a claim that, if approved, would require a government agency to either pay for lost property value or provide a waiver of a zoning regulation....
RURAL RAGE: Some king county residents look at secession as the answer Over a breakfast of ham, eggs and cheese in his office, Enumclaw livestock auctioneer Ronald Mariotti accused King County of stealing his private property rights. “I’m very angry,” said 66-year-old Mariotti, who owns the Enumclaw Sales Pavilion. He took a bite of fried eggs delivered from the Branding Iron Cafe across the hall. The thought of tough new land-use restrictions doesn’t go down so easy. “How can seven people tell tens of thousands of people in unincorporated King County what to do with their land?” he said. Like many other residents in rural areas, Mariotti is fighting a majority of the King County Council. In October it passed a Critical Areas Ordinance that imposes strict clearing limits, wider stream buffers and other environmental regulations....
The miracle of birth three times over A Balzac-area rancher is still catching his breath after being given a once-in-a-lifetime bovine present. On Friday morning, when Don Francis checked on his heavily expectant AA Angus cow, he was delighted to find that she had given birth to two healthy little heifers. Because Francis had been expecting the ‘Annie’ to produce twins -- she was so huge, she couldn’t fit through the cattle chute and even had trouble making it into the barn -- he thought that was the end of the story. However, there was more to come and the cow soon delivered the third of the set, a bull calf, who made his entrance into the world with a little help from his humans. According to Doug Fee, CEO of the Canadian Angus Association, the numbers show just how special the event was. With 100,000 Angus cows registered in Canada each year, there have been only three recorded Angus triplets births across the country in the past 10 years....