NEWS ROUNDUP

Woman killed in Sierra Nevada avalanche A cross-country skier was killed after she became trapped by a backcountry avalanche in the Sierra Nevada, authorities said. The woman was skiing with a party of 11 people when the avalanche occurred Sunday morning in steep, rugged terrain between the Sugar Bowl and Squaw Valley ski resorts north of Lake Tahoe, Placer County sheriff's Sgt. Dave Wells said. The victim's name and hometown were not immediately released. Two other members of the party were trapped by the avalanche, but they escaped unharmed after emerging from the snow relatively quickly, Wells said....
Spotted frogs rebound in Oregon The spotted frog, a candidate for the federal threatened and endangered species list since 1991, appears to be making a comeback in parts of Oregon. Biologists Christopher Pearl and Jay Bowerman are already counting down until mid-March, when the frogs are expected to emerge from their winter resting spots and migrate toward a shallow pond to mate. Pearl and Bowerman have spent the past five years studying a population of Oregon spotted frogs that was transplanted downstream on the Deschutes River from its former home at Wickiup Dam....
Conservation group considers seeking protection for Sonoran Desert tortoises A conservation group is deciding whether to ask the federal government to list the Sonoran Desert tortoise as an endangered species. New Mexico-based Forest Guardians says it has been analyzing the tortoises for two years. If Sonoran tortoises were listed, they could affect land use across a broad swath of Arizona south and west of a line roughly extending from Kingman to Phoenix to Tucson. In Southern California, management of Mojave Desert tortoise habitat has been the subject of bitter court fights among environmentalists, ranchers, off-road vehicle groups and government agencies. In Las Vegas, the tortoise has forced developers to pay a $550-per-acre fee to support habitat conservation in outlying areas in exchange for the right to build near the city.
Nevada acquires habitat for threatened fish in Nye County State wildlife officials have acquired habitat considered crucial for recovery of a threatened fish in Railroad Valley about 100 miles east of Tonopah. With the help of a federal grant, the state acquired 460 acres next to the Railroad Valley Wildlife Management Area for $750,000, state wildlife officials said. The land to be managed by the Nevada Department of Wildlife features three major spring systems containing the Railroad Valley springfish. The Trust for Public Land based in San Francisco arranged the purchase from a private landowner. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Recovery Lands Acquisition Program provided the bulk of the funding, while the state kicked in $190,000....
Older Fish Spawn Better Than Younger Ones Recent studies show that larger, older fish produce more eggs and surviving offspring than younger fish, researchers said yesterday, adding that policymakers need to protect broader swaths of the ocean to preserve these efficient spawners. Steven Berkeley, a research biologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who described his findings at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, said sustained overharvesting of Pacific rockfish and other species is undermining these populations' ability to recover. "We're really running up a debt, and it's becoming harder to repay it," said Berkeley, who found that a 31.5-inch Bocaccio rockfish produces 10 times as many larvae as one that spans nearly 20 inches, and the larger fish's offspring were more than three times as likely to flourish."....
Freudenthal asks Park Service to postpone Yellowstone road work Plans to close Yellowstone National Park's east entrance for road construction should be postponed to help the area's businesses recover from unplanned closures in 2003 and 2004, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said in a letter to park Superintendent Suzanne Lewis. The closures are planned in May and October. Freudenthal thinks they should wait until 2007, particularly given the absence of a federal highway bill....
Lost Coast Finds New Guardians Pounding waves scour these jutting headlands, dredging rock and sand into the surf. The rain-soaked hillsides periodically shrug, sending tons of land into the path of the waves. The sea reciprocates by regurgitating sand up on the ever-shifting beach. Nature's primitive architecture defines this 26-mile run of spectacular coast, the longest stretch of undeveloped coastline in the continental U.S. Its compelling landscape is the centerpiece of an ambitious wilderness bill that would bestow the nation's highest protections on an area known as the Lost Coast in Humboldt County. Like the coast itself, supporters of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act say, this bill is special. The more than 300,000 acres of federal land have been hand-selected for their beauty, suitability and broad base of support, including that of local ranchers, hunters and California's largest homebuilder....
A Timber Giant Threatens to Topple The demise of Pacific Lumber — with its own town and the world's largest privately owned groves of ancient redwoods — would strike Humboldt County like a 300-foot redwood toppling to the forest floor. Pacific Lumber remains the biggest taxpayer and private employer, with friends and former employees in key places in county government and the state Capitol. The company supports charities and community affairs — and offers college scholarships to employees' children. Since the early 1990s, Pacific Lumber has been at the center of one of the country's longest and most volatile environmental battles over the fate of some of the world's tallest trees and the wildlife they support. To end the strife, six years ago the state and federal governments made a $480-million deal for 7,500 acres of Pacific Lumber's oldest, grandest trees, creating the new Headwaters Preserve. The deal also required the firm to limit logging on its remaining 200,000 acres. But now the company contends that the terms are a huge financial burden and that it can't get enough logging permits to turn a profit....
U.S. move signals hope for saving marine habitats Seeking to protect deep-sea coral beds and other sensitive fish habitat, a U.S. federal fishing council banned bottom trawling this month over more than 370,000 square miles off Alaska's Aleutian Islands, the largest such action taken anywhere in the world. In bottom trawling, fishing boats drag huge nets and steel plates along the ocean floor for miles in very deep water near mountains known as seamounts that rise from the sea floor, hunting species such as fluke, cod and mackerel. The nets catch everything in their path, digging out deep-sea corals and sponge forests that scientists think may be essential to the ecosystem....
Great Salt Lake Mercury Levels Alarming Scientists Federal scientists studying the Great Salt Lake have found some of the highest levels of mercury ever measured anywhere -prompting concern about some of the migratory birds that feed on the lake's brine shrimp. U.S. Geological Survey and Fish and Wildlife Service researchers were initially gathering information on selenium in the lake, but decided also to test the samples for mercury. Concentrations of methylmercury _ the element's most poisonous form _ exceeded 25 nanograms per liter of water. Fish consumption warnings have been issued when there was just 1 nanogram per liter....
Column: Feds deep-six water use penalty Colorado water users owe a debt of gratitude to Sen. Wayne Allard for his leadership and dogged determination on their behalf. Thanks to Allard, the U.S. Forest Service recently committed to discontinue its infrequent but outrageous practice of demanding Colorado farmers, ranchers, and municipalities relinquish a portion of their water rights when renewing permits for existing water diversion structures on national forest lands. Previously, the Forest Service could require Colorado water right owners to forgo a significant portion of their historical water supply simply to renew an existing permit to continue operating historical water diversion structures located on Forest Service land. While defending the environment is a sound mission, doing so by taking water from cities, farms, ranches, and other historical water users is not....
Senator seeks records from groups critical of Bush clean-air plan The Republican head of the Senate's environment committee directed two national organizations to turn over their financial records after they criticized President Bush's plan for cutting air pollution. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., also requested membership lists and tax returns in a letter to the groups' representative who told a Senate subcommittee last month that Bush's Clear Skies Initiative was too lenient and undermined state efforts to regulate emissions. The organizations said the action was meant to intimidate opponents....
Panelists Decry Bush Science Policies The voice of science is being stifled in the Bush administration, with fewer scientists heard in policy discussions and money for research and advanced training being cut, according to panelists at a national science meeting. Speakers at the national meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science expressed concern Sunday that some scientists in key federal agencies are being ignored or even pressured to change study conclusions that don't support policy positions. The speakers also said that Bush's proposed 2005 federal budget is slashing spending for basic research and reducing investments in education designed to produce the nation's future scientists. And there also was concern that increased restrictions and requirements for obtaining visas is diminishing the flow to the U.S. of foreign-born science students who have long been a major part of the American research community....
Smokeless but Still Tobacco More people chew tobacco in Wyoming than in any other state except West Virginia, health officials say. Five percent of young women, 21% of high school boys and 17% of adult men use it. Last week, Wyoming launched "Through With Chew Week," an effort to make what's called spit, smokeless, snuff or chewing tobacco less popular. Educators, dentists and cancer patients traveled throughout the state trying to persuade users to spit it out for good. That's not an easy task in a state where the cowboy ethos reigns supreme and thumbing one's nose at outside authority is a cherished tradition....
Looming problem in rural America: Who will care for the cows? The story ends happily because Thorp was in the right place at the right time — on Sterly's farm in this Emmet County township near Petoskey. But in northern Michigan and many rural areas across the nation, the availability of veterinarians willing to treat large farm animals is increasingly uncertain. As older practitioners retire, younger vets show less interest in large-animal care, creating what some in the profession describe as a growing shortage. Farm organizations are worried, and agriculture experts say the problem could affect the nation's ability to handle outbreaks of catastrophic animal diseases. "We do see a trend and it's quite alarming," says Ray Stock, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). His group is among sponsors of a Kansas State University study to determine the extent of the problem....
Cowboy boot theft baffles owner, artists Call it the Zero Road Mystery: Why would anyone steal a cowboy boot? Particularly this cowboy boot: It's 8 feet tall, weighs about 150 pounds and is brightly painted with pictures of rodeo clowns. When Dr. Leslie Madden went to bed on Friday night it was there in her front yard at 8016 Zero Road west of Casper, where the sculpture has been since she bought the unique artwork in October at a Cheyenne Frontier Days fund-raiser. The hollow sculpture, which is made of fiberglass, was bolted to a rectangular box made of railroad ties....
Tie-down roper secures title in money time Veteran tie-down roper Jeff Chapman has historically won money at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and Sunday was no different. This time he won his second championship as the 16-day rodeo came to a close before a packed house at the SBC Center. The event came down to a climactic finish after Chapman's 8.9-second run left it up to seven-time world champion Fred Whitfield to try to unseat him. Whitfield, who has won five titles here, came roaring out of the box, but just seconds too soon, breaking the barrier and eliminating him from the title run. He had been leading the aggregate for nearly two weeks....
Riding her dream She was born into a big city, high society life, with a Vassar education in opera and a Yalie husband. But she yearned to be a cowgirl. "I hated the New York City life from the minute I was born," says famed rodeo photographer Louise Serpa, who has made Tucson her home for the past 45 years. Far from the big city lights, Serpa made an indelible mark on the world as the first female rodeo photographer, dodging hooves and horns in arenas around the globe. This week may mark the last time she enters the arena to shoot the events of her beloved Tucson Rodeo (La Fiesta de los Vaqueros), which she has photographed for more than 40 years. Serpa, 79, suffers from what she calls creeping decrepitude. Her knees are going, and she has a bad hip. She says the majority of rodeo folks take one look and think "what is that old lady doing out in the arena?" But her work remains unequaled. Serpa is the recipient of the 2002 Tad Lucas Memorial Award through the Rodeo Historical Society, and was inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Her work is among the collections of the likes of Ralph Lauren....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Good looks can cloud a cowboy's mind Sometimes a cowboy will ride a good-lookin' bad horse for longer than it makes sense. This flawed thinking may have a more universal application, i.e., hangin' on to a pickup, dog or girlfriend long after they've bit you or konked out. It's even worse when the injured party thinks he can make a good horse, dog or wife out of a pretty renegade. Roy was a California cowboy and an experienced horseman. Out of respect, the boss had given him the big, fancy 3-year-old bay to use in his string. He was green-broke, cinchy, snorty and antsy, but he looked so good in his white stockings and star....