NEWS ROUNDUP

Awarding bison management to Native American tribes hits an outsourcing nerve The bison is a cultural icon for Native Americans, who lived for centuries alongside the woolly beasts. But an 18-month contract that handed over responsibility for hundreds of Montana bison to nearby tribes on March 15 is anything but a return to tradition, say wildlife professionals who oppose it. Critics see the controversial deal between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council, based in Pablo, Mont., as part of the current push to privatize federal land and jobs, jeopardizing wildlife by replacing scientists and experts with private contractors. "Our national system is beginning to be broken down and piecemealed away," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Washington D.C.-based Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Refuge managers nationwide have denounced the move to outsource duties formerly handled by the Fish and Wildlife Service as ineffective and costly....
State appeals wolf ruling The state is appealing a federal judge's order dismissing its lawsuit against the federal government over wolf management, Attorney General Pat Crank said Monday. Crank said the state is also looking at petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho from protection under the Endangered Species Act. "We're still doing some research, but we'll probably proceed down both courses at the same time," he said. Crank said a notice of appeal was filed Friday....
Forest, lake closures help bald eagles mate Bald eagles have returned to Whiskeytown and other north state reservoirs this spring, building treetop nests that biologists hope will each cradle at least one tiny fledgling in a month or so. Fierce spring storms sometimes blow nests out of the trees. Changing lake levels at larger reservoirs like Shasta make it harder to find fish to pluck from the water. The buzz of boats or the heavy footsteps of hikers can prompt an eagle to abandon its nest. That's why the public is usually kept at least a quarter-mile away from nest sites. Buoys are set out in the water to keep boats at a safe distance. Those nests are sometimes impressive. The largest bald eagle nest on record was nearly 10 feet wide, 20 feet tall and about 6,000 pounds, according to U.S. Forest Service publications. There were once fewer than 30 pairs of bald eagles in the entire state. Now the Shasta-Trinity National Forest alone has about 40 pairs....
Ecosystem losing critical piece Herring swim in such large groups that biologists measure them in tons. And over the last 30 years, tons of the small, silvery, schooling fish have disappeared from Puget Sound. Throughout the Sound, adult herring are dying off years earlier than normal. And a herring stock that used to be one of the Puget Sound’s largest might become extinct, despite limits on commercial fishing....
How Foxes in the Aleutian Henhouse Doomed Islands' Plant Life oxes may not graze, but a new scientific study describes how their arrival on Aleutian islands destroyed rich grasslands and left only sparse tundra. The authors of the report, which appeared in Science last week, say this transformation shows how an entire ecosystem may go into a tailspin if just one new top carnivore shows up. The inadvertent experiment began in the late 1700's and continued into the early 20th century as fur traders looking to expand their supply released nonnative arctic foxes and, in some cases, red foxes on more than 400 Alaskan islands. Some died out, but many populations survived. The new habitats included much of the Aleutian archipelago that curves west toward Asia. Except for the occasional polar bear rafting in on winter ice, the windswept islands had few predators before. The botanical impoverishment that has resulted is the reverse of what usually happens when a new meat-eater comes along....
Successor named for parks police chief A former Durham police officer was named Monday as chief of the U.S. Park Police, replacing a former Durham police chief who was dismissed from the federal post last year. Dwight Pettiford, who has been acting chief for the past year, will succeed Teresa Chambers, who was fired as chief of the police force for the National Park Service in July. Pettiford joined the park service in 2002 after rising through the ranks to major at the Durham police department. He followed Chambers to Washington as one of her two deputies after Chambers took over as park police head in 2002....
BLM rangers pelted with eggs at Sand Mt. over weekend Three major accidents, two arrests and personal attacks on Bureau of Land Management rangers marred a crowded Easter weekend at Sand Mountain, 30 miles east of Fallon. A BLM official estimated there were 2,500 people at the popular off-road recreation area between Thursday and Sunday. Elayn Briggs, associate field manager for the BLM, said extra park rangers were sent to Sand Mt. after raw eggs were thrown at rangers enforcing the law and at their vehicles. The egg-throwing occurred Thursday night, Briggs said. On Friday, there were eight rangers patrolling the area....
Army Corps: 'Glades work bogged down A frank internal memo from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers paints a troubling picture of the Everglades' restoration at the five-year mark. Bogged down by paperwork. Over budget. Behind schedule. And plagued by congressional skepticism and negative perceptions on Capitol Hill about its direction. The March 7 memo from Gary Hardesty, Corps of Engineers Everglades project manager in Washington, D.C., bluntly points out that while the Army Corps has been immersed in preparing restoration rules and other documents, "We haven't built a single project during the first five years ... we've missed almost every milestone." The memo, released last week by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, was written to guide Corps of Engineers colleagues as they prepare a mandatory five-year update on restoration progress for Congress, an assessment due at the end of this year. But coming directly from an Army Corps official, the admissions and warnings it contains could provide more ammunition for restoration critics on Capitol Hill to draw money and support away from the $8.4 billion project the state and federal government are paying for 50-50. The memo says the project is beset with questions about its scientific underpinnings, about computer projections of its potential impacts and about its ballooning costs, including a potential $1 billion increase in the tab for the first four projects....
State officials shed light on potential 'shroom boom Alaska has a history of booms--fur, gold, oil. This summer could see another--a 'shroom boom. Morel mushrooms, treasured for French cooking, thrive on land a year after it's disturbed by forest fires. Alaska set records in scorched earth last year. More than 6.5 million acres burned, mostly in Alaska's Interior, the vast middle swath between the Brooks Range in the north and the Alaska Range in the south. With the right moisture and temperatures, Alaska could witness a morel gold rush in late spring. "That is what we're hoping on," said Jay Moore of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. "It really depends on environmental factors."....
Column: Water is at once a beverage and a utility These disturbing facts have set off a storm in the water industry, which is fragmented among water suppliers, treatment companies, technology and equipment firms, and bottlers. Water is at once a beverage and a utility. If there's confusion as to how to assess water, its need is certainly clear. Without it, we as humans die within about a week. Moreover, its potability is a huge factor in fighting disease. For example, one of the major health concerns after the Asian tsunami crisis was water-related infection. The increase in population, combined with limited source supply, make water an increasingly valued commodity. And that isn't lost on the capital markets. The Dow Jones US Water Index is up 18.6 percent over the past year. And there is a race to capture market share among municipalities, multinational concerns and US industrial corporations to get in on the water industry's growth....
Definition of 'Ditch' Is Muddy at Best Under the 1972 Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have jurisdiction over whether a ditch qualifies to be protected as a wetland. The Corps considers whether a ditch is an isolated, non-navigable waterway open to development or a navigable U.S. waterway that deserves protection. This can include consideration of whether a ditch is a tributary, as some courts have ruled, and, thus, part of a U.S. waterway. Seem a little confusing? The distinctions and interpretations are left up to the Corps, which issues permits to protect wetlands from pollutants. The extent of its power has been controversial since the Supreme Court in 2001 struck down a "migratory bird rule" that gave regulators expansive authority to protect any kind of wetland used by a bird. The court said isolated, intrastate, non-navigable waters that have no connection to other waters could not be considered protected wetland in that circumstance. At stake is the fate of thousands of miles of such isolated wetland, including the kinds of ditches that run along highways or drain farmland....
Clear Lake water users may go dry Irrigators in the Bonanza area are working with federal water managers to find ways to avoid what appears to be a disastrous summer ahead. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials met Friday with Langell Valley and Horsefly irrigation district officials to discuss low water levels in Clear Lake. Officials have said the low water could mean no water for irrigation from the lake this year. Now discussion is on hold until next month when the Bureau comes out with its operations plan, which will set forth who will get how much water for the growing season....
Major war brewing over efforts to save Spokane River Few cities have waterfalls thundering through the downtown core. Even fewer have one like Spokane's, which can be - and often is - shut off at the spigot. Facing a rare opportunity to reshape the Spokane River, environmental groups are pressing demands that water should be used for fish and natural aesthetics rather than strictly to generate electricity and carry pollution. The fight over this relatively short and obscure river is a microcosm of what is happening across the West, where scarce water is the prize in many battles....
Environmentalists Fight Transfer Of Water To LA Suburbs A pair of environmental groups are suing to prevent shipments of water from Central Valley farms to some of Southern California's rapidly growing suburbs. About 41,000-acre feet of water per year is destined for the Castaic Lake Water Agency. It goes to the agency's customers in northern Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County as well as to future developments in the rapidly growing Santa Clarita Valley. The agency paid nearly $46 million for the water in 1999, and transfers began the following year. Some of the water is being used, some is being stored, and still more is being set aside to accommodate future development....
Fishing: The New Resource War Until the mid-20th century, the ocean was a key watery terrain of conflict between competing colonial powers seeking to expand their control over territories and natural resources. Today, the ocean is again a renewed place of conflict. This time it is a battle of small-scale subsistence fishermen battling governments and industrial fishing companies to whom their traditional fishing rights have been given away. These battles, raging from Canada to Chile to Scotland to Taiwan, are the newest round of global resource wars....
Eco-Lessons Taught in a Surfer-Girl Patois eated in the choicest nook in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont hotel in Los Angeles recently, the actress Cameron Diaz was attended to by chiseled waiters who apparently knew her dietary tastes and needs. In Hollywood's hierarchical taxonomy, Ms. Diaz is at the top of the food chain. So why was she eating her arugula and proscuitto with her fingers? "I embarrass myself on a day-to-day basis," said Ms. Diaz, 32, laughing. "And happily so. It keeps me humble." Just back from two weeks in Tanzania, she was readjusting to American ways and bubbling with enthusiasm for what had actually been a solemn mission. She had been in Africa finishing the location shooting for "Trippin," her unscripted MTV travelogue with a save-the-planet goal that has its premiere tonight. "Trippin" combines school and recess, as Ms. Diaz leads celebrity adventurers to wild places in ecological jeopardy. This isn't nature photography à la Jacques Cousteau or Marlin Perkins; instead, the show invites viewers to be part of an eco-entourage....
Herding cats ... Jackpot prepares for 'Cat Roundup' Leaders of this casino town along the Idaho-Nevada border think they've found a possible solution to their feral cat problem. Gene Frank, chairman of the Jackpot Advisory Board, is spearheading a "Cat Roundup" scheduled for April 12 and 13. "Our hope is to trap and release around 100 to 200 during this two-day program," Frank said. The U.S. Humane Society's nonprofit Rural Area Veterinary Service branch, known as RAVS, is sponsoring the roundup. Volunteers will employ the Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage method, or TNR-M, in which the cats will be caught, neutered and released without being harmed. The program's goal is to stabilize the size of feral cat groups and to achieve a gradual decline of the population....
Cowboy Classic coming April 15-17 The Wild West may have been tamed a long time ago, but it has never gone away. Western culture is still alive and well, particularly here in the heart of Oklahoma. With that in mind, there is no better place than the Grady County Fairgrounds in Chickasha for the home of the Oklahoma Cowboy Classic, which offers a weekend full of events on April 15, April 16 and April 17 that showcases and honors the heart of the American West - cowboys and cowgirls and the ranches that employ them. The Oklahoma Cowboy Classic ranch rodeo brings together ranchers, both large and small, from several surrounding states. They know of no other ranch rodeo that has the number of ranches and participants that the Oklahoma Cowboy Classic has, making theirs one of the largest ranch rodeos in the United States. There will be three sessions on Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night with a total of thirty-six teams....
Las Vegas 'stolen' from Arizona by Nevada You've probably heard the old saw: "Of all the things I've lost over the years, I think I miss my mind the most." For Arizona, the answer might be Pah-Ute County. Or, as it's known these days, Clark County, Nev. - the home of Las Vegas, fastest-growing city in the fastest-growing state in the nation, and celebrating its 100th anniversary May 15. Nevada, which became a state in 1864, "acquired" (or as Arizona Territory residents of the time phrased it, "stole") the northwest corner of Arizona in 1867 with the help of another bunch of confirmed ne'er-do-wells: Congress. The real estate in question amounted to 12,000 square miles - an area larger than the state of Maryland, according to late Tucson cartographer/artist/historian Donald Bufkin, who authored "The Lost County of Pah-Ute" in a 1964 volume of the Journal of Arizona History....
It's All Trew: A shine on your shoes can make your day My favorite story is during the Civil War, most military boots were made on the same cast with no difference between left and right feet. To get a fit, you soaked the new boots in water overnight then wore them until they became dry thus forming them to your feet. The Army at that time used stove blacking as polish. A doctor raised in Wellington told of his mother's shoe habits in the late 1890s. She let the dishpan water sit until cold, then poured it on her flowers. The greasy ring left in the pan was applied to her shoes keeping them soft and supple. To prepare for a trip to town, she turned a stove plate over and applied the black suet to her shoes for polish....

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