NEWS ROUNDUP

Lawmakers seek fed land holdings audit Western lawmakers are preparing a new push to require the government to take stock of its land holdings and identify areas that are no longer needed and might be sold. "We have a lot of towns, people and ranches scattered through public lands," said Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah. "They need to expand their towns so they can grow and expand their tax base." A campaign to broaden western land disposal is being spearheaded by Cannon, who is head of the Western Congressional Caucus. The group's 54 members often express frustration at the massive federal presence in their states. Cannon is forming legislation that would direct the Secretary of Interior to create a master property database to account for more than 671 million acres the government manages. The Interior Department administers roughly 95 percent of federal lands, according to a 2000 report by the Congressional Research Service. Management of the remainder is scattered among the Defense Department, Energy Department and a host of other agencies. "If you don't know what you have, how can you know what you need to keep and what you can dispose of," Cannon said. The government manages almost two-thirds of Utah. Across the West, inspectors estimate the government is holding onto at least 5 million acres it could sell or convey to local communities, according to the General Services Administration, the federal landlord agency....
Curry's surface-rights bill faces important first vote State Rep. Kathleen Curry's bill to give landowners in western Garfield County more clout in negotiations with gas companies is scheduled to face an important first test Monday. Curry, the chairwoman of the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee, received special permission from the House Democratic leadership to delay a vote on her bill. The initial deadline for committee votes on bills has passed. She needed the extra time, she said, to try to shore up support for the measure. Curry is a Democrat from Gunnison whose district includes the entire Roaring Fork Valley and part of western Garfield County. She said she heard loud and clear from residents in the Silt and Rifle areas, where the natural gas boom is occurring, that they need help dealing with gas companies that want to drill on their land....
Commissioners pass wolf resolution Amid some praise and some protest, county commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday that may allow Socorro citizens greater power to protect themselves and their livestock from wolves outside of the wolf recovery area. The resolution also asked that the federal government take into consideration the wishes of the county to not expand the wolf recovery area beyond its current borders. The resolution states that Mexican gray wolves released under the Federal Wolf Recovery Program, starting in 1998, have killed livestock located on private land in the county but outside the designated recovery areas....
Plan to kill exotic deer in Point Reyes, Calif., sparks debate They are easily spotted from the road in Point Reyes National Seashore, lounging in fields and munching grass with little fear of predators. Introduced for hunting six decades ago, the fallow and axis deer are popular with tourists eager to see wildlife in the national park. But park rangers see them as an invasive species whose burgeoning numbers threaten native deer and elk, devour excessive amounts of vegetation, hurt agriculture and possibly spread disease. Now, Point Reyes officials want to eliminate more than 1,000 nonnative deer, using shotguns and contraception, from the 71,000-acre park about 40 miles north of San Francisco....
Closing roads, making trails Medicine Bow National Forest officials plan to close 267 miles of "unclassified" roads and add more than 100 miles of off-highway-vehicle trails. "It's almost certainly going to be controversial," said Paul Blackman, a recreation planner for the Forest Service. "We are designating 67 miles of motorcycle trails and 43 miles of ATV roads and for some people, that can be a hard thing to swallow." On the other hand, the Forest Service plans to close 267 miles of so-called unclassified roads, which are "user-created" roads not officially sanctioned by the Forest Service....
New users sought for public lands Kelly McGrath, 25, moved to Oregon from Ohio for the things that make the region special: mountains and coastline, salmon and deer, dripping moss and towering trees. "I dove headfirst [into the outdoors]," she said. "I moved here for the mountains and the coast." And now, she spends most of her time rock climbing, backpacking and mountain biking. More Pacific Coast residents spend their time hiking, backpacking, visiting nature centers and sightseeing than in any other region in the country, according to a U.S. Forest Service recreation survey conducted 10 years ago. More also visit beaches, study nature, sail and kayak. But teenagers and minorities are historically not in the mix....
Huntsman names public lands coordinator When it comes to public land policy, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants Utah to speak with one voice - the voice of San Juan County Commission Chairman Lynn Stevens. Huntsman's office announced Stevens' appointment as the coordinator of public lands policy Friday. He will assume his new post on May 15. Stevens will oversee the newly created office that will express the state's view on issues pertaining to federal agencies such as the Park Service, Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. The public policy coordination office will consolidate state workers who are now employed by the Governor's Office, Attorney General's Office, Natural Resources Department and the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration....
6 men buried but survive avalanches Six men were buried but able to escape two separate avalanches Friday as Utah's backcountry mountains reacted to the large amounts of new snow that fell throughout the week. One slide broke near Cardiff Fork on the south side of Big Cottonwood Canyon just before 4 p.m. Three cross-country skiers were hit by the slide, which they said came at them through the trees. Their equipment was tossed around, and their skis were detached from their feet, said Sgt. Mike Morgan from Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office. He said Bruce Meisenheimer, 48, Draper, was able to find two skis and used them to ski down to the highway, where he called 911 from a cell phone....
Forest Service jobs moving to New Mexico A significant migration of federal jobs is under way as the U.S. Forest Service transfers hundreds of positions from regional offices across Montana and the West to a centralized office in Albuquerque, N.M. The jobs aren't leaving all at once. Some have already gone; others might not go until 2006, said Paula Nelson, a Forest Service information officer in Missoula. There is no solid figure, she said Friday. The effected fields include information technology, financial management and human resources, Nelson said. Many of the jobs are in small towns at Forest Service ranger stations. Not many are in the same place. Gupton's union says about 400 jobs in all are moving....
Snowmobile ban may be lifted A fierce argument is brewing 90 miles away that has conservationists and the snowmobile industry head-to-head over public land use. The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to change its policy and officially open an area at Sonora Pass to snowmobiles, after a 24-year closure that was not enforced until two years ago. To do this, it must change its forest management plan. The move has caused conservation groups to accuse the industry of illegal tactics to kidnap public lands, while sledding enthusiasts are fighting back with allegations that opposing groups are trying to completely eliminate riders from such lands....
Gas firm plans to boost drilling in Garfield County Williams Production, one of the largest natural gas producers in mineral-rich Garfield County, plans to boost its activity beyond even recent projections. That may mean hundreds more wells and changes to a federal study of the impact on the Roan Plateau. The Tulsa, Okla.-based company announced this week that it has a contract with Helmerich & Payne Inc. for 10 rigs over the next three years, increasing the number of rigs operated by Williams in western Colorado to an average of 20 from the current 13. The rigs can drill up to 22 wells from one pad, nearly three times what Williams can drill now. The firm is on pace to drill about 300 wells this year in the Piceance Basin but could hike next's total to 450 from the projected 325. Using the new rigs, Williams has revised its projections for 2007 to 500 new wells from 350....
New Nevada bill would limit eminent domain proceedings Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, author of SB326, said Friday the proposal would limit what he considers over-the-top moves by governments to force ownership changes without just cause. "It's real simple," Care said. "If government needs for a public purpose to take land, we all understand it. Just don't abuse it." Care's 2-page bill would bar the use of eminent domain by government agencies to get property for open-space use or for "protecting, conserving or preserving wildlife habitat." The measure also says an agency could exercise eminent domain powers to get property for a redevelopment project only after making a written finding that "a condition of blight exists for each individual parcel of property" being acquired.....
Environmental group plans lawsuit over San Pedro River water An environmental group plans to sue the military and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the threatened San Pedro River. The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity claims Fort Huachuca's expansion is hurting the river's water table and its species diversity. The environmental group filed an 83-page notice of intent Thursday in anticipation of another lawsuit against the Army post. A string of others have been filed by activists over the years. A fort spokeswoman said she couldn't comment on the center's notice, which gives federal officials 60 days to respond before a lawsuit can be filed....
Thirsty Lake Powell will get a big gulp of runoff How low can Lake Powell go? It's at rock bottom right now. A wet autumn, followed by an even wetter winter and what now looks to be a fairly moist spring are coming together to pull the lake level up for the first time in five years. And not just a little. Officials at the Bureau of Reclamation - which manages Glen Canyon Dam - predict that Powell will rise between 45 and 50 feet this spring and summer. That's still about 100 feet below the reservoir's high water mark, but nevertheless marks a pretty substantial climb after the worst drought cycle the bureau has catalogued since it began keeping records on the Colorado River nearly a century ago....
Kayakers, developers battle over rivers of dreams With out-of-state tourism now a $7 billion-a-year economic pillar - not counting the millions more spent by outdoor-minded Coloradans - a number of mountain towns are looking to claim some of the state's overworked rivers for whitewater parks. Pushing upstream against entrenched power brokers, communities such as Golden, Vail, Breckenridge and Gunnison have made headway in obtaining water rights for recreation, sparking a debate over water priorities. Water developers fear that, if unchecked, owners of kayak rights will be able to limit development and cut off exports of water to other parts of the state. Many feel that residential, agricultural and industrial uses should have greater priority....
Kyoto Impossible for Some Nations It will be impossible for emerging industrial powers such as China and South Korea ever to comply with the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, South Korea's environment minister said. After years of delays, the plan to fight global warming went into force last month, but key countries such as the United States and Australia have refused to join the 1997 pact because they say it unfairly excluded developing countries. The U.N. pact legally binds 39 developed countries to cut the emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2 percent of 1990 levels by 2012, but excludes big developing countries from mandatory cuts. Despite criticism, there is no blueprint to include large developing countries, which are considered some of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases....
The Blind Team Roper Sitting down to eat, Jerry Long's face lights up when he asks for a Braille menu. Knowing the local restaurant doesn't have one, he informs the waitress she'll have to read him the menu and adds, "But I'm hard of hearing also, so you'll have to sit on my lap while you do it." Glenda, his wife of more than eight years, doesn't seem surprised by the comment. Chances are it's a line he's used before even though he exhibits no signs of being hard of hearing. He is blind, a fact that isn't immediately noticeable, as he's chosen to leave his cane in the truck. With a patch over his left eye and a right eye that appears relatively normal, this 62-year-old New Mexico team roper has at times been accused of lying about his inability to see. One thing is certain, however. Jerry doesn't waste any time worrying about the things he can't do since diabetes robbed him of his sight in 1985. "I can't really complain about being blind," Jerry admits. "Being the blind team roper has changed things for me. If I were just any other team roper at my level (a No. 1 in the United States Team Roping Championships), nobody would be writing stories about me. I realize the kind of opportunities my blindness has given me, and I've learned to appreciate those opportunities."....
Montana's Marvel If you've ever driven through eastern Montana, you've had a taste of just how lonesome a landscape can be. Mostly brown, devoid of native trees and plastered by a relentless wind, this portion of the northern plains once was considered uninhabitable - and still is by those who measure habi-tability by the number of chain retail stores and espresso stands per square mile. Except for an interstate highway that helps travelers put eastern Montana behind them as quickly as the law allows, the country differs little from the end-of-the-earth picture it presented before the turn of the 20th century. Yet this was the landscape of choice for Evelyn Cameron, a well-born Englishwoman who gladly traded the emerald terrain and creature comforts of her native country for life as a pioneering Montana ranch wife. Evelyn, who first laid eyes on eastern Montana as a 21-year-old bride on a honeymoon hunting trip, fell in love with what she found there and never looked back. She spent the rest of her life ranching in the area between Miles City and Terry, Montana. Like her fellow pioneers, she helped shape this still-remote corner of the West. Unlike her peers, however, Evelyn did more than give form to eastern Montana's early ranching culture. She also documented it. Tapping her skill as a largely self-taught photographer and indulging her yen for keeping journals on the most minute details of daily life, she left behind a rare look at life in a bygone era. Her cache of materials, including more than 100 boxes of photographic prints and negatives, 35 handwritten journals and much more, came to light 50 years after her death....

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