NEWS ROUNDUP

Delicate operation: Cougar tracking project maps ecosystem The plan on this March outing is to tree the mother lion and tranquilize her. They will then replace her old, dead radio collar with a new one that has a Global Positioning System device that will better track her movements. The collar is one of four GPS units the biologists are deploying as part of the Teton Cougar Project, an ongoing study of mountain lions around Jackson Hole. The project's overriding goal, however, extends beyond cats. Quigley, who initiated the project in late 1999, wants to combine what he learns from these GPS collars with similar data being collected by researchers tracking wolves, grizzly bears and black bears. Already, researchers have collars on 20 to 30 bears and two wolves in this region, he said. If all goes well, by the end of this summer researchers could have up to 20,000 locations of where some members of the ecosystem's four large carnivore species have been, he said. Quigley worked on a similar project near Yellowstone National Park, researching grizzlies that left Yellowstone seeking carcasses of elk killed by hunters. Mountain lions, in contrast, moved into the park, away from the bears. Wolves didn't appear to alter their movements....
West ripe for fires after winter extremes It was a dry, warm winter across the Northwest, with observers in some areas saying they can't remember the last time the snowpack was this low. It was just the opposite in the Southwest, with record winter rainfall that flooded deserts and caused deadly landslides. Strangely, both face the same worry: Conditions are ripe for a bad wildfire season. Along with the dry forests in the Northwest, all that rain in the Southwest has fed lots of tall grass and brush that will become tinder when it dries this summer. In parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, the snowpack is 25 percent to 50 percent of normal. The U.S. Drought Monitor, which tracks conditions across the country, rates vast tracts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho as "exceptional drought," the worst of five drought categories....
Federal judge blocks northern Wisconsin timber sales Two planned sales of timber from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin have been blocked by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee said the U.S. Forest Service didn’t properly assess the impact on certain hawks and martens that inhabit the forest. The rulings Thursday and Friday by Adelman require that the forest service consider the cumulative impacts of six national forest timber sales approved by the agency in 2003, instead of assessing the sales individually....
Logging the Fiddler salvage sale Lumbering machines danced a clanking ballet atop the Fiddler Mountain log landing as Rick Parrett considered his gut reaction to protesters he saw on the way to work that morning. No anger, shrugged the soft-spoken logger. "I guess they just don’t see our side of it," said the Canyonville-area resident. "We’re coming out here to get rid of the dead trees and get a forest going again. "It isn’t only our jobs — we’re doing this for the future," he added. "This is a renewable resource. If you don’t come in here and take care of it, you’re going to lose 50 years of growth, maybe more." Parrett, 48, who has been working in the woods for 30 years, is a "siderod" — the boss of the logging operation at this particular site. Several logging "shows" are occurring simultaneously on this mountain a half-dozen air miles northwest of Kerby in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest....
Protesters vow larger effort against roadless-area logging If you think the protests over the Fiddler timber salvage sale are a headache, be prepared for a migraine when logging starts in the roadless areas burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire, activists warn. "When they move into the roadless areas, there is going to be more resistance," predicted Illinois Valley resident Annette Rasch, one of 20 women arrested March 14 for trying to block access to the Fiddler sale. "This movement is going to continue to grow nationally," she said. "This is not the ‘fringey far left’ like some in the media are saying. Mainstream people are involved." Nearly 50 people have been arrested since logging began on Fiddler Mountain, including a protester arrested last week in Portland for blocking a street near the Forest Service’s regional office. Police had to lower his 30-foot-high tripod to arrest the protester, a member of a group called Stumptown Earth First! Portland was once known as Stumptown....
Controversy clings to vacant Tahoe mansion A long-vacant mansion on the shores of Lake Tahoe is set for the wrecking ball, ending years of controversy over a government land swap involving boomtown desert land and the former property of a finance giant. The 10,000-square-foot home built by mutual-fund executive Jack Dreyfus, founder of the Dreyfus Fund, will be demolished, probably sometime next year, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which now owns the mansion. Leveling the home returns the 81-acre property on the lake's southeast shore to its natural state. That's been the goal of the Forest Service since it agreed eight years ago to trade desert property in southern Nevada for the lakefront spread then owned by a private development company. The Forest Service will offer the demolition job to a salvage company, largely for the cost of the salvage, at minimal or no taxpayer expense, Norman said. The Forest Service, however, already paid $575,000 for the house, which includes three-quarters of a mile of lakefront....
Forest Service, environmentalists at odds over Smokey's message For 60 years, Smokey Bear has been the voice of caution to hikers and campers across the country, saying: "Remember, only you can prevent forest fires." Now, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself at odds with environmentalists in interpreting that message. Both point to Smokey Bear as the reason foresters should or should not set controlled fires in public woodlands in the eastern United States. The Forest Service says Smokey approves of controlled fires because they help eliminate invasive species and burn ground clutter that could contribute to catastrophic wildfires. Environmentalists say Smokey is opposed to controlled burns because fire kills trees and leaves animals homeless regardless of whether it's caused by lightning strikes, arsonists or federal foresters....
Wild horses leave range for new homes For 24 wild horses in New Mexico, the arrival of spring has signaled some dramatic lifestyle changes. Corralled at the Browning Ranch in Farmington, these horses are trading their 75,000-acre home on the Carson National Forest for the urban life of Four Corners ranches, barns and pastures. The wild herd, which traces its ancestry back to a horse supplier for the cavalry in the late 1800s, now numbers around 275 animals. But drought conditions and an annual reproduction rate of 15 percent to 22 percent have overwhelmed the range and spurred the Forest Service to address the situation....
Panel wary of tortoise effort A new research arm of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to pinpoint reasons for the decline of the desert tortoise and bring an end to its status as an endangered species. But members of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District Advisory Council are skeptical about the ambitious goals of the new Desert Tortoise Recovery Office, based in Reno, Nev. Looking back 11 years, council members said here Saturday that efforts by state and federal wildlife agencies and other groups to reverse the decline of the endangered tortoise have fallen flat....
Where Eagles Die Last February, a woman walking her dog in the woods of North Vancouver stumbled upon a grotesque find: the mutilated carcasses of 26 bald eagles. The discovery set in motion a major investigation involving law enforcement and conservation officials in both Canada and the U.S. Now, TIME has learned, authorities have identified suspects in a poaching and smuggling ring that they say annually slaughters more than 500 of the protected animals on British Columbia's southwestern coast alone, with perhaps hundreds more killed each year elsewhere in the province. Officials are expected to make a formal announcement of their progress in the case early next week. Killing eagles is illegal in Canada and the U.S. In addition, it's against the law for Americans to possess bald-eagle parts unless they are registered tribal members with special government permits. But with feathers and talons a major feature in traditional aboriginal dance regalia—which is popular on a competitive circuit that offers rich prizes for the best outfits—there's a hot black market for eagle parts in the U.S....
Alaska’s long-studied wolf pack threatened The demise of this family of wolves, known to tens of thousands of park visitors as the Toklat group, would end a unique stream of longitudinal research. For nearly six decades, Haber and other scientists have chronicled the hunting techniques, mating habits and social interdependence of generations of a geographically stable group of wolves. Trapping the Toklat wolves also raises questions about the ethical treatment of animals that for decades have been cosseted inside a park, where they have been regarded as prime tourist attractions and have learned to associate people with harmless curiosity — not with the slow, lethal torment of a trap. At the urging of wildlife preservation and animal rights groups in the lower 48, three Democratic senators — Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) — wrote last Monday to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, citing a "biological emergency" and imploring her to take immediate steps to save the Toklat family....
Editorial: Parks in Peril resident Bush made the troubled national parks system the centerpiece of his rather modest environmental agenda during the 2000 campaign, chastising the Democrats for allowing the parks to decay and pledging to spend $1 billion a year in new money over five years to eliminate a backlog of repairs, then estimated at $4.9 billion. It seemed an easy enough promise at the time, but Mr. Bush would dearly love to have it back now. Just two weeks ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service pegged the probable backlog at half again that amount, and administration officials - most recently, Fran Mainella, the beleaguered National Park Service director - have been forced to concede that the best Mr. Bush can do is to "address" the backlog. Yet to dwell exclusively on Mr. Bush's failed promise is diversionary. It is true that he has provided, at best, $900 million or so in new money, and that any other claims made on his behalf involve highly creative accounting. But it is also true that presidents before him, with the possible exception of Dwight Eisenhower, have been no more attentive to park needs, and that Congress has been even worse....
Welcome mat pulled for many at monument Target shooters, paintball enthusiasts and hikers with unleashed pets are no longer welcome in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Regulations against the activities were approved in 2004 by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and went into effect last week. The restrictions are designed to protect the area's natural resources, as well as visitors' safety, said Jim Foote, outdoor recreation planner for the BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The rules prohibit the use of gas- and air-propelled weapons, such as paintball weapons, and target shooting on public lands within the Monument. Hunting, which is not regulated by the BLM, is permitted, Foote said....
As Yucca project stalls, Utah nuke waste dump hits fast track The fates of proposed nuclear waste dumps in Nevada and Utah are heading in opposite directions. The Yucca Mountain project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is already years behind schedule. And this week, a House oversight panel will hold a hearing on allegations of falsified scientific data on the project, which could further delay it. Meanwhile, an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already approved a plan to temporarily store nuclear waste on an Indian reservation about 50 miles west of Salt Lake City. Utah officials will appeal that decision next week, but experts expect the Private Fuel Storage project to win final approval and start operating by 2007....
E-mails suggest data faked on nuclear dump project E-mails by several government scientists on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project suggest workers were planning to fabricate records and manipulate results to ensure outcomes that would help the project move forward. "I don't have a clue when these programs were installed. So I've made up the dates and names," wrote a U.S. Geological Survey employee in one e-mail released Friday by a congressional committee investigating suspected document falsification on the project. "This is as good as it's going to get. If they need more proof, I will be happy to make up more stuff." In another message the same employee wrote to a colleague: "In the end I keep track of 2 sets of files, the ones that will keep QA happy and the ones that were actually used." QA apparently refers to "quality assurance." The e-mails, written from 1998 to 2000, were in a batch of correspondence released in advance of this week's hearing by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization, headed by Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.). The Energy and Interior Departments revealed the existence of the e-mails March 16, and inspectors general of both departments are investigating. The FBI also is conducting a probe, according to a subcommittee staffer....
Drilling on the Roan The future of the Roan Plateau may be as contentious an issue for Colorado as the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seems to be for the nation. The plateau is not as pristine as ANWR. The Roan is bordered by busy Interstate 70, the surrounding country is dotted with towns and ranches, and energy development is a long-established industry in Garfield County, which covers most of the Roan. At issue are drilling on top of the plateau - how much and when - and the impact of various drilling options on wildlife and air quality. The debate also involves larger trends such as local communities demanding a say in energy development, and tourism and recreational interests asserting themselves against the energy industry....
Regulatory issues cloud North Coast catch as season opens The recreational salmon season opens today, but the signs aren't auspicious for a good catch. The problem isn't with the population of chinook salmon offshore. By all accounts, it is a big one, the result of a bumper class from the Sacramento River system. Instead, the issues are regulatory ones. The salmon swimming off California's coast originate from two different river systems: the Sacramento and the Klamath. Because of low water conditions on the Klamath River system and a huge fish kill on the main river in 2002, Klamath salmon stocks are critically low. Any significant harvest of the Klamath fish that remain could threaten future runs. Because Sacramento fish mingle with Klamath fish off much of the North Coast, regulators have expressed concern about the 2005 catch....
Column: A Political Football ... With Fins If the great salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest become another dodo bird, you can't blame the Columbia River Indian tribes or their allies in the scientific world. But the portents of the summer of 2005 are ominous. The snowpack in the northern Cascade Range is near a record low, and the National Weather Service predicts the third-lowest runoff in a century. Fisheries biologists warn that endangered salmon stocks swimming home from their five-year migration to Japan face a tragic die-off. Determined to avoid another disaster made possible by federal fisheries policy, three Columbia River tribes last week joined state and federal scientists and conservationists in calling for a legal showdown with the Bush administration over the fate of the salmon stocks. They asked federal courts to force the government to provide enough water this summer for the fish to migrate to their upstream spawning beds. The administration is equally determined to use the water to generate hydroelectric power, a move that would, in effect, dismantle provisions of the Endangered Species Act....
Law boosts lower Colorado with native fish and wildlife Interior Secretary Gail Norton is to launch a half-century effort today to return native trees, fish and wildlife to a lower Colorado River system profoundly altered by humankind's thirst. Environmental groups are skeptical, however, that the transformation can stick without fundamental changes in the river's flow. By the time the Colorado flows past the baking scrub and farm land of California's southeastern corner, it has been tamed and used many times over and is known more for its fatal speedboat accidents than for its natural splendor. But the beleaguered native fish and wildlife of the lower Colorado will get help when Norton signs final documents adopting a 50-year, $626 million program to offset some of the damage done by dams and pumping that supply river water to millions of residents of Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. About 8,130 acres of habitat will be created and maintained along portions of a 400-mile length of the Colorado running from Lake Mead to the Mexican border....
Roosevelt Lake level is highest on record By the fall of 2002, during one of the Southwest's deepest dry spells of the past millennium, Roosevelt Lake had bottomed out at 9 percent full. A good chunk of the Tonto Basin looked as it did centuries ago: The Salt River was confined to a narrow channel and surrounded by thousands of acres normally underwater. Now, after a soggy winter, boat ramps are no longer a half-hour hike from the water, and local anglers are boasting that Roosevelt is on the verge of becoming the best bass fishing spot in the West, if not the nation. Water managers expect the lake to be nearly full by month's end. At 92 percent, the reservoir is already submerging saguaros because it's nearly 9 feet higher than it has ever been. The record levels are due to a construction project that added 77 feet to the dam in the early 1990s. Only in the past month has the lake absorbed enough runoff to take advantage of the extra capacity....
Concerns raised over plan to turn oil platforms into fish farms Thousands of oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico could be converted into deep-sea fish farms raising red snapper, mahi mahi, yellow fin tuna and flounder, under a plan backed by the Bush administration. For years, marine biologists and oil companies have experimented using the giant platforms as bases for mariculture, but commercial use of the platforms as fish farms never got off the ground because of the federal government's reluctance to open up the oceans to farming. Yet in December, President Bush proposed making it easier to launch fish farms off the nation's coasts. That could be done by resolving a "confounding array of regulatory and legal obstacles," the White House said....
EPA Refuses to Release Results of Scientist Surveys The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is illegally blocking the release of internal surveys of its own scientific staff, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER had requested copies of extensive employee surveys conducted in 1999, 2001 and 2003 within the EPA Office of Research and Development. ORD consists of a network of laboratories and research centers comprised of approximately 2000 scientists in which much of the agency's basic and applied science concerning pollution monitoring, toxicological effects and other public health issues. According to agency scientists, the surveys covered a range of topics concerning how EPA conducts its science, including questions on scientific integrity and quality, the adequacy of resources and the effects of management practices on employee morale. The three sets of surveys taken over six years would also allow comparison of scientist perceptions during both the Clinton and Bush Administrations....
Jewish group rallies around Earth he thick blond- and maple–toned limbs of a tree sculpture stretch toward the ceiling of Temple Emanuel, offering the effect of a miniature forest growing through the suburban Maryland synagogue. The sculpture resembles a banyan tree, which grows so stout and wide that it was used for shelter centuries ago. For a congregation whose mission is to spread respect for the environment among fellow Jews, the tree is an apt symbol. A tour of the synagogue marked the second day of the eighth annual Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life leadership institute in Washington, D.C. The three-day conference included speakers on environmental and Jewish topics, such as eco-feminism, the role of religion in environmental policy, conflicts between Jewish and environmental values, and creating synagogues that are sensitive to the environment. Participants also lobbied members of Congress on Capitol Hill....
Editorial: Conservatives for conservation But a more progressive -- and realistic -- approach may be emerging from several remarkable new alliances between environmentalists and groups that ordinarily focus on religious and defense issues. These organizations are uniting to promote a reduction in gasoline consumption as vital to national security. "I just think reasonable people are more inclined right now to start thinking about ways our country's future isn't dependent on ... oil from a region where there are a lot of very bad actors," Gary Bauer, former head of the conservative Family Research Council, recently told The Washington Post. Bauer and activists across the political spectrum have teamed up with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmentalists to create an alliance called Set America Free. They're lobbying the Bush administration and Congress to invest more money in encouraging the use of gas-electric hybrid vehicles and in exploring alternative-energy sources....
Giving Hybrids A Real Jolt Is there a car that can cut America's oil imports to a trickle, dramatically reduce pollution, and do it all with currently available technology? Greg Hanssen thinks so. His company has already built one such car -- a converted Toyota Prius that gets 100 to 180 mpg in a typical commute. Andrew A. Frank thinks so, too. The University of California at Davis professor has constructed a handful of such vehicles. His latest: a converted 325-horsepower Ford Explorer that goes 50 miles using no gas at all, then gets 30 mpg. "It goes like a rocket," he says. These vehicles are quickly becoming the darlings of strange bedfellows: both conservative hawks and environmentalists, who see such fuel efficiency as key to ensuring national security and fighting climate change. Reducing dependence on the turbulent Middle East "is a war issue," says former CIA Chief R. James Woolsey, who calls the cars' potential "phenomenal." What's the secret? It's as simple as adding more batteries and a plug to hybrids such as the Prius. That way, the batteries can be charged up at any electrical outlet -- letting this so-called plug-in hybrid travel 20 to 60 miles under electric power alone. Since most Americans drive fewer than 30 miles a day, such a car could go months without visiting the filling station....
Glitzy ride In 1993, the year Ty Murray won the fifth of his seven world championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, he earned $297,896 - a PRCA single-season earnings record that still stands. Last year, Mike Lee won the Professional Bull Riders world championship, paying no entry fees, traveling mostly on weekends and subjecting himself to far fewer jaw-jarring bulls. His paycheck for the season? A cool $1.4 million. Riding bulls used to mean doing what you did for love, not money - because there wasn't much money to be had. But with the advent of the Professional Bull Riders circuit in 1993 - begun by a visionary group of riders who believed the event could stand alone and be marketed like other major league sports - all that changed. A skilled rider in the PBR can now make more money, get on fewer and more competitive bulls, and expend far less money and travel time....
Have stethoscope, will travel Shortly after the morning coffee crowd thinned at The Fields Station cafe, Sandra Downs used the lull to come out from behind the red lunch counter and get some minor surgery done. She didn't have to go far. In the parking lot out front, Dr. Robert Morrison waited with a nurse and a ready supply of scalpels, forceps and gauze. While tourists filled their tanks at nearby gas pumps, Downs sat on a small examining table inside the converted Sportsmaster trailer with "Harney Dist. Rural Health" painted on its side. The 79-year-old doctor, dressed in all-black western wear, numbed Downs' toe, removed an ingrown toenail and sent her back to work with a slight limp. Every two months, Morrison parks the trailer in Fields, a rural pit stop with cafe, motel and store at the base of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. He also makes similar trips to Crane, Drewsey and Denio, Nev., with his son, Kern, hauling the trailer....
On The Edge of Common Sense: Uncle Leonard had his priorities straight Yes, Virginia, things have changed. A 20-something couple I know has occasionally sought my counsel. They are married, both animal science graduates and still seeking direction. He is a typical ag boy: strong, honest, has a good work ethic with a background in purebred cattle, fitting, showing, and can weld. He's doing graduate school but keeps busy with his Dodge dually and 20-foot Featherlight hauling livestock from purebred sales. She grew up running a few gummer cows with her dad, working at the feedlot processing cattle and weighing grain trucks, president of the FFA and won the team penning three years in a row at the county fair. She wears the Top Cowhand buckle with pride. She's working at a feed mill and going to night school getting a master's degree to get a teaching certificate....

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