NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Every day is court day for some 'environmentalists' The Center for Biological Diversity, which likes to call itself an environmentalist organization, isn't. It's a litigious society bent on eliminating private property rights in America through intimidation by the courts. The environmental movement is only its cat's paw, but one which it has used with amazing success, first because it rarely encounters more than token resistance to its legal forays, and second, because most Americans are "environmentalists" in the sense that they enjoy the beauty of natural vistas and believe in the preservation of the wild. The Center counts on both these things when it attacks such groups as hunters, off-road enthusiasts, farmers, loggers, miners, oil companies, ranchers ... it's a long list. On occasion, though, the intended victim bites back with success. That happened last January in Tuscon, Ariz., where a jury found the Center for Biological Diversity's Tuscon branch guilty of making "false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements" against Jim Chilton, a Southern Arizona rancher. The Tucson jury awarded Chilton $100,000 in actual damages, and $500,000 in punitive damages from the Center for defaming him and his family business....
Environmentalists drop timber challenge in return for protection of valley Six conservation groups said Thursday they are dropping their legal challenge to two timber sales that could provide more than a year's supply of timber to Southeast Alaska mills. It's part of an out-of-court settlement that the groups, including the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and the Sierra Club, are finalizing with the U.S. Forest Service and other parties this week. In return, the Forest Service has agreed to withdraw an 8 million-board-foot Orion North timber sale in the Sea Level Creek valley, the last-remaining roadless watershed in Thorne Arm near Ketchikan...
Tahoe National Forest buys land The Tahoe National Forest just got a little bigger. The Truckee Ranger District added two separate chunks of land from California timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries that equal an expansion of more than 1,000 acres. The 640 acres of land the national forest bought near the American River, five miles south of Interstate 80’s Big Bend exit, complete the forest’s goal of amassing all of the private land along the rugged North Fork of the American River that has been designated as a wild and scenic. The forest service paid Sierra Pacific Industries $700,000 for the tract of land. The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization, was also involved in brokering the land deal. Over the life of the program, the Tahoe National Forest has bought almost 10,000 acres along the river....
Packing up a tradition A 100-year tradition was sent out to pasture Thursday. So were Gus, Dakota, Jack and Sunny. A ceremony honoring the Gifford Pinchot National Forest's last four historic pack horses was held Thursday in Randle, Wash., where the animals were stabled. Then Gus, Dakota, Jack and Sunny climbed into a horse trailer and were on their way to Eight Mile Ranch, north of Winthrop, Wash., to meet their new wrangler, the first they've had in a year and a half. Today, for the first time since the U.S. Forest Service was created in 1905, there are no pack animals available to venture into west-of-the-Cascades wilderness. "It's really the end of an era," said Rick McClure, 49, heritage program manager for the agency. "The image of the horseback ranger has always been one of those mythological things associated with the Forest Service."....
Off-roaders join effort to curb wilderness damage The solution until now has been to close areas to motorized vehicles. Larratt, chairman of the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition, thinks Colorado has a better option: "Keep your wheels where they belong." The new slogan and the coalition are a part of a $250,000 "Stay the Trail" campaign. A joint effort of the Bureau of Land Management-Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado state parks and a number of environmental and off-highway vehicle groups, the campaign cautions off-roaders to stick to the designated trails or face not having trails at all....
Greens win Boulder appeal Environmental groups have won their appeal of a fuel-reduction project the U.S. Forest Service has proposed for the main Boulder River canyon south of Big Timber. The project has been halted, at least for now, because of concerns for goshawks, Kathleen A. McAllister, the appeals deciding officer at regional headquarters in Missoula, wrote in a Monday decision. She said there are "discrepancies" between two analyses of the project's impacts on goshawks. However, forest officials still hope to get some work done this year. "We'll probably deal with these deficiencies and then move forward," said Brent Foster, resource assistant for the Gallatin National Forest in Big Timber....
Paonia man fined for guiding without permit The owner of a guest ranch near Paonia has pleaded guilty to charges he provided guided snowmobile trips on U.S. Forest Service land without a permit. U.S. Magistrate ordered Edwin Allen, the owner of Whistling Acres Guest Ranch, to pay $1,700 in fines and $300 in restitution for providing the trips from the Stevens Gulch trailhead north of Paonia, the Forest Service announced in a news release. The Forest Service said delivering supplies, stock or equipment, as well as providing guiding services on federal land without a permit, is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine and six months in prison....
Wildlife officials drop habitat plan, cite homeland security issues Bowing to national security concerns, federal wildlife officials on Friday backed off their proposal to give heightened protection to an endangered plant's habitat near Barstow where the Army wants to expand its tank-training center. Environmental groups said the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to wipe out almost 30,000 acres of critical habitat is a death sentence for the Lane Mountain milk-vetch, a perennial herb that is clinging to existence in the western Mojave Desert. The wildlife agency cited the importance of military training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in dropping the year-old proposal. Such designations can restrict activities to protect the land where an imperiled species is struggling to survive. Army officials hope to begin training in an expansion of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in Barstow by 2006. The area is needed, the Army says, to better prepare troops for Iraq. "It was excluded for national security reasons, which there is a provision in the Endangered Species Act that allows for that," said Lois Grunwald, a spokeswoman for the federal wildlife agency in Ventura....
Lab solves wildlife crimes CSI: Laramie. It may lack the glitz and glamor of CSI: Miami, but for game wardens in Wyoming, Colorado and surrounding states, the Wyoming Game and Fish forensics laboratory is a critical tool in catching poachers and cracking down on illegal trade in wildlife. The fluorescent-lit rooms and Formica-topped counters look like the average college chemistry lab, but the techs are doing nearly everything human forensic labs do - and they can do it for a multitude of species. DNA fingerprinting can seal a conviction or lock in a plea bargain in game violations as solidly as in human homicides. Take the case of two cousins accused of illegally shooting a prize quality bighorn ram in December 2003....
Mixing species may be only way to save world's rarest It sounds like the plot of a cheesy sci-fi film: A futuristic army of clones saves the giant panda from extinction. But it isn't. Researchers from San Diego to New Orleans are examining and testing the powers of cloning technology. They are hoping that if all else fails, genetic duplicates can save animals such as the Sumatran rhino and Siberian tiger from extinction. Already scientists have cloned the African wildcat, Asian banteng and a rare cow-like species called a gaur. The clone of the latter species didn't last long - just a few hours - but cloning conservationists say they are making significant strides, despite charges that they are wasting their time, misusing otherwise needed conservation funds and creating creatures that not only don't belong on the planet but actually may be too unique to "re-create." Notwithstanding these concerns, zookeepers and researchers across the country literally are banking - in "frozen zoos" - as much animal tissue as they can....
LWCF - CARA Heads For Conference Committee Vote The Senate approval March 16 of a $350 million conservation fund from oil and gas leasing on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has a long way to go before it becomes a reality. Although the Senate approved the provision by a 51-to-49 vote as a set-aside in a fiscal year 2006 Congressional budget resolution (S Con Res 18), final passage of the budget is far from a certainty. In addition final passage of a “reconciliation” bill later this summer to provide legislative language that would implement the budget provision is also far from a certainty. The immediate hurdle is a House-Senate conference committee that is expected to meet this month to work out differences between S Con Res 18 and a House-passed budget (H Con Res 95). While the House-passed budget does not mention ANWR and the conservation fund, it does indirectly make room for an ANWR fund when it calls for reduced energy spending by authorizing committees....
Energy Plan Should Protect Western Lands, Groups Charge In a letter to the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee delivered today, 25 citizen and conservation groups asked Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Ranking Member John Dingell (D-MI) to ensure that the House energy bill protects western communities, landscapes, and residents from irresponsible oil and gas development. The groups emphasized responsible development of energy resources, saying “this can be done, however, without further rushing energy development or elevating it over other public land uses.” “We represent ranchers and farmers, hunters, anglers and outfitters, business owners, hikers, campers and wildlife watchers,” wrote the groups. “Many of our organizations have longstanding reputations as advocates for responsible and sustainable energy policies.”....
Building-climbing activist in jail, clamoring for attention Arrow joined the annals of activism five years ago outside the U.S. Forest Service regional headquarters, the same locale as Pax. Arrow scaled three stories of the building and camped out on a 9-inch-deep ledge for 11 days to protest Mount Hood logging. Formerly Michael J. Scarpitti before a name change, Arrow fled to Canada after the FBI accused him of domestic-terrorism acts in 2001, including the firebombing of logging and cement trucks. Caught in Victoria, B.C., last spring, Arrow has been stuck in a Port Coquitlam corrections facility awaiting an extradition hearing scheduled for June. He started his stay behind bars with a 44-day hunger strike, shedding more than 40 pounds. Arrow also has been busy making requests. According to his latest biweekly newsletter posted on the Portland Independent Media Center Web site last week -- www.portland.indymedia.org -- Arrow is on the lookout for a vehicle, preferably one that runs on biodiesel, that will help spread the word about his case through a nationwide speaking tour. Garnering celebrity support from activist sympathizers Bonnie Raitt or the Indigo Girls wouldn't hurt either, he wrote....
Nevada governor opposes bill protecting rural water supplies Legislators who face opposition from the Guinn administration to their bills that would help rural areas fighting against the export of their water to booming Las Vegas said Thursday they're not giving up. "We're going to push this as far as we can," Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said after Gov. Kenny Guinn's natural resources adviser told lawmakers existing water law adequately protects the outlying counties. "The prevailing attitude of big developers seems to be that everything is perfect right now for Nevada water law," Leslie said. "The arrogance in that statement just offends me, because we heard testimony from many Nevadans that the current law isn't working for them - and has the potential for destroying their way of life."....
Editorial: Saving Colorado River habitat For more than 1,400 miles, a great river connects seven Western states, creating one of the most valuable, complicated and controversial ecosystems on our continent. How best to manage the Colorado River presents an ongoing challenge. Many species native to the Colorado have become endangered because of the loss of habitat, introduction of non-native fish and construction of dams and other water projects. The river basin is home to 14 native fish, including four endangered species that exist nowhere else: the Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bonytail and humpback chub. Two native birds, the southwestern willow flycatcher and Yuma clapper rail, are also endangered. Last week, the U.S. Department of Interior and California, Arizona and Nevada signed a landmark agreement. The pact envisions the three states and federal government investing $626 million over 50 years to restore wildlife habitat. The key to making the deal work is sustained funding. Given the long time frame, annual appropriations should be modest enough to allow for continued congressional support....

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