NEWS ROUNDUP

Western drought shrinking Big Muddy The "Big Muddy" is in big trouble. The Missouri River, the nation's longest, is struggling in the dry clutches of a multiyear drought. For six years, the river's three giant reservoirs on the northern Plains have dropped slowly and alarmingly, curbing recreation, hydropower generation and commercial navigation downstream. While the drought's effects are not irreversible, river managers say it will take years for the waterway and its many users to recover. "We're kind of in uncharted territory here," says Rose Hargrave, Missouri River program manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the river's six dams and the lakes behind them. "Reservoir levels have never been so low. The Plains snow pack is almost non-existent. It's not looking good." From its roaring headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to its slow, wide confluence with the Mississippi River, the Missouri is a 2,540-mile ribbon of frontier history, world-class fishing, billions of dollars of commerce and drinking water for millions. But years of sparse snowfall at the river's source have so reduced its flow that disruptions ripple all the way to the Mississippi....
Bull trout test case to be tried here In what shapes up as a landmark case in Western land rights, eastern Idaho ranchers and environmentalists are readying to square off in Pocatello to talk about fish. Verl Jones, whose family has ranched for years in the Salmon area, has become the icon of ranchers statewide who struggle to comply with the Endangered Species Act. In his case, the current question is how much protection should be extended to bull trout. Jones recently came out on top in a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that mandated a trial be held to determine whether his irrigation practices are legal....
Trout hatchery threatened by whirling illness Fish pathologists this week detected whirling disease at the Springville State Fish Hatchery, a discovery that likely will lead to the destruction of 80,000 pounds of trout that would have been stocked in Utah waters. The find will reduce the number of fish available this year to Utah anglers by 21 percent, said Tim Miles of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Stocking cuts will occur statewide. "It is not the end of the world because we still have fish in the system and a good water year," he said. "But anglers will not have as many catchables as they have had in the past." In addition, Chris Wilson of the DWR will meet today with U.S. Forest Service officials in northeastern Utah to discuss the discovery of the disease in brook trout in a creek that feeds Flaming Gorge Reservoir....
Nacogdoches artist presents painting to Bush President Bush today will be presented with a product of Texas talent in the form of a painting created by a Nacogdoches forester who was commissioned to paint a commemorative piece in honor of the U.S. Forest Service's centennial celebration. Bruce Lyndon Cunningham produces botanically correct herbaceous portraits: The wood frames are always the same as the painting's subject. The original painting being presented today includes the president's portrait and the likeness of the White House, he said. And the frame is made out of 80-year-old American chestnut. During a commemorative ceremony at the White House today, the U.S. Forest Service chief forester and assistant chief forester will present Cunningham's painting to the president....
Risking Life to Save Limbs t is an understatement to say that the smoke jumpers from Redding, Calif., stuck out like a very green thumb in Central Park, scaling with the fluid motion of inch worms into the highest reaches of the maples, elms, ash, birch, willows, poplars and horse chestnuts in the park. Tethered to thick ropes and harnesses, they shinnied like monkeys from one branch to the next, carefully inspecting limbs. Leaves rustled in their wake. "One police officer said, 'Now you're just part of the Central Park freak show,' " said one of the smoke jumpers, Adam Lauber, 34. On a recent afternoon, he carried an oversize slingshot to launch a throw line into the canopy of a 75-foot London plane at the south side of the Sheep Meadow. "You get some people upset because we're in the trees," he said. Mr. Lauber is one of five smoke jumpers who are surveying the park as part of the federal government's program to eradicate the Asian long-horned beetle. Here the smoke jumpers will not need the global positioning systems and compasses that help them get their bearings when they parachute into remote wildernesses to fight fires in California, Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. In New York, subway maps will do just fine....
Aspens' ongoing disappearance biggest forest concern The decline of Arizona's aspens, tall, distinctively white-barked trees, has become the most pressing problem in the state's forests, experts say. The trees are disappearing at an alarming rate, in part because elk are eating saplings and because a 1999 freeze left the trees susceptible to problems like fungus. "The biggest problem we have is what's going on with the aspen clones," said Tom DeGomez, a forest-health specialist for the University of Arizona extension service, referring to the tree saplings. "In many areas, it looks like there is no hope for them unless they are fenced off." Officials who examine the state's forests have expressed concern for years about the decline. U.S. Forest Service studies in the 1990s concluded that the number of acres of aspens in Arizona and New Mexico had declined from 486,000 in 1962 to 263,000 in 1986. The most recent forest analysis, released three years ago, said that only 147,000 acres of aspens remained in the two states as of early 1999. Aspens were the dominant trees on nearly two-thirds of a million acres historically in the two states, according to the Forest Service studies. Herds of elk have often been cited as the main culprit in keeping aspens from reaching maturity....
Holding company challenges county over zoning change A holding company that owns nearly 55 acres near Aspen Mountain is suing Pitkin County in district court after the property was rezoned last month. Before the rezoning, the land owned by Imago LLC was part of the county's agricultural/residential/forestry (AFR-10) zone district in which homes of up to 15,000 square feet were allowed. Larger homes were permitted with special review. On March 23, the county rezoned the land into its rural and remote district, meaning homes on the property are now limited to 1,000 square feet. The lawsuit points to a possible motive. It says that another property included in the rezoning is a mining claim called the Kitty B Lode. "The county owns an undivided interest in the Kitty B Lode. The county acquired this interest by a tax deed," according to the court papers. "By rezoning the [mining claim] to the rural/remote zone district, [the county] has made the Kitty B Lode (and potentially other mining claims owned by the county) eligible for the creation of a valuable transferable development right. "[The county] had an undisclosed motive in enacting the [rezoning] ordinance for the purpose of stripping the transferable development right from the county-owned property and other neighboring properties and then arranging for these properties to be donated to the U.S. Forest Service."....
Cloned horse offers hope Researchers at Texas A&M University believe cloning animals like horses will help preserve the genetics of prized animals and possibly lead to cures for diseases. That's the hope of Katrin Hinrichs, the lead scientist on a project at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences that Thursday announced the cloning of a horse, possibly the first in North America. The privately owned colt named Paris Texas -- to signify collaboration with a French reproductive sciences laboratory -- was born March 13 in College Station. The 179-pound colt has gained weight rapidly, showing it's doing well....
Zebra Gives Birth to Foal Sired by Donkey It's male. But what is it? A zonkey? A deebra? That's the debate in Barbados since a zebra gave birth to a foal sired by a donkey. Alex was born April 21, a milk-chocolate brown creature with the black stripes of a zebra on his ears and legs. His face looks more like a horse, with a distinctive black "V" patch on the forehead. "It's really funny and a little bit freaky," said Natalie Harvey, a 29-year-old waitress. "I was stunned to hear about such a weird thing happening here." While zebra hybrids are not uncommon, most Barbadians have never seen anything like Alex....

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