NEWS

'Competitive Sourcing' Memo Causes a Little Stir at the Forest Service So this month the U.S. Forest Service created a small stir when an "informational update" created the impression that OMB was putting the strong arm on the Forest Service's parent, the Agriculture Department. The Forest Service memo said OMB had told Agriculture "that it's previous 'Yellow' rating in competitive sourcing on the . . . scorecard will be changed to 'Red.' . . . It was stated that this was due to the lack of competitions, and primarily in the Forest Service." The memo noted that "OMB has never been satisfied with the lack of competitions in the Forest Service." The memo also seemed to raise the old quota issue (using federal jargon for measuring full-time employees, or FTEs). But it also reiterated that the Forest Service has its own game plan....
Watchdog to monitor Forest Service pesticide An environmental group is putting pressure on the U.S. Forest Service to follow environmental laws after a top regional official raised questions about pesticide use on forests throughout New Mexico and Arizona. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics charges in a letter to Southwestern Regional Forester Harv Forsgren that public documents reviewed by the group "indicate a history of shortcomings" when it comes to training workers and complying with the National Environmental Protection Act. "I think the Southwestern Region has some pesticide cowboys who are somewhat caviler about how they use these poisons," said FSEEE executive director Andy Stahl. "For them to jump through the process hoops, they don't think that's all that important. For them to get the job done is more important."....
Last sawlogs running through Eureka mill Mill manager and co-owner Jim Hurst said the remaining logs on deck will be run through the mill by the end of next week, and he is planning a ceremony of sorts for the last log to be processed. In January, Hurst announced plans to shut down the mill because of lost confidence in the ability of the U.S. Forest Service to maintain a steady timber supply on the Kootenai National Forest, which surrounds Eureka. Last month, Hurst said there was some potential for a hardwoods manufacturing company based in Kentucky to purchase the Eureka mill for processing wood products destined for Japanese markets. But that possibility evaporated in the following weeks....
Forest Service becomes more fire friendly The last 100 years have witnessed many shifts in the way the public and Forest Service view the management of fire and timber production in the forests. Today, the agency has a more fire friendly approach than it once did -- an approach based partially on declining timber sales in the forests. "We -- meaning the profession -- have learned a lot about fire ecology," said Ed Fournier, a retired Sawtooth National Forest supervisor. The Forest Service now evaluates whether a fire will cause damage or whether it will thin overgrown areas, said Scott Nannenga, Minidoka District Ranger. "We now have a policy where we can let natural fires burn," he said....
Washed-out fire roads are invitation to disaster THE U.S. Forest Service has its work cut out for it: More than 2 million acres of forest in Southern California is inaccessible by fire engine. And the summer fire season is just around the corner. For example, in the nearby San Bernardino National Forest, one of the most heavily damaged in the southland, nearly 60 percent to 70 percent of existing fire roads have been washed out by the winter's record rains -- or made impassable by boulders and fallen trees....
Divided road It's a big dispute for such a small road. "It's not really about the road," says Richard Hatfield, project manager for the U.S. Forest Service. "It's about two groups that have very different ideas on public lands management, and this is the place that they've both drawn lines in the sand." Two years ago, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service — which each have jurisdiction over sections of the road — closed the route because of pressure from the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Since then, four-wheel-drive enthusiasts led by the High Desert Multiple Use Coalition have fought to reopen the seldom-used road....
Forest Service May Sell Some Staff Facilities Wrestling with a long inadequate maintenance budget and facing the prospect of more funding cuts, the U.S. Forest Service is proposing to sell a fifth or more of its staff buildings across the country, including hundreds in California. A Bush administration plan would allow the Forest Service to go into the real estate business, auctioning staff facilities and the land they sit on to raise cash for upkeep and the construction of new buildings. Ranger stations, warehouses, residences and remote work centers could be sold under the program, which must be approved by Congress. Under the heading "Hot Sales!" a government website this spring showcased several Forest Service properties auctioned under a pilot program. Among them were two unused houses in Sierra Madre sold by the Angeles National Forest in Southern California for nearly $1.7 million...."unused houses", what the hell is that???
Editorial: Plan should not allow wholesale killing of wolves Utah's final management plan was shaped by public comment given to five regional advisory councils whose recommendations will be considered by the Wolf Working Group and the state Division of Wildlife Resources. The ultimate blueprint must provide protection to the wolves and also to ranchers whose livestock may be affected by wolf predation. The interests of neither should be protected at the expense of the other. All five regional councils have supported the right of ranchers to shoot wolves they see attacking or threatening their animals on private land or on public property where they graze. However, that provision must not be interpreted as absolute authority to shoot wolves on sight....
Fishermen calling for an improved salmon recovery On a recent foggy evening near the mouth of the Columbia River, fisherman Jim Wells was joined by just four other boats, a far cry from the crowds seen during the heyday of commercial salmon fishing. A drastic decline from the promising spring chinook returns of the past five years has commercial, tribal and sport fishermen alike criticizing recovery efforts for endangered and threatened salmon. Some blame poor ocean conditions for the lower returns, while others point to farmers' irrigation for reducing river flows. All fault the hydropower system, proving once again that the fish-vs.-dams debate is far from settled....
How can Idaho hike its salmon numbers?: Dams are a concern for many state anglers Last week, a letter signed by more than 1,100 Northwestern businessmen - including nearly a dozen from Pocatello - was distributed in Washington D.C. It implores lawmakers to do more to help the recovery efforts of wild salmon and steelhead in the Snake and Columbia River basins. The two-page letter asserts that the new Federal Salmon Plan represents a step in the wrong direction and says the economies of many towns in Idaho, Washington and Oregon will plummet if changes aren't instituted. "It's calling attention from all these business people ... that Congress really needs to take a look at this," Boller said. But recent legislation proposed by Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter seeks to not only maintain the eight dams on the lower Snake River, but also to look into increasing Idaho's water storage capacity....
Wolves teach experts about global warming Gray wolves could emerge as a "canary in the coal mine" of global warming by suggesting how climate change will affect species around the world, researchers say. "We're not so much looking at wolves as a predator but as an indicator," says environmental scientist Christopher Wilmers of the University of California-Berkeley. At Yellowstone National Park, for example, winters have grown more than a week shorter since 1948, Wilmers and Wayne Getz of South Africa's University of Pretoria report in a study in April's PloS Biology journal. But wolf packs appear to ease the effects of shorter winters on the food chain, Wilmers says....
Column: Endangered priorities The problem is that instead of using the rankings to prioritize, the FWS has assigned "high" to "moderately high" rankings for nearly all of the species on the list. With such an indiscriminate ranking system, it is no wonder FWS claims it needs more money; it has no reliable mechanism for allocating funds to their best use. In spite of the inadequate priority system, FWS still managed to spend $153 million in recovery funds from fiscal 2000 through 2003. About 95 percent of the funding focused on the 1,147 species of "high" to "moderately high" priority. Spending 95 percent of recovery funding on 92 percent of the most imperiled species sounds proportionate, but these aggregates are as flighty as the ivory-billed woodpecker. When you compare the ranking and funding list together - something FWS does not do - you discover that none of the 20 species which received the most funding were of the highest priority. In fact, the species receiving the second most recovery funding - the bull trout - was ranked as a "9" on a priority scale of 1 to 18. The "threatened" bull trout received about four times more funding than the "endangered" black-footed ferret despite the ferret's score of a "2" on the scale....
Salamander deal paves way for developers New homes and businesses planned for southwest Santa Rosa that have been snarled for nearly three years by protections for an imperiled salamander could be built as soon as next year if a draft plan to protect the animal and make room for growth is put into effect. The plan to protect the California tiger salamander represents a significant breakthrough in the protracted struggle to save the animal without stopping housing construction in the county's largest city. It would allow salamander habitat in Santa Rosa and other cities to be destroyed so long as wildlands are set aside for the animal in outlying rural areas....
Utah officials struggle to finish wolf plan But if Hatch saw a wolf attacking one of his cows or calves, under the law about all he could do would be stand and watch. Hatch is hoping a new state plan for wolf management will allow ranchers to take immediate action to protect livestock. It's one of many sticking points the Wolf Working Group ran into as it drafted the plan. It's also one of many suggested revisions to the draft released in April. Ranchers want the right to shoot first -- on private and public land -- and explain it later if livestock is attacked. Big game hunters and guides don't want the wolves to reduce the population of trophy elk and deer and threaten the economy of a big industry in the state. And environmentalists want to make sure the wolves remain adequately protected. It's a contentious issue, but one the state wants to settle before wolves make their way further into Utah than border areas....
Flaming Gorge releases blamed for farm flooding Over the angry objections of farmers and county officials, the Bureau of Reclamation has begun experimental high flow releases at Flaming Gorge Dam that are intended to improve habitat for trout and endangered native fish species in the Green River. McKee says farmers have been forced to pull their pumps from fields along the river, and alfalfa and other crop stands are being destroyed by the high water. He said the high flows will create mosquito problems, including possible West Nile virus infestations, and a breakout of noxious weeds. McKee said the county might go after the bureau for losses suffered by farmers. "There's always legal recourse, and we're considering legal recourse," he said. The county officials said the Bureau of Reclamation has ignored their pleas to reduce the flows....
Church attempts religious balance at Martin's Cove Most people who visit Martin's Cove in southwestern Natrona County are interested in learning the Mormon history surrounding the tragic winter of 1856. But some visitors to the cove, which sits on public land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and is leased to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, want to visit the site for its historic and natural beauty and avoid any religious messages. For ElDean Holliday, director of Mormon handcart sites in Wyoming and chief caretaker of Martin's Cove, this poses a unique problem for the church: How can the church provide a strong, religious and moral experience for followers interested in the spiritual history of a site considered sacred while at the same time provide a secular experience for nonfollowers?....
Who should wrangle Utah's wild horse herds? Running free across the vast, desolate lands of the Great Basin and beyond, wild horses conjure up images of the old, iconic West. They also provoke a visceral response - both among those who seek to protect them and those who consider them a nuisance. Now, a prominent legislator is suggesting that the state get into the business of overseeing wild horse herds in Utah. Unhappy with what he calls perennial under-counts of Utah's wild horse population by the Bureau of Land Management, Sen. Tom Hatch, R-Panguitch, says the state could do a better job of managing the herds. Hatch is considering making a proposal to the BLM to allow Utah to do just that. "I believe we could do it better and I don't think I'm alone," says Hatch, a businessman and rancher. "The [BLM] has a commitment to manage for certain populations in certain areas. Regardless of the excuse, it hasn't happened. In many instances, the wild horses have greatly exceeded their range and gone into areas they're not supposed to."....
Oil shale deposits generate new buzz as energy source The massive oil shale deposits have been called Saudi Arabia in the Rocky Mountains, and billed as the solution to the nation's energy woes. But those who lived through the oil shale boom in the 1970s and its collapse in the early 1980s are tempering their optimism with a dose of caution. "This isn't our first rodeo," said Uintah County Commissioner Jim Abegglen. "We're excited about it, but we're realists." The United States is consuming about 19 million barrels of oil daily and, with a growing dependence on imported oil and prices hovering at an economy-stunting $50, Congress is assembling an incentives package to try to resurrect interest in the industry that extracts oil from the rock. "It's a different world today," said Sen. Orrin Hatch. "Last time we weren't as far along on the science and ability to develop the resource . . . and the costs were overwhelming."....
Editorial: Oil, gas development stir up rights issues Across the West, an artifact of the 19th century is igniting disputes between landowners and oil and gas companies. As Uncle Sam sold land to settlers, it often retained the mineral rights. Today, there are many thousands of square miles between the Great Plains and West Coast where the surface of the land is owned by ranchers or other private individuals but the mineral rights belong to the federal government or have been leased to oil and gas companies. Conflicts over how the minerals get developed have become more frequent with the Bush administration's full-court press on energy development. In Colorado, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management tried to auction natural gas leases without telling surface owners that rights to minerals under their properties were up for grabs. In Wyoming, ranchers complain that coal-bed methane development has dumped saltwater in previously fresh streams and lakes, leaving the water unfit for humans or livestock. State governments have responded unevenly. Wyoming this year adopted stronger surface owner protections but Colorado rejected a similar effort. Since federal agencies are responsible for the leases, a federal solution seems logical....
Divided over drilling A legal issue known as "split estate" divides landowners who own just the surface rights from those who own the now-lucrative minerals under the surface. In Garfield County, 72 percent of drilling permits in 2000-04 were issued for sites where one owner controls both mineral rights and surface rights, and 28 percent were issued for split estates. Courts traditionally have ruled that mineral rights are superior to surface rights. Owners of surface rights can negotiate payments and agreements for the use of their land, but they often say` the payments are paltry and that the oil and gas companies deal with them in an abrupt take-it-or-leave-it style. The holder of mineral rights is privileged to use as much of the surface as is reasonably necessary to extract the minerals. The common-law thinking is essentially pragmatic; otherwise, the owner of the mineral rights would be denied access to the resources he owns. But, in this competition between ownership rights, the Colorado Constitution also provides that private property cannot be taken or damaged "without just compensation."....
Wilderness Site May See Oil Drilling Tucked away in the 96-page emergency military spending bill signed by President Bush this month are four paragraphs that give energy companies the right to explore for oil and gas inside a sprawling national park. The amendment written by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) codifies Mississippi's claim to mineral rights under federal lands and allows drilling for natural gas under the Gulf Islands National Seashore — a thin necklace of barrier islands that drapes the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico. As a preliminary step to drilling, the rider permits seismic testing, which involves detonating sound-wave explosions to locate oil and gas deposits in the park. Two of the five Mississippi islands are wilderness areas, and the environs are home to federally protected fish and birds, a large array of sea turtles and the gulf's largest concentration of bottlenose dolphins. The legislation marks the first time the federal government has sanctioned seismic exploration on national park property designated as wilderness — which carries with it the highest level of protection....
'He's either loved or reviled' As the Bush administration pushes ever harder for more oil and gas drilling in Colorado and the West, a lone government worker in Denver is pushing back. Weston Wilson, a longtime scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency's regional office downtown, went public last fall with criticism of an EPA study that gave the go-ahead to a drilling technique that some think poses a risk to groundwater. He's remained outspoken since, quoted by national media and championed by environmental groups as a courageous bureaucrat bucking his political bosses. In March, his whistle-blowing led the EPA's inspector general to open an investigation....
Trophy deer lands man in hot water The sun was heading toward the horizon on the plains of southwestern Oklahoma when hunter Michael Crossland decided to see if any deer were lurking around a tree-lined creek bottom. What the 25-year-old farmer and rancher didn't bargain for was a legal dispute over what is expected to be the largest whitetail deer ever killed in Oklahoma - a monster buck with a 31-point set of antlers worth thousands of dollars. Crossland said that on Nov. 23 he was with the landowner's hired hand, who went to retrieve a four-wheeler and gave Crossland his rifle in case he spotted any big deer. "I walked around the bend on the west side of the creek," Crossland said. "First I saw a doe, and then I saw the buck come around." After quickly loading the rifle, Crossland lined up the large animal in his scope from about 70 yards away and dropped it with one shot. "I didn't know he was that big until he fell," Crossland said. "He fell and he rolled his head, and that's when I said, 'Oh my gosh.'" But as word quickly spread about the huge deer taken in Tillman County, problems started to mount for Crossland....
It's All Trew: WPA aided America's health Records show that more than 35,000 men and women were trained in carpentry to construct toilets, septic tanks and lay clay drainage lines for the public. Those in need merely went to the WPA office, signed a request, paid $5 for materials. If you were broke, you signed another form and the government would pay the money needed. It was not a loan to be repaid. Between 1933 and 1945, federally trained carpenters built 2,309,239 sanitary privies in America. Not only did the public benefit from improved hygiene and comfort, the carpenters earned weekly paychecks for their labor. The greatest benefit of all, sanitary, fly-proof outhouses placed on improved locations halted the killer epidemics....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Grandpa passes on wisdom of the aged Grandpas have a special job and have since days of yore/To teach his children's children things his parents might ignore. Like how to spit and whistle, carve initials on a tree/The value of an empty can and why some things aren't free. Why dogs get stuck, how birds can fly, why Grandma's always right/And how to tie a square knot and the time to stand and fight. And, if Grandpa's a cowboy and the kid is so inclined/The horn of wisdom empties out to fill his little mind....

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