NEWS

Investing in Green The recent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker, long thought to have gone extinct, was a rare bit of good news in an otherwise gloomy time for conservationists. Like everyone, ecologist Gretchen Daily at Stanford University was thrilled—"this bird is a legend in my life"—but it also confirmed her belief that efforts to preserve endangered species are "doomed to failure" unless conservationists embrace free-market capitalism. Specifically, she thinks that we should view an ecosystem not as vacant land for development, but as a capital asset that must not be squandered, even if that means compensating landowners for keeping forests green. Daily, director of Stanford's tropical research program at the Center for Conservation Biology, talked with NEWSWEEK's Fred Guterl. Excerpts....
Nothing to write home about After spending the last three weeks flying above the Dakotas at low levels, a pilot-biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there's generally less water on the landscape than last year. How that affects waterfowl production remains to be seen. "Quite possibly, South Dakota was as dry as I've seen it since the early 1990s," said John Solberg, pilot-biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck. "Overall, I'd say North Dakota was fair - some areas poor, some areas good. I've seen it worse, but I've seen it a whole lot better, too." Solberg, who wrapped up the survey Thursday, has been flying the Dakotas since May 4 as part of the annual North American spring waterfowl survey, a massive effort in which U.S. and Canadian biologists team up to sample waterfowl and habitat conditions across Canada and the northern United States. Managers across North America's four waterfowl flyways use the results from the survey to set fall hunting seasons. This year marks the survey's 50th anniversary....
Column: Agriculture collides with environment One that comes to mind occurred this winter in San Bernardino County along the remote Mojave River. The river, which is underground most years, rose to the surface with a vengeance during the heavy rains. Roaring out of the northern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, it filled the above-ground channel quickly as it coursed its way toward Soda Lake near the high desert community of Baker. Between the open channel of the upper river and the broad lower channel was a stretch near Oro Grande that had not been cleared for years. Occupants of land bordering the clogged section had repeatedly requested clearing, only to be told by county officials that environmental restrictions to protect various endangered critters of one kind or another made it impossible to undertake the task. The water overflowed the channel, causing millions of dollars of needless damage to dairies, dairymen and their animals, and other agricultural operations adjacent to the channel. And, as one dairyman put it, "Any endangered species that might have been along the river are either dead or flushed miles away from here."....
Proposal outlines park brucellosis eradication A proposed agreement between the federal government and the three states surrounding Yellowstone National Park would focus more efforts on trying to eliminate brucellosis from elk and bison herds. If implemented, wildlife advocates say, it could mean a big shift in strategy. Currently, most work aims at "controlling" the disease to keep cattle from getting it. That usually means keeping possibly infected elk and bison away from cattle. Switching the emphasis to disease eradication in wildlife, as a draft memorandum of understanding calls for, could mean an awful lot of dead elk and bison. Disease eradication work so far has consisted largely of a "test and slaughter" program in which animals that test positive for the disease are killed and others are held in quarantine facilities and repeatedly tested until proven negative, a process that takes years....
Gibbons eyes more land money for schools Money from Nevada land sales would go to education, wildfire prevention, noxious weed control, sage grouse protection and other natural resource programs under a bill being drafted by U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno. Gibbons said he’s working on the proposal in an effort to head off the Bush administration’s plan to take land sale revenues to close the budget deficit. Gibbons said funds also could be spent on routine operations of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies in Nevada....
Fate of wild horses to be considered in U.S. Senate Moved by the news that 41 wild horses sold by the federal government had ended up at an Illinois slaughterhouse, a majority of the House voted this month to ban future sales. Supporters of the ban hope the public's love affair with these vestiges of the American West is enough to get the Senate to follow the House's lead. But some lawmakers see the issue differently. "In Nevada, horses do not always look beautiful like the horse that we see in 'Black Beauty.' That is because we cannot manage 20,000 horses on land which does not look like Kentucky, does not look like West Virginia," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. "These horses get starved, they are weakened, they become diseased." Sen. Conrad Burns, a Montana Republican, said there is a need to manage wild horse populations, which ranchers say compete with their cattle for grazing on public lands. Other lawmakers cite the $20million-a-year cost for the care and feeding of older horses that are unlikely to be adopted....
Rural Oregonians fear bill is threat to their water rights For most city dwellers, a water meter keeps track of every gallon that comes out of a garden hose or shower head. But not so for their country cousins — mainly agricultural irrigators but also rural homeowners with wells — many of whom are holders of water rights. But with pressure on limited water resources rising in the high desert and elsewhere, the Legislature is considering what proponents call a "baby step" toward a measurement system that might stretch the state's over-appropriated water supply. The state Senate last week passed a bill that would enact a voluntary statewide tracking system overseen by the state's Water Resources Department. It is pending in the House....
World's mayors seek to fight global warming, make cities greener Mayors from some of the world's biggest cities are gathering here this week to forge a set of international guidelines for sustainable urban living - billed as a municipal version of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming that the United States never ratified. The Urban Environmental Accords, to be signed at the United Nations World Environment Day Conference, is the latest example of cities seeking to tackle climate change despite reluctance from their national governments. "We cannot afford to wait for the state or federal government to do the job. There are too many excuses going around, particularly in this country," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. "Increasingly, the world will look at mayors to become the stewards of the environment since the vast majority of the pollution comes from cities."....
Experts: Petroleum may be nearing peak Could the petroleum joyride -- cheap, abundant oil that has sent the global economy whizzing along with the pedal to the metal and the AC blasting for decades -- be coming to an end? Some observers of the oil industry think so. They predict that this year, maybe next -- almost certainly by the end of the decade -- the world's oil production, having grown exuberantly for more than a century, will peak and begin to decline. And then it really will be all downhill. The price of oil will increase drastically. Major oil-consuming countries will experience crippling inflation, unemployment and economic instability. Princeton University geologist Kenneth S. Deffeyes predicts "a permanent state of oil shortage." According to these experts, it will take a decade or more before conservation measures and new technologies can bridge the gap between supply and demand, and even then the situation will be touch and go....The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!
Fish conservationists angle for dam breaching A federal court ruling rejecting the Bush administration's latest effort to balance Columbia Basin salmon recovery against hydroelectric dams has fish conservationists pressing anew for breaching four dams on the lower Snake River. ``What the law requires is an honest analysis of how we configure the hydro system so we can get salmon back in our rivers,'' said Jan Hasselman, attorney for the National Wildlife Federation. ``What all the scientists tell us is such an honest analysis would call for breaching the lower four Snake River dams.'' But with President Bush and the Republican-led Congress dead set against breaching the dams, the idea remains a long way from going anywhere....
Environmentalists slam leaked G8 statement The environmental group Friends of the Earth has criticised a leaked draft statement for the upcoming G8 summit for failing to set specific targets or timetables to reduce greenhouse gases from the highly industrialised countries. "The alarm bells on climate change are ringing, but the world's richest nations aren't listening," Catherine Pearce, Friends of the Earth International's climate campaigner, said in a statement Friday. The British government, which is hosting the summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, from July 6-8, played down the significance of the 14-page document, posted on the Internet Wednesday by a British environmentalist. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said the document was an old draft....
As Columbia flows, so does region The water sometimes seems quiet and calm at the mouth of the Columbia River, offering no hint of its turbulent history or the deep emotions it provokes in the Pacific Northwest. From its headwaters in British Columbia's Selkirk Mountains, the river weaves through a tapestry of mountains, desert sagebrush and steep canyons to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, it is the cord that ties the region together. It nourishes communities and crops, wildlife and fish. It provides a treasure of irrigation, transportation and electricity. For native peoples and the millions of white settlers who followed, it's a spiritual and recreational jewel to be cherished and enjoyed....
Water rights applications unanswered Anyone getting in line now may have an even longer wait. In late December, the Bureau of Reclamation quietly notified the state that it was staking a claim to all unappropriated water in the Columbia and its tributaries that may be needed to fill a proposed reservoir. It was a move that once might have invoked fury in the West, home of the adage that whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over. Sweeping claims to natural resources by the federal government have historically met stiff resistance and scorn. Just four years ago, federal marshals were called in to guard irrigation gates during a revolt by farmers' supporters in Klamath Falls after the government shut off irrigation to ensure water for protected fish during a drought. However, the government's more recent claim went largely unnoticed. Nobody is sure if the residents of Eastern Washington simply didn't hear about it, don't believe the reservoir will ever be built, or just don't care after years of frustration....

===