NEWS ROUNDUP

Rancher loses cow dogs to lions A mountain lion killed one of the local rancher's valuable hound dogs a couple of weeks ago, the second one in six months. Norris said he was awakened about 12:30 in the morning of Wednesday, June 29, by one of his dogs barking under his bedroom window. He woke up another man who lives at the ranch, Billy Rucker, and the two of them went out to investigate. "Well, we got up and went out and the dog led us to where a lion had killed another dog in the yard. We were in our underwear and slippers, carrying flashlights, but figured we better track it before it could get too far. So we followed the trail where the lion was dragging the dog, up the canyon about a mile, back up toward the highway. "Then we saw it, about 40 feet away, where it had laid down. It wasn't going to give up that dog. It was hungry." Rucker shot the lion with a 30-30 rifle and they went back to the ranch house. The dog that was killed was one of Rucker's lion hounds and valued between $3,000 and $5,000. Norris, age 88, bought the old Joe Bassett Ranch near Highway 60 just east of Seven Mile Wash 35 years ago. Born in New Mexico, he was raised near Silver City, moving here when he bought the ranch....
Landowners looking to sell agriculture rights The waiting list of rural property owners who want to sell the right to farm the land is growing, say conservation officials who want to preserve areas of native grasslands. The so-called conservation easements are payments made to the landowners in exchange for a promise to keep the land in its natural state. There are several types and durations of the easements, which are attached to the deed of the property. Some farm groups are opposed to those agreements, especially those that are longer than 30 years. Perpetual easements are illegal in North Dakota, but they are allowed on land owned by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service....
4th waterway may get "wild-and-scenic" status A stream that thunders down Mount Adams, races under logjams and funnels through gullies into one of the Northwest's most popular stretches of white water could soon become Washington's fourth official "wild-and-scenic" section of river. The U.S. Senate yesterday passed a measure that would designate 20 miles of the upper White Salmon River and a tributary in south-central Washington as wild-and-scenic, a move that would permanently ban dams and activities that would spoil or alter the waterway. The bill, which passed the House last month, is headed for the president's signature. The White House has said President Bush doesn't object....
Column: Gallatin plan would close most trails to motorized users Citizens for Balanced Use supports multiple use for all forest users. This means ice climbers, backpackers, cattle grazers, hunters, bicyclists, fisherman, horsemen, dog sledders, loggers, rafters, summer motorized users, snowmobilers, skiers, wildlife enthusiasts, photographers and many other groups not mentioned. This means we are fighting for the public's right to enjoy and use public lands without discrimination of their favorite activity. We compared the number of multiple-use (open to motorized uses) trailheads currently in the Gallatin National Forest to the number in the preferred alternative in the draft forest travel plan, Alternative 7. Current vs. Alternative 7 in the Big Timber district is 25 percent vs. 6 percent; Gardiner, 26 percent vs. 5 percent; Livingston South, 19 percent vs. zero; Livingston North, 100 percent vs. 57 percent; Bozeman, 52 percent vs. 22 percent; and Hebgen, 80 percent vs. 30 percent. Totals throughout the Gallatin National Forest are 47 percent currently vs. 17 percent in the preferred alternative. Of the 122 trailheads, 57 are currently multiple use, but only 21 would be multiple use in Alternative 7 with many restricted closures on many trails up to eight months of the year....
Federal Report Shows Growth and Popularity of OHV Recreation A national trail-based recreation group says a new federal report on off-highway vehicle (OHV) recreation in the United States shows popularity of motorized recreation among diverse ethnic communities. The BlueRibbon Coalition (BRC) says that the study published by the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station shows OHV use is widely recognized now as one of the fastest growing outdoor activities. The report was prepared for the Forest Service in relation to a National OHV policy initiative expected to be finalized in August 2005. The policy will direct forests to designate roads, trails and areas available for OHV use. The source of the data is the National Survey on Recreation and Environment (NSRE). The NSRE is a collaborative project between the Forest Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee. The study showed the proportion of people age 16 and older who said they participated in OHV recreation increased from 16.8 percent in 1999-2000 to 23.8 percent in 2003-2004. It also shows that Hispanic participation grew at the fastest percentage rate, more than doubling between 1999 and 2004. The African-American participation growth rate also outpaced that of caucasions, growing 50 percent compared to 36 percent for caucasions....
Sides square off over proposed ski village Opponents of a proposed ski village near Wolf Creek Pass got their day in court Tuesday - or in this case, a makeshift hearing room set up in the mining museum and community center on the outskirts of this former silver boom town. The owners of Wolf Creek Ski Area and environmental groups sued Mineral County for approving the massive project, saying county commissioners should have denied it in part because developers lack year-round road access to what could become the largest resort village in the state. Also at issue is whether the public had adequate time to comment on the zoning plans put forward by Texas billionaire Billy Joe "Red" McCombs. Developers defended their plans, saying the county's approval was just the first of many needed for the village and that the public interest had been adequately protected....
Appeals court upholds Washington, Oregon dam spills A federal appeals court upheld a lower court order demanding that the government spill water through five Northwest hydroelectric dams to help young salmon migrating to the Pacific. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was forced to allow substantial flows to bypass energy generating turbines following a June 20 order by U.S. District Judge James Redden of Portland. Redden ruled that the salmon were imperiled when swimming through those dams' turbines as they headed to the sea hundreds of miles away. The Bush administration called the order an "untested experiment," and "micromanaging the Columbia river" while urging the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse Redden's order....
Hearst ranch appraisal is revealed to the public Despite opposition from environmentalists, the Hearst Corp. had enough legal lots, water and road access to build luxury homes across large sections of the scenic Hearst Ranch -- if it had tried. That's the conclusion of the massive, three-volume appraisal the Schwarzenegger administration used to determine what price taxpayers would pay to preserve the ranch under a $95 million deal completed in February. The administration withheld the appraisal from public view during negotiations. It was reviewed this month by Knight Ridder. Appraiser Walt Carney of San Jose was hired by the California Coastal Conservancy, a state agency that helped fund and negotiate the deal. His appraisal valued Hearst Ranch -- one of California's most spectacular trophy properties -- at $350 million. It then determined that the development rights the public acquired were worth $230 million....
Senate OKs land preserve For the second time in two years, the Senate has approved legislation reclassifying about 300,000 acres of federal lands along California's North Coast as wilderness. The legislation includes lands owned by the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake Mendocino and Napa counties. Nearly identical legislation, sponsored by California Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, passed the Senate last year. But the House version, sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, didn't get a hearing before the key House Resources Committee until earlier this month. It's still unclear whether the chairman of the House committee, Tracy Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, will do anything more with the bill than hold the hearing. The California measure was one of four wilderness bills approved unanimously by the Senate. The other three set aside new wilderness areas in Washington state, New Mexico and Puerto Rico....
Ojito wilderness bill passes Senate, heads for the House A proposal to designate some 11,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management in New Mexico's Sandoval County as wilderness passed the Senate on Tuesday. If approved this fall by the House and enacted, the Ojito Wilderness Act would designate the first wilderness area in New Mexico in more than 15 years. Such a distinction protects wild areas from commercial use while keeping them open to various forms of recreation. The area south of San Ysidro has vast cultural resources, ancient sites and impressive landforms scattered throughout. The Senate bill _ sponsored by New Mexico Sens. Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, and Pete Domenici, a Republican _ is expected to be heard by the House this fall....
Split estates causing county headaches Split estates - where one entity owns the land and another, the mineral wealth beneath it - could cause splitting headaches at the county level, as commissioners work to balance private property and industry rights with public safety issues. That's a tall order when the federal government owns the mineral rights; in fact, when it comes to split estates, the power of county government is greatly limited and local commissioners want to test the waters before they tests those limits. "I do not think that battling the feds over pre-emptive rights is a wise course of action," Commissioner Allan Belt said. "I think it's been proven time and again that counties can assert some authority by working with the state and the feds."....
Editorial: Energy compromise a step backwards The energy bill that's emerging from a House-Senate conference committee won't wean America off imported oil and could greatly harm the environment. Efforts by the Senate to boost energy efficiency and the use of renewable resources have been stripped away, while a push to exempt oil companies from basic environmental protections looks likely to become law. Congressional negotiations produced a bill that stems from a regressive version that passed the House last spring, not the more progressive measure the Senate adopted early this summer. We hope the Senate will block the bill in its current form. For Colorado, the risk is that the energy measure would let oil companies run roughshod over our landscape, particularly by exempting oil companies from clean water laws and by pushing oil shale and tar sand development....
Negotiators Agree on Tax Breaks in Energy Bill House and Senate negotiators raced yesterday to complete work on $14.5 billion in tax breaks, the final element of a major energy bill Congress wants to send to President Bush this week. Negotiations took place behind closed doors, with lawmakers divvying up tax breaks to encourage domestic production of oil and natural gas, development of cleaner-burning sources of electricity, and conservation measures, among other things. Members of the conference committee agreed to the non-tax provisions of the bill late Monday night and early yesterday as leaders took pains to jettison provisions that might prompt a Senate filibuster similar to one that killed an energy bill two years ago....
Parents and farmers voice concern over shift in daylight-saving time Now, Congress is determined to add an extra month to daylight-saving time - three weeks in March, one in November. As word begins to spread, parents worry that kids will be standing at bus stops in the dark or yawning through first-period algebra. Airlines complain that it will play havoc with international connections and cost them millions. Farmers say they already get up at dawn, and this will just make their lives even more out of whack with city folks' and push prime time past bedtime. Everyone has an opinion, but the ones that count are those in Congress, which included an extra month of daylight-saving time to an energy bill approved by House and Senate negotiators early Tuesday. Backers say the extra hour of afternoon sunshine could save 100,000 barrels of oil a day....

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