NEWS ROUNDUP

Congressional help called for at Rangeland Summit Two to four typewritten pages. That's the amount of space required 35 years ago for a sound environmental review on a topic such as public lands grazing, recalls one state director. Today, the same assessment typically fills 100 to 200 pages, K. Lynn Bennett, Idaho's director of the Bureau of Land Management, told about 30 people Tuesday at the third annual Rangeland Summit. The problem, fueled by litigation and bureaucracy, has led to fewer plans being implemented and less time for agency officials to spend assessing and monitoring the public lands they manage. It's a dilemma that summit participants hope Idaho's congressional delegation will address....
Fate of roadless forest areas in state's hands Gov. Dirk Kempthorne announced in June that Idaho would move forward and develop a management proposal for Idaho's vast array of roadless areas. As a part of that process, he'll nominate portions of the state's roadless areas for continued federal protection from mining, logging and energy development. But the Republican governor isn't spelling out yet how far he'll go in exercising the new role in forest management, which was granted to governors in April by the Bush administration. "For over 30 years the whole issue of roadless lands has been in limbo," Kempthorne said at the press conference announcing his decision. "The Bush administration has provided an opportunity for states to petition the federal government and identify how many of these areas can be resolved ... So, I intend to take them up on that offer." Kempthorne said his plan would rely almost exclusively on public input and involvement to develop recommendations for the roadless areas....
Couple love their land enough to give it to everyone When Dean and Alli Murray listed their 604-acre farm at the foot of northern Utah's Wellsville Mountains, real-estate developers came knocking, offering piles of money for a shot at the land's untrammeled vistas. And when the Murrays decided they were more interested in preserving the land for public use, developers' offers got even more generous. But the couple, who have farmed the land since 1949, were not swayed. According to their agent, Brent Parker, the family's first priority was to keep the farm open. So, with the heftier offers bouncing off their backs, they opted for a $2.35 million deal brokered by the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit conservation agency. Now the farm is part of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest....
Greenpeace to pay restitution for log protest Greenpeace is required to pay restitution to a logging company and the Douglas County Sheriff's Office to settle charges brought against a dozen activists who blocked a logging operation last summer in the Umpqua National Forest. The prosecution and defense reached a plea agreement in Douglas County Circuit Court Monday before Judge William Lasswell. "The message went to the protesters ... that there is a cost to protesting and interfering with lawful logging operations in Douglas County," said the prosecutor, Douglas County Senior Deputy District Attorney Bill Marshall. Greenpeace, through Eugene lawyer Jay Frank, agreed to pay $4,000 in restitution to Myrtle Creek-based James Graf Logging and $3,600 to the sheriff's office. In addition, the environmental organization must pay $10,000, half the cost of some of the items confiscated after the two protests in June 2004, to retrieve a truck, electronics and other miscellaneous items. The county will keep computers, some of the climbing harnesses and the three shipping containers -- 3-ton bright yellow boxes, one with "Ancient Forest Protection Starts Here" painted in green letters, and the other emblazoned with "Bush's Forest Destruction Stops Here." Authorities seized a third container on the back of the truck that had transported containers to the logging sites....
Western lizard species subject of lawsuit Conservation groups sued the federal government yesterday for failing to respond to their petitions to protect two species of salamander from southwestern Oregon and Northern California under the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Portland, claims the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by missing 90-day and 12-month deadlines to respond to petitions to list the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders as threatened or endangered species. It seeks a court order for Fish and Wildlife to make a preliminary finding within 30 days. Noah Greenwald, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the Bush administration has not listed any species as threatened or endangered except when ordered by a federal judge....
Feds shrink acreage set aside for Calif. tiger salamander Federal wildlife officials said they would cut by nearly half the amount of land set aside for the California tiger salamander, saying it would be too costly to restrict development in those areas to protect the threatened amphibian. Home builders applauded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision Tuesday to scale back the number of acres designated as the salamander's critical habitat, but environmentalists said it would hurt the species' recovery and accused the Bush administration of ignoring science to appease developers. The California tiger salamander - a yellow-and-black amphibian that lives in woodlands, grasslands and vernal pools - has been at the center of a battle between environmentalists and developers over the federal Endangered Species Act and its impact on urban development from Fresno to Santa Rosa....
'Condos v. bald eagles' trial begins A trial that could determine the fate of a tiny town atop the San Bernardino Mountains opened Tuesday in federal court. The case before U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real represents the latest, and perhaps final, chapter of a dispute between environmentalists and developers that dates back more than a decade. Real will decide whether the Marina Point condominium development in Fawnskin is detrimental to the area's threatened bald eagles or otherwise violates the federal Endangered Species and Clean Water acts. The project, which includes 133 condos and a 175-slip marina on the north rim of Big Bear Lake, has been repeatedly slowed by bureaucratic and environmental obstacles in recent years. Work is currently stalled by a federal injunction....
N.M. falcon sighting fuels drilling fight Federal workers eating lunch this month on Otero Mesa spotted two endangered aplomado falcons, the first sighting of the rare birds in years and another weapon in a battle by state officials and environmentalists against drilling on the mesa. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has proposed allowing drilling on parts of the mesa in south-central New Mexico. Earlier this year, it approved a plan to guide such development. Otero Mesa contains the nation's largest contiguous patch of rare black gramma grass, which takes decades to re-establish and is not available as commercial seed. In addition, environmentalists have raised concerns about possible water contamination....
U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Service's New Math Q: When does 90 days equal 3,074 days? A:When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is doing the counting. The FWS recently issued a "90-day finding" on a petition to delist the slackwater darter, or etheostoma boschungi, from the Endangered Species Act's "threatened list." The petition had been filed by the National Wilderness Institute on February 3, 1997. The FWS is supposed to make such 90-day findings within, well, 90 days. It missed the mark by 2,984 days. In other words, it took the FWS more than 34 times the amount of time it was supposed to take. By this standard, President Bush would still have about 136 years left on his second term (or about 269 years left on his two terms combined)....
BLM affirms methane leases The Bureau of Land Management said it was right to issue leases for coalbed methane development, even though no specific study of the environmental impacts of such development had been conducted. "We basically just affirmed the decision to issue those leases in the first place," Paul Beels, project manager for the BLM's Buffalo Field Office, said Monday. The decision approved an environmental assessment of the BLM's past coalbed methane leasing activities - an assessment that was required after both the Interior Board of Land Appeals and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the BLM had fallen short of its own environmental assessment rules. In 1999, protests were filed over three coalbed methane leases, arguing that the BLM had not properly considered the unique environmental impacts of coalbed methane development. The Interior Board of Land Appeals agreed in a 2000 decision....
BLM to restrict off-highway vehicle noise in Bangs Canyon The Environmental Assessment released earlier this week by the Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction Field Office for the Bangs Canyon Recreation Area includes the most stringent noise regulation on BLM land in Colorado. The management document, when implemented, would restrict off-highway vehicle noise in the 58,000-acre area just five miles southwest of Grand Junction. “This is the first rule of its kind on BLM land in Colorado,” said Britta Laub, recreation program manager for the bureau’s Grand Junction Field Office. “We’ve really tried to build in noise controls in this, especially since the recreation area is so close to town.” Older vehicles or vehicles with altered engines produce more noise than newer, factory-made ones. Some enthusiasts of the sport worry the plan could change what models and years of vehicles are allowed on the trail system....
Former official pleads guilty to stealing more than $17,000 A former Bureau of Land Management official has pleaded guilty to stealing more than 17-thousand dollars from the federal government. Fifty-seven-year-old Robert Beehler of Hollister admitted using a government charge card and checks drawn on a government account to steal the money between early 2000 and July 2003, when he was the supervisor and field manager for the bureau in Hollister. Beehler later submitted phony vouchers claiming the expenditures were for legitimate government purposes....
BLM to set boundaries of conservation area The Bureau of Land Management is set to create boundaries for a proposed conservation area in the northern Las Vegas Valley. The area would be off limits to development under a strategy to protect rare plants and prehistoric fossils. The final meeting in a ten-month process that has brought together 13 groups comprised of environmentalists, developers and government agencies is set for tomorrow. At that meeting, the participants are to outline their proposals for the size, scope and boundaries of the conservation area along the Upper Las Vegas Wash....
Ruling shifts water discharge permits to EPA A new federal appeals court ruling strips Arizona of its authority to issue water discharge permits, a move that an attorney for home builders said could paralyze development in the state. In a divided ruling Monday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was a mistake for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002 to cede its authority to issues these permits to the state Department of Environmental Quality. The court agreed with environmental groups that the action failed to consider the effect of giving that responsibility to the state would have on endangered and protected species. The decision, unless overturned, removes the authority of DEQ to issue any more permits for water discharge. That mainly affects the more than 20,000 general permits issued every year every time a developer wants to bulldoze property in any way that it will affect storm water runoff. But DEQ Director Steve Owens said the decision may also invalidate permits already issued by his agency for projects already underway. That would be based on the court's decision that EPA acted illegally in letting the state deal with the issue. "We could have a number of projects just stop," said Norman James, a Phoenix attorney for the National Association of Home Builders....
Ca. Groundwater bill could hit farmers with more costs A farmer's right to pump groundwater is being challenged with state legislation that would impose new regulations and fees on farm water users and would require individual farmers and ranchers to report their groundwater use to the state. "Farmers are at risk for losing their water rights. Some in state government would like to see the state take an active role in limiting the use of groundwater around the state, and this bill is a significant first step," said Tony Francois, California Farm Bureau Federation director of water resources. "Proponents claim this is important for state-level resources planning. But in the four heavily populated Southern California counties where water users already report groundwater use, the data is not used by the state for planning or any other purpose that we are aware of." Senate Bill 820, by Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee Chair Shiela Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, imposes new regulations and fees on farmers by instituting new groundwater reporting rules and new penalties for groundwater violations, including the loss of water rights. The bill is in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, but may be forwarded to the Assembly Floor for action as early as this week. The bill is supported by a coalition of environmental activists such as the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, and urban water suppliers like the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Under the bill, individuals that use more than 25 acre-feet of groundwater must report their use to the State Water Resources Control Board....
Cloning prospects multiplying While the idea of human cloning has met with nearly universal abhorrence, prospects for commercial animal cloning are picking up momentum in the Bay Area and elsewhere on the hope that it could result in everything from new vaccines to more nutritious steaks. Geron of Menlo Park just launched a company to license its animal cloning technology to improve livestock, make drugs and develop pig body parts that can be transplanted into humans. Genetic Savings & Clone of Sausalito is cloning pet cats and hopes to clone a dog, similar to the one South Korean researchers created recently. And the FDA is widely expected to soon lift its ban on selling food from cloned cows and other animals, which some people say could lead to a bonanza of consumer products....

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