NEWS ROUNDUP

Coal companies ad campaign refuted by enviros, Forest Service North Fork Valley coal companies have banded together to launch a public relations campaign against recent changes to plans for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests. The campaign, which began Wednesday with a full-page ad in The Daily Sentinel, is an attempt to raise awareness about changes to the plan that coal companies say “restrict activities on public lands,” according to Kathy Welt, spokeswoman for Gunnison Energy Corporation, a member of the Oxbow Group. “If the U.S. Forest Service continues to be influenced only by environmental special interest groups, our future could be more like this picture,” the ad reads below a photograph of a lone man in a cowboy hat, walking a deserted street lined with desolate store fronts. Oxbow’s ad claims the Forest Service “didn’t hear from you,” adding the service only heard from environmental special interest groups....
Feds: Pilot error led to Glacier crash The pilot of an airplane that crashed while ferrying four Forest Service workers into a Montana wilderness last year lacked experience in backcountry flying and flew up the wrong drainage, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded in a report released Wednesday. The NTSB's findings of the Sept. 20 crash are similar to those of a separate, preliminary investigation by the U.S. Forest Service that was released earlier this year. That report also concluded that pilot Jim Long apparently had become confused about his location, possibly because of weather. Long, along with two of the four Forest Service workers, died in the crash near Glacier National Park, in northwest Montana. Two other employees, initially thought to have also been killed, survived and emerged from the wilderness two days later....
Marina Point suit nearing end of line The trial phase of the case against the Marina Point Development Association has ended in a Los Angeles courtroom. All that's left is opposing counsel's written briefs, possible oral arguments and the judge's decision. Construction was halted at the Marina Point project January 2004 when two environmental groups-Friends of Fawnskin and the Center for Biological Diversity- sought an injunction, accusing developers of violating the Endangered Species Protection Act. At issue is the threat construction may have on nearby bald eagle habitat. A temporary injunction was granted delaying construction at the site for more than a year. The case was heard Aug. 23 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, lasting five days, including four days of testimony by the plaintiffs and one day by defendants. Judge Manuel L. Real was on the bench, asking lawyers for both sides to submit written briefs as closing arguments....
Hammond trespass issue simmers Conflict simmers between Hammond Ranch property owners and county residents who say they have accessed US Forest Service lands beyond the development for years along roads now designated as "private." Residents along one of the main roads in the subdivision, Dale Creek Road, have posted "No Trespassing" signs. Property owners further along and just beyond the development have posted signs, hung chains and erected gates across the road and, most recently, mounted video surveillance cameras to keep people from trespassing along what they say is a private road. Siskiyou County sheriff Rick Riggins said his department's research showed that neither the USFS nor the county takes responsibility for Dale Creek Road. "As of now that's a private road and we have to go by law. Until county counsel or a judge says differently, we have to treat it as a private and privately maintained road," he said....
Big Sur ranch events opposed Federal plans for Allen Funt's old Big Sur ranch have become a source of contention pitting neighbors and the county against the U.S. Forest Service. The issue will come to a head today in Eureka, where the state Coastal Commission will be asked to determine whether Forest Service plans for the 1,255-acre ranch meet policies that regulate coastline development in California. The property is just south of Bixby Creek Bridge, off Highway 1, and has been used as a cattle and horse ranch since the mid-1800s. Funt, of Candid Camera fame, bought the ranch almost 30 years ago but his estate sold it after his death in 1999. The new owners offered the rustic buildings for social gatherings and business meetings. The Forest Service acquired the ranch two years ago for $17.6 million and is also offering it as a gathering spot for special events for up to 400 people....
Column: Stockgrowers wrong with sage grouse plan. Hunting, grazing help birds What were the Montana Stockgrowers thinking? Were they just muscle-flexing? Perhaps throwing a little gasoline on some flames? Or were they just showing their ignorance regarding sage grouse? Whatever the thought process, the Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) made a big splash last week in calling for a cutback in what they termed Montana's "liberal" hunting season on sage grouse. The MSGA should have done its homework. It should have looked at the numbers. And it should have learned a little about sage grouse management - what actually helps this bird and what hurts it - before running its mouth. The truth is that wildlife biologists and researchers have found hunting at Montana's level - two birds per day in a Sept. 1 through Nov. 1 season - has little or no effect on sage grouse populations....
Rare tortiose puzzles animal shelter staff A rare tortoise found "running" lose near hear last week is posing more than one puzzling question for workers at the Ogden Animal Shelter. They don't know what to feed it, nor if its even legal to house it in the shelter. The rare gopher tortoise is an endangered species normally found in Florida and along the Gulf Coast -- but no one thinks it got blown to Utah by Hurricane Katrina. Shelter director Bob Geier says his staff has been trying to figure out what to do with the dinner-plate sized reptile....
Federal judge halts killing of wolves in Wisconsin, Michigan A federal judge has blocked Michigan and Wisconsin, at least temporarily, from killing wolves that attack livestock or pets. The Humane Society of the United States and 18 other environmental groups filed a lawsuit last month. It accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of issuing lethal-control permits to the two states without giving the public an opportunity to comment, as required by the Endangered Species Act. The permits authorized state officials to kill 20 wolves in Michigan and 34 in Wisconsin this year. The suit demanded the agency withdraw the permits and go through the correct procedure for considering them. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle voided the permits Tuesday during a hearing in Washington, D.C....
U.S. Acts to Finish Divisive Border Fence In a rebuff to California officials and environmentalists, the Bush administration cleared the way Wednesday for completion of a 14-mile-long border fence that will run through coastal wetlands to the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived environmental laws for the first time since Congress gave him that authority in May. Finishing the last 3.5 miles of fence is expected to cost about $32 million. Combined with older existing fencing along the Mexican border, Chertoff said, the newly completed fence will form a security corridor — including two new roads, additional fencing, stadium-style lighting and surveillance cameras — for U.S. Border Patrol agents. In a statement issued by his office, Chertoff promised to "act in an environmentally responsible manner consistent with the security needs of the nation." Environmentalists doubt that promise, citing government plans to use soil from a nearby mesa to fill in a canyon, dubbed Smuggler Gulch. "This will cause a tremendous amount of damage to the Tijuana Estuary, particularly downstream," said Jim Peugh, chairman of the conservation committee for the San Diego Audubon Society. "The waiver means they don't have to respect water quality or endangered species or labor or child safety laws. It's a very chilling precedent."....
Oregon State Univ, EPA Researchers Say Current Salmon Policies Don't Work Current efforts to save wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest and California almost certainly will fail. This appears to be the grim conclusion of 30 salmon scientists, policy analysts and wild salmon advocates participating in a year-long initiative to create policy options that would sustain wild runs of salmon in the West. While agreeing that a new approach is needed, participants differ widely on what it will take to save wild salmon. Many of the suggested remedies - from reducing the population of the Northwest to removing major dams from rivers to advocating significant lifestyle changes - would likely be politically or culturally unpalatable. Yet their proponents say success would require that level of commitment. Many of the prescriptions for sustaining wild salmon runs will get an opportunity to be presented and defended at a special symposium Sept. 15 in Anchorage, Alaska, on the final day of the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society. About 2,000 fisheries scientists, managers, and other professionals are expected to attend the meeting....
Water board blasts U.S. on refuge care Water managers accused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday of fumbling efforts to keep exotic plants from overwhelming an Everglades wildlife preserve. And they reminded the agency, manager of the 147,000-acre Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in western Palm Beach County, that they could take back that wilderness if the problem remained out of control. Dishing out sharp criticism, the South Florida Water Management District said the wildlife service has made mistakes and little progress in recent years eradicating spreading invasive exotic plants. If the problem grows too far out of hand "then we need to take this refuge back," said board Chairwoman Irela Bagué....
Feds move to blacklist black carp but face a backlash If there were a social fish ladder, the slimy carp, which thrive in pollution-filled waters, would surely occupy the bottom rung. But when federal officials moved to put one variety on the list of invasive species, they opened a can of worms. The effort had the potential to restrict sales of the carp. The Asian black carp has been used on fish farms for more than two decades — not because it tastes good but because it has a taste for snails, which carry parasites that can kill or otherwise hurt their crop like a boll weevil damages cotton. Without another option to control the snail population in their ponds, fish farmers feared the worst for their industry, which is one of the few economic success stories in the otherwise poor Mississippi Delta....
Drawing Our Own Environmental Conclusions Where Mountains Are Nameless: Passion and Politics in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by Jonathan Waterman W. W. Norton, 2005 280 pages, $24.95 People do strange things in the Arctic wilderness. Jonathan Waterman, for example, has chased a herd of caribou like a wolf, accidentally discharged bear spray onto sensitive parts of his anatomy, and poked through "wondrous" piles of scat. But, as he can attest, the far north also inspires powerful emotions, whether it's a sense of awe or a hunger for profit. Waterman made 18 trips to the Arctic between 1983 and 2002, trekking through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and kayaking down rivers, along the coastline, and past Prudhoe Bay. In his latest book, Where Mountains Are Nameless, Waterman draws on these experiences to add his voice to the clamor surrounding the fate of ANWR. The topic may be familiar, but Waterman does succeed, at least in part, in making an original contribution to the discussion. In the first half of each chapter, Waterman recounts his excursions to the Arctic, describing in detail the landscape and wildlife. In the second, he tells the story of Olaus and Mardy Murie. The Muries may not be household names, but they did perhaps more than anyone else to create the refuge. By reviewing their struggle and eventual success, Waterman hopes to find lessons to apply to today's environmental battles....
Park's bison numbers swell The Yellowstone National Park bison population has reached an estimated 4,900 animals -- hundreds more than last winter and the highest level documented, a park spokeswoman said Wednesday. The population growth is renewing concerns about how federal and state officials manage the bison, some of which carry the disease brucellosis. Jake Cummins, executive vice president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, said Wednesday the population is three times greater than the park's carrying capacity -- what the landscape can successfully sustain -- and that it poses a serious risk to a livestock industry fearful that wandering bison will transmit brucellosis to cattle in Montana....
Rock Climbers Chafe at Park Service Restraints Christopher Paik has been climbing the steep rock face of Mather Gorge at Great Falls Park for 10 years. Like many other rock climbers, he believed injury was just about the only thing that could keep him from the sport. But that was before the National Park Service announced a plan that could restrict climbing in the park to preserve the landscape and restore such rare plant species as the Nantucket shadbush and flattened spikerush. Now Paik and other climbers say the use of the popular cliffs and ledges that attract hundreds of rock climbers to the Virginia side of the river each week is in jeopardy....
E.P.A. Struggles to Determine Extent of Hazards in Sludge The magnitude and geographic sweep of the pollution left by Hurricane Katrina is so enormous that the Environmental Protection Agency is struggling to determine what the worst hazards are, where they are and what can be done about them, the agency's administrator said Wednesday. The difficulties could cast doubt on plans of the New Orleans mayor and other city officials to reopen drier neighborhoods within days. At a Congressional briefing and at a separate news conference, the E.P.A. administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, described for the first time the wide variety of problems the agency was confronting, including the difficulty of determining the extent and toxicity of the sludge left by the floodwaters. Mr. Johnson said the agency was using aircraft to test for air pollution and taking daily samples of floodwaters and the sludge. The sampling is concentrated in residential areas. The agency has not completed or released details about specific strategies and the scientific protocols it is using as it tries to analyze the hazards posed by what Mr. Johnson called "the largest national disaster that we at E.P.A., or we believe, that the nation has faced."....
Floods' Pollutants Within the Norm Early tests on the floodwater that covered most of this city do not suggest it will leave a permanent toxic residue or render residential areas uninhabitable for more than a short time, officials of both state and federal environmental agencies said yesterday. The pollution consists primarily of fecal matter and slightly elevated concentrations of metals such as lead and chromium that were in the city's soil before Hurricane Katrina. There are also trace amounts of many petroleum-based chemicals and some pesticides. Despite descriptions of the floodwater as a "toxic soup" and a "witch's brew" of contaminants, the preliminary tests reveal it contains little that is different from what has been seen after past floods in other cities and here....this is from the Washington Post article, the one above is from the NY Times....
Indian woman leads multibillion fight against U.S When Elouise Cobell became treasurer of the Blackfeet Tribe in 1976, she began to investigate U.S. government payments to Native Americans for the rights to mine, farm and graze on Indian land. Three decades later the banker is in her ninth year of a $27.5 billion lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that officials have cheated Indians for more than a century. The complex dispute dates back to 1887, when the United States allotted lands to Indians but held them in trust for them. Under the arrangement, the government collects fees from ranchers, timber and oil companies or others using the land and distributes the money back tax free to individual Indians. "This is our money; they collected the money from 1887 forward. We know they used the money for other purposes," said Cobell, 59, who is the executive director of the Native American Community Development Bank in Browning, Montana....
Case of stuffed owl fetching trafficking charges oddly reminiscent of Monty Python A British man who put a stuffed snowy owl he found in the attic up for sale on the Internet was accused of trafficking in an endangered species. Steven Harper, 44, from Merseyside, northern England, had hoped to raise money to buy a holiday home in France. Instead he found himself in court, charged with trying to sell the long-dead bird without a certificate. A Merseyside Police wildlife officer said the legislation offered protection "whether an animal is alive or dead." Michael Brahams, Mr. Harper's lawyer, described the case as bureaucracy gone mad. "Rather like John Cleese's parrot, the owl was dead, deceased, moribund and in fact, it no longer existed. It had expired," he told the BBC.
Artist, writer best of the West The annual National Cowboy Symposium is finished in Lubbock. Hundreds of poets, chuck-wagon cooks, Western artists and working cowboys gathered last weekend to display their wares, recite their works and honor one another for promoting the Western way of life. Two of those honorees are familiar names in North Texas. Artist Chuck DeHaan of Graford, near Possum Kingdom Lake, received an American Cowboy Culture Award in the Western art category. Author Phil Livingston of Weatherford garnered a special award for his ongoing work chronicling some of the country's finest horses and their riders and trainers....

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