NEWS ROUNDUP

Editorial: Only the eco-cowboys will survive A simplistic argument that grazing cattle on public land is something that needs to be universally preserved, eliminated or even made to pay for itself does not tell us how public lands throughout the West should be managed. The good news is that forces of the free market and responsible stewardship are increasingly aligning, notably in Utah and Arizona, in ways that could encourage intelligent, case-by-case decisions about how many cattle can be run on what land for how long. These are decisions that, made properly, will take into account both the economic and environmental sustainability of grazing on particular areas. Such decisions should be made clear-eyed, with a minimum of the emotional baggage that longs for either the preservation of a rancher's way of life or the banishment of humanity from large stretches of the West. Leading the way in this intelligent husbandry are such outfits as The Grand Canyon Trust and the Conservation Fund, which together have bought the Kane and Two Mile ranches on the Utah-Arizona border, as well as grazing permits there and on other large swaths of federal land in such places as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument....
Idaho wilderness promoters take views to Capitol Hill A sizeable contingent of Gem State residents descended on the nation's capital to weigh in on Rep. Mike Simpson's effort to designate wilderness and simultaneously precipitate economic development in and around the Boulder and White Cloud mountains. If any one point was clear, based on their comments and opinions, it was that generalizations will hardly suffice to summarize their varying positions. Idaho residents who did not testify at a hearing of the House Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health on Thursday, Oct. 27, spent their time lobbying on behalf of, or against, Simpson's bill, called the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. The far-reaching bill proposes 300,011 acres of wilderness in the Boulder and White Cloud mountains, and to give federally owned lands to Custer and Blaine counties, as well as to the cities of Challis, Mackay and Stanley. It would also lock in motorized access in parts of the White Clouds and designate wheelchair accessible trails. The hearing Thursday was the bill's first....
Column: Camels and Cheetahs in Arizona? When Paul Martin looked across the desert landscape near the University of Arizona he saw a very different world, at least in his mind's eye. As an expert on the end of the Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 13,000 years ago, he saw a land awash with animals that are no longer here. He saw elephants, and camels, and cheetahs, and horses, roaming freely across the continent. These native animals disappeared either long before humans arrived, or just as the first Americans entered the scene. Martin, now retired from Arizona, began talking with friends about what it would be like to restore some of that magic to a land that has lost some of the great beasts that once dominated the landscape. He went so far as to propose that some effort be made to reintroduce some of those extinct animals, or at least their closest-living relatives. "The idea did not attract much attention," says Harry Greene, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University. But sometime later Greene was discussing Martin's vision with one of his graduate students, Josh Donlan, now a doctoral candidate at Cornell. That discussion led to a meeting at a New Mexico ranch of experts from across the country, including Martin, to discuss what may be one of the boldest proposals to come out of the environmental movement in decades....
Column: Land trusts start to shape up Over the past several years, conservation easements have come under increasing scrutiny. Critics have argued that these private agreements -- designed to forever protect open space on private land from development -- have resulted in widespread abuses, such as giving too much money in tax breaks or other advantages to the wealthy and powerful. These concerns prompted an investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, which looked into the conservation practices of the nation's 1,500 land trusts. Land trusts typically "hold" conservation easements, and are responsible for making sure that landowners comply with easement restrictions. Reforms have been promised by the Senate committee, but so far, none have emerged. Some of the reforms talked about include cutting easement deductions to one-third of their current level and prohibiting easement donors from living on the conserved property. The latter notion is a terrible idea, since farmers and ranchers granting easements typically live on their land....
Plan to limit off-road vehicles The Forest Service will propose restricting many off-road vehicles to designated roads and trails in federal forests and grasslands in an effort to curb environmental damage and ease conflict between visitors. Under the proposal, which Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth is to announce today, all 155 national forests and 20 grasslands would work with the public to identify routes, trails and other areas suitable for off-road vehicles. An environmental analysis would be required on each site to determine potential environmental effects. The plan is intended to halt the proliferation of roads and trails - many of them illegal - that have sprouted in public forests nationwide....
Governor: Regular forest process may be best Gov. Dave Freudenthal told supervisors of Wyoming's eight national forests that he remains doubtful of the merits of the Bush administration's plan allowing states to petition the Forest Service to change the use of roadless areas. Under federal rules issued in May, governors may submit petitions to halt road-building in national forest areas where it is now permitted or request that new forest management plans allow roads in areas where they are off-limits. During a meeting Tuesday in his office, Freudenthal offered the scenario of the Forest Service holding a hearing on a state roadless petition and a few days later holding another hearing on the same issue as part of overall forest plan revisions. The governor noted that management plans for two of the state's larger forests, the Shoshone and the Bridger-Teton, are just beginning. Because both the state and local governments are given "cooperating agency" status in conventional forest planning, the state might be better off sticking with that process, Freudenthal said....
Freudenthal vents grizzly frustration Gov. Dave Freudenthal told supervisors who manage 9 million acres of national forest land in Wyoming that he will keep pressing for removal of federal protection for grizzly bears and better monitoring of air quality in areas affected by natural gas development. Tuesday's meeting with eight forest supervisors and other U.S. Forest Service officials was cordial, although Freudenthal repeatedly reminded them of the need to work with local and state officials in forest planning. His frustration over the fact that grizzlies have not yet been removed from Endangered Species Act protection surfaced during a discussion with Becky Aus, supervisor of the Shoshone National Forest. "I'm not gonna fund the Wyoming side of bear management much longer," he said, adding that he's at least the third governor in the state to whom the federal government has promised delisting would occur. "We're spending a couple million bucks a year managing a species that's not ours," he said....
Cuts to firefighting funds for Katrina aid assailed Trying to make up for the cost of Hurricane Katrina, the White House has proposed eliminating a $500 million reserve fund to fight fires in heavy wildfire years. Environmentalists and Western Democrats criticized the plan Tuesday as shortsighted and risky. "It is absurd to pay for (Hurricane) Katrina by cutting the already too scarce funds for forest preservation and forest firefighting in the United States," said Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano through spokeswoman Pati Urias. "There are other places to cut, beginning with the pork barrel earmarks in the federal transportation bill. Paying for one emergency by cutting funds for another emergency is shortsighted and unwise." The proposal is part of a $2.3 billion package of cuts the administration proposed last Friday that includes reductions to other programs across government agencies, among them a fund for water projects and a prison literacy program....
Carter Mountain fares well after logging, geologist says Located east of the South Fork of the Shoshone River, Carter Mountain has long been a popular outdoor recreation spot and favored hunting ground, but since 2002 a bark beetle infestation has dramatically affected the area. "More than 90 percent of the Englemann spruce trees and many other conifers on Carter Mountain have been killed by bark beetles," Wegweiser said. The good news from her study of Carter Mountain logging activities is that Forest Service goals for environmental impact were mostly met by timber companies. "They took a lot of logs out of there," she said. "But the data shows the environmental assessment was pretty much complied with."....
Editorial: Civil rights violation? Get real They have a dream, those Friends of the Bitterroot. Freedom! From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, we will be able to speed up that day when environmentalists and loggers, rednecks and hippies, bureaucrats and gadflies will be able to join hands and sing, “Trees that last! Trees that last! Thank God Almighty, we have trees that last!” Oh, pardon us. We just couldn't resist lampooning that organization and three of its members who filed a lawsuit in federal court in Missoula on Monday claiming their civil rights were violated Sept. 22 because they weren't allowed to attend a press conference organized by the U.S. Forest Service to discuss management plans for an area up the Bitterroot National Forest's East Fork drainage.
The plaintiffs allege their First Amendment rights to free speech, freedom of association, freedom to peaceably assemble and right to petition the government to redress grievances “were violated by being barred from the press conference.” The right to attend press conferences is missing from our copy of the U.S. Constitution. The Bill of Rights appears similarly deficient....
Schweitzer: Backcountry has enough roads Gov. Brian Schweitzer maintains Montana’s federal backcountry does not need more roads and says any county commissions that find otherwise should give him their road proposals by Jan. 1. Schweitzer also has told commissioners he wants to meet with them at the Capitol on Nov. 28 for roadless discussions that, for many, will be a follow up to county visits he made in recent months. The timeframe for proposals and the meeting invitation are in a letter the governor sent last week to commissioners of all 56 Montana counties. Earlier this year, the Bush administration moved to allow logging or other commercial activity on millions of roadless acres in the nation’s forests. Governors have until late 2006 to petition the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service, on the status of roadless federal lands in their states. Montana has 6.3 million acres of roadless land, about two-thirds of it at issue in land-management debates. Schweitzer said the Forest Service reports a $588 million backlog in maintenance of existing Montana roads the agency manages....
Editorial: Oil drilling an insult to Valle Vidal legacy There are plenty of good, living reasons to save New Mexico's Valle Vidal - which translates as the valley of life - from the damaging intrusion of oil and gas drilling and other mineral exploration. The reasons include its great trout streams, mule deer and elk herds, wild turkeys and human beings, who value all of the above and don't want to lose yet another great natural area in exchange for a bit more energy to fuel the nation's insatiable appetite. As Tribune Reporter Kate Nash reported last week (in "Abundant Valley," Oct. 24), thousands of New Mexicans and Americans enjoy these wild treasures every year, and many worry about their future. As Oscar Simpson, spokesman for the Coalition for the Valle Vidal, told Tribune readers, "There are some places that just shouldn't be destroyed." Valle Vidal is one of these. It is time to be thoughtful and to conserve what's left of the great American natural landscape, including in New Mexico, by putting such valuable tracts off-limits to drillers....
NorCal legal group sues government over bald eagle protections A Northern California legal group teamed up with a Minnesota resident to sue the federal government over the bald eagles' continued listing as an endangered species, arguing that a bird's nest on his property made it impossible to build on the land. The conservative Pacific Legal Foundation of Sacramento, Calif. joined Edmund Contoski, who owns lakefront property in Morrison County, Minn., to file the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Tuesday. At issue is a 1999 proposal by the Clinton administration to take the bald eagle off the protected list. That proposal is still pending, despite a law calling for a final determination to be made within one year of agency proposals. Contoski, who lives in Minneapolis, wanted to subdivide his land and sell it, according to the lawsuit. But the presence of a bald eagle's nest, combined with wetlands on the property, prevented him from building anywhere on his land, the lawsuit says....
Column: Gun-Toting Toad Killers When Chief Justice John Roberts was nominated, Democrats worried that he was willing to overturn the Endangered Species Act. Now they're warning that Samuel Alito, President Bush's latest Supreme Court pick, is hostile to federal gun control. Together, presumably, Roberts and Alito would bring us two votes closer to an America where Congress is powerless to prevent the machine-gunning of arroyo toads. I wish. Both men have expressed doubts about the idea that Congress may pass whatever legislation it pleases under the pretext of regulating interstate commerce. But a closer look at their positions suggests neither is inclined to enforce serious limits on congressional power....
Hunter kills grizzly that charged him A hunter killed a charging grizzly bear last Thursday in the Scapegoat Wilderness along the Rocky Mountain Front, the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks announced Tuesday. "The nonresident was with a guide when he was charged by an adult male grizzly," said game warden Tom Flowers of Montana FWP. "The hunter shot the bear at 15 paces with a .300 Weatherby magnum rifle" Flowers said. Flowers did not identify either the hunter or the guide, saying the incident was still under investigation. The incident took place off Halfmoon Creek, which runs into Straight Creek south of Benchmark, west of Augusta. Flowers said FWP did not cite the hunter and will be turning the case over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which investigates the deaths of all grizzly bears because they are a federally protected species under the Endangered Species Act.
For Pombo, success draws heat U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo has pushed to open coastal areas and the Arctic wilderness for oil drilling and wants to rewrite the Endangered Species Act. The Tracy Republican, using his power as chairman of the House Resources Committee, proposed selling 15 national parks and other federal land — along with underlying mineral rights — to mining and timber companies. He has, in the words of Rodger Schlickeisen, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, become "the most anti-conservation congressman of the 535 in Congress." Now environmentalists and even some newspaper editorial boards are pushing back. On Tuesday, the wildlife fund launched a television and Internet campaign to educate Pombo's constituents of his efforts to "eviscerate America's landmark conservation laws." This fall, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named the seven-term congressman one of the 13 most corrupt politicians in Congress....
Critical Habitat Proposed for Rare North Pacific Right Whales NOAA Fisheries is proposing to protect 36,750 square miles of critical habitat in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska for one of the world's rarest whales - the North Pacific Right Whale. But even after decades of legal and illegal whaling that nearly wiped out the species, it took a court order to get habitat protection. In a ruling dated June 14, 2005, federal Judge William Alsup in the Northern District of California ordered the NOAA Fisheries to either propose designation of an area in the North Pacific ocean as critical habitat for right whales under the Endangered Species Act or explain why such designation should not occur due to "more paramount statutory considerations." NOAA Fisheries, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, met the judge's October 28 deadline by announcing that it proposes to revise the critical habitat for endangered northern right whales, Eubalaena glacialis, in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea....
Conservancy gets piece of prairie After a decade of working with private and public landowners to protect and restore South Sound native prairie lands, The Nature Conservancy of Washington has its own piece of prairie to continue that work. The conservation group last month purchased 125 acres of native prairie next to Fort Lewis west of Rainier, providing a long-term home for several imperiled plants and animals that rely on the rapidly vanishing habitat. It represents the only privately owned prairie preserve in Western Washington. Only about 3 percent of the historic South Sound prairie lands remain intact after decades of habitat loss to development, farming and invasive species. And only about half of the 3 percent is protected, said Nature Conservancy prairie restorationist Eric Delvin. "We're tremendously excited about this purchase," said Pat Dunn, the Conservancy's South Puget Sound program manager. "Our goal is to restore the property to high quality, native prairie." The first task is to remove the Douglas fir trees and Scotch broom plants that are advancing out into the prairie property from Military Road, Delvin said. Over time, thousands of native grass and flower seeds and seedlings will be planted to add to the native camas, buttercup, Oregon sunshine and other species already there....
Idaho: the new caviar hot spot With the federal government's ban on beluga caviar from the Black Sea basin taking effect just before the busy holiday season, all eyes are turning to, Idaho? The state's burgeoning aquaculture industry is hoping its farm-raised white sturgeon caviar will help fill the gap left by beluga on upscale menus. Several Idaho caviar farmers are starting their first commercial harvest this week. "It really comes at a good time for us," said Linda Lemmon, secretary of the Idaho Aquaculture Association and owner of Blind Canyon Aquaranch, a trout and sturgeon farm near Hagerman....
Sheep moved away from the crowds Over the noise of traffic along Interstate 15 comes the thumping sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air. More than a dozen people lounging around at the former rest area of the Virgin River Recreation Area stand up and get ready for action. In a minute, the helicopter has touched down and a desert bighorn sheep has been unloaded and placed on a special stretcher. The 4-year-old ewe is the 21st sheep captured this day, and it is quickly checked out by various volunteer veterinarians, Arizona Game and Fish officials and Bureau of Land Management Arizona Strip employees, assisted by volunteers from the Arizona Desert Bighorn Sheep Society. The helicopter quickly takes off and within 10 minutes, the sheep has been given shots, oxygen, ringer's lactate, had blood drawn, her temperature taken and a radio collar put on before being loaded into a transport trailer. Bob Price, field supervisor for the Arizona Game and Fish, cracks a quick smile. "They haven't all been that easy," Price said....
Sen. Hatch says nuke site not possible without BLM approval U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says the federal government can't issue a license for a controversial proposed nuclear waste storage project in Utah until land management officials sign off on it. Under the National Historic Preservation Act, all relevant agencies must sign a memorandum of agreement on a proposed project before a license is granted, Hatch said. The Bureau of Land Management still has not signed the agreement. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission in September approved a license to Minnesota-based Private Fuel Storage LLC for the proposed Skull Valley project to store 44,000 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial power reactors near Dugway. "This has jammed the NRC, and the BLM has sent a clear signal of more obstacles to come," Hatch said. He contends the NRC can't issue a license until the BLM signs off on the agreement....
Northern Cheyenne settles BLM lawsuit The Northern Cheyenne Indian tribe has reached a settlement with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that would allow coal-bed methane production to continue at a southern Montana project site but require surveying the area for resources considered culturally significant to the tribe. The agreement, signed last month by attorneys for both sides and an intervening energy development firm, Fidelity Exploration & Production Co., applies to Fidelity’s Tongue River-Badger Hills project, near Decker. It must be approved by a judge. The deal would settle a lawsuit filed by the tribe in 2004 over BLM’s approval of the project. The tribe claimed, among other things, that BLM didn’t sufficiently consult with them about how the project might affect resources they considered significant....
Crow offer buffalo hunts to raise cash The Crow Nation will take a leading role next summer in Clark on the Yellowstone, the National Heritage Lewis and Clark Bicentennial event scheduled for July 22-25 at Pompeys Pillar. At a meeting earlier this week with Yellowstone County officials, Tribal Chairman Carl Venne agreed to offer 10 guided bison hunts on the Crow buffalo pasture as part of the fundraising package, county Commissioner John Ostlund said. Venne has also agreed to be a keynote speaker at the July 25 Day of Honor, the highlight of the four-day commemoration. A major component of Clark on the Yellowstone' will be an American Indian encampment, featuring traditions of Montana tribes who had contact with the explorers on their journeys through Montana in 1805 and 1806. The Montana Tribal Tourism Alliance also plans to play a significant part in putting the event together. The Crow Nation will participate as the homeland host tribe....
Thomas, other senators don't like park plans Republican senators joined Democrats in telling the National Park Service on Tuesday to back off proposed new guidelines that could allow Segway scooters and more cell phones, noise and air pollution in the national parks. Instead, members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources' national parks subcommittee urged Park Service officials to undertake more modest changes to their overall plan for managing a 388-park system. "It's very controversial, and it (the Park Service) put the wrong emphasis on it," Sen. Craig Thomas, R-Wyo., the panel's chairman, said after a two-hour hearing. "I don't think we're satisfied yet." Other Republicans and Democrats were more pointed in their assessment of the Park Service's draft guidance to supervisors. Nearly 300 million people visited the U.S. parks last year, which cover 132,000 square miles....
After Wildfires, To Log Or Not? The 2005 wildfire season was declared officially over here the other day. Rain and snow in the mountains have dampened the timber, and the sound of firefighting helicopters and trucks has been replaced by the rifle fire of deer and elk hunters. But the rhetorical heat and smoke of battle continues over how to manage forestland to prevent catastrophic fire - and perhaps more pointedly, what to do with those lands once they've burned. The timber industry and the Bush administration say postfire salvage logging is best for forest restoration. It's not unusual in the mountain West these days to see trucks stacked with charred logs headed toward saw mills. "Common sense and a century of practical examples of successful salvage and reforestation show that the science of forestry works," says Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group in Portland, Ore. "Private, state, and tribal forest managers know that it works and restores ecosystems for future generations."....

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