NEWS ROUNDUP

Landowners stand up for rights Scores of North Coast and North County ranchers tromped into San Luis Obispo on Tuesday and told supervisors to keep the government's hands off their property. The ranchers brought along an L.A. lawyer to underscore their point. They warned the county Board of Supervisors to junk a plan that would regulate development on the ridges visible from Highway 1 and in the "Cayucos Fringe" -- 53 square miles of rugged canyon and ranchland north and east of Highway 1 from Morro Bay to Cambria. More than 100 people filled the often sparsely populated supervisors' chambers. Many of them said their pioneering San Luis Obispo County ancestors have owned land here since the 1800s. They complained that the ridgetop regulation plan would take away their rights in order to satisfy "the fleeting visual pleasure of the general public," as rancher Dawn Dunlap put it. They said they had worked the land for generations and wanted to pass it on to their children. They also use their property as collateral on loans, and some said the ordinance would create bankruptcies....
Cattle hunt postponed for Hilo ranchers The state has postponed open hunting of cattle in the Hilo watershed area until next week to give ranchers time to recover animals that might have trespassed in forest reserves. The Department of Land and Natural Resources had originally scheduled the eradication effort to begin tomorrow. The hunt will now start Nov. 11 and target feral and trespass cattle found above the city each weekend and state holiday through Nov. 26. The state has worked with ranchers on the Big Island to fix their fences and remove wandering cattle from state forest reserves. But the estimated 400 cows in the area that stretches north from Saddle Road and along the slopes of Mauna Kea to Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge are sufficient to warrant a public hunt, according to the department....
Wildlife Service reduces land area intended to protect frog The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reduced by more than 80 percent the habitat it originally said was needed to protect the threatened California red-legged frog, the species believed to be the inspiration for the famous Gold Rush-era tale by Mark Twain. The agency last year proposed setting aside more than 4 million acres as critical habitat for the frog, including parts of 28 of the state's 58 counties. It would have been the largest critical habitat designation in California and one of the largest in the nation. The designation released Thursday would set aside 737,912 acres in 23 counties. The Fish and Wildlife Service said updated information about the frogs' habitat needs and better maps allowed it to exclude areas such as homes and roads, reducing the area needed for protection....
Habitats May Shrink by Leaps, Bounds The House of Representatives has passed a bill that would eliminate federally protected critical habitat on 150 million acres of largely undeveloped public and private land. The Senate could act on the legislation by year's end. But even without legislative action, the Bush administration is eliminating critical-habitat designations around the country. Administration officials say that habitat protections cost landowners billions and that voluntary plans work better for landowners and wildlife. In numerous cases, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and her top deputies, citing their own cost estimates, have agreed with builders and property owners that the financial burden of habit protections outweighed any benefit to species. The frog is a case in point, they said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a study that showed nearly $500 million in costs to homebuilders for protecting the frog's habitat....
Illegal kills dominate grizzly deaths The highest number of illegal kills in seven years accounted for nearly half the 24 grizzly bear deaths so far this year in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem. The 2005 tally of 11 illegal kills represents a continuing increase in the number of grizzly bears that are misidentified by hunters or simply shot by poachers, said Chris Servheen, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services grizzly bear recovery coordinator. The biggest problem is this illegal mortality, Servheen said, adding that his office will soon announce a substantial increase in the reward available for people who provide information leading to the arrest of those responsible for illegal kills. Servheen said this years total of known human-caused bear deaths includes the 11 that were illegally killed; seven that were destroyed by bear managers because of conflicts with people; four that died due to management handling; one killed in self-defense and one killed by a car....
Utah bear likes toothpaste Forget the honey. Bears apparently like toothpaste, and Troy Larsgard learned that the hard way. The 26-year-old Brigham Young University student was camping with his younger brother in Rock Canyon Park two weeks ago when a bear slashed through his tent and pawed at a bag containing toothpaste and other toiletries before taking a swipe at his leg. The bear was trying to reach for a bag containing the toothpaste, but couldn't get it through the mesh. After a few tries, Larsgard said the bear simply ripped through the screen window. Seemingly encouraged by the first hole, the bear made a giant swipe and created a large opening, which he climbed through, entering the tent. The bear sniffed Larsgard's brother — who was lying motionless in his sleeping bag — then turned to Larsgard, who had made a small sound as he curled up into a ball in his sleeping bag. Perhaps startled or maybe just curious, the bear swiped at Larsgard's leg. Then, for some reason, the bear seemed to lose interest in the two figures in sleeping bags and backed out of the tent....
Editorial: Now the fight is over dead trees This country's policy on dead trees is rotten. The government spends many months and millions of dollars writing salvage plans after wildfires and windstorms, and then environmental groups fight those plans until most of the trees decay and topple over. There must be a better way. Congressmen Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Brian Baird, D-Wash., on Thursday introduced legislation that generally looks like a more sensible approach to salvage logging and reforestation. Their bill would accelerate planning after fires and other catastrophes strike forests, and allow for more timely salvage of dead trees and reforestation of damaged areas. Environmental groups started attacking the Walden-Baird bill long before they read a word of the legislation. In Oregon, where the Biscuit fire and other blazes have left hundreds of thousands of acres burned, fire salvage has become one of the most bitter disputes on the national forests....
Panel gets earful about river access Under Montana law, the state owns most rivers and streams and the public can access them as long as they stay below the normal high-water mark. That means boaters can float a river and anglers can fish any stream regardless of whether it flows through public or private land. At issue Thursday was what happens when a public bridge crosses a steam. In 2000, then-Attorney General Joe Mazurek issued a formal opinion saying that when a public road crosses a stream, the public can access the stream from the bridge without ever trespassing onto private property. Attorney general decisions carry the weight of law until the Legislature enacts its own laws or a court overturns them. In this case, the Legislature has remained silent on the issue. Many people who spoke at Thursday's meeting said it's time for that to change....
Senate sends $100 billion food and farm spending bill to Bush The Senate on Thursday sent a $100 billion food and farm spending bill to President Bush that includes a two-year delay on labels telling grocery shoppers where their meat comes from. In a separate action, the Senate voted to continue allowing big farms to collect millions of dollars from the government to subsidize their operations. Approved on an 81-18 vote, the food and farm spending bill would postpone mandatory meat labeling until 2008. Originally sought by Western ranchers and required by law in 2004, country-of-origin labeling has stalled under pressure from meatpackers and supermarkets who call it a record-keeping nightmare. The measure also unravels a court ruling on whether products labeled "USDA Organic" can contain small amounts of non-organic substances. Earlier this year, an appeals court ruled that non-organic substances such as vitamins or baking powder can't be in food bearing the round, green seal. More than 200 companies and trade groups said the ingredients are processing aids needed for making organic yogurt and many other products, and congressional negotiators agreed....

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