NEWS ROUNDUP

Upset about wolf plan, ranchers may shut lands to public Some ranchers are so fed up with the state's new plan for managing wolves expected to migrate in from Idaho that they want to close their lands for hunters and anglers. They don't like the fact that they can't shoot wolves they suspect of preying on livestock, and that there is no state fund to reimburse them for livestock killed by wolves. Some ranchers in Baker County have closed their land to hunters and anglers. The Oregon Cattlemen's Association has adopted a resolution to work toward that end statewide if the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopts the plan next month. The plan was adopted last February, but has to be amended since the Legislature did not authorize key elements. It originally would have allowed ranchers to shoot wolves attacking livestock. That provision was taken out to conform to a federal court ruling that any wolves moving into Oregon would be protected as a threatened species....
Judge's order halts Butte-area logging A federal judge has granted a request by environmental groups for an injunction to stop logging beetle-killed trees near Basin Creek Reservoir in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest pending an appeal. Monday's decision by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy comes about a month after Molloy denied a similar request by the groups. An appeal of that ruling is pending before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Michael Garrity of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies. In Monday's decision, Molloy said he granted the latest injunction because logging had already started in the project area south of Butte. If allowed to continue, "there is a chance that a substantial portion of the project will have already been completed by the time the Ninth Circuit considers the merits of the plaintiffs' claims," he wrote. Garrity said Tuesday he was somewhat surprised by the ruling, but also "very happy."....
Court hears arguments over changes in Northwest Forest Plan Environmental and government lawyers argued in federal court Tuesday about whether a recent change to the Northwest Forest Plan — one that eased logging restrictions — was properly arrived at and would provide adequate protections for trout and salmon. The change was made in March 2004, when the Bush administration dropped wording from the forest plan that required certain projects to be evaluated for how they would affect their watershed before they could be approved. Environmental groups say that in making the change, the administration overruled the arguments of its own scientists to please the timber industry. The result, Earthjustice lawyer Patti Goldman told U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler, is that “even in key watersheds, there are no standards that control logging or mining or roadbuilding or grazing or any other activities.’’....
Groups protest Wyoming Range oil, gas leases Conservation groups and a homeowners association filed protests this week with the Bureau of Land Management for two parcels in the Wyoming Range slated for a December oil and gas lease sale. The two parcels total 1,280 acres. Bridger-Teton National Forest officials decided to put the parcels up for lease sale earlier this year - they are one part of a total of 44,600 acres set for leasing. That is scaled back from 175,000 acres originally eyed for lease sale. Peter Aengst with the Wilderness Society in Bozeman said the protests stem from a need for updated analysis on the Bridger-Teton showing if the parcels are suitable for leasing. "Things have changed since 12 and a half years ago," when the original environmental studies were done on the acreage showing they were suitable for leasing, he said. Air quality changes and rapid development of the Upper Green River Valley should weigh into a decision on whether to lease these pristine lands, he said....
Chiricahua prescribed burn to cover 6,000 acres A fire set by the Forest Service to clear overgrown grass and woodlands in the Chiricahua Wilderness Area north of Douglas has prompted numerous calls of concern from as far away as Sierra Vista, according to an agency spokeswoman. The Johnson Peak prescribed burn was set in late October with a goal of clearing up to 6,000 acres, said Teresa Ann Ciapusci, a public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service. To date, the fire has covered about 1,600 acres and is well within the prescription area authorized for the burn....
Bush, Cabinet OK Land Deal Florida officials approved the largest environmental land purchase in state history Tuesday, agreeing to pay $350 million to buy the Babcock Ranch in Southwest Florida, a vast, 74,000-acre tract that is home to the Florida panther and other endangered species. While endorsing the purchase, Gov. Jeb Bush and Cabinet members said they hope the state Legislature agrees to use cash to close the deal, saving the state millions of dollars in interest and keeping enough money in the state's Florida Forever program to buy other environmental land projects around the state. The Babcock purchase is considered environmentally critical because it simultaneously will protect endangered animals, will preserve the Telegraph Swamp and will provide a vital link in a natural land corridor stretching from Lake Okeechobee to Charlotte Harbor....
Tribe sues Interior secretary over Endangered Species Act Federal wildlife officials are protecting one endangered Everglades bird at the expense of another - and in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other federal law, alleges a new lawsuit. The Miccosukee Tribe is suing U.S. Interior Department Secretary Gale Norton and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the case filed in U.S. District Court in Miami this week. At issue is a wildlife service biological opinion that causes water managers to temporarily close five gates that move floodwater from the central Everglades south into Everglades National Park. The practice, which began in 1997, is timed to help a group of Cape Sable seaside sparrows dwelling in the western half of the park breed....
BLM allows more winter gas activity Up to this point, getting permission to drill for oil and gas -- or even walk -- in crucial big game winter range has been an uphill battle. Now, some worry the national push for more energy development is chipping away at these protections. That push can be seen on the Pinedale Anticline natural gas field, where earlier this month the Bureau of Land Management authorized more activity in areas of winter closures. The decisions, enacted under the BLM's discretion to grant exemptions to leaseholders as the agency sees fit, were made without public comment or notification. Instead, notification of one of the exemptions was posted on the agency's Web site as a "Finding of No Significant Impact." Questar Corp. was authorized to conduct four well completions, having requested 16, and has been permitted one new drilling rig. Other companies have bumped up their production in big game ranges as well....
Olympia pays record price for North Las Vegas acreage The Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday sold 3,002 acres of public land for a total of $799.3 million. Parcels offered for sale varied in size from 1.25 acres to 2,675 acres. Yet eight of the 69 parcels offered throughout the Las Vegas Valley didn't sell. Their combined estimated value was $637.5 million. But all eyes were centered on 2,675 acres in North Las Vegas. It was the largest piece of land being offered for sale, with a starting bid price of $522.4 million, or about $195,000 an acre. And after a heavy, heated exchange, Garry Goett's Olympia Group won with a $639 million bid, or $238,878 per acre. It represents a record sale price for North Las Vegas land, reflecting the valley's feverish real estate activity. The final sale price was 18.25 percent higher than anticipated....
Mission man logs the old fashioned way David Sturman goes back in time when he goes to work by using horsepower to move tree logs. The unique thing about Sturman is he is one of the few people left that still uses real live, breathing horsepower, much the way loggers did a century ago. Sturman has incorporated his fondness for the past into creating a better environment for the future. He uses a team of two Belgian horses to skid logs through thick timber to repair waterways and create a healthier environment for wildlife and fish populations. "The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) contracts me to move large wood debris with minimal impact to the environment," Sturman said. Most of his work has been done in wooded areas that require a great deal of maneuvering skill, something that large machinery doesn't possess a lot of....
D.C. to lend ear to problems facing national parks Everything from Northern California-grown marijuana to reptiles stolen from the Mojave Desert could soon wind up in the halls of Congress, at least in a figurative sense. The problems facing national parks in California - including Joshua Tree National Park - will be front and center during an upcoming congressional hearing in San Francisco. The field hearing is one in a series of more than a dozen around the nation by the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of the House Government Reform Committee, a group that has jurisdiction over national parks. Scheduled for Monday and led by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., it will be a chance for committee members to hear about fiscal and law enforcement challenges in California-based national parks....
Battle for the lake heating up A federal proposal to reshape the trailer-lined shores of Lake Berryessa is facing fierce opposition from mobile home owners who have made the lake their home away from home for the past 50-plus years. More than 1,000 trailer owners are bucking against a federal proposal to replace about 1,300 privately owned trailers with campgrounds and other day-use recreation sites. Trailer supporters have drafted a counterproposal and grabbed the attention of Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, who sent a representative to a stormy town hall meeting about the lake's fate Saturday in the Winters High School gymnasium. Pombo is chairman of the House Resources Committee, which has authority over many key policy decisions on water and energy. Trailer owners turned out en masse at the meeting to challenge federal representatives and environmentalists pushing for the lake's redevelopment....
City makes first payment to Jicarillas Santa Fe Mayor Larry Delgado on Tuesday turned over to Jicarilla Apache Nation a check for $450,000 — the first of what could be $75 million paid by the city to the tribe over the next 50 years to lease water. The agreement between the city and the tribe was approved recently by the federal government — the first longterm lease for water between an American Indian tribe and a municipality, Jicarilla and federal officials say. Under the agreement , beginning in 2007, the city could begin taking up to 3,000 acre-feet a year of Jicarilla’s “futureuse” allocation of 6,500 acre-feet of San Juan/Chama Diversion water....
For high-dollar rights to water, Colorado's the place When Idaho bought water rights on the Snake River this year to protect trout, it paid farmers $325 per acre-foot - about 326,000 gallons. In Colorado, cities buying water for human use have paid farmers as much as $20,000 per acre-foot. "Location, location, location," said Karl Dreher, Idaho's water resources director. Colorado is a notoriously expensive place to shop for water. Nobody maintains a complete record of Western water sales and leases, and many such transactions are private....
Column: Further Down the Drain The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation wants to bet up to $1 billion of your tax dollars that its latest proposals to carry toxic waste waters away from the nation's largest federal irrigation project will not result in another ecological disaster like the selenium poisoning of the Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge more than 20 years ago. The Bureau is putting the final touches on an environmental impact statement (EIS) due Feb. 1, 2006 in which it will announce support for one of three possible drainage solutions: Delta Disposal, Central Coast disposal, or building drainage treatment facilities and evaporation ponds within the San Joaquin Valley with varying levels of land retirement. Opponents say the Bureau's science is flawed, threatens fisheries and birds, and that construction and operation costs are likely to become astronomical for keeping just a few hundred growers in business irrigating a desert. The final EIS comes in response to a ruling by the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal five years ago requiring the Bureau to provide drainage for the 730,000-acre San Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project, first approved by Congress in 1960....
Population growth imperils humanity Compelling new evidence effectively contradicting premature pronouncements that the world-population crisis is over can hardly be shrugged off as sky-is-falling clucking by hysterical Chicken Littles. A recently released $24 million four-year United Nations-sponsored Millennium Ecosystems Assessment spells out the havoc wreaked by pressures on the planet to feed and provide finite resources for its more than 6 billion inhabitants. Compiled by 1,360 scientists from 95 countries, the report is the product of their examination of 16,000 photographs from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as analyses of prodigious volumes of statistical data and other information from scientific journals and other relevant documents. The most unsettling finding is that over the past 50 years, as world population has doubled, human activity has depleted 60 percent of the world's grasslands, forests, farmlands, rivers and lakes. The scientists in this study reached the consensus that in the absence of serious application of sound environmental policies over the next 50 years _ when population is projected to soar from the current 6.5 billion to over 9 billion _ increased demands for food, clean water and fuel could hasten the loss of forests, fish and freshwater reserves, and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks....just thought I'd end with this item from our friends at the scientifically objective and freedom loving United Nations....