Saturday, April 09, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Editorial: Every day is court day for some 'environmentalists' The Center for Biological Diversity, which likes to call itself an environmentalist organization, isn't. It's a litigious society bent on eliminating private property rights in America through intimidation by the courts. The environmental movement is only its cat's paw, but one which it has used with amazing success, first because it rarely encounters more than token resistance to its legal forays, and second, because most Americans are "environmentalists" in the sense that they enjoy the beauty of natural vistas and believe in the preservation of the wild. The Center counts on both these things when it attacks such groups as hunters, off-road enthusiasts, farmers, loggers, miners, oil companies, ranchers ... it's a long list. On occasion, though, the intended victim bites back with success. That happened last January in Tuscon, Ariz., where a jury found the Center for Biological Diversity's Tuscon branch guilty of making "false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements" against Jim Chilton, a Southern Arizona rancher. The Tucson jury awarded Chilton $100,000 in actual damages, and $500,000 in punitive damages from the Center for defaming him and his family business....
Environmentalists drop timber challenge in return for protection of valley Six conservation groups said Thursday they are dropping their legal challenge to two timber sales that could provide more than a year's supply of timber to Southeast Alaska mills. It's part of an out-of-court settlement that the groups, including the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and the Sierra Club, are finalizing with the U.S. Forest Service and other parties this week. In return, the Forest Service has agreed to withdraw an 8 million-board-foot Orion North timber sale in the Sea Level Creek valley, the last-remaining roadless watershed in Thorne Arm near Ketchikan...
Tahoe National Forest buys land The Tahoe National Forest just got a little bigger. The Truckee Ranger District added two separate chunks of land from California timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries that equal an expansion of more than 1,000 acres. The 640 acres of land the national forest bought near the American River, five miles south of Interstate 80’s Big Bend exit, complete the forest’s goal of amassing all of the private land along the rugged North Fork of the American River that has been designated as a wild and scenic. The forest service paid Sierra Pacific Industries $700,000 for the tract of land. The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization, was also involved in brokering the land deal. Over the life of the program, the Tahoe National Forest has bought almost 10,000 acres along the river....
Packing up a tradition A 100-year tradition was sent out to pasture Thursday. So were Gus, Dakota, Jack and Sunny. A ceremony honoring the Gifford Pinchot National Forest's last four historic pack horses was held Thursday in Randle, Wash., where the animals were stabled. Then Gus, Dakota, Jack and Sunny climbed into a horse trailer and were on their way to Eight Mile Ranch, north of Winthrop, Wash., to meet their new wrangler, the first they've had in a year and a half. Today, for the first time since the U.S. Forest Service was created in 1905, there are no pack animals available to venture into west-of-the-Cascades wilderness. "It's really the end of an era," said Rick McClure, 49, heritage program manager for the agency. "The image of the horseback ranger has always been one of those mythological things associated with the Forest Service."....
Off-roaders join effort to curb wilderness damage The solution until now has been to close areas to motorized vehicles. Larratt, chairman of the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition, thinks Colorado has a better option: "Keep your wheels where they belong." The new slogan and the coalition are a part of a $250,000 "Stay the Trail" campaign. A joint effort of the Bureau of Land Management-Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado state parks and a number of environmental and off-highway vehicle groups, the campaign cautions off-roaders to stick to the designated trails or face not having trails at all....
Greens win Boulder appeal Environmental groups have won their appeal of a fuel-reduction project the U.S. Forest Service has proposed for the main Boulder River canyon south of Big Timber. The project has been halted, at least for now, because of concerns for goshawks, Kathleen A. McAllister, the appeals deciding officer at regional headquarters in Missoula, wrote in a Monday decision. She said there are "discrepancies" between two analyses of the project's impacts on goshawks. However, forest officials still hope to get some work done this year. "We'll probably deal with these deficiencies and then move forward," said Brent Foster, resource assistant for the Gallatin National Forest in Big Timber....
Paonia man fined for guiding without permit The owner of a guest ranch near Paonia has pleaded guilty to charges he provided guided snowmobile trips on U.S. Forest Service land without a permit. U.S. Magistrate ordered Edwin Allen, the owner of Whistling Acres Guest Ranch, to pay $1,700 in fines and $300 in restitution for providing the trips from the Stevens Gulch trailhead north of Paonia, the Forest Service announced in a news release. The Forest Service said delivering supplies, stock or equipment, as well as providing guiding services on federal land without a permit, is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine and six months in prison....
Wildlife officials drop habitat plan, cite homeland security issues Bowing to national security concerns, federal wildlife officials on Friday backed off their proposal to give heightened protection to an endangered plant's habitat near Barstow where the Army wants to expand its tank-training center. Environmental groups said the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to wipe out almost 30,000 acres of critical habitat is a death sentence for the Lane Mountain milk-vetch, a perennial herb that is clinging to existence in the western Mojave Desert. The wildlife agency cited the importance of military training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in dropping the year-old proposal. Such designations can restrict activities to protect the land where an imperiled species is struggling to survive. Army officials hope to begin training in an expansion of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in Barstow by 2006. The area is needed, the Army says, to better prepare troops for Iraq. "It was excluded for national security reasons, which there is a provision in the Endangered Species Act that allows for that," said Lois Grunwald, a spokeswoman for the federal wildlife agency in Ventura....
Lab solves wildlife crimes CSI: Laramie. It may lack the glitz and glamor of CSI: Miami, but for game wardens in Wyoming, Colorado and surrounding states, the Wyoming Game and Fish forensics laboratory is a critical tool in catching poachers and cracking down on illegal trade in wildlife. The fluorescent-lit rooms and Formica-topped counters look like the average college chemistry lab, but the techs are doing nearly everything human forensic labs do - and they can do it for a multitude of species. DNA fingerprinting can seal a conviction or lock in a plea bargain in game violations as solidly as in human homicides. Take the case of two cousins accused of illegally shooting a prize quality bighorn ram in December 2003....
Mixing species may be only way to save world's rarest It sounds like the plot of a cheesy sci-fi film: A futuristic army of clones saves the giant panda from extinction. But it isn't. Researchers from San Diego to New Orleans are examining and testing the powers of cloning technology. They are hoping that if all else fails, genetic duplicates can save animals such as the Sumatran rhino and Siberian tiger from extinction. Already scientists have cloned the African wildcat, Asian banteng and a rare cow-like species called a gaur. The clone of the latter species didn't last long - just a few hours - but cloning conservationists say they are making significant strides, despite charges that they are wasting their time, misusing otherwise needed conservation funds and creating creatures that not only don't belong on the planet but actually may be too unique to "re-create." Notwithstanding these concerns, zookeepers and researchers across the country literally are banking - in "frozen zoos" - as much animal tissue as they can....
LWCF - CARA Heads For Conference Committee Vote The Senate approval March 16 of a $350 million conservation fund from oil and gas leasing on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has a long way to go before it becomes a reality. Although the Senate approved the provision by a 51-to-49 vote as a set-aside in a fiscal year 2006 Congressional budget resolution (S Con Res 18), final passage of the budget is far from a certainty. In addition final passage of a “reconciliation” bill later this summer to provide legislative language that would implement the budget provision is also far from a certainty. The immediate hurdle is a House-Senate conference committee that is expected to meet this month to work out differences between S Con Res 18 and a House-passed budget (H Con Res 95). While the House-passed budget does not mention ANWR and the conservation fund, it does indirectly make room for an ANWR fund when it calls for reduced energy spending by authorizing committees....
Energy Plan Should Protect Western Lands, Groups Charge In a letter to the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee delivered today, 25 citizen and conservation groups asked Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Ranking Member John Dingell (D-MI) to ensure that the House energy bill protects western communities, landscapes, and residents from irresponsible oil and gas development. The groups emphasized responsible development of energy resources, saying “this can be done, however, without further rushing energy development or elevating it over other public land uses.” “We represent ranchers and farmers, hunters, anglers and outfitters, business owners, hikers, campers and wildlife watchers,” wrote the groups. “Many of our organizations have longstanding reputations as advocates for responsible and sustainable energy policies.”....
Building-climbing activist in jail, clamoring for attention Arrow joined the annals of activism five years ago outside the U.S. Forest Service regional headquarters, the same locale as Pax. Arrow scaled three stories of the building and camped out on a 9-inch-deep ledge for 11 days to protest Mount Hood logging. Formerly Michael J. Scarpitti before a name change, Arrow fled to Canada after the FBI accused him of domestic-terrorism acts in 2001, including the firebombing of logging and cement trucks. Caught in Victoria, B.C., last spring, Arrow has been stuck in a Port Coquitlam corrections facility awaiting an extradition hearing scheduled for June. He started his stay behind bars with a 44-day hunger strike, shedding more than 40 pounds. Arrow also has been busy making requests. According to his latest biweekly newsletter posted on the Portland Independent Media Center Web site last week -- www.portland.indymedia.org -- Arrow is on the lookout for a vehicle, preferably one that runs on biodiesel, that will help spread the word about his case through a nationwide speaking tour. Garnering celebrity support from activist sympathizers Bonnie Raitt or the Indigo Girls wouldn't hurt either, he wrote....
Nevada governor opposes bill protecting rural water supplies Legislators who face opposition from the Guinn administration to their bills that would help rural areas fighting against the export of their water to booming Las Vegas said Thursday they're not giving up. "We're going to push this as far as we can," Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said after Gov. Kenny Guinn's natural resources adviser told lawmakers existing water law adequately protects the outlying counties. "The prevailing attitude of big developers seems to be that everything is perfect right now for Nevada water law," Leslie said. "The arrogance in that statement just offends me, because we heard testimony from many Nevadans that the current law isn't working for them - and has the potential for destroying their way of life."....
Editorial: Saving Colorado River habitat For more than 1,400 miles, a great river connects seven Western states, creating one of the most valuable, complicated and controversial ecosystems on our continent. How best to manage the Colorado River presents an ongoing challenge. Many species native to the Colorado have become endangered because of the loss of habitat, introduction of non-native fish and construction of dams and other water projects. The river basin is home to 14 native fish, including four endangered species that exist nowhere else: the Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bonytail and humpback chub. Two native birds, the southwestern willow flycatcher and Yuma clapper rail, are also endangered. Last week, the U.S. Department of Interior and California, Arizona and Nevada signed a landmark agreement. The pact envisions the three states and federal government investing $626 million over 50 years to restore wildlife habitat. The key to making the deal work is sustained funding. Given the long time frame, annual appropriations should be modest enough to allow for continued congressional support....
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Editorial: Every day is court day for some 'environmentalists' The Center for Biological Diversity, which likes to call itself an environmentalist organization, isn't. It's a litigious society bent on eliminating private property rights in America through intimidation by the courts. The environmental movement is only its cat's paw, but one which it has used with amazing success, first because it rarely encounters more than token resistance to its legal forays, and second, because most Americans are "environmentalists" in the sense that they enjoy the beauty of natural vistas and believe in the preservation of the wild. The Center counts on both these things when it attacks such groups as hunters, off-road enthusiasts, farmers, loggers, miners, oil companies, ranchers ... it's a long list. On occasion, though, the intended victim bites back with success. That happened last January in Tuscon, Ariz., where a jury found the Center for Biological Diversity's Tuscon branch guilty of making "false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements" against Jim Chilton, a Southern Arizona rancher. The Tucson jury awarded Chilton $100,000 in actual damages, and $500,000 in punitive damages from the Center for defaming him and his family business....
Environmentalists drop timber challenge in return for protection of valley Six conservation groups said Thursday they are dropping their legal challenge to two timber sales that could provide more than a year's supply of timber to Southeast Alaska mills. It's part of an out-of-court settlement that the groups, including the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and the Sierra Club, are finalizing with the U.S. Forest Service and other parties this week. In return, the Forest Service has agreed to withdraw an 8 million-board-foot Orion North timber sale in the Sea Level Creek valley, the last-remaining roadless watershed in Thorne Arm near Ketchikan...
Tahoe National Forest buys land The Tahoe National Forest just got a little bigger. The Truckee Ranger District added two separate chunks of land from California timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries that equal an expansion of more than 1,000 acres. The 640 acres of land the national forest bought near the American River, five miles south of Interstate 80’s Big Bend exit, complete the forest’s goal of amassing all of the private land along the rugged North Fork of the American River that has been designated as a wild and scenic. The forest service paid Sierra Pacific Industries $700,000 for the tract of land. The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization, was also involved in brokering the land deal. Over the life of the program, the Tahoe National Forest has bought almost 10,000 acres along the river....
Packing up a tradition A 100-year tradition was sent out to pasture Thursday. So were Gus, Dakota, Jack and Sunny. A ceremony honoring the Gifford Pinchot National Forest's last four historic pack horses was held Thursday in Randle, Wash., where the animals were stabled. Then Gus, Dakota, Jack and Sunny climbed into a horse trailer and were on their way to Eight Mile Ranch, north of Winthrop, Wash., to meet their new wrangler, the first they've had in a year and a half. Today, for the first time since the U.S. Forest Service was created in 1905, there are no pack animals available to venture into west-of-the-Cascades wilderness. "It's really the end of an era," said Rick McClure, 49, heritage program manager for the agency. "The image of the horseback ranger has always been one of those mythological things associated with the Forest Service."....
Off-roaders join effort to curb wilderness damage The solution until now has been to close areas to motorized vehicles. Larratt, chairman of the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition, thinks Colorado has a better option: "Keep your wheels where they belong." The new slogan and the coalition are a part of a $250,000 "Stay the Trail" campaign. A joint effort of the Bureau of Land Management-Colorado, the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado state parks and a number of environmental and off-highway vehicle groups, the campaign cautions off-roaders to stick to the designated trails or face not having trails at all....
Greens win Boulder appeal Environmental groups have won their appeal of a fuel-reduction project the U.S. Forest Service has proposed for the main Boulder River canyon south of Big Timber. The project has been halted, at least for now, because of concerns for goshawks, Kathleen A. McAllister, the appeals deciding officer at regional headquarters in Missoula, wrote in a Monday decision. She said there are "discrepancies" between two analyses of the project's impacts on goshawks. However, forest officials still hope to get some work done this year. "We'll probably deal with these deficiencies and then move forward," said Brent Foster, resource assistant for the Gallatin National Forest in Big Timber....
Paonia man fined for guiding without permit The owner of a guest ranch near Paonia has pleaded guilty to charges he provided guided snowmobile trips on U.S. Forest Service land without a permit. U.S. Magistrate ordered Edwin Allen, the owner of Whistling Acres Guest Ranch, to pay $1,700 in fines and $300 in restitution for providing the trips from the Stevens Gulch trailhead north of Paonia, the Forest Service announced in a news release. The Forest Service said delivering supplies, stock or equipment, as well as providing guiding services on federal land without a permit, is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a $5,000 fine and six months in prison....
Wildlife officials drop habitat plan, cite homeland security issues Bowing to national security concerns, federal wildlife officials on Friday backed off their proposal to give heightened protection to an endangered plant's habitat near Barstow where the Army wants to expand its tank-training center. Environmental groups said the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to wipe out almost 30,000 acres of critical habitat is a death sentence for the Lane Mountain milk-vetch, a perennial herb that is clinging to existence in the western Mojave Desert. The wildlife agency cited the importance of military training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in dropping the year-old proposal. Such designations can restrict activities to protect the land where an imperiled species is struggling to survive. Army officials hope to begin training in an expansion of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in Barstow by 2006. The area is needed, the Army says, to better prepare troops for Iraq. "It was excluded for national security reasons, which there is a provision in the Endangered Species Act that allows for that," said Lois Grunwald, a spokeswoman for the federal wildlife agency in Ventura....
Lab solves wildlife crimes CSI: Laramie. It may lack the glitz and glamor of CSI: Miami, but for game wardens in Wyoming, Colorado and surrounding states, the Wyoming Game and Fish forensics laboratory is a critical tool in catching poachers and cracking down on illegal trade in wildlife. The fluorescent-lit rooms and Formica-topped counters look like the average college chemistry lab, but the techs are doing nearly everything human forensic labs do - and they can do it for a multitude of species. DNA fingerprinting can seal a conviction or lock in a plea bargain in game violations as solidly as in human homicides. Take the case of two cousins accused of illegally shooting a prize quality bighorn ram in December 2003....
Mixing species may be only way to save world's rarest It sounds like the plot of a cheesy sci-fi film: A futuristic army of clones saves the giant panda from extinction. But it isn't. Researchers from San Diego to New Orleans are examining and testing the powers of cloning technology. They are hoping that if all else fails, genetic duplicates can save animals such as the Sumatran rhino and Siberian tiger from extinction. Already scientists have cloned the African wildcat, Asian banteng and a rare cow-like species called a gaur. The clone of the latter species didn't last long - just a few hours - but cloning conservationists say they are making significant strides, despite charges that they are wasting their time, misusing otherwise needed conservation funds and creating creatures that not only don't belong on the planet but actually may be too unique to "re-create." Notwithstanding these concerns, zookeepers and researchers across the country literally are banking - in "frozen zoos" - as much animal tissue as they can....
LWCF - CARA Heads For Conference Committee Vote The Senate approval March 16 of a $350 million conservation fund from oil and gas leasing on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has a long way to go before it becomes a reality. Although the Senate approved the provision by a 51-to-49 vote as a set-aside in a fiscal year 2006 Congressional budget resolution (S Con Res 18), final passage of the budget is far from a certainty. In addition final passage of a “reconciliation” bill later this summer to provide legislative language that would implement the budget provision is also far from a certainty. The immediate hurdle is a House-Senate conference committee that is expected to meet this month to work out differences between S Con Res 18 and a House-passed budget (H Con Res 95). While the House-passed budget does not mention ANWR and the conservation fund, it does indirectly make room for an ANWR fund when it calls for reduced energy spending by authorizing committees....
Energy Plan Should Protect Western Lands, Groups Charge In a letter to the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee delivered today, 25 citizen and conservation groups asked Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and Ranking Member John Dingell (D-MI) to ensure that the House energy bill protects western communities, landscapes, and residents from irresponsible oil and gas development. The groups emphasized responsible development of energy resources, saying “this can be done, however, without further rushing energy development or elevating it over other public land uses.” “We represent ranchers and farmers, hunters, anglers and outfitters, business owners, hikers, campers and wildlife watchers,” wrote the groups. “Many of our organizations have longstanding reputations as advocates for responsible and sustainable energy policies.”....
Building-climbing activist in jail, clamoring for attention Arrow joined the annals of activism five years ago outside the U.S. Forest Service regional headquarters, the same locale as Pax. Arrow scaled three stories of the building and camped out on a 9-inch-deep ledge for 11 days to protest Mount Hood logging. Formerly Michael J. Scarpitti before a name change, Arrow fled to Canada after the FBI accused him of domestic-terrorism acts in 2001, including the firebombing of logging and cement trucks. Caught in Victoria, B.C., last spring, Arrow has been stuck in a Port Coquitlam corrections facility awaiting an extradition hearing scheduled for June. He started his stay behind bars with a 44-day hunger strike, shedding more than 40 pounds. Arrow also has been busy making requests. According to his latest biweekly newsletter posted on the Portland Independent Media Center Web site last week -- www.portland.indymedia.org -- Arrow is on the lookout for a vehicle, preferably one that runs on biodiesel, that will help spread the word about his case through a nationwide speaking tour. Garnering celebrity support from activist sympathizers Bonnie Raitt or the Indigo Girls wouldn't hurt either, he wrote....
Nevada governor opposes bill protecting rural water supplies Legislators who face opposition from the Guinn administration to their bills that would help rural areas fighting against the export of their water to booming Las Vegas said Thursday they're not giving up. "We're going to push this as far as we can," Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said after Gov. Kenny Guinn's natural resources adviser told lawmakers existing water law adequately protects the outlying counties. "The prevailing attitude of big developers seems to be that everything is perfect right now for Nevada water law," Leslie said. "The arrogance in that statement just offends me, because we heard testimony from many Nevadans that the current law isn't working for them - and has the potential for destroying their way of life."....
Editorial: Saving Colorado River habitat For more than 1,400 miles, a great river connects seven Western states, creating one of the most valuable, complicated and controversial ecosystems on our continent. How best to manage the Colorado River presents an ongoing challenge. Many species native to the Colorado have become endangered because of the loss of habitat, introduction of non-native fish and construction of dams and other water projects. The river basin is home to 14 native fish, including four endangered species that exist nowhere else: the Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, bonytail and humpback chub. Two native birds, the southwestern willow flycatcher and Yuma clapper rail, are also endangered. Last week, the U.S. Department of Interior and California, Arizona and Nevada signed a landmark agreement. The pact envisions the three states and federal government investing $626 million over 50 years to restore wildlife habitat. The key to making the deal work is sustained funding. Given the long time frame, annual appropriations should be modest enough to allow for continued congressional support....
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Friday, April 08, 2005
Grazin' Hell
....But some of the toughest questions Myers has faced in recent weeks focus on a deal that went down in the DOI solicitor's office during his watch there. In an effort to resolve years of court battles between a Wyoming rancher and the Bureau of Land Management, attorneys working under Myers agreed to a bizarre settlement that heavily favored the rancher at the expense of their "client," the BLM. Essentially, the deal forgave numerous alleged trespasses and grazing violations by the rancher, Frank Robbins; deprived the local BLM office of the ability to enforce the law in the event of further problems with Robbins; and allowed Robbins to continue to press a costly and punitive lawsuit against individual BLM employees, accusing them of racketeering and extortion. Questioned by investigators from the DOI's Office of Inspector General about the settlement, Myers claimed that he was unaware of key details until after the deal was done. The IG's report -- completed last fall, but not publicly released until four months later -- is much more critical of the actions of Robert Comer, a political appointee who worked directly under Myers and is now the Rocky Mountain regional solicitor for the DOI, based in Lakewood. According to the report, Comer used "pressure and intimidation" to try to get the settlement done his way; misled or failed to inform senior officials about problems with the deal; and ramrodded it through "with total disregard for the concerns voiced by career field personnel.".... The report's scathing attack on Robert Comer seems to have satisfied no one. (It probably didn't satisfy Comer, either; he declined to be interviewed, saying that he was not authorized by the DOI to comment on the IG's findings.) But whether Comer was straying off the reservation or doing exactly what senior officials wanted, the misfired Robbins deal provides a rare glimpse into the inner sanctum of Norton's Department of the Interior. The strange saga of Robert Comer and his know-nothing bosses answers more than a few questions and leaves a big one on the table: Just who are these guys working for, anyway?....
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....But some of the toughest questions Myers has faced in recent weeks focus on a deal that went down in the DOI solicitor's office during his watch there. In an effort to resolve years of court battles between a Wyoming rancher and the Bureau of Land Management, attorneys working under Myers agreed to a bizarre settlement that heavily favored the rancher at the expense of their "client," the BLM. Essentially, the deal forgave numerous alleged trespasses and grazing violations by the rancher, Frank Robbins; deprived the local BLM office of the ability to enforce the law in the event of further problems with Robbins; and allowed Robbins to continue to press a costly and punitive lawsuit against individual BLM employees, accusing them of racketeering and extortion. Questioned by investigators from the DOI's Office of Inspector General about the settlement, Myers claimed that he was unaware of key details until after the deal was done. The IG's report -- completed last fall, but not publicly released until four months later -- is much more critical of the actions of Robert Comer, a political appointee who worked directly under Myers and is now the Rocky Mountain regional solicitor for the DOI, based in Lakewood. According to the report, Comer used "pressure and intimidation" to try to get the settlement done his way; misled or failed to inform senior officials about problems with the deal; and ramrodded it through "with total disregard for the concerns voiced by career field personnel.".... The report's scathing attack on Robert Comer seems to have satisfied no one. (It probably didn't satisfy Comer, either; he declined to be interviewed, saying that he was not authorized by the DOI to comment on the IG's findings.) But whether Comer was straying off the reservation or doing exactly what senior officials wanted, the misfired Robbins deal provides a rare glimpse into the inner sanctum of Norton's Department of the Interior. The strange saga of Robert Comer and his know-nothing bosses answers more than a few questions and leaves a big one on the table: Just who are these guys working for, anyway?....
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Thursday, April 07, 2005
MAD COW DISEASE
U.S. mad cow coverup alleged A former American government packing plant veterinarian says the United States government is hiding cases of mad cow disease. Dr. Lester Friedlander said Wednesday that colleagues with the United States Department of Agriculture have told him of cases that the USDA has chosen not to announce. Friedlander, who has been invited to speak to Parliament's agriculture committee next week on proposed changes to Canadian inspection legislation, refused to give details. He said the USDA employees are close to retirement and risk losing their pensions. He has previously spoken out, however, about a Texas cow that had mad cow symptoms and went untested to a rendering plant after a USDA veterinarian condemned it at a packing plant in San Angelo....
U.S. Agriculture Department denies allegation it's hiding mad-cow cases The U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday there's "no way" it would hide cases of mad-cow disease because that would hurt the beef industry. A former department veterinarian, Dr. Lester Friedlander, said this week on a speaking tour in Edmonton that U.S. officials found new cases of the disease and chose not to reveal them. "That's just not the case," spokesman Ed Loyd said, adding officials expected to discover more cases but haven't yet. "There's no way we'd benefit by being anything less than completely transparent. It would jeopardize the markets we're trying to open," said Loyd. "It would set the entire beef industry in this country back. We're not going to do anything to jeopardize that."....
Taiwan Lifts Ban on U.S. Beef Taiwan will lift a ban on U.S. beef imposed after the discovery of mad cow disease 14 months ago in a Washington state heifer, the Agriculture Department said Thursday. In the year before the ban, Taiwan imported more than $76 million in U.S. beef and beef products, the department said. That amounts to about 5 percent of the biggest market for U.S. beef, Japan, which still has not resumed beef imports. Japan imported more than $1.5 billion in beef in 2003, according to the department. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Taiwan's decision is further progress in reopening global markets to U.S. beef. "Our goal is the resumption of normal beef trade throughout the world and, we are working tirelessly to that end," Johanns said. Taiwan's government will allow imports of boneless beef from animals younger than 30 months, effective April 16. The age cutoff is based on the belief that infection spreads with age....
Farmer sues over 'mad cow' border closure A Quebec farmer hopes to secure court approval for a class-action suit against the federal government and animal feed company Ridley Inc. over mad cow disease and the U.S. ban on Canadian beef exports. Donald Berneche of St-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Que. alleges Canadian authorities delayed in prohibiting the addition of meat and bone meal from ruminant animals in cattle feed. This, he argued, made it possible for a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to be found in an Alberta cow in 2003, causing the U.S. border closure against Canadian cattle and beef. The cow—born in the spring of 1997—became infected with BSE soon after being fed with Ridley’s products, Berneche alleged. The action, filed in Quebec Superior Court, claims $100,000 in damages because of the border closing and the farmer’s inability to sell his herd. It seeks certification as a class action on behalf of all affected farmers in the province. The suit alleges Minnesota-headquartered Ridley was a possible supplier of feed to the affected Alberta cow early in its life, and it says the company should have stopped using ruminant meat and bone meal in its feed even before it was banned in 1997....
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U.S. mad cow coverup alleged A former American government packing plant veterinarian says the United States government is hiding cases of mad cow disease. Dr. Lester Friedlander said Wednesday that colleagues with the United States Department of Agriculture have told him of cases that the USDA has chosen not to announce. Friedlander, who has been invited to speak to Parliament's agriculture committee next week on proposed changes to Canadian inspection legislation, refused to give details. He said the USDA employees are close to retirement and risk losing their pensions. He has previously spoken out, however, about a Texas cow that had mad cow symptoms and went untested to a rendering plant after a USDA veterinarian condemned it at a packing plant in San Angelo....
U.S. Agriculture Department denies allegation it's hiding mad-cow cases The U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday there's "no way" it would hide cases of mad-cow disease because that would hurt the beef industry. A former department veterinarian, Dr. Lester Friedlander, said this week on a speaking tour in Edmonton that U.S. officials found new cases of the disease and chose not to reveal them. "That's just not the case," spokesman Ed Loyd said, adding officials expected to discover more cases but haven't yet. "There's no way we'd benefit by being anything less than completely transparent. It would jeopardize the markets we're trying to open," said Loyd. "It would set the entire beef industry in this country back. We're not going to do anything to jeopardize that."....
Taiwan Lifts Ban on U.S. Beef Taiwan will lift a ban on U.S. beef imposed after the discovery of mad cow disease 14 months ago in a Washington state heifer, the Agriculture Department said Thursday. In the year before the ban, Taiwan imported more than $76 million in U.S. beef and beef products, the department said. That amounts to about 5 percent of the biggest market for U.S. beef, Japan, which still has not resumed beef imports. Japan imported more than $1.5 billion in beef in 2003, according to the department. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said Taiwan's decision is further progress in reopening global markets to U.S. beef. "Our goal is the resumption of normal beef trade throughout the world and, we are working tirelessly to that end," Johanns said. Taiwan's government will allow imports of boneless beef from animals younger than 30 months, effective April 16. The age cutoff is based on the belief that infection spreads with age....
Farmer sues over 'mad cow' border closure A Quebec farmer hopes to secure court approval for a class-action suit against the federal government and animal feed company Ridley Inc. over mad cow disease and the U.S. ban on Canadian beef exports. Donald Berneche of St-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Que. alleges Canadian authorities delayed in prohibiting the addition of meat and bone meal from ruminant animals in cattle feed. This, he argued, made it possible for a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy to be found in an Alberta cow in 2003, causing the U.S. border closure against Canadian cattle and beef. The cow—born in the spring of 1997—became infected with BSE soon after being fed with Ridley’s products, Berneche alleged. The action, filed in Quebec Superior Court, claims $100,000 in damages because of the border closing and the farmer’s inability to sell his herd. It seeks certification as a class action on behalf of all affected farmers in the province. The suit alleges Minnesota-headquartered Ridley was a possible supplier of feed to the affected Alberta cow early in its life, and it says the company should have stopped using ruminant meat and bone meal in its feed even before it was banned in 1997....
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Column: ESA has a zero percent rate of success The Endangered Species Act, born of the best intentions, has failed to live up to its promise, and species are more threatened today because of its serious limitations. If America's health-care system was in the same abysmal condition, there would be a nationwide outcry for reform. But for the last 30 years, the ESA has remained a law that checks species in, but never checks them out. It has been a failing form of managed care. As stewards of the species that inhabit our nation, we can and must do better. Specifically, the "diagnosis" and "treatment" aspects of the law are fatally flawed. They are ambiguous, open to arbitrary personal judgment and do not rely on sound science or peer-reviewed research. Known as "listing" and "critical habitat" respectively, these key elements of the act are responsible for the misdiagnosis of species as endangered or threatened and the application of a one-size-fits-all solution. To make matters worse, rampant environmental litigation has undermined the already-broken system at the expense of species recovery. In fact, there have been so many lawsuits that the federal critical habitat program went bankrupt last year....
Rep. With Wind Farm Ties Denies Power Play Aides to California Rep. Richard W. Pombo pressed officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior last year to suspend environmental guidelines opposed by the wind-power industry without disclosing that Pombo's family had a substantial financial stake in wind energy. The guidelines, issued in 2003, seek to reduce the number of birds killed by the spinning blades of wind turbines, such as those that flank the Altamont Pass east of Oakland. Pombo (R-Tracy), heads the House committee that oversees the Interior Department. His parents own a 300-acre ranch in the Altamont Pass and have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from wind-power turbines on their land over the last 17 years — much more than the family gets from cattle on that land....
Sheep, insects to help kill exotic weeds in Arizona forests Three of Arizona's national forests will soon be providing a smorgasbord for weevils, flies, moths, beetles and sheep. The critters are expected to be sent in as early as this summer to munch on dangerous and invasive weeds that are harming endangered and threatened native plants and wildlife. The feast is part of a U.S. Forest Service plan to treat 25 species of weeds on 135,000 acres of the Coconino, Kaibab and Prescott national forests in northern Arizona over the next 10 years....
Sutherlin boy, 10, shoots cougar that killed 4-H lambs Colton Leatherwood and Delcina Pepiot experienced a harsh reality of ranch life last weekend. Two of the lambs they were raising for the annual Douglas County Lamb Show were pounced on and killed by a cougar Saturday night. Then the predator paid the price. After the hound dogs of federal trapper Dave Wilson treed the cougar, 10-year-old Colton dropped it with one shot from his .22-caliber Magnum rifle. The lambs were in a pen in a corner of the pasture near a stand of timber, located about 80 yards from the Leatherwood home about five miles east of Sutherlin. Colton and cousin Delcina, 11, had moved the lambs there just hours earlier. Two were killed; a third was scared, but unharmed....
Proposal would affect Ballardini Ranch A new amendment to a developer-backed bill reviewed Wednesday by Nevada lawmakers would block conservation advocates from preserving 1,000 acres of prime land south of Reno as open space. SB326, proposed by Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, would prohibit state and local governments from using eminent domain authority to acquire property for open-space or wildlife habitat preservation. Washoe County is trying to designate the Ballardini Ranch area as open space. Advocates of public acquisition say the ranch would provide a needed link to U.S. Forest Service land in the Sierra foothills. But Minnesota-based Evans Creek LLC, which paid $8.5 million for the ranch in 1998, wants to build nearly 200 upscale homes on part of the property and is in a court fight over Washoe County efforts to acquire the land. As originally written, SB326 would have applied to cases that arise beginning July 1. But Care proposed an amendment Wednesday that would make the bill retroactive to include all pending cases in the state — including the Ballardini Ranch....
Wisconsin gets OK to kill wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted Wisconsin special permits to once again kill problem wolves trapped near where livestock or pets have been attacked. The special permits come in spite of a federal judge's ruling in January that the federal effort to upgrade Wisconsin wolves from threatened to endangered violates federal law. The court decision, released Jan. 31 in Oregon, meant that wolves outside Minnesota and Alaska remained endangered, and that trappers had to relocate -- not kill -- wolves near farms where animals had been attacked. But federal biologists said Wednesday that they're using a separate, little-used part of the Endangered Species Act to allow government trappers to kill up to 34 wolves in Wisconsin this year....
Column: This may be a bad deal for salmon Are we really serious about applying the best available science to saving endangered salmon and restoring healthy rivers in Washington state? This is one of many questions arising from a proposed deal to provide regulatory certainty to logging under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A few weeks ago, federal and state officials announced that the state of Washington was formally applying to the federal government for approval of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The HCP would regulate logging on 9.1 million acres of state and private forests and along 60,000 miles of streams and rivers. If the federal government approves this plan, the state and timber companies would be exempt from the provision of the ESA that prohibits landowners from harming or "taking" salmon for the next 50 years, even if wild salmon continue to decline — or more stocks go extinct....
Column: Plan preserves forests, streams Washingtonians have traditionally counted on millions of acres of non-federal forestlands in our state for jobs and products, as well as sources of clean water, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. Protection of these public resources benefits us today and ensures that future generations can also enjoy them. On Feb. 9, we took a landmark step in that direction — Gov. Christine Gregoire and I submitted the Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) to the federal government. With its approval, this statewide HCP will protect more than 60,000 miles of streams running through 9.1 million acres of forestland, leading the nation with the highest level of protection for forests, streams and salmon. It would place all forestland in Washington under some kind of federally approved conservation plan, representing the greatest leap forward in forest protection since passage of the Forest Practices Act in 1974....
Column: How goes the ESA? One of the main charges leveled against the Endangered Species Act by its critics is it has not worked. "Most Americans are surprised to learn that only 10 of these 1,304 species (listed under the act) have been recovered in the act's history," wrote Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the House Resources Committee, in a recent white paper on ESA reform. "That is an abysmal ... rate of species recovery. The (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) statistics show that only 30 percent of species are 'stable' and only 9 percent are 'improving.'" Perhaps, but a paper this month in the journal BioScience argues that the statistics cited by Pombo are misleading. The ESA, as currently constituted, has prevented the extinction of many species, the authors wrote. "Our findings suggest that the ESA is effective and can be improved by prompt listing, protection of critical habitat and dedicated recovery plans," said Martin F.J. Taylor, a consulting biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., and lead author of the paper....
White pelicans return to N.D. refuge Biologists are buoyed by the first wave of white pelicans returning to the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in central North Dakota. But they're still clueless as to why thousands of the big birds abandoned their nesting grounds last year on the refuge, which for a century had been the site of the largest nesting colony of white pelicans in North America. The nesting grounds were left littered with eggs and chicks, none of which survived, said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck. Ten breeding pairs of pelicans were spotted on Tuesday at the refuge, Torkelson said. Pelicans also have been spotted en route to the refuge from their wintering grounds along the Gulf Coast to Florida, he said....
Park Service reviews climbing policy The National Park Service is reviewing its climbing policy at Devils Tower National Monument -- an action that has many climbers concerned. Lisa Eckert, superintendent of Devils Tower National Monument, announced the review in March, the same time she acknowledged that she had been seeking a historic landmark designation internally at the Park Service and Department of Interior without discussing the proposal publicly. Eckert has said the historic landmark designation is meant simply to add the "Bear Lodge" name to the Devils Tower moniker, "to be more inclusive of all cultures." The combined name would be Devils Tower National Monument at Bear Lodge Historic Landmark. But many climbers fear ulterior motives, particularly in regard to the voluntary no-climb policy in June in recognition of American Indian ceremonies....
Climbing ban to be appealed A rock climbing group says it will continue its fight to oppose a U.S. Forest Service order that bans climbing at Cave Rock, an old volcano held sacred by the Washoe Indians that straddles Highway 50 between Zephyr Cove and Glenbrook. The Access Fund, based in Boulder and representing more than 1 million climbers nationwide, said it will argue to the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit that closing the area to rock climbers, but allowing hiking, fishing and picnicking, is a violation of the First Amendment. The Forest Service says the order is needed to protect the historic and cultural resources of Cave Rock, which include the interests of the Washoe tribe. The Access Fund said it wants to reach a compromise with the Forest Service that respects historic and cultural interests but allows some climbing....
Park Service Rescinds Approval of Mojave “Guzzlers” The National Park Service has abruptly reversed course and blocked installation of artificial water systems in California’s Mojave National Preserve, according to a letter from the park superintendent released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Center for Biological Diversity. Last month the two groups filed a federal lawsuit to stop the artificial watering plan on the grounds that it harmed native wildlife and violated Park Service policy. Yesterday, on April 5, 2005, Mary Martin, Superintendent of the Mojave National Preserve, sent a letter (attached) to the California Department of Fish and Game, which stated: “[T]he National Park Service is withdrawing the approval, set forth in our letter of January 21, 2005, for the California Department of Fish and Game to convert four ranching well developments in Mojave National Preserve into wildlife watering devices…Upon further review, the National Park Service has determined that additional NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] compliance is desirable before a decision is made…” Ironically, the position taken by Martin this week reflects the same stance that she had communicated in a June 17, 2002 memo to Paul Hoffman, a former Dick Cheney aide serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Hoffman, however, disregarded Martin’s concerns and ordered her to set up artificial water sources (called “guzzlers”) in order to enhance “coyote and varmint hunting,” according to an email he sent to a sportsmen’s group....
Busy bison day in Yellowstone marks the start of spring More than 250 bison were pushed back into Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday, perhaps the most bison moved in a single day by the Montana Department of Livestock. Meanwhile, eight bison captured Tuesday will be taken to slaughter and three young bison will be transported to a bison quarantine facility near Gardiner. The activity marks the beginning of a typically busy spring as more bison wander out of Yellowstone's west border. The bison are hazed and captured as part of a state and federal effort to keep Yellowstone's bison from transmitting brucellosis to nearby cattle. So far this year, more than 1,000 bison have been pushed back into Yellowstone and 22 have been sent to slaughter....
Energy industry takes aim at US coast Oil and gas companies, closer than ever to drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, want to explore another frontier: America's coastlines. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are protected by a federal ban on new oil and natural gas extraction. But with rising worry about US dependence on fuel imports and soaring prices, energy producers feel they now have a unique opportunity to relax or eliminate the restrictions. ''Part of the solution has to be opening more access," whether it's off the coast of California or the Carolinas, said Duane Radtke, head of the natural gas production unit at Dominion Resources Inc. of Richmond, Va. Environmentalists say the industry has been emboldened to seek offshore drilling because of last month's Senate vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trade groups are lobbying legislators in individual states, where they believe the future decision-making power on offshore drilling belongs....
Measure 37 changes in works The Legislature dug in Wednesday on a task that could shake up Oregon land-use laws for the second time in a year: revising Measure 37. Many lawmakers consider the new voter-approved property rights law one of their biggest challenges this session. It has the potential to shape Oregon's landscape and their re-election prospects. A proposed rewrite would loosen restrictions on building a single home on farmland, opening the option to people who bought their property before 1995. The aptly numbered Senate Bill 1037 would remove those cases from the Measure 37 process. For other regulations, it would spell out a method to apply for Measure 37's promise of development rights or government payments....
Toxic Tailings May Be Hauled Off Department of Energy officials proposed Wednesday to move an enormous pile of radioactive waste off the banks of the Colorado River in southern Utah — to the great relief of politicians, environmentalists and Southern California water officials. The 12 million tons of residue from an abandoned uranium mill sits in a floodplain of the Colorado, which provides drinking water to an estimated 25 million people downstream in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest. Last year, energy officials alarmed local residents, members of Congress, the Metropolitan Water District and others by indicating that the federal government might choose to cap the waste pile where it was. Energy officials said that option would be the least costly of several under consideration....
Old West style water war could erupt at border An old-fashioned water fight could soon be brewing between Nevada and Utah over a proposal by southern Nevada officials to tap groundwater in the eastern part of that state to quench the rapidly growing thirst of Las Vegas. The problem: The aquifers in question also run under Utah's west desert. And ranchers, environmentalists and political leaders on this side of the border are raising red flags about the potential impacts of such a project. "We're quite concerned," Millard County Commissioner Daron Smith said this week. "Water is the lifeblood of the West. There aren't many of us out in this part of the state, but the water situation is critical for those who live and work here. All of the studies done say that any pumping along that aquifer will have a real negative effect on the groundwater wells. So we're nervous." Nevada's groundwater development plan centers on the Snake Valley, near Baker and Great Basin National Park. But the aquifer system that feeds the valley also runs under the Utah side, roughly from Iron County in the south to Tooele County....
Yakima Valley district cuts off irrigation water due to drought An irrigation district that serves about 1,400 farmers in the Yakima Valley shut off the water supply yesterday for what is believed to be the first time in April, another sign of the region's severe drought. The shutdown marked the earliest date the 72,000-acre Roza Irrigation District has interrupted water for irrigators. The Central Washington district interrupted water delivery in 1994 and 2001, both drought years, but those shutoffs didn't occur until May. District board members hope to have the water running through canals again in three weeks....
Streamflow outlook improves little Recent snow in the mountains and rain in the Klamath Basin didn't significantly improve the federal streamflow forecast for this irrigation season. Upper Klamath Lake, the primary reservoir for the Klamath Reclamation Project, should get 42 percent of its average inflow from April to September, according to the latest forecast by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials received the forecast late in the day Tuesday, but declined comment, saying they need time to process it. The April 1 forecast is a key piece of the Bureau's Project operation plan, in which they outline water supplies for the irrigation season. The plan is due out in a few days. The primary irrigation season in the 240,000-acre Klamath Project typically runs from April to mid-October....
Sands of Time: Earth's Expanding Deserts Can't Be Stopped Dust storms and drought don't get as much press as hurricanes or rising sea levels, but they threaten the world nonetheless. They could even hit the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. On every continent the number of dust storms is increasing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture -- once the second-largest bureaucracy in Washington next to the Pentagon, until Homeland Security bumped it -- is not yet ready to proclaim a "Dust Bowl II." But it has released photos that show the awesome similarity between the first and the putative second dust bowl. Besides afflicting people with sundry diseases, dust bowls can ravage entire agricultural economies. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s forced thousands of "Okies" and "Arkies" to emigrate to California. And Chinese environmentalists have raised the alarm after a survey earlier this year found almost a third of China's land mass is now desert. Cattle ranchers in the heart of Nevada have a different enemy that signals desertification: the purple thistle. This thistle is highly valued by florists because it needs little water. But when ranchers see patches of thistles they know that the cattle and wild horses have lost another grazing ground....
Top Filmmakers Tackle the Environment: Marin Environmental Film Festival Bay Area filmmakers and environmental visionaries will gather on Earth Day weekend to explore issues ranging from organic foods and water rights, to Alaska oil drilling and saving frogs from extinction (schedule at end of this release). Co-presented by the Environmental Forum of Marin and the California Film Institute, the Marin Environmental Film Festival (www.MarinEnvironmentalFilmFestival.org) will showcase 25 movies concerning alternative energy and building, water issues, organic and artisan food, environmental heroes, sustainable business, habitat restoration, and eco-art. The festival runs April 22-24, at the Smith Rafael Film Center in downtown San Rafael. "This is more than a film festival," said Carol Haggerty, of the Environmental Forum of Marin. "It's about engaging the public in environmental issues and solutions."....
Encounters on horseback Sara Akins was nervous as she walked Millie, a quarter horse-Shetland pony mix, into the arena at the Northwest Equestrian and Event Center. Millie was fidgety, but Akins, 17, got her to settle down enough to put a 10-pound pack on her back, mount her and back her through a gate. "I try to keep myself calm," she said later. "I can't get mad at her out there, because that wouldn't help." The Working Rancher event was the first of a three-day competition for high school equestrian teams last weekend. Akins, who is on the 25-member team from Estacada High School, rode Millie through an obstacle course of ranching tasks, finishing by lassoing a plastic cow's head. Estacada High won the district championship for the fourth consecutive year, beating out teams from Centennial, Clackamas, Corbett, David Douglas, Portland Christian, Sam Barlow and Sandy high schools. Clackamas came in second, and Sandy was third. High school equestrian teams have gained in numbers and popularity during the past decade. Before the Oregon high school equestrian program started in 1993, high schools offered few, if any, competitive opportunities for student horseback riders. In 2004, 1,054 students from 112 high schools in Oregon and Washington competed on equestrian teams....
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Column: ESA has a zero percent rate of success The Endangered Species Act, born of the best intentions, has failed to live up to its promise, and species are more threatened today because of its serious limitations. If America's health-care system was in the same abysmal condition, there would be a nationwide outcry for reform. But for the last 30 years, the ESA has remained a law that checks species in, but never checks them out. It has been a failing form of managed care. As stewards of the species that inhabit our nation, we can and must do better. Specifically, the "diagnosis" and "treatment" aspects of the law are fatally flawed. They are ambiguous, open to arbitrary personal judgment and do not rely on sound science or peer-reviewed research. Known as "listing" and "critical habitat" respectively, these key elements of the act are responsible for the misdiagnosis of species as endangered or threatened and the application of a one-size-fits-all solution. To make matters worse, rampant environmental litigation has undermined the already-broken system at the expense of species recovery. In fact, there have been so many lawsuits that the federal critical habitat program went bankrupt last year....
Rep. With Wind Farm Ties Denies Power Play Aides to California Rep. Richard W. Pombo pressed officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior last year to suspend environmental guidelines opposed by the wind-power industry without disclosing that Pombo's family had a substantial financial stake in wind energy. The guidelines, issued in 2003, seek to reduce the number of birds killed by the spinning blades of wind turbines, such as those that flank the Altamont Pass east of Oakland. Pombo (R-Tracy), heads the House committee that oversees the Interior Department. His parents own a 300-acre ranch in the Altamont Pass and have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties from wind-power turbines on their land over the last 17 years — much more than the family gets from cattle on that land....
Sheep, insects to help kill exotic weeds in Arizona forests Three of Arizona's national forests will soon be providing a smorgasbord for weevils, flies, moths, beetles and sheep. The critters are expected to be sent in as early as this summer to munch on dangerous and invasive weeds that are harming endangered and threatened native plants and wildlife. The feast is part of a U.S. Forest Service plan to treat 25 species of weeds on 135,000 acres of the Coconino, Kaibab and Prescott national forests in northern Arizona over the next 10 years....
Sutherlin boy, 10, shoots cougar that killed 4-H lambs Colton Leatherwood and Delcina Pepiot experienced a harsh reality of ranch life last weekend. Two of the lambs they were raising for the annual Douglas County Lamb Show were pounced on and killed by a cougar Saturday night. Then the predator paid the price. After the hound dogs of federal trapper Dave Wilson treed the cougar, 10-year-old Colton dropped it with one shot from his .22-caliber Magnum rifle. The lambs were in a pen in a corner of the pasture near a stand of timber, located about 80 yards from the Leatherwood home about five miles east of Sutherlin. Colton and cousin Delcina, 11, had moved the lambs there just hours earlier. Two were killed; a third was scared, but unharmed....
Proposal would affect Ballardini Ranch A new amendment to a developer-backed bill reviewed Wednesday by Nevada lawmakers would block conservation advocates from preserving 1,000 acres of prime land south of Reno as open space. SB326, proposed by Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, would prohibit state and local governments from using eminent domain authority to acquire property for open-space or wildlife habitat preservation. Washoe County is trying to designate the Ballardini Ranch area as open space. Advocates of public acquisition say the ranch would provide a needed link to U.S. Forest Service land in the Sierra foothills. But Minnesota-based Evans Creek LLC, which paid $8.5 million for the ranch in 1998, wants to build nearly 200 upscale homes on part of the property and is in a court fight over Washoe County efforts to acquire the land. As originally written, SB326 would have applied to cases that arise beginning July 1. But Care proposed an amendment Wednesday that would make the bill retroactive to include all pending cases in the state — including the Ballardini Ranch....
Wisconsin gets OK to kill wolves The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has granted Wisconsin special permits to once again kill problem wolves trapped near where livestock or pets have been attacked. The special permits come in spite of a federal judge's ruling in January that the federal effort to upgrade Wisconsin wolves from threatened to endangered violates federal law. The court decision, released Jan. 31 in Oregon, meant that wolves outside Minnesota and Alaska remained endangered, and that trappers had to relocate -- not kill -- wolves near farms where animals had been attacked. But federal biologists said Wednesday that they're using a separate, little-used part of the Endangered Species Act to allow government trappers to kill up to 34 wolves in Wisconsin this year....
Column: This may be a bad deal for salmon Are we really serious about applying the best available science to saving endangered salmon and restoring healthy rivers in Washington state? This is one of many questions arising from a proposed deal to provide regulatory certainty to logging under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). A few weeks ago, federal and state officials announced that the state of Washington was formally applying to the federal government for approval of a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The HCP would regulate logging on 9.1 million acres of state and private forests and along 60,000 miles of streams and rivers. If the federal government approves this plan, the state and timber companies would be exempt from the provision of the ESA that prohibits landowners from harming or "taking" salmon for the next 50 years, even if wild salmon continue to decline — or more stocks go extinct....
Column: Plan preserves forests, streams Washingtonians have traditionally counted on millions of acres of non-federal forestlands in our state for jobs and products, as well as sources of clean water, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities. Protection of these public resources benefits us today and ensures that future generations can also enjoy them. On Feb. 9, we took a landmark step in that direction — Gov. Christine Gregoire and I submitted the Forest Practices Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) to the federal government. With its approval, this statewide HCP will protect more than 60,000 miles of streams running through 9.1 million acres of forestland, leading the nation with the highest level of protection for forests, streams and salmon. It would place all forestland in Washington under some kind of federally approved conservation plan, representing the greatest leap forward in forest protection since passage of the Forest Practices Act in 1974....
Column: How goes the ESA? One of the main charges leveled against the Endangered Species Act by its critics is it has not worked. "Most Americans are surprised to learn that only 10 of these 1,304 species (listed under the act) have been recovered in the act's history," wrote Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., chairman of the House Resources Committee, in a recent white paper on ESA reform. "That is an abysmal ... rate of species recovery. The (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) statistics show that only 30 percent of species are 'stable' and only 9 percent are 'improving.'" Perhaps, but a paper this month in the journal BioScience argues that the statistics cited by Pombo are misleading. The ESA, as currently constituted, has prevented the extinction of many species, the authors wrote. "Our findings suggest that the ESA is effective and can be improved by prompt listing, protection of critical habitat and dedicated recovery plans," said Martin F.J. Taylor, a consulting biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson, Ariz., and lead author of the paper....
White pelicans return to N.D. refuge Biologists are buoyed by the first wave of white pelicans returning to the Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in central North Dakota. But they're still clueless as to why thousands of the big birds abandoned their nesting grounds last year on the refuge, which for a century had been the site of the largest nesting colony of white pelicans in North America. The nesting grounds were left littered with eggs and chicks, none of which survived, said Ken Torkelson, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bismarck. Ten breeding pairs of pelicans were spotted on Tuesday at the refuge, Torkelson said. Pelicans also have been spotted en route to the refuge from their wintering grounds along the Gulf Coast to Florida, he said....
Park Service reviews climbing policy The National Park Service is reviewing its climbing policy at Devils Tower National Monument -- an action that has many climbers concerned. Lisa Eckert, superintendent of Devils Tower National Monument, announced the review in March, the same time she acknowledged that she had been seeking a historic landmark designation internally at the Park Service and Department of Interior without discussing the proposal publicly. Eckert has said the historic landmark designation is meant simply to add the "Bear Lodge" name to the Devils Tower moniker, "to be more inclusive of all cultures." The combined name would be Devils Tower National Monument at Bear Lodge Historic Landmark. But many climbers fear ulterior motives, particularly in regard to the voluntary no-climb policy in June in recognition of American Indian ceremonies....
Climbing ban to be appealed A rock climbing group says it will continue its fight to oppose a U.S. Forest Service order that bans climbing at Cave Rock, an old volcano held sacred by the Washoe Indians that straddles Highway 50 between Zephyr Cove and Glenbrook. The Access Fund, based in Boulder and representing more than 1 million climbers nationwide, said it will argue to the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit that closing the area to rock climbers, but allowing hiking, fishing and picnicking, is a violation of the First Amendment. The Forest Service says the order is needed to protect the historic and cultural resources of Cave Rock, which include the interests of the Washoe tribe. The Access Fund said it wants to reach a compromise with the Forest Service that respects historic and cultural interests but allows some climbing....
Park Service Rescinds Approval of Mojave “Guzzlers” The National Park Service has abruptly reversed course and blocked installation of artificial water systems in California’s Mojave National Preserve, according to a letter from the park superintendent released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Center for Biological Diversity. Last month the two groups filed a federal lawsuit to stop the artificial watering plan on the grounds that it harmed native wildlife and violated Park Service policy. Yesterday, on April 5, 2005, Mary Martin, Superintendent of the Mojave National Preserve, sent a letter (attached) to the California Department of Fish and Game, which stated: “[T]he National Park Service is withdrawing the approval, set forth in our letter of January 21, 2005, for the California Department of Fish and Game to convert four ranching well developments in Mojave National Preserve into wildlife watering devices…Upon further review, the National Park Service has determined that additional NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] compliance is desirable before a decision is made…” Ironically, the position taken by Martin this week reflects the same stance that she had communicated in a June 17, 2002 memo to Paul Hoffman, a former Dick Cheney aide serving as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Hoffman, however, disregarded Martin’s concerns and ordered her to set up artificial water sources (called “guzzlers”) in order to enhance “coyote and varmint hunting,” according to an email he sent to a sportsmen’s group....
Busy bison day in Yellowstone marks the start of spring More than 250 bison were pushed back into Yellowstone National Park on Wednesday, perhaps the most bison moved in a single day by the Montana Department of Livestock. Meanwhile, eight bison captured Tuesday will be taken to slaughter and three young bison will be transported to a bison quarantine facility near Gardiner. The activity marks the beginning of a typically busy spring as more bison wander out of Yellowstone's west border. The bison are hazed and captured as part of a state and federal effort to keep Yellowstone's bison from transmitting brucellosis to nearby cattle. So far this year, more than 1,000 bison have been pushed back into Yellowstone and 22 have been sent to slaughter....
Energy industry takes aim at US coast Oil and gas companies, closer than ever to drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, want to explore another frontier: America's coastlines. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are protected by a federal ban on new oil and natural gas extraction. But with rising worry about US dependence on fuel imports and soaring prices, energy producers feel they now have a unique opportunity to relax or eliminate the restrictions. ''Part of the solution has to be opening more access," whether it's off the coast of California or the Carolinas, said Duane Radtke, head of the natural gas production unit at Dominion Resources Inc. of Richmond, Va. Environmentalists say the industry has been emboldened to seek offshore drilling because of last month's Senate vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trade groups are lobbying legislators in individual states, where they believe the future decision-making power on offshore drilling belongs....
Measure 37 changes in works The Legislature dug in Wednesday on a task that could shake up Oregon land-use laws for the second time in a year: revising Measure 37. Many lawmakers consider the new voter-approved property rights law one of their biggest challenges this session. It has the potential to shape Oregon's landscape and their re-election prospects. A proposed rewrite would loosen restrictions on building a single home on farmland, opening the option to people who bought their property before 1995. The aptly numbered Senate Bill 1037 would remove those cases from the Measure 37 process. For other regulations, it would spell out a method to apply for Measure 37's promise of development rights or government payments....
Toxic Tailings May Be Hauled Off Department of Energy officials proposed Wednesday to move an enormous pile of radioactive waste off the banks of the Colorado River in southern Utah — to the great relief of politicians, environmentalists and Southern California water officials. The 12 million tons of residue from an abandoned uranium mill sits in a floodplain of the Colorado, which provides drinking water to an estimated 25 million people downstream in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest. Last year, energy officials alarmed local residents, members of Congress, the Metropolitan Water District and others by indicating that the federal government might choose to cap the waste pile where it was. Energy officials said that option would be the least costly of several under consideration....
Old West style water war could erupt at border An old-fashioned water fight could soon be brewing between Nevada and Utah over a proposal by southern Nevada officials to tap groundwater in the eastern part of that state to quench the rapidly growing thirst of Las Vegas. The problem: The aquifers in question also run under Utah's west desert. And ranchers, environmentalists and political leaders on this side of the border are raising red flags about the potential impacts of such a project. "We're quite concerned," Millard County Commissioner Daron Smith said this week. "Water is the lifeblood of the West. There aren't many of us out in this part of the state, but the water situation is critical for those who live and work here. All of the studies done say that any pumping along that aquifer will have a real negative effect on the groundwater wells. So we're nervous." Nevada's groundwater development plan centers on the Snake Valley, near Baker and Great Basin National Park. But the aquifer system that feeds the valley also runs under the Utah side, roughly from Iron County in the south to Tooele County....
Yakima Valley district cuts off irrigation water due to drought An irrigation district that serves about 1,400 farmers in the Yakima Valley shut off the water supply yesterday for what is believed to be the first time in April, another sign of the region's severe drought. The shutdown marked the earliest date the 72,000-acre Roza Irrigation District has interrupted water for irrigators. The Central Washington district interrupted water delivery in 1994 and 2001, both drought years, but those shutoffs didn't occur until May. District board members hope to have the water running through canals again in three weeks....
Streamflow outlook improves little Recent snow in the mountains and rain in the Klamath Basin didn't significantly improve the federal streamflow forecast for this irrigation season. Upper Klamath Lake, the primary reservoir for the Klamath Reclamation Project, should get 42 percent of its average inflow from April to September, according to the latest forecast by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials received the forecast late in the day Tuesday, but declined comment, saying they need time to process it. The April 1 forecast is a key piece of the Bureau's Project operation plan, in which they outline water supplies for the irrigation season. The plan is due out in a few days. The primary irrigation season in the 240,000-acre Klamath Project typically runs from April to mid-October....
Sands of Time: Earth's Expanding Deserts Can't Be Stopped Dust storms and drought don't get as much press as hurricanes or rising sea levels, but they threaten the world nonetheless. They could even hit the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. On every continent the number of dust storms is increasing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture -- once the second-largest bureaucracy in Washington next to the Pentagon, until Homeland Security bumped it -- is not yet ready to proclaim a "Dust Bowl II." But it has released photos that show the awesome similarity between the first and the putative second dust bowl. Besides afflicting people with sundry diseases, dust bowls can ravage entire agricultural economies. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s forced thousands of "Okies" and "Arkies" to emigrate to California. And Chinese environmentalists have raised the alarm after a survey earlier this year found almost a third of China's land mass is now desert. Cattle ranchers in the heart of Nevada have a different enemy that signals desertification: the purple thistle. This thistle is highly valued by florists because it needs little water. But when ranchers see patches of thistles they know that the cattle and wild horses have lost another grazing ground....
Top Filmmakers Tackle the Environment: Marin Environmental Film Festival Bay Area filmmakers and environmental visionaries will gather on Earth Day weekend to explore issues ranging from organic foods and water rights, to Alaska oil drilling and saving frogs from extinction (schedule at end of this release). Co-presented by the Environmental Forum of Marin and the California Film Institute, the Marin Environmental Film Festival (www.MarinEnvironmentalFilmFestival.org) will showcase 25 movies concerning alternative energy and building, water issues, organic and artisan food, environmental heroes, sustainable business, habitat restoration, and eco-art. The festival runs April 22-24, at the Smith Rafael Film Center in downtown San Rafael. "This is more than a film festival," said Carol Haggerty, of the Environmental Forum of Marin. "It's about engaging the public in environmental issues and solutions."....
Encounters on horseback Sara Akins was nervous as she walked Millie, a quarter horse-Shetland pony mix, into the arena at the Northwest Equestrian and Event Center. Millie was fidgety, but Akins, 17, got her to settle down enough to put a 10-pound pack on her back, mount her and back her through a gate. "I try to keep myself calm," she said later. "I can't get mad at her out there, because that wouldn't help." The Working Rancher event was the first of a three-day competition for high school equestrian teams last weekend. Akins, who is on the 25-member team from Estacada High School, rode Millie through an obstacle course of ranching tasks, finishing by lassoing a plastic cow's head. Estacada High won the district championship for the fourth consecutive year, beating out teams from Centennial, Clackamas, Corbett, David Douglas, Portland Christian, Sam Barlow and Sandy high schools. Clackamas came in second, and Sandy was third. High school equestrian teams have gained in numbers and popularity during the past decade. Before the Oregon high school equestrian program started in 1993, high schools offered few, if any, competitive opportunities for student horseback riders. In 2004, 1,054 students from 112 high schools in Oregon and Washington competed on equestrian teams....
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Powder River Basin methane projects limited The U.S. Bureau of Land Management can allow limited coalbed methane development in Montana's Powder River Basin while it completes an additional environmental study, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson's order essentially adopts a proposal by BLM to allow 500 federal, state and private coalbed methane wells a year in 229,000 acres of the Tongue River watershed just north of the Wyoming border while it studies phased development. Wells approved under Anderson's order also must comply with several measures BLM proposed to protect surface water and ground water quality and cultural resources. Anderson said BLM's proposal took the middle ground and presents "a balanced, equitable approach'' to coalbed methane development while it studies phased development, he said....
BLM Sells 30 Wild Horses to Cattle Rancher The Bureau of Land Management today announced that it is selling 30 wild horses to a Florida cattle rancher who will provide long-term care for the mustangs on his 1,000-acre ranch. Larry Jones, who owns and operates the Sarasota-area LB Ranch, is buying 16 mares and 14 geldings from the BLM under a new law passed by Congress. "Our agency is delighted to announce this sale to Mr. Jones, a rancher whose love for mustangs has led him to provide a home for 30 wild horses. The BLM encourages other ranchers who are interested in providing long-term care to consider buying wild horses available for sale," BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said. Jones and his wife, Barbara, run more than 500 cattle on their ranch. He says he has loved mustangs since he was a young man. "I've spent a lot of time with them," Jones said. "They taught me how to be a cowboy. They are unique - tough, sure- footed, and when you make a friend with a mustang, you've got a friend for life." The BLM has sold, or is completing the sales of, more than 1,400 wild horses under a law (Section 142 of Public Law 108-447) that took effect in December 2004....
Send power to California? Wyoming has the power source, and California's got the demand. Experts say if the forces aren't connected, California could suffer more blackouts, and Wyoming's electrical generating industry could remain static. On Monday, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal joined governors from Utah, Nevada and California to announce a four-state partnership to create the "Frontier Line." It is an effort to connect Wyoming's vast electrical generation capacity from wind and coal to meet growing demand in California and other points west....
Montana Collaring plan could bust wolf management budget A legislative plan to put radio collars on gray wolves could bankrupt the state's fledging wolf management program, which is needed to delist wolves as an endangered species. Senate Bill 461 would require one wolf from every wolf pack near a population or livestock center wear a radio collar so the pack could be tracked. The bill easily passed the Senate, but once it hit the other chamber, the House Agriculture Committee amended it to require the state provide any landowner a free radio receiver to track wolves, as long as the person lives in an area frequented by wolves. The amended version won the initial approval of the House Tuesday. The amendment raised the bill's cost from $25,000 in 2006 to $385,000, which is about what the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks plans to spend on its recently created wolf management program in a single year....
Texas Landowners Conservancy Asks for Reaffirmation of 'Just Compensation' Right The Texas Landowners Conservancy, a group of ranchers, land stewards and homeowners, together with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, State Sen. Todd Staples and State Rep. Robby Cook, today announced filing of legislation that affirms Texans' constitutional right to be paid for land that has been devalued or rendered undevelopable as a result of environmental regulations. "Many jurisdictions in our state are rightly protecting our natural resources through water quality measures and more. However, the issue of excessive land use regulations and the impact on landowners who invested in Texas has to be considered," Combs said at a press conference at the State Capitol. "I authored the original Texas property owners' 'bill of rights' to protect landowners from abuses by governments. This bill today closes the loopholes and reaffirms our intent to honor the private ownership of land guaranteed in our Texas and U.S. Constitutions," Combs said....
Hatch: Don't move N-waste Sen. Orrin Hatch says he would be "elated" if the Bush administration decided to keep nuclear waste at the reactors that produced it. In an interview Monday, the Utah Republican said he believes storing spent fuel rods at the reactors until they can be reprocessed is the best solution to the nation's nuclear waste problem. But he added that political realities dictate that he remain a supporter of burying the waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the best bet for keeping it out of Utah. Hatch's nuanced stance reflects the growing support from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., the state's congressional delegation, and other state officials arguing that storage at the reactors is the best way to block a proposal by Private Fuel Storage (PFS) to temporarily store 44,000 tons of waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City....
Groups Differ On Tactics, Issues In Fighting For Environment The environment has become a political battleground in Arizona. The reasons come down to water and land. Frenzied urban growth is pushing open space and wildlife habitat beyond the reach of an afternoon Sunday drive. Determining the future for large tracts of state trust land has become a battle of competing interests — cities, developers, ranchers and environmental groups. And the environmental groups themselves are split over the details. There is not water, water everywhere, and — during the state’s prolonged drought — developers and environmental groups are fighting over what remains. Given Arizona’s conservative bent, it could be tempting to view the environmental groups as the underdogs. But they have proven themselves to be skilled political players. They have statewide memberships numbering in the thousands. In general, they appear to have broad public support when speaking out for clean water, clean air and wildlife protection. In the trenches, however, these groups differ in their tactics. They often disagree over the best way save to save the forests and preserve open space....
Noah's arch envisioned for Vail Pass Someday as you slip down the west end of Vail Pass on Interstate 70, you may go under an overpass spanning the highway. It won't be for traffic or pedestrians, but for deer, elk and other wildlife - a north-south corridor to help wildlife navigate I-70, which has become the "Great Wall of China" for many species. Members of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project and Wilderness Workshop, who proposed the project, have received support from the town of Vail, Eagle County, the Colorado Department of Transportation and U.S. Forest Service. The proposal calls for an overpass like two in Alberta, Canada, on the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park. The crossing structures in Banff are an experiment, and their effectiveness is being evaluated. The groups asked U.S. Rep. Mark Udall and U.S. Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard of Colorado for help in funding the $4.5 million needed for the overpass....
Neptune tankers deemed 'ineligible' As the U.S. Forest Service starts handing out contracts for slurry bombers for the upcoming fire season, Neptune Aviation's airtankers remain "ineligible" for service, an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday. But Kristen Schloemer, president of the Missoula-based Neptune, remained optimistic and said she hasn't seen anything official from the Forest Service. Several weeks ago, Neptune responded to a nationwide request for bids for 20 fixed-wing airtankers. The value of the aerial firefighting contracts is difficult to determine, because it depends on how much time the tankers spend in service. The contract includes a fee for daily availability - about $9,000 each - for the seven aircraft and an hourly flight rate of about $5,300. Other factors also affect the cost. In past years, the budget for 33 airtankers for a season was about $20 million, Davis said....
Caustic rain and fog lash the Columbia Gorge in winter, research finds The Columbia River Gorge, protected as a national scenic area for its rocky landscapes and natural vistas, endures acid rain and fog as severe as what falls in industrial East Coast regions. Air pollution from Eastern Oregon and Washington laces gorge clouds with some of the nation's highest levels of certain harmful compounds, turning fog and drizzle nearly as acidic as vinegar, new federal research shows. Gorge fog and rain collected over four months ending about a year ago were typically as caustic as in Pittsburgh, for example, and commonly 10 times and sometimes 30 times more acidic than usual Northwest rainfall. Those levels are known to injure trees and wildlife, though minimal research has been done to document the extent of ecological damage in the gorge....
Feds agree to study status of steelhead The National Marine Fisheries Service has agreed to study whether Puget Sound steelhead deserve protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. In a petition filed in September, a retired fish biologist from Olympia urged the government to list the fish as threatened, saying, "Nearly all the river systems have distinct downward trends in population abundance and are not even coming close to replacing themselves from generation to generation." On Tuesday, NMFS said the petition made a strong enough case to warrant a full-scale biological review....
New task force reviewing environmental policy law Republican leaders of the House Resources Committee said Tuesday they are forming a task force to look at ways to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act. The landmark law, signed by President Nixon in 1970, serves as the basis for federal management of forests, watersheds and other resources. It requires federal agencies to conduct sometimes lengthy environmental reviews before approving projects or issuing permits for actions on public land. The Bush administration has blamed NEPA for bureaucratic gridlock, while environmentalists praise it as an important way to limit development and force protections for endangered species. The 20-member task force will be chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., and will include 11 Republicans and nine Democrats, said Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., Resources panel chairman....
Tribe says sheep habitat designation derails development plans A Coachella Valley tribe filed a federal lawsuit claiming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to derail development on its sovereign territory with protections for endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which operates casinos in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, said in the suit filed Monday that government sheep protections threaten any future development plans the tribe might have on western Coachella Valley reservation lands. "We haven't gotten a copy of the lawsuit yet," said Jane Hendron, a spokeswoman for the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife office. The suit seeks a judgment on 10 claims ranging from a federal failure to perform an adequate economic analysis to federal violation of an executive order on tribal relations. It also seeks a restraining order on each claim against the Fish and Wildlife ruling on the critical habitat....
Big-Game Hunting Brings Big Tax Breaks The ibex head was jammed next to the moose, whose velvety antlers brushed against a rare red lechwe and an African bongo. Below them were several preserved bobcats, and at the far end of the storage container stood endangered leopards, frozen in lifelike mid-prowl. In all, there were more than 800 big-game and exotic animals piled into an old railroad car behind the Wyobraska Wildlife Museum, a modest and lightly visited facility here, far from any population center. It was just one of four large containers packed with animal mounts and skins -- trophies shot on expedition or safari to places such as South Africa, Mongolia and game-hunting parks in Texas. Often appraised for many times their market value, the trophies can yield hefty income tax deductions if nonprofit organizations agree to accept them as charitable gifts. And the Wyobraska museum and others have been more than willing. According to critics in Congress, top officials at natural history museums and animal rights advocates, this form of charitable giving allows wealthy hunters to go on big-game expeditions essentially at taxpayers' expense -- an arrangement so blatant that one animal trophy appraiser advertises his services under the headline: "Hunt for Free."....
Colorado River states at odds over Powell releases A federally imposed deadline to create a drought management plan for the Colorado River came and went last week, with officials from the seven states that rely on the river at loggerheads over how much water should be released downstream from Lake Powell. Members of the Colorado River Compact gathered in Las Vegas on Monday in a bid to restart discussions and craft a proposal for Interior Secretary Gale Norton by the middle of the month. But after two hours of negotiations, it appeared that adhering to the new timeline is looking pretty iffy as well. "We all agree that there's a better way, a more efficient way of operating the reservoirs on the Colorado River system in a way that will benefit all of the users," Larry Anderson, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, said via telephone. "But those are long-term discussions. The real question is, what can we do today?"....
Pyramid Lake fish flourish in big runoff In another sign of a welcome wet winter after five that failed to produce an adequate runoff, a scientist is predicting a record spawn of Pyramid Lake's endangered cui-ui fish. More than 300,000 cui-ui had swum through Marble Dam's fish-passage facility and into the lower Truckee River by Monday in a spawn expected to attract more than 800,000 fish by the time runoff peaks sometime in May, according to Lisa Heki, fisheries program manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno. "I've never seen these numbers this early," Heki said. Drought conditions didn't allow a spawning run for the cui-ui last year or in 2001. There were limited spawns in 2002 and 2003. This year's spawn is expected to substantially surpass the previous record of 585,000 fish set in 1999....
Yosemite Gets Back to Nature With Extreme Makeover This spring, visitors to California's Yosemite National Park will get an added bonus, in addition to the usual blackbird sightings, uncrowded roads, and other pre-summer perks. They'll be the first to trod the rehabilitated trails to the base of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in North America. The 13.5-million-U.S.-dollar, ten-year project to restore the falls area wraps up on April 18. The redesign covers 52 acres (21 hectares). It includes areas of native-plant restoration, a loop trail with benches, and interpretive displays about Native American culture and Yosemite history. In addition, the new paths allow disabled access to Yosemite Falls for the first time....
Ethics inquiry stalled at BLM The Interior Department's inspector general said Tuesday that he is growing frustrated with delays in wrapping up an ethics inquiry into the conduct of Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke, a former Utahn. "We're way, way past the point where we should have had an answer," said Earl E. Devaney, whose office began investigating Clarke for potential conflicts of interest nearly two years ago. The investigation focuses on whether Clarke, previously director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, improperly took part in meetings regarding an aborted land exchange between the BLM and Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration....
Fort Huachuca area lenders challenged for San Pedro River harm The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Tucson to remedy failure by the Veterans Administration (VA), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to disclose the full extent of the damage caused by their lending, loan guarantee, and underwriting programs in the Fort Huachuca area. EarthJustice represents CBD in these efforts to protect the San Pedro River. Failure by the VA, FHA and SBA to examine the environmental impact of their actions and failure to explore alternative agency actions are illegal under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).[1] NEPA requires that agencies evaluate their actions’ environmental impact and explore alternatives prior to the initiation of agency activities.[2] FHA officials admit that they are violating the law.[3] VA and SBA officials continue endeavoring to cover-up their illegal activities.[4]....
County backs conservation plan for private ranch land The Deschutes County Commission voted Monday to support a plan to put more than 1,000 acres of private ranch land in the hands of the Deschutes Basin Land Trust — a plan that proponents said could be a boon to wildlife. "Because salmon and steelhead will someday be swimming through that property — because deer and elk migrate through there, it would provide a real resource for the community," said Brad Chalfant, executive director of the land trust. Commissioners voted 2-1 to endorse a plan to purchase a conservation easement from Bob and Gayle Baker. The couple owns the property along Squaw Creek, downstream of Sisters....
Friedman Fighter As the green movement fends off accusations of impotence, Thomas Friedman has hatched an idea that could make a man out of environmentalism. In January, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times debuted his "geo-green" strategy, a powerful proposal for reframing America's quest for energy independence to appeal to hawkish neocons and lily-livered tree-huggers alike. By aggressively curbing America's energy consumption, Friedman argues, the Bush administration could reduce the global price of oil to the point where it would force regimes in the Middle East to diversify their economies, thereby priming them for democratic reform. Added geo-green benefits would include jumpstarting America's 21st century clean-energy economy, addressing the global-warming crisis, and allaying international umbrage over the Bush administration's royal diss on Kyoto....
Cutting/Rodeo Notes A year ago, Mary Jo Milner of Southlake won the NCHA Super Stakes non-pro title aboard a horse named Genuine Gold Cat. At the time, the mare competed in the show's division for 4-year-old horses who are first-year competitors. This year, Genuine Gold Cat is a contender in the non-pro 5- and 6-year-old division. Genuine Gold Cat advanced to the Super Stakes Classic non-pro final after turning in a score of 216 Monday night at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum....
Want to see a real rodeo? Go to Oakdale If it were just a rodeo, the Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo wouldn't have survived 54 years. In Oakdale, the rodeo is more than a gathering of the best cowboys in the world. It's an affirmation of an attitude, a down-home way to merge the past with the present. And when the rodeo kicks off this Friday for the 54th time, it again reveals two things: 1. How the event is perceived by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), and 2. How it's perceived by the citizens of this cowboy town. Both perceptions are favorable, to be sure....
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Powder River Basin methane projects limited The U.S. Bureau of Land Management can allow limited coalbed methane development in Montana's Powder River Basin while it completes an additional environmental study, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson's order essentially adopts a proposal by BLM to allow 500 federal, state and private coalbed methane wells a year in 229,000 acres of the Tongue River watershed just north of the Wyoming border while it studies phased development. Wells approved under Anderson's order also must comply with several measures BLM proposed to protect surface water and ground water quality and cultural resources. Anderson said BLM's proposal took the middle ground and presents "a balanced, equitable approach'' to coalbed methane development while it studies phased development, he said....
BLM Sells 30 Wild Horses to Cattle Rancher The Bureau of Land Management today announced that it is selling 30 wild horses to a Florida cattle rancher who will provide long-term care for the mustangs on his 1,000-acre ranch. Larry Jones, who owns and operates the Sarasota-area LB Ranch, is buying 16 mares and 14 geldings from the BLM under a new law passed by Congress. "Our agency is delighted to announce this sale to Mr. Jones, a rancher whose love for mustangs has led him to provide a home for 30 wild horses. The BLM encourages other ranchers who are interested in providing long-term care to consider buying wild horses available for sale," BLM Director Kathleen Clarke said. Jones and his wife, Barbara, run more than 500 cattle on their ranch. He says he has loved mustangs since he was a young man. "I've spent a lot of time with them," Jones said. "They taught me how to be a cowboy. They are unique - tough, sure- footed, and when you make a friend with a mustang, you've got a friend for life." The BLM has sold, or is completing the sales of, more than 1,400 wild horses under a law (Section 142 of Public Law 108-447) that took effect in December 2004....
Send power to California? Wyoming has the power source, and California's got the demand. Experts say if the forces aren't connected, California could suffer more blackouts, and Wyoming's electrical generating industry could remain static. On Monday, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal joined governors from Utah, Nevada and California to announce a four-state partnership to create the "Frontier Line." It is an effort to connect Wyoming's vast electrical generation capacity from wind and coal to meet growing demand in California and other points west....
Montana Collaring plan could bust wolf management budget A legislative plan to put radio collars on gray wolves could bankrupt the state's fledging wolf management program, which is needed to delist wolves as an endangered species. Senate Bill 461 would require one wolf from every wolf pack near a population or livestock center wear a radio collar so the pack could be tracked. The bill easily passed the Senate, but once it hit the other chamber, the House Agriculture Committee amended it to require the state provide any landowner a free radio receiver to track wolves, as long as the person lives in an area frequented by wolves. The amended version won the initial approval of the House Tuesday. The amendment raised the bill's cost from $25,000 in 2006 to $385,000, which is about what the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks plans to spend on its recently created wolf management program in a single year....
Texas Landowners Conservancy Asks for Reaffirmation of 'Just Compensation' Right The Texas Landowners Conservancy, a group of ranchers, land stewards and homeowners, together with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs, State Sen. Todd Staples and State Rep. Robby Cook, today announced filing of legislation that affirms Texans' constitutional right to be paid for land that has been devalued or rendered undevelopable as a result of environmental regulations. "Many jurisdictions in our state are rightly protecting our natural resources through water quality measures and more. However, the issue of excessive land use regulations and the impact on landowners who invested in Texas has to be considered," Combs said at a press conference at the State Capitol. "I authored the original Texas property owners' 'bill of rights' to protect landowners from abuses by governments. This bill today closes the loopholes and reaffirms our intent to honor the private ownership of land guaranteed in our Texas and U.S. Constitutions," Combs said....
Hatch: Don't move N-waste Sen. Orrin Hatch says he would be "elated" if the Bush administration decided to keep nuclear waste at the reactors that produced it. In an interview Monday, the Utah Republican said he believes storing spent fuel rods at the reactors until they can be reprocessed is the best solution to the nation's nuclear waste problem. But he added that political realities dictate that he remain a supporter of burying the waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain as the best bet for keeping it out of Utah. Hatch's nuanced stance reflects the growing support from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., the state's congressional delegation, and other state officials arguing that storage at the reactors is the best way to block a proposal by Private Fuel Storage (PFS) to temporarily store 44,000 tons of waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City....
Groups Differ On Tactics, Issues In Fighting For Environment The environment has become a political battleground in Arizona. The reasons come down to water and land. Frenzied urban growth is pushing open space and wildlife habitat beyond the reach of an afternoon Sunday drive. Determining the future for large tracts of state trust land has become a battle of competing interests — cities, developers, ranchers and environmental groups. And the environmental groups themselves are split over the details. There is not water, water everywhere, and — during the state’s prolonged drought — developers and environmental groups are fighting over what remains. Given Arizona’s conservative bent, it could be tempting to view the environmental groups as the underdogs. But they have proven themselves to be skilled political players. They have statewide memberships numbering in the thousands. In general, they appear to have broad public support when speaking out for clean water, clean air and wildlife protection. In the trenches, however, these groups differ in their tactics. They often disagree over the best way save to save the forests and preserve open space....
Noah's arch envisioned for Vail Pass Someday as you slip down the west end of Vail Pass on Interstate 70, you may go under an overpass spanning the highway. It won't be for traffic or pedestrians, but for deer, elk and other wildlife - a north-south corridor to help wildlife navigate I-70, which has become the "Great Wall of China" for many species. Members of the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project and Wilderness Workshop, who proposed the project, have received support from the town of Vail, Eagle County, the Colorado Department of Transportation and U.S. Forest Service. The proposal calls for an overpass like two in Alberta, Canada, on the Trans-Canada Highway in Banff National Park. The crossing structures in Banff are an experiment, and their effectiveness is being evaluated. The groups asked U.S. Rep. Mark Udall and U.S. Sens. Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard of Colorado for help in funding the $4.5 million needed for the overpass....
Neptune tankers deemed 'ineligible' As the U.S. Forest Service starts handing out contracts for slurry bombers for the upcoming fire season, Neptune Aviation's airtankers remain "ineligible" for service, an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday. But Kristen Schloemer, president of the Missoula-based Neptune, remained optimistic and said she hasn't seen anything official from the Forest Service. Several weeks ago, Neptune responded to a nationwide request for bids for 20 fixed-wing airtankers. The value of the aerial firefighting contracts is difficult to determine, because it depends on how much time the tankers spend in service. The contract includes a fee for daily availability - about $9,000 each - for the seven aircraft and an hourly flight rate of about $5,300. Other factors also affect the cost. In past years, the budget for 33 airtankers for a season was about $20 million, Davis said....
Caustic rain and fog lash the Columbia Gorge in winter, research finds The Columbia River Gorge, protected as a national scenic area for its rocky landscapes and natural vistas, endures acid rain and fog as severe as what falls in industrial East Coast regions. Air pollution from Eastern Oregon and Washington laces gorge clouds with some of the nation's highest levels of certain harmful compounds, turning fog and drizzle nearly as acidic as vinegar, new federal research shows. Gorge fog and rain collected over four months ending about a year ago were typically as caustic as in Pittsburgh, for example, and commonly 10 times and sometimes 30 times more acidic than usual Northwest rainfall. Those levels are known to injure trees and wildlife, though minimal research has been done to document the extent of ecological damage in the gorge....
Feds agree to study status of steelhead The National Marine Fisheries Service has agreed to study whether Puget Sound steelhead deserve protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. In a petition filed in September, a retired fish biologist from Olympia urged the government to list the fish as threatened, saying, "Nearly all the river systems have distinct downward trends in population abundance and are not even coming close to replacing themselves from generation to generation." On Tuesday, NMFS said the petition made a strong enough case to warrant a full-scale biological review....
New task force reviewing environmental policy law Republican leaders of the House Resources Committee said Tuesday they are forming a task force to look at ways to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act. The landmark law, signed by President Nixon in 1970, serves as the basis for federal management of forests, watersheds and other resources. It requires federal agencies to conduct sometimes lengthy environmental reviews before approving projects or issuing permits for actions on public land. The Bush administration has blamed NEPA for bureaucratic gridlock, while environmentalists praise it as an important way to limit development and force protections for endangered species. The 20-member task force will be chaired by Rep. Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., and will include 11 Republicans and nine Democrats, said Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., Resources panel chairman....
Tribe says sheep habitat designation derails development plans A Coachella Valley tribe filed a federal lawsuit claiming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to derail development on its sovereign territory with protections for endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, which operates casinos in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, said in the suit filed Monday that government sheep protections threaten any future development plans the tribe might have on western Coachella Valley reservation lands. "We haven't gotten a copy of the lawsuit yet," said Jane Hendron, a spokeswoman for the Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife office. The suit seeks a judgment on 10 claims ranging from a federal failure to perform an adequate economic analysis to federal violation of an executive order on tribal relations. It also seeks a restraining order on each claim against the Fish and Wildlife ruling on the critical habitat....
Big-Game Hunting Brings Big Tax Breaks The ibex head was jammed next to the moose, whose velvety antlers brushed against a rare red lechwe and an African bongo. Below them were several preserved bobcats, and at the far end of the storage container stood endangered leopards, frozen in lifelike mid-prowl. In all, there were more than 800 big-game and exotic animals piled into an old railroad car behind the Wyobraska Wildlife Museum, a modest and lightly visited facility here, far from any population center. It was just one of four large containers packed with animal mounts and skins -- trophies shot on expedition or safari to places such as South Africa, Mongolia and game-hunting parks in Texas. Often appraised for many times their market value, the trophies can yield hefty income tax deductions if nonprofit organizations agree to accept them as charitable gifts. And the Wyobraska museum and others have been more than willing. According to critics in Congress, top officials at natural history museums and animal rights advocates, this form of charitable giving allows wealthy hunters to go on big-game expeditions essentially at taxpayers' expense -- an arrangement so blatant that one animal trophy appraiser advertises his services under the headline: "Hunt for Free."....
Colorado River states at odds over Powell releases A federally imposed deadline to create a drought management plan for the Colorado River came and went last week, with officials from the seven states that rely on the river at loggerheads over how much water should be released downstream from Lake Powell. Members of the Colorado River Compact gathered in Las Vegas on Monday in a bid to restart discussions and craft a proposal for Interior Secretary Gale Norton by the middle of the month. But after two hours of negotiations, it appeared that adhering to the new timeline is looking pretty iffy as well. "We all agree that there's a better way, a more efficient way of operating the reservoirs on the Colorado River system in a way that will benefit all of the users," Larry Anderson, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, said via telephone. "But those are long-term discussions. The real question is, what can we do today?"....
Pyramid Lake fish flourish in big runoff In another sign of a welcome wet winter after five that failed to produce an adequate runoff, a scientist is predicting a record spawn of Pyramid Lake's endangered cui-ui fish. More than 300,000 cui-ui had swum through Marble Dam's fish-passage facility and into the lower Truckee River by Monday in a spawn expected to attract more than 800,000 fish by the time runoff peaks sometime in May, according to Lisa Heki, fisheries program manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno. "I've never seen these numbers this early," Heki said. Drought conditions didn't allow a spawning run for the cui-ui last year or in 2001. There were limited spawns in 2002 and 2003. This year's spawn is expected to substantially surpass the previous record of 585,000 fish set in 1999....
Yosemite Gets Back to Nature With Extreme Makeover This spring, visitors to California's Yosemite National Park will get an added bonus, in addition to the usual blackbird sightings, uncrowded roads, and other pre-summer perks. They'll be the first to trod the rehabilitated trails to the base of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in North America. The 13.5-million-U.S.-dollar, ten-year project to restore the falls area wraps up on April 18. The redesign covers 52 acres (21 hectares). It includes areas of native-plant restoration, a loop trail with benches, and interpretive displays about Native American culture and Yosemite history. In addition, the new paths allow disabled access to Yosemite Falls for the first time....
Ethics inquiry stalled at BLM The Interior Department's inspector general said Tuesday that he is growing frustrated with delays in wrapping up an ethics inquiry into the conduct of Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke, a former Utahn. "We're way, way past the point where we should have had an answer," said Earl E. Devaney, whose office began investigating Clarke for potential conflicts of interest nearly two years ago. The investigation focuses on whether Clarke, previously director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources, improperly took part in meetings regarding an aborted land exchange between the BLM and Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration....
Fort Huachuca area lenders challenged for San Pedro River harm The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has filed a lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Tucson to remedy failure by the Veterans Administration (VA), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) to disclose the full extent of the damage caused by their lending, loan guarantee, and underwriting programs in the Fort Huachuca area. EarthJustice represents CBD in these efforts to protect the San Pedro River. Failure by the VA, FHA and SBA to examine the environmental impact of their actions and failure to explore alternative agency actions are illegal under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).[1] NEPA requires that agencies evaluate their actions’ environmental impact and explore alternatives prior to the initiation of agency activities.[2] FHA officials admit that they are violating the law.[3] VA and SBA officials continue endeavoring to cover-up their illegal activities.[4]....
County backs conservation plan for private ranch land The Deschutes County Commission voted Monday to support a plan to put more than 1,000 acres of private ranch land in the hands of the Deschutes Basin Land Trust — a plan that proponents said could be a boon to wildlife. "Because salmon and steelhead will someday be swimming through that property — because deer and elk migrate through there, it would provide a real resource for the community," said Brad Chalfant, executive director of the land trust. Commissioners voted 2-1 to endorse a plan to purchase a conservation easement from Bob and Gayle Baker. The couple owns the property along Squaw Creek, downstream of Sisters....
Friedman Fighter As the green movement fends off accusations of impotence, Thomas Friedman has hatched an idea that could make a man out of environmentalism. In January, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times debuted his "geo-green" strategy, a powerful proposal for reframing America's quest for energy independence to appeal to hawkish neocons and lily-livered tree-huggers alike. By aggressively curbing America's energy consumption, Friedman argues, the Bush administration could reduce the global price of oil to the point where it would force regimes in the Middle East to diversify their economies, thereby priming them for democratic reform. Added geo-green benefits would include jumpstarting America's 21st century clean-energy economy, addressing the global-warming crisis, and allaying international umbrage over the Bush administration's royal diss on Kyoto....
Cutting/Rodeo Notes A year ago, Mary Jo Milner of Southlake won the NCHA Super Stakes non-pro title aboard a horse named Genuine Gold Cat. At the time, the mare competed in the show's division for 4-year-old horses who are first-year competitors. This year, Genuine Gold Cat is a contender in the non-pro 5- and 6-year-old division. Genuine Gold Cat advanced to the Super Stakes Classic non-pro final after turning in a score of 216 Monday night at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum....
Want to see a real rodeo? Go to Oakdale If it were just a rodeo, the Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo wouldn't have survived 54 years. In Oakdale, the rodeo is more than a gathering of the best cowboys in the world. It's an affirmation of an attitude, a down-home way to merge the past with the present. And when the rodeo kicks off this Friday for the 54th time, it again reveals two things: 1. How the event is perceived by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), and 2. How it's perceived by the citizens of this cowboy town. Both perceptions are favorable, to be sure....
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Group considers protections for sage grouse But the big birds have issues - and a local working group has targeted 14 of them. The Bighorn Basin Sage Grouse Working Group ranked 14 problems facing the large prairie dweller. The list may hatch programs aimed at stopping their decline. "We're just brainstorming now," said Wyoming Game and Fish facilitator Dennie Hammer. Topping the problem list are predators, weather (drought), livestock, vegetation management and mineral development. Invasive plants like cheat grass and spotted knapweed are gobbling up the bird's habitat. The non-native juniper and limber pine are encroaching on the historic leks near Meeteetse, said Tim Stephens, a wildlife biologist from the Bureau of Land Management's Worland office....
Funds restored for wildlife monitoring program A six- year plan to monitor bighorn sheep and mountain lions with special tracking collars was in jeopardy earlier this year, but experts say most of the $3.9 million has been restored to forest budgets. The U.S. Forest Service Washington office reversed an earlier decision to reallocate the money to wildfire restoration when forest service personnel and outsiders objected. However, is not yet fully funded. The program would help biologists learn more about the animals' survival and habitats in the Angeles and San Bernardino forests....
Flock of trouble Biologist William Boarman peered through a night-vision scope at power transmission lines that appeared thick and laden with unidentified objects. Squinting into the twilight, he spied about 2,200 ravens perched shoulder to shoulder across a quarter-mile of wires near Twentynine Palms, roosting after a day of scavenging across the desert. If the scene seems ominously reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock film, that's because the big black birds portend a profound ecological change in the Mojave Desert and beyond. As more humans inhabit the West, ravens multiply exponentially as do their detractors, and the birds are blamed for a host of problems....
Burrowing owls find a new home to save them from urban growth Gingerly lifting nine burrowing owls out of their boxes, Greg Clark let the diminutive birds loose in a tent pitched on the Arizona Strip on Saturday - their home for the next 30 days. Clark is the burrowing owl habitat specialist for the Arizona-based Wild at Heart wildlife preservation group. In the past three years, the organization has relocated 1,000 of the subterranean-dwelling owls at 500 locations around Arizona. The efforts are necessary to save the bird from development that is gobbling up 2,000 acres a month of the owls' habitat around the Phoenix area, Clark said....
USFWS releases draft options for proposed refuge The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released two draft options on the proposed Neches River Wildlife Refuge. The refuge, proposed to run along the Neches River and incorporate areas of Anderson and Cherokee counties, would be created to conserve and manage the declining bottomland hardwood forest. But this area is not only sought after by the federal government - the Upper Neches River Municipal Water Authority, in conjunction with the City of Dallas - has big plans for the same area of the Neches River as well. The UNRMWA wants to turn it into a reservoir to serve water customers for Dallas. As of February the water authority was doing a feasibility study for the project....
Some outfitters report improvement The winter-use rules governing Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks appear to have helped some snowmobile businesses. Stacey Chapman with Best Adventures Snowmobile and Jackson Hole Snowmobile Tours said, "believe it or not, we've had an excellent winter." The two companies brought 2,294 snowmobiles into the park this winter, compared with 1,455 last year. That, Chapman said, was as result of mechanical problems that hampered use of some of the new Arctic Cat four-stroke machines -- the technology required by the National Park Service. Chapman said despite a low-snow year, tours into the Bridger-Teton National Forest were up, too. "As long as there aren't any changes next year," Chapman said of the Park Service rules, "hopefully we're stabilized until 2006, 2007. We're ready to roll with it." The interim park rules, allowing 720 snowmobiles a day in Yellowstone and 140 in Grand Teton, were put in place this year for up to three years as the agency conducts yet another study on the impact of sleds in the park using "real time" data....
Editorial: Measure's demise a letdown to State's ag producers need protection from some oil and gas drillers House Bill 1219, which addressed oil and gas surface damages compensation, has died in a Colorado House committee. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and state Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, faced tough opposition from the get-go by the state's oil and gas industry, while agricultural, home-building and environmental groups pushed for its passage. Those favoring the measure said it would simply require a property owner and an oil and gas company to reach an agreement as to how damages will be minimized and compensated before any drilling begins. Those negotiations would have addressed such issues as locations of roads, well pads and compressor stations on the property, reclamation of damages once the drilling is completed, and compensation for the loss of value to the property. The opposition charged the legislation was not needed because the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission already addresses these issue. That may be the case, but it became obvious during debate on the bill that either the commission isn't doing its job or some oil companies choose to ignore the commission's directives. It is these latter companies the bill addressed....
This Land Is Our Land I am motoring around a field of native prairie grasses on a 1960s Oliver tractor, mowing weeds under the puffy clouds of a June evening. Sitting next to me is my friend Dan Vonderhaar. Although we’re both Iowa natives, neither of us grew up on a tractor seat like the farm kids did. My swaths aren’t very straight, but I’m having too much fun to give up the wheel. Six months later, I return to Dan’s land to help finish the harvest with a 12-gauge shotgun. My setter and his Lab hustle up three roosters and we cut them down, bringing the season’s yield to almost 60 pheasants, a couple of does, and a 140-inch buck—a bumper crop for a 120-acre farm in eastern Iowa. Dan and his good friend and partner, Dave Kallsen, are what you might call “recreational farmers,” members of a growing demographic in the changing rural landscape. Like them, hunters who have become frustrated by the crowds on public land or by diminished access to private ground are buying places of their own....
Coastal panel's fate hangs in balance The California Coastal Commission, a powerful body created by voters and lawmakers 29 years ago to preserve a 1,100-mile coastline from unlimited development, will be fighting for its own preservation Wednesday before the state Supreme Court. The issue before the justices, meeting in Los Angeles, will not be the incessant complaints of property owners that the commission has trampled their rights in its zeal to provide public access to Pacific beaches and bluffs. Instead, the point of contention will be the commission's makeup, an issue that arose abruptly in 2001 when a Sacramento judge ruled that the appointment system violated constitutional separation of powers. Simply put, the question is whether an agency that wields executive power -- the power to enforce the state's Coastal Act, by granting and denying development permits -- can operate with eight appointees from the legislative branch -- four from the state Senate and four from the Assembly -- among its 12 members. The governor appoints the other four members....
Editorial: Flow for the American The future health of the American River - and to a great extent, the future stability of the entire Sacramento region's water system - depends on an elusive document that has to be signed by the federal Interior Department. That document is a legal promise by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, the operator of Folsom Dam and the water master of the lower American River, to release enough water to meet the bare minimum needs of the river's fishery. It is called a flow standard. Local water districts have vowed to leave some of their water in the river in drought years if the bureau guarantees an acceptable, minimum flow. The Bush administration is tantalizingly close to forging a model federal-local partnership to solve a complex water problem. But it must sign on the dotted line. And it hasn't - yet....
Shear numbers More sheep are in the United States than at any time since 1990. The growth is good news for an industry that has been declining for the past decade. Drought and international competition have hampered the industry, Colorado Wool-growers Association President John Bartmann said. But those factors relented in 2004, and the industry likely will stay strong in 2005. "Everything in the industry looks positive for the market to hold steady through the fall," Bartmann said. "Predicting any longer than that is like trying to forecast the weather a month from now."....
Old Maggie gives Little Northrup a flying lesson My neighbor, Jolene, runs a small bunch of sheep and she’s been lambing all month. When she called to ask if I’d come over and help her sort lambs and ewes, clean pens and boot the mothered-up pairs into the adjacent pasture. I said, “Sure.” Jolene’s the hearty sort and also a great cook. I knew my efforts would be rewarded with a tasty meal. We spent an hour or so shoveling, strawing down jugs, bottle-feeding a few bums and generally doing what you do when working sheep. About the time we figured we owed ourselves a break, a car pulled into Jolene’s lane, drove on past the house and straight to the sheep barn. Jolene watched the automobile approach with consternation written all over her face. “Oh, no,” she muttered. “It’s Mrs. Super Rancher.”....
It's All Trew: Dipping into the history of snuff, tobacco In the old days, there was one sin that no preacher ever mentioned, that of dipping snuff. If snuff was mentioned the elders would say, "He just quit preaching and went to meddling." I won't say my grandparents dipped a lot of snuff but I will admit that snuff glasses were the only drinking glasses I ever saw in their cabinets. I remember making wheels for my little wooden-block cars and trucks using snuff container lids. I was careful to punch the center hole right in the "R" of the American Tobacco Company logo or the wheel would wobble off-center....
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Group considers protections for sage grouse But the big birds have issues - and a local working group has targeted 14 of them. The Bighorn Basin Sage Grouse Working Group ranked 14 problems facing the large prairie dweller. The list may hatch programs aimed at stopping their decline. "We're just brainstorming now," said Wyoming Game and Fish facilitator Dennie Hammer. Topping the problem list are predators, weather (drought), livestock, vegetation management and mineral development. Invasive plants like cheat grass and spotted knapweed are gobbling up the bird's habitat. The non-native juniper and limber pine are encroaching on the historic leks near Meeteetse, said Tim Stephens, a wildlife biologist from the Bureau of Land Management's Worland office....
Funds restored for wildlife monitoring program A six- year plan to monitor bighorn sheep and mountain lions with special tracking collars was in jeopardy earlier this year, but experts say most of the $3.9 million has been restored to forest budgets. The U.S. Forest Service Washington office reversed an earlier decision to reallocate the money to wildfire restoration when forest service personnel and outsiders objected. However, is not yet fully funded. The program would help biologists learn more about the animals' survival and habitats in the Angeles and San Bernardino forests....
Flock of trouble Biologist William Boarman peered through a night-vision scope at power transmission lines that appeared thick and laden with unidentified objects. Squinting into the twilight, he spied about 2,200 ravens perched shoulder to shoulder across a quarter-mile of wires near Twentynine Palms, roosting after a day of scavenging across the desert. If the scene seems ominously reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock film, that's because the big black birds portend a profound ecological change in the Mojave Desert and beyond. As more humans inhabit the West, ravens multiply exponentially as do their detractors, and the birds are blamed for a host of problems....
Burrowing owls find a new home to save them from urban growth Gingerly lifting nine burrowing owls out of their boxes, Greg Clark let the diminutive birds loose in a tent pitched on the Arizona Strip on Saturday - their home for the next 30 days. Clark is the burrowing owl habitat specialist for the Arizona-based Wild at Heart wildlife preservation group. In the past three years, the organization has relocated 1,000 of the subterranean-dwelling owls at 500 locations around Arizona. The efforts are necessary to save the bird from development that is gobbling up 2,000 acres a month of the owls' habitat around the Phoenix area, Clark said....
USFWS releases draft options for proposed refuge The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has released two draft options on the proposed Neches River Wildlife Refuge. The refuge, proposed to run along the Neches River and incorporate areas of Anderson and Cherokee counties, would be created to conserve and manage the declining bottomland hardwood forest. But this area is not only sought after by the federal government - the Upper Neches River Municipal Water Authority, in conjunction with the City of Dallas - has big plans for the same area of the Neches River as well. The UNRMWA wants to turn it into a reservoir to serve water customers for Dallas. As of February the water authority was doing a feasibility study for the project....
Some outfitters report improvement The winter-use rules governing Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks appear to have helped some snowmobile businesses. Stacey Chapman with Best Adventures Snowmobile and Jackson Hole Snowmobile Tours said, "believe it or not, we've had an excellent winter." The two companies brought 2,294 snowmobiles into the park this winter, compared with 1,455 last year. That, Chapman said, was as result of mechanical problems that hampered use of some of the new Arctic Cat four-stroke machines -- the technology required by the National Park Service. Chapman said despite a low-snow year, tours into the Bridger-Teton National Forest were up, too. "As long as there aren't any changes next year," Chapman said of the Park Service rules, "hopefully we're stabilized until 2006, 2007. We're ready to roll with it." The interim park rules, allowing 720 snowmobiles a day in Yellowstone and 140 in Grand Teton, were put in place this year for up to three years as the agency conducts yet another study on the impact of sleds in the park using "real time" data....
Editorial: Measure's demise a letdown to State's ag producers need protection from some oil and gas drillers House Bill 1219, which addressed oil and gas surface damages compensation, has died in a Colorado House committee. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, and state Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, faced tough opposition from the get-go by the state's oil and gas industry, while agricultural, home-building and environmental groups pushed for its passage. Those favoring the measure said it would simply require a property owner and an oil and gas company to reach an agreement as to how damages will be minimized and compensated before any drilling begins. Those negotiations would have addressed such issues as locations of roads, well pads and compressor stations on the property, reclamation of damages once the drilling is completed, and compensation for the loss of value to the property. The opposition charged the legislation was not needed because the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission already addresses these issue. That may be the case, but it became obvious during debate on the bill that either the commission isn't doing its job or some oil companies choose to ignore the commission's directives. It is these latter companies the bill addressed....
This Land Is Our Land I am motoring around a field of native prairie grasses on a 1960s Oliver tractor, mowing weeds under the puffy clouds of a June evening. Sitting next to me is my friend Dan Vonderhaar. Although we’re both Iowa natives, neither of us grew up on a tractor seat like the farm kids did. My swaths aren’t very straight, but I’m having too much fun to give up the wheel. Six months later, I return to Dan’s land to help finish the harvest with a 12-gauge shotgun. My setter and his Lab hustle up three roosters and we cut them down, bringing the season’s yield to almost 60 pheasants, a couple of does, and a 140-inch buck—a bumper crop for a 120-acre farm in eastern Iowa. Dan and his good friend and partner, Dave Kallsen, are what you might call “recreational farmers,” members of a growing demographic in the changing rural landscape. Like them, hunters who have become frustrated by the crowds on public land or by diminished access to private ground are buying places of their own....
Coastal panel's fate hangs in balance The California Coastal Commission, a powerful body created by voters and lawmakers 29 years ago to preserve a 1,100-mile coastline from unlimited development, will be fighting for its own preservation Wednesday before the state Supreme Court. The issue before the justices, meeting in Los Angeles, will not be the incessant complaints of property owners that the commission has trampled their rights in its zeal to provide public access to Pacific beaches and bluffs. Instead, the point of contention will be the commission's makeup, an issue that arose abruptly in 2001 when a Sacramento judge ruled that the appointment system violated constitutional separation of powers. Simply put, the question is whether an agency that wields executive power -- the power to enforce the state's Coastal Act, by granting and denying development permits -- can operate with eight appointees from the legislative branch -- four from the state Senate and four from the Assembly -- among its 12 members. The governor appoints the other four members....
Editorial: Flow for the American The future health of the American River - and to a great extent, the future stability of the entire Sacramento region's water system - depends on an elusive document that has to be signed by the federal Interior Department. That document is a legal promise by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, the operator of Folsom Dam and the water master of the lower American River, to release enough water to meet the bare minimum needs of the river's fishery. It is called a flow standard. Local water districts have vowed to leave some of their water in the river in drought years if the bureau guarantees an acceptable, minimum flow. The Bush administration is tantalizingly close to forging a model federal-local partnership to solve a complex water problem. But it must sign on the dotted line. And it hasn't - yet....
Shear numbers More sheep are in the United States than at any time since 1990. The growth is good news for an industry that has been declining for the past decade. Drought and international competition have hampered the industry, Colorado Wool-growers Association President John Bartmann said. But those factors relented in 2004, and the industry likely will stay strong in 2005. "Everything in the industry looks positive for the market to hold steady through the fall," Bartmann said. "Predicting any longer than that is like trying to forecast the weather a month from now."....
Old Maggie gives Little Northrup a flying lesson My neighbor, Jolene, runs a small bunch of sheep and she’s been lambing all month. When she called to ask if I’d come over and help her sort lambs and ewes, clean pens and boot the mothered-up pairs into the adjacent pasture. I said, “Sure.” Jolene’s the hearty sort and also a great cook. I knew my efforts would be rewarded with a tasty meal. We spent an hour or so shoveling, strawing down jugs, bottle-feeding a few bums and generally doing what you do when working sheep. About the time we figured we owed ourselves a break, a car pulled into Jolene’s lane, drove on past the house and straight to the sheep barn. Jolene watched the automobile approach with consternation written all over her face. “Oh, no,” she muttered. “It’s Mrs. Super Rancher.”....
It's All Trew: Dipping into the history of snuff, tobacco In the old days, there was one sin that no preacher ever mentioned, that of dipping snuff. If snuff was mentioned the elders would say, "He just quit preaching and went to meddling." I won't say my grandparents dipped a lot of snuff but I will admit that snuff glasses were the only drinking glasses I ever saw in their cabinets. I remember making wheels for my little wooden-block cars and trucks using snuff container lids. I was careful to punch the center hole right in the "R" of the American Tobacco Company logo or the wheel would wobble off-center....
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Monday, April 04, 2005
NEWS ROUNDUP
Delicate operation: Cougar tracking project maps ecosystem The plan on this March outing is to tree the mother lion and tranquilize her. They will then replace her old, dead radio collar with a new one that has a Global Positioning System device that will better track her movements. The collar is one of four GPS units the biologists are deploying as part of the Teton Cougar Project, an ongoing study of mountain lions around Jackson Hole. The project's overriding goal, however, extends beyond cats. Quigley, who initiated the project in late 1999, wants to combine what he learns from these GPS collars with similar data being collected by researchers tracking wolves, grizzly bears and black bears. Already, researchers have collars on 20 to 30 bears and two wolves in this region, he said. If all goes well, by the end of this summer researchers could have up to 20,000 locations of where some members of the ecosystem's four large carnivore species have been, he said. Quigley worked on a similar project near Yellowstone National Park, researching grizzlies that left Yellowstone seeking carcasses of elk killed by hunters. Mountain lions, in contrast, moved into the park, away from the bears. Wolves didn't appear to alter their movements....
West ripe for fires after winter extremes It was a dry, warm winter across the Northwest, with observers in some areas saying they can't remember the last time the snowpack was this low. It was just the opposite in the Southwest, with record winter rainfall that flooded deserts and caused deadly landslides. Strangely, both face the same worry: Conditions are ripe for a bad wildfire season. Along with the dry forests in the Northwest, all that rain in the Southwest has fed lots of tall grass and brush that will become tinder when it dries this summer. In parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, the snowpack is 25 percent to 50 percent of normal. The U.S. Drought Monitor, which tracks conditions across the country, rates vast tracts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho as "exceptional drought," the worst of five drought categories....
Federal judge blocks northern Wisconsin timber sales Two planned sales of timber from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin have been blocked by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee said the U.S. Forest Service didn’t properly assess the impact on certain hawks and martens that inhabit the forest. The rulings Thursday and Friday by Adelman require that the forest service consider the cumulative impacts of six national forest timber sales approved by the agency in 2003, instead of assessing the sales individually....
Logging the Fiddler salvage sale Lumbering machines danced a clanking ballet atop the Fiddler Mountain log landing as Rick Parrett considered his gut reaction to protesters he saw on the way to work that morning. No anger, shrugged the soft-spoken logger. "I guess they just don’t see our side of it," said the Canyonville-area resident. "We’re coming out here to get rid of the dead trees and get a forest going again. "It isn’t only our jobs — we’re doing this for the future," he added. "This is a renewable resource. If you don’t come in here and take care of it, you’re going to lose 50 years of growth, maybe more." Parrett, 48, who has been working in the woods for 30 years, is a "siderod" — the boss of the logging operation at this particular site. Several logging "shows" are occurring simultaneously on this mountain a half-dozen air miles northwest of Kerby in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest....
Protesters vow larger effort against roadless-area logging If you think the protests over the Fiddler timber salvage sale are a headache, be prepared for a migraine when logging starts in the roadless areas burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire, activists warn. "When they move into the roadless areas, there is going to be more resistance," predicted Illinois Valley resident Annette Rasch, one of 20 women arrested March 14 for trying to block access to the Fiddler sale. "This movement is going to continue to grow nationally," she said. "This is not the ‘fringey far left’ like some in the media are saying. Mainstream people are involved." Nearly 50 people have been arrested since logging began on Fiddler Mountain, including a protester arrested last week in Portland for blocking a street near the Forest Service’s regional office. Police had to lower his 30-foot-high tripod to arrest the protester, a member of a group called Stumptown Earth First! Portland was once known as Stumptown....
Controversy clings to vacant Tahoe mansion A long-vacant mansion on the shores of Lake Tahoe is set for the wrecking ball, ending years of controversy over a government land swap involving boomtown desert land and the former property of a finance giant. The 10,000-square-foot home built by mutual-fund executive Jack Dreyfus, founder of the Dreyfus Fund, will be demolished, probably sometime next year, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which now owns the mansion. Leveling the home returns the 81-acre property on the lake's southeast shore to its natural state. That's been the goal of the Forest Service since it agreed eight years ago to trade desert property in southern Nevada for the lakefront spread then owned by a private development company. The Forest Service will offer the demolition job to a salvage company, largely for the cost of the salvage, at minimal or no taxpayer expense, Norman said. The Forest Service, however, already paid $575,000 for the house, which includes three-quarters of a mile of lakefront....
Forest Service, environmentalists at odds over Smokey's message For 60 years, Smokey Bear has been the voice of caution to hikers and campers across the country, saying: "Remember, only you can prevent forest fires." Now, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself at odds with environmentalists in interpreting that message. Both point to Smokey Bear as the reason foresters should or should not set controlled fires in public woodlands in the eastern United States. The Forest Service says Smokey approves of controlled fires because they help eliminate invasive species and burn ground clutter that could contribute to catastrophic wildfires. Environmentalists say Smokey is opposed to controlled burns because fire kills trees and leaves animals homeless regardless of whether it's caused by lightning strikes, arsonists or federal foresters....
Wild horses leave range for new homes For 24 wild horses in New Mexico, the arrival of spring has signaled some dramatic lifestyle changes. Corralled at the Browning Ranch in Farmington, these horses are trading their 75,000-acre home on the Carson National Forest for the urban life of Four Corners ranches, barns and pastures. The wild herd, which traces its ancestry back to a horse supplier for the cavalry in the late 1800s, now numbers around 275 animals. But drought conditions and an annual reproduction rate of 15 percent to 22 percent have overwhelmed the range and spurred the Forest Service to address the situation....
Panel wary of tortoise effort A new research arm of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to pinpoint reasons for the decline of the desert tortoise and bring an end to its status as an endangered species. But members of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District Advisory Council are skeptical about the ambitious goals of the new Desert Tortoise Recovery Office, based in Reno, Nev. Looking back 11 years, council members said here Saturday that efforts by state and federal wildlife agencies and other groups to reverse the decline of the endangered tortoise have fallen flat....
Where Eagles Die Last February, a woman walking her dog in the woods of North Vancouver stumbled upon a grotesque find: the mutilated carcasses of 26 bald eagles. The discovery set in motion a major investigation involving law enforcement and conservation officials in both Canada and the U.S. Now, TIME has learned, authorities have identified suspects in a poaching and smuggling ring that they say annually slaughters more than 500 of the protected animals on British Columbia's southwestern coast alone, with perhaps hundreds more killed each year elsewhere in the province. Officials are expected to make a formal announcement of their progress in the case early next week. Killing eagles is illegal in Canada and the U.S. In addition, it's against the law for Americans to possess bald-eagle parts unless they are registered tribal members with special government permits. But with feathers and talons a major feature in traditional aboriginal dance regalia—which is popular on a competitive circuit that offers rich prizes for the best outfits—there's a hot black market for eagle parts in the U.S....
Alaska’s long-studied wolf pack threatened The demise of this family of wolves, known to tens of thousands of park visitors as the Toklat group, would end a unique stream of longitudinal research. For nearly six decades, Haber and other scientists have chronicled the hunting techniques, mating habits and social interdependence of generations of a geographically stable group of wolves. Trapping the Toklat wolves also raises questions about the ethical treatment of animals that for decades have been cosseted inside a park, where they have been regarded as prime tourist attractions and have learned to associate people with harmless curiosity — not with the slow, lethal torment of a trap. At the urging of wildlife preservation and animal rights groups in the lower 48, three Democratic senators — Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) — wrote last Monday to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, citing a "biological emergency" and imploring her to take immediate steps to save the Toklat family....
Editorial: Parks in Peril resident Bush made the troubled national parks system the centerpiece of his rather modest environmental agenda during the 2000 campaign, chastising the Democrats for allowing the parks to decay and pledging to spend $1 billion a year in new money over five years to eliminate a backlog of repairs, then estimated at $4.9 billion. It seemed an easy enough promise at the time, but Mr. Bush would dearly love to have it back now. Just two weeks ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service pegged the probable backlog at half again that amount, and administration officials - most recently, Fran Mainella, the beleaguered National Park Service director - have been forced to concede that the best Mr. Bush can do is to "address" the backlog. Yet to dwell exclusively on Mr. Bush's failed promise is diversionary. It is true that he has provided, at best, $900 million or so in new money, and that any other claims made on his behalf involve highly creative accounting. But it is also true that presidents before him, with the possible exception of Dwight Eisenhower, have been no more attentive to park needs, and that Congress has been even worse....
Welcome mat pulled for many at monument Target shooters, paintball enthusiasts and hikers with unleashed pets are no longer welcome in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Regulations against the activities were approved in 2004 by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and went into effect last week. The restrictions are designed to protect the area's natural resources, as well as visitors' safety, said Jim Foote, outdoor recreation planner for the BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The rules prohibit the use of gas- and air-propelled weapons, such as paintball weapons, and target shooting on public lands within the Monument. Hunting, which is not regulated by the BLM, is permitted, Foote said....
As Yucca project stalls, Utah nuke waste dump hits fast track The fates of proposed nuclear waste dumps in Nevada and Utah are heading in opposite directions. The Yucca Mountain project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is already years behind schedule. And this week, a House oversight panel will hold a hearing on allegations of falsified scientific data on the project, which could further delay it. Meanwhile, an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already approved a plan to temporarily store nuclear waste on an Indian reservation about 50 miles west of Salt Lake City. Utah officials will appeal that decision next week, but experts expect the Private Fuel Storage project to win final approval and start operating by 2007....
E-mails suggest data faked on nuclear dump project E-mails by several government scientists on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project suggest workers were planning to fabricate records and manipulate results to ensure outcomes that would help the project move forward. "I don't have a clue when these programs were installed. So I've made up the dates and names," wrote a U.S. Geological Survey employee in one e-mail released Friday by a congressional committee investigating suspected document falsification on the project. "This is as good as it's going to get. If they need more proof, I will be happy to make up more stuff." In another message the same employee wrote to a colleague: "In the end I keep track of 2 sets of files, the ones that will keep QA happy and the ones that were actually used." QA apparently refers to "quality assurance." The e-mails, written from 1998 to 2000, were in a batch of correspondence released in advance of this week's hearing by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization, headed by Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.). The Energy and Interior Departments revealed the existence of the e-mails March 16, and inspectors general of both departments are investigating. The FBI also is conducting a probe, according to a subcommittee staffer....
Drilling on the Roan The future of the Roan Plateau may be as contentious an issue for Colorado as the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seems to be for the nation. The plateau is not as pristine as ANWR. The Roan is bordered by busy Interstate 70, the surrounding country is dotted with towns and ranches, and energy development is a long-established industry in Garfield County, which covers most of the Roan. At issue are drilling on top of the plateau - how much and when - and the impact of various drilling options on wildlife and air quality. The debate also involves larger trends such as local communities demanding a say in energy development, and tourism and recreational interests asserting themselves against the energy industry....
Regulatory issues cloud North Coast catch as season opens The recreational salmon season opens today, but the signs aren't auspicious for a good catch. The problem isn't with the population of chinook salmon offshore. By all accounts, it is a big one, the result of a bumper class from the Sacramento River system. Instead, the issues are regulatory ones. The salmon swimming off California's coast originate from two different river systems: the Sacramento and the Klamath. Because of low water conditions on the Klamath River system and a huge fish kill on the main river in 2002, Klamath salmon stocks are critically low. Any significant harvest of the Klamath fish that remain could threaten future runs. Because Sacramento fish mingle with Klamath fish off much of the North Coast, regulators have expressed concern about the 2005 catch....
Column: A Political Football ... With Fins If the great salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest become another dodo bird, you can't blame the Columbia River Indian tribes or their allies in the scientific world. But the portents of the summer of 2005 are ominous. The snowpack in the northern Cascade Range is near a record low, and the National Weather Service predicts the third-lowest runoff in a century. Fisheries biologists warn that endangered salmon stocks swimming home from their five-year migration to Japan face a tragic die-off. Determined to avoid another disaster made possible by federal fisheries policy, three Columbia River tribes last week joined state and federal scientists and conservationists in calling for a legal showdown with the Bush administration over the fate of the salmon stocks. They asked federal courts to force the government to provide enough water this summer for the fish to migrate to their upstream spawning beds. The administration is equally determined to use the water to generate hydroelectric power, a move that would, in effect, dismantle provisions of the Endangered Species Act....
Law boosts lower Colorado with native fish and wildlife Interior Secretary Gail Norton is to launch a half-century effort today to return native trees, fish and wildlife to a lower Colorado River system profoundly altered by humankind's thirst. Environmental groups are skeptical, however, that the transformation can stick without fundamental changes in the river's flow. By the time the Colorado flows past the baking scrub and farm land of California's southeastern corner, it has been tamed and used many times over and is known more for its fatal speedboat accidents than for its natural splendor. But the beleaguered native fish and wildlife of the lower Colorado will get help when Norton signs final documents adopting a 50-year, $626 million program to offset some of the damage done by dams and pumping that supply river water to millions of residents of Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. About 8,130 acres of habitat will be created and maintained along portions of a 400-mile length of the Colorado running from Lake Mead to the Mexican border....
Roosevelt Lake level is highest on record By the fall of 2002, during one of the Southwest's deepest dry spells of the past millennium, Roosevelt Lake had bottomed out at 9 percent full. A good chunk of the Tonto Basin looked as it did centuries ago: The Salt River was confined to a narrow channel and surrounded by thousands of acres normally underwater. Now, after a soggy winter, boat ramps are no longer a half-hour hike from the water, and local anglers are boasting that Roosevelt is on the verge of becoming the best bass fishing spot in the West, if not the nation. Water managers expect the lake to be nearly full by month's end. At 92 percent, the reservoir is already submerging saguaros because it's nearly 9 feet higher than it has ever been. The record levels are due to a construction project that added 77 feet to the dam in the early 1990s. Only in the past month has the lake absorbed enough runoff to take advantage of the extra capacity....
Concerns raised over plan to turn oil platforms into fish farms Thousands of oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico could be converted into deep-sea fish farms raising red snapper, mahi mahi, yellow fin tuna and flounder, under a plan backed by the Bush administration. For years, marine biologists and oil companies have experimented using the giant platforms as bases for mariculture, but commercial use of the platforms as fish farms never got off the ground because of the federal government's reluctance to open up the oceans to farming. Yet in December, President Bush proposed making it easier to launch fish farms off the nation's coasts. That could be done by resolving a "confounding array of regulatory and legal obstacles," the White House said....
EPA Refuses to Release Results of Scientist Surveys The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is illegally blocking the release of internal surveys of its own scientific staff, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER had requested copies of extensive employee surveys conducted in 1999, 2001 and 2003 within the EPA Office of Research and Development. ORD consists of a network of laboratories and research centers comprised of approximately 2000 scientists in which much of the agency's basic and applied science concerning pollution monitoring, toxicological effects and other public health issues. According to agency scientists, the surveys covered a range of topics concerning how EPA conducts its science, including questions on scientific integrity and quality, the adequacy of resources and the effects of management practices on employee morale. The three sets of surveys taken over six years would also allow comparison of scientist perceptions during both the Clinton and Bush Administrations....
Jewish group rallies around Earth he thick blond- and maple–toned limbs of a tree sculpture stretch toward the ceiling of Temple Emanuel, offering the effect of a miniature forest growing through the suburban Maryland synagogue. The sculpture resembles a banyan tree, which grows so stout and wide that it was used for shelter centuries ago. For a congregation whose mission is to spread respect for the environment among fellow Jews, the tree is an apt symbol. A tour of the synagogue marked the second day of the eighth annual Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life leadership institute in Washington, D.C. The three-day conference included speakers on environmental and Jewish topics, such as eco-feminism, the role of religion in environmental policy, conflicts between Jewish and environmental values, and creating synagogues that are sensitive to the environment. Participants also lobbied members of Congress on Capitol Hill....
Editorial: Conservatives for conservation But a more progressive -- and realistic -- approach may be emerging from several remarkable new alliances between environmentalists and groups that ordinarily focus on religious and defense issues. These organizations are uniting to promote a reduction in gasoline consumption as vital to national security. "I just think reasonable people are more inclined right now to start thinking about ways our country's future isn't dependent on ... oil from a region where there are a lot of very bad actors," Gary Bauer, former head of the conservative Family Research Council, recently told The Washington Post. Bauer and activists across the political spectrum have teamed up with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmentalists to create an alliance called Set America Free. They're lobbying the Bush administration and Congress to invest more money in encouraging the use of gas-electric hybrid vehicles and in exploring alternative-energy sources....
Giving Hybrids A Real Jolt Is there a car that can cut America's oil imports to a trickle, dramatically reduce pollution, and do it all with currently available technology? Greg Hanssen thinks so. His company has already built one such car -- a converted Toyota Prius that gets 100 to 180 mpg in a typical commute. Andrew A. Frank thinks so, too. The University of California at Davis professor has constructed a handful of such vehicles. His latest: a converted 325-horsepower Ford Explorer that goes 50 miles using no gas at all, then gets 30 mpg. "It goes like a rocket," he says. These vehicles are quickly becoming the darlings of strange bedfellows: both conservative hawks and environmentalists, who see such fuel efficiency as key to ensuring national security and fighting climate change. Reducing dependence on the turbulent Middle East "is a war issue," says former CIA Chief R. James Woolsey, who calls the cars' potential "phenomenal." What's the secret? It's as simple as adding more batteries and a plug to hybrids such as the Prius. That way, the batteries can be charged up at any electrical outlet -- letting this so-called plug-in hybrid travel 20 to 60 miles under electric power alone. Since most Americans drive fewer than 30 miles a day, such a car could go months without visiting the filling station....
Glitzy ride In 1993, the year Ty Murray won the fifth of his seven world championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, he earned $297,896 - a PRCA single-season earnings record that still stands. Last year, Mike Lee won the Professional Bull Riders world championship, paying no entry fees, traveling mostly on weekends and subjecting himself to far fewer jaw-jarring bulls. His paycheck for the season? A cool $1.4 million. Riding bulls used to mean doing what you did for love, not money - because there wasn't much money to be had. But with the advent of the Professional Bull Riders circuit in 1993 - begun by a visionary group of riders who believed the event could stand alone and be marketed like other major league sports - all that changed. A skilled rider in the PBR can now make more money, get on fewer and more competitive bulls, and expend far less money and travel time....
Have stethoscope, will travel Shortly after the morning coffee crowd thinned at The Fields Station cafe, Sandra Downs used the lull to come out from behind the red lunch counter and get some minor surgery done. She didn't have to go far. In the parking lot out front, Dr. Robert Morrison waited with a nurse and a ready supply of scalpels, forceps and gauze. While tourists filled their tanks at nearby gas pumps, Downs sat on a small examining table inside the converted Sportsmaster trailer with "Harney Dist. Rural Health" painted on its side. The 79-year-old doctor, dressed in all-black western wear, numbed Downs' toe, removed an ingrown toenail and sent her back to work with a slight limp. Every two months, Morrison parks the trailer in Fields, a rural pit stop with cafe, motel and store at the base of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. He also makes similar trips to Crane, Drewsey and Denio, Nev., with his son, Kern, hauling the trailer....
On The Edge of Common Sense: Uncle Leonard had his priorities straight Yes, Virginia, things have changed. A 20-something couple I know has occasionally sought my counsel. They are married, both animal science graduates and still seeking direction. He is a typical ag boy: strong, honest, has a good work ethic with a background in purebred cattle, fitting, showing, and can weld. He's doing graduate school but keeps busy with his Dodge dually and 20-foot Featherlight hauling livestock from purebred sales. She grew up running a few gummer cows with her dad, working at the feedlot processing cattle and weighing grain trucks, president of the FFA and won the team penning three years in a row at the county fair. She wears the Top Cowhand buckle with pride. She's working at a feed mill and going to night school getting a master's degree to get a teaching certificate....
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Delicate operation: Cougar tracking project maps ecosystem The plan on this March outing is to tree the mother lion and tranquilize her. They will then replace her old, dead radio collar with a new one that has a Global Positioning System device that will better track her movements. The collar is one of four GPS units the biologists are deploying as part of the Teton Cougar Project, an ongoing study of mountain lions around Jackson Hole. The project's overriding goal, however, extends beyond cats. Quigley, who initiated the project in late 1999, wants to combine what he learns from these GPS collars with similar data being collected by researchers tracking wolves, grizzly bears and black bears. Already, researchers have collars on 20 to 30 bears and two wolves in this region, he said. If all goes well, by the end of this summer researchers could have up to 20,000 locations of where some members of the ecosystem's four large carnivore species have been, he said. Quigley worked on a similar project near Yellowstone National Park, researching grizzlies that left Yellowstone seeking carcasses of elk killed by hunters. Mountain lions, in contrast, moved into the park, away from the bears. Wolves didn't appear to alter their movements....
West ripe for fires after winter extremes It was a dry, warm winter across the Northwest, with observers in some areas saying they can't remember the last time the snowpack was this low. It was just the opposite in the Southwest, with record winter rainfall that flooded deserts and caused deadly landslides. Strangely, both face the same worry: Conditions are ripe for a bad wildfire season. Along with the dry forests in the Northwest, all that rain in the Southwest has fed lots of tall grass and brush that will become tinder when it dries this summer. In parts of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, the snowpack is 25 percent to 50 percent of normal. The U.S. Drought Monitor, which tracks conditions across the country, rates vast tracts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho as "exceptional drought," the worst of five drought categories....
Federal judge blocks northern Wisconsin timber sales Two planned sales of timber from the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin have been blocked by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee said the U.S. Forest Service didn’t properly assess the impact on certain hawks and martens that inhabit the forest. The rulings Thursday and Friday by Adelman require that the forest service consider the cumulative impacts of six national forest timber sales approved by the agency in 2003, instead of assessing the sales individually....
Logging the Fiddler salvage sale Lumbering machines danced a clanking ballet atop the Fiddler Mountain log landing as Rick Parrett considered his gut reaction to protesters he saw on the way to work that morning. No anger, shrugged the soft-spoken logger. "I guess they just don’t see our side of it," said the Canyonville-area resident. "We’re coming out here to get rid of the dead trees and get a forest going again. "It isn’t only our jobs — we’re doing this for the future," he added. "This is a renewable resource. If you don’t come in here and take care of it, you’re going to lose 50 years of growth, maybe more." Parrett, 48, who has been working in the woods for 30 years, is a "siderod" — the boss of the logging operation at this particular site. Several logging "shows" are occurring simultaneously on this mountain a half-dozen air miles northwest of Kerby in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest....
Protesters vow larger effort against roadless-area logging If you think the protests over the Fiddler timber salvage sale are a headache, be prepared for a migraine when logging starts in the roadless areas burned by the 2002 Biscuit fire, activists warn. "When they move into the roadless areas, there is going to be more resistance," predicted Illinois Valley resident Annette Rasch, one of 20 women arrested March 14 for trying to block access to the Fiddler sale. "This movement is going to continue to grow nationally," she said. "This is not the ‘fringey far left’ like some in the media are saying. Mainstream people are involved." Nearly 50 people have been arrested since logging began on Fiddler Mountain, including a protester arrested last week in Portland for blocking a street near the Forest Service’s regional office. Police had to lower his 30-foot-high tripod to arrest the protester, a member of a group called Stumptown Earth First! Portland was once known as Stumptown....
Controversy clings to vacant Tahoe mansion A long-vacant mansion on the shores of Lake Tahoe is set for the wrecking ball, ending years of controversy over a government land swap involving boomtown desert land and the former property of a finance giant. The 10,000-square-foot home built by mutual-fund executive Jack Dreyfus, founder of the Dreyfus Fund, will be demolished, probably sometime next year, according to the U.S. Forest Service, which now owns the mansion. Leveling the home returns the 81-acre property on the lake's southeast shore to its natural state. That's been the goal of the Forest Service since it agreed eight years ago to trade desert property in southern Nevada for the lakefront spread then owned by a private development company. The Forest Service will offer the demolition job to a salvage company, largely for the cost of the salvage, at minimal or no taxpayer expense, Norman said. The Forest Service, however, already paid $575,000 for the house, which includes three-quarters of a mile of lakefront....
Forest Service, environmentalists at odds over Smokey's message For 60 years, Smokey Bear has been the voice of caution to hikers and campers across the country, saying: "Remember, only you can prevent forest fires." Now, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself at odds with environmentalists in interpreting that message. Both point to Smokey Bear as the reason foresters should or should not set controlled fires in public woodlands in the eastern United States. The Forest Service says Smokey approves of controlled fires because they help eliminate invasive species and burn ground clutter that could contribute to catastrophic wildfires. Environmentalists say Smokey is opposed to controlled burns because fire kills trees and leaves animals homeless regardless of whether it's caused by lightning strikes, arsonists or federal foresters....
Wild horses leave range for new homes For 24 wild horses in New Mexico, the arrival of spring has signaled some dramatic lifestyle changes. Corralled at the Browning Ranch in Farmington, these horses are trading their 75,000-acre home on the Carson National Forest for the urban life of Four Corners ranches, barns and pastures. The wild herd, which traces its ancestry back to a horse supplier for the cavalry in the late 1800s, now numbers around 275 animals. But drought conditions and an annual reproduction rate of 15 percent to 22 percent have overwhelmed the range and spurred the Forest Service to address the situation....
Panel wary of tortoise effort A new research arm of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to pinpoint reasons for the decline of the desert tortoise and bring an end to its status as an endangered species. But members of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's California Desert District Advisory Council are skeptical about the ambitious goals of the new Desert Tortoise Recovery Office, based in Reno, Nev. Looking back 11 years, council members said here Saturday that efforts by state and federal wildlife agencies and other groups to reverse the decline of the endangered tortoise have fallen flat....
Where Eagles Die Last February, a woman walking her dog in the woods of North Vancouver stumbled upon a grotesque find: the mutilated carcasses of 26 bald eagles. The discovery set in motion a major investigation involving law enforcement and conservation officials in both Canada and the U.S. Now, TIME has learned, authorities have identified suspects in a poaching and smuggling ring that they say annually slaughters more than 500 of the protected animals on British Columbia's southwestern coast alone, with perhaps hundreds more killed each year elsewhere in the province. Officials are expected to make a formal announcement of their progress in the case early next week. Killing eagles is illegal in Canada and the U.S. In addition, it's against the law for Americans to possess bald-eagle parts unless they are registered tribal members with special government permits. But with feathers and talons a major feature in traditional aboriginal dance regalia—which is popular on a competitive circuit that offers rich prizes for the best outfits—there's a hot black market for eagle parts in the U.S....
Alaska’s long-studied wolf pack threatened The demise of this family of wolves, known to tens of thousands of park visitors as the Toklat group, would end a unique stream of longitudinal research. For nearly six decades, Haber and other scientists have chronicled the hunting techniques, mating habits and social interdependence of generations of a geographically stable group of wolves. Trapping the Toklat wolves also raises questions about the ethical treatment of animals that for decades have been cosseted inside a park, where they have been regarded as prime tourist attractions and have learned to associate people with harmless curiosity — not with the slow, lethal torment of a trap. At the urging of wildlife preservation and animal rights groups in the lower 48, three Democratic senators — Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Carl M. Levin (Mich.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) — wrote last Monday to Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, citing a "biological emergency" and imploring her to take immediate steps to save the Toklat family....
Editorial: Parks in Peril resident Bush made the troubled national parks system the centerpiece of his rather modest environmental agenda during the 2000 campaign, chastising the Democrats for allowing the parks to decay and pledging to spend $1 billion a year in new money over five years to eliminate a backlog of repairs, then estimated at $4.9 billion. It seemed an easy enough promise at the time, but Mr. Bush would dearly love to have it back now. Just two weeks ago, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service pegged the probable backlog at half again that amount, and administration officials - most recently, Fran Mainella, the beleaguered National Park Service director - have been forced to concede that the best Mr. Bush can do is to "address" the backlog. Yet to dwell exclusively on Mr. Bush's failed promise is diversionary. It is true that he has provided, at best, $900 million or so in new money, and that any other claims made on his behalf involve highly creative accounting. But it is also true that presidents before him, with the possible exception of Dwight Eisenhower, have been no more attentive to park needs, and that Congress has been even worse....
Welcome mat pulled for many at monument Target shooters, paintball enthusiasts and hikers with unleashed pets are no longer welcome in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. Regulations against the activities were approved in 2004 by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and went into effect last week. The restrictions are designed to protect the area's natural resources, as well as visitors' safety, said Jim Foote, outdoor recreation planner for the BLM Palm Springs-South Coast Field Office. The rules prohibit the use of gas- and air-propelled weapons, such as paintball weapons, and target shooting on public lands within the Monument. Hunting, which is not regulated by the BLM, is permitted, Foote said....
As Yucca project stalls, Utah nuke waste dump hits fast track The fates of proposed nuclear waste dumps in Nevada and Utah are heading in opposite directions. The Yucca Mountain project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is already years behind schedule. And this week, a House oversight panel will hold a hearing on allegations of falsified scientific data on the project, which could further delay it. Meanwhile, an arm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has already approved a plan to temporarily store nuclear waste on an Indian reservation about 50 miles west of Salt Lake City. Utah officials will appeal that decision next week, but experts expect the Private Fuel Storage project to win final approval and start operating by 2007....
E-mails suggest data faked on nuclear dump project E-mails by several government scientists on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump project suggest workers were planning to fabricate records and manipulate results to ensure outcomes that would help the project move forward. "I don't have a clue when these programs were installed. So I've made up the dates and names," wrote a U.S. Geological Survey employee in one e-mail released Friday by a congressional committee investigating suspected document falsification on the project. "This is as good as it's going to get. If they need more proof, I will be happy to make up more stuff." In another message the same employee wrote to a colleague: "In the end I keep track of 2 sets of files, the ones that will keep QA happy and the ones that were actually used." QA apparently refers to "quality assurance." The e-mails, written from 1998 to 2000, were in a batch of correspondence released in advance of this week's hearing by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization, headed by Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.). The Energy and Interior Departments revealed the existence of the e-mails March 16, and inspectors general of both departments are investigating. The FBI also is conducting a probe, according to a subcommittee staffer....
Drilling on the Roan The future of the Roan Plateau may be as contentious an issue for Colorado as the fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seems to be for the nation. The plateau is not as pristine as ANWR. The Roan is bordered by busy Interstate 70, the surrounding country is dotted with towns and ranches, and energy development is a long-established industry in Garfield County, which covers most of the Roan. At issue are drilling on top of the plateau - how much and when - and the impact of various drilling options on wildlife and air quality. The debate also involves larger trends such as local communities demanding a say in energy development, and tourism and recreational interests asserting themselves against the energy industry....
Regulatory issues cloud North Coast catch as season opens The recreational salmon season opens today, but the signs aren't auspicious for a good catch. The problem isn't with the population of chinook salmon offshore. By all accounts, it is a big one, the result of a bumper class from the Sacramento River system. Instead, the issues are regulatory ones. The salmon swimming off California's coast originate from two different river systems: the Sacramento and the Klamath. Because of low water conditions on the Klamath River system and a huge fish kill on the main river in 2002, Klamath salmon stocks are critically low. Any significant harvest of the Klamath fish that remain could threaten future runs. Because Sacramento fish mingle with Klamath fish off much of the North Coast, regulators have expressed concern about the 2005 catch....
Column: A Political Football ... With Fins If the great salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest become another dodo bird, you can't blame the Columbia River Indian tribes or their allies in the scientific world. But the portents of the summer of 2005 are ominous. The snowpack in the northern Cascade Range is near a record low, and the National Weather Service predicts the third-lowest runoff in a century. Fisheries biologists warn that endangered salmon stocks swimming home from their five-year migration to Japan face a tragic die-off. Determined to avoid another disaster made possible by federal fisheries policy, three Columbia River tribes last week joined state and federal scientists and conservationists in calling for a legal showdown with the Bush administration over the fate of the salmon stocks. They asked federal courts to force the government to provide enough water this summer for the fish to migrate to their upstream spawning beds. The administration is equally determined to use the water to generate hydroelectric power, a move that would, in effect, dismantle provisions of the Endangered Species Act....
Law boosts lower Colorado with native fish and wildlife Interior Secretary Gail Norton is to launch a half-century effort today to return native trees, fish and wildlife to a lower Colorado River system profoundly altered by humankind's thirst. Environmental groups are skeptical, however, that the transformation can stick without fundamental changes in the river's flow. By the time the Colorado flows past the baking scrub and farm land of California's southeastern corner, it has been tamed and used many times over and is known more for its fatal speedboat accidents than for its natural splendor. But the beleaguered native fish and wildlife of the lower Colorado will get help when Norton signs final documents adopting a 50-year, $626 million program to offset some of the damage done by dams and pumping that supply river water to millions of residents of Southern California, Nevada and Arizona. About 8,130 acres of habitat will be created and maintained along portions of a 400-mile length of the Colorado running from Lake Mead to the Mexican border....
Roosevelt Lake level is highest on record By the fall of 2002, during one of the Southwest's deepest dry spells of the past millennium, Roosevelt Lake had bottomed out at 9 percent full. A good chunk of the Tonto Basin looked as it did centuries ago: The Salt River was confined to a narrow channel and surrounded by thousands of acres normally underwater. Now, after a soggy winter, boat ramps are no longer a half-hour hike from the water, and local anglers are boasting that Roosevelt is on the verge of becoming the best bass fishing spot in the West, if not the nation. Water managers expect the lake to be nearly full by month's end. At 92 percent, the reservoir is already submerging saguaros because it's nearly 9 feet higher than it has ever been. The record levels are due to a construction project that added 77 feet to the dam in the early 1990s. Only in the past month has the lake absorbed enough runoff to take advantage of the extra capacity....
Concerns raised over plan to turn oil platforms into fish farms Thousands of oil and natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico could be converted into deep-sea fish farms raising red snapper, mahi mahi, yellow fin tuna and flounder, under a plan backed by the Bush administration. For years, marine biologists and oil companies have experimented using the giant platforms as bases for mariculture, but commercial use of the platforms as fish farms never got off the ground because of the federal government's reluctance to open up the oceans to farming. Yet in December, President Bush proposed making it easier to launch fish farms off the nation's coasts. That could be done by resolving a "confounding array of regulatory and legal obstacles," the White House said....
EPA Refuses to Release Results of Scientist Surveys The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is illegally blocking the release of internal surveys of its own scientific staff, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER had requested copies of extensive employee surveys conducted in 1999, 2001 and 2003 within the EPA Office of Research and Development. ORD consists of a network of laboratories and research centers comprised of approximately 2000 scientists in which much of the agency's basic and applied science concerning pollution monitoring, toxicological effects and other public health issues. According to agency scientists, the surveys covered a range of topics concerning how EPA conducts its science, including questions on scientific integrity and quality, the adequacy of resources and the effects of management practices on employee morale. The three sets of surveys taken over six years would also allow comparison of scientist perceptions during both the Clinton and Bush Administrations....
Jewish group rallies around Earth he thick blond- and maple–toned limbs of a tree sculpture stretch toward the ceiling of Temple Emanuel, offering the effect of a miniature forest growing through the suburban Maryland synagogue. The sculpture resembles a banyan tree, which grows so stout and wide that it was used for shelter centuries ago. For a congregation whose mission is to spread respect for the environment among fellow Jews, the tree is an apt symbol. A tour of the synagogue marked the second day of the eighth annual Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life leadership institute in Washington, D.C. The three-day conference included speakers on environmental and Jewish topics, such as eco-feminism, the role of religion in environmental policy, conflicts between Jewish and environmental values, and creating synagogues that are sensitive to the environment. Participants also lobbied members of Congress on Capitol Hill....
Editorial: Conservatives for conservation But a more progressive -- and realistic -- approach may be emerging from several remarkable new alliances between environmentalists and groups that ordinarily focus on religious and defense issues. These organizations are uniting to promote a reduction in gasoline consumption as vital to national security. "I just think reasonable people are more inclined right now to start thinking about ways our country's future isn't dependent on ... oil from a region where there are a lot of very bad actors," Gary Bauer, former head of the conservative Family Research Council, recently told The Washington Post. Bauer and activists across the political spectrum have teamed up with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmentalists to create an alliance called Set America Free. They're lobbying the Bush administration and Congress to invest more money in encouraging the use of gas-electric hybrid vehicles and in exploring alternative-energy sources....
Giving Hybrids A Real Jolt Is there a car that can cut America's oil imports to a trickle, dramatically reduce pollution, and do it all with currently available technology? Greg Hanssen thinks so. His company has already built one such car -- a converted Toyota Prius that gets 100 to 180 mpg in a typical commute. Andrew A. Frank thinks so, too. The University of California at Davis professor has constructed a handful of such vehicles. His latest: a converted 325-horsepower Ford Explorer that goes 50 miles using no gas at all, then gets 30 mpg. "It goes like a rocket," he says. These vehicles are quickly becoming the darlings of strange bedfellows: both conservative hawks and environmentalists, who see such fuel efficiency as key to ensuring national security and fighting climate change. Reducing dependence on the turbulent Middle East "is a war issue," says former CIA Chief R. James Woolsey, who calls the cars' potential "phenomenal." What's the secret? It's as simple as adding more batteries and a plug to hybrids such as the Prius. That way, the batteries can be charged up at any electrical outlet -- letting this so-called plug-in hybrid travel 20 to 60 miles under electric power alone. Since most Americans drive fewer than 30 miles a day, such a car could go months without visiting the filling station....
Glitzy ride In 1993, the year Ty Murray won the fifth of his seven world championships in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, he earned $297,896 - a PRCA single-season earnings record that still stands. Last year, Mike Lee won the Professional Bull Riders world championship, paying no entry fees, traveling mostly on weekends and subjecting himself to far fewer jaw-jarring bulls. His paycheck for the season? A cool $1.4 million. Riding bulls used to mean doing what you did for love, not money - because there wasn't much money to be had. But with the advent of the Professional Bull Riders circuit in 1993 - begun by a visionary group of riders who believed the event could stand alone and be marketed like other major league sports - all that changed. A skilled rider in the PBR can now make more money, get on fewer and more competitive bulls, and expend far less money and travel time....
Have stethoscope, will travel Shortly after the morning coffee crowd thinned at The Fields Station cafe, Sandra Downs used the lull to come out from behind the red lunch counter and get some minor surgery done. She didn't have to go far. In the parking lot out front, Dr. Robert Morrison waited with a nurse and a ready supply of scalpels, forceps and gauze. While tourists filled their tanks at nearby gas pumps, Downs sat on a small examining table inside the converted Sportsmaster trailer with "Harney Dist. Rural Health" painted on its side. The 79-year-old doctor, dressed in all-black western wear, numbed Downs' toe, removed an ingrown toenail and sent her back to work with a slight limp. Every two months, Morrison parks the trailer in Fields, a rural pit stop with cafe, motel and store at the base of Steens Mountain in southeast Oregon. He also makes similar trips to Crane, Drewsey and Denio, Nev., with his son, Kern, hauling the trailer....
On The Edge of Common Sense: Uncle Leonard had his priorities straight Yes, Virginia, things have changed. A 20-something couple I know has occasionally sought my counsel. They are married, both animal science graduates and still seeking direction. He is a typical ag boy: strong, honest, has a good work ethic with a background in purebred cattle, fitting, showing, and can weld. He's doing graduate school but keeps busy with his Dodge dually and 20-foot Featherlight hauling livestock from purebred sales. She grew up running a few gummer cows with her dad, working at the feedlot processing cattle and weighing grain trucks, president of the FFA and won the team penning three years in a row at the county fair. She wears the Top Cowhand buckle with pride. She's working at a feed mill and going to night school getting a master's degree to get a teaching certificate....
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