NEWS ROUNDUP

Richard Pombo Faces Green Avalanche Each year, billions of dollars come pouring into environmental NGOs and activist organizations to support campaigns ranging from PCB cleanup to buying fuel for Greenpeace's good ship Esperanza. And lots of this money gets results. But this year, many environmental leaders are saying the best deal for green donors can be found in the congressional election in California's 11th District -- in the campaign to defeat Rep. Richard Pombo, chair of the House Resources Committee. As Adam Werbach, former president of the Sierra Club, puts it, "Investing in Pombo's defeat would be as effective as owning the o's in Google." Tony Massaro, senior vice president for political affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, an organization that pours millions into election races in support of green candidates said of Pombo, "If I were a donor, I would seriously consider contributing in a campaign against him for two reasons: One, he sits on a critical seat of power in the House Resources Committee. Two, unseating Pombo would have more effect than just his absence. The message it would send to the rest of Congress on the public's tolerance for environmental abusers would be loud and clear."....
Landowner laments road-hunting decision The Tripp County rancher who took his challenge of current road-hunting practices to the South Dakota Supreme Court said Wednesday that he was "extremely surprised" and felt "blindsided" by the court's 4-1 ruling against him. But state Game, Fish & Parks Department Secretary John Cooper said the high court's ruling was a well-reasoned clarification of road-hunting rights that could help reduce roadside disputes during future hunting seasons. Clearfield rancher Robert Benson began the lawsuit to challenge a law passed by the 2003 state Legislature that decriminalized a long-standing practice by road hunters of shooting at game birds that get flushed from the public right of way and fly over adjoining private land. The Legislature acted after the high court ruled in 2002 that such actions, under existing state laws, amounted to trespassing. Benson and his wife, Judith, challenged the 2003 law as an unconstitutional taking of their private property. They were joined by landowners Jeff and Tricia Messmer of Wessington Springs. After winning at the circuit court level, Benson said he was confident of favorable ruling by the Supreme Court. But the court rejected the circuit court decision and ruled that the 2003 law did not amount to a property taking....
American Buffalo: The Hunt Is On The Clements aren't the only Montana hunters who feel like they've hit Powerball. This winter, for the first time in over a decade, Montana has allowed a small number of hunters to apply for a license to hunt bison (also known as buffalo), the legendary animal of the plains that was almost hunted to extinction. Buddy Clement was the only member of his family to receive a license. In recent decades, the buffalo population in Yellowstone, one of the last wild buffalo herds in North America, has been restored. It numbers near 5,000, and buffalo wander out of the park in the winter to feed on grass. Montana's cattle ranchers worry that the wandering buffalo could spread brucellosis, a disease that causes cows to abort. Seeking a solution, this winter Montana authorized its first buffalo hunt in 15 years, handing out 50 licenses. In coming years, Montana may increase the number. More than 6,000 hunters, including Gov. Brian Schweitzer and over 100 from out of state, entered a lottery for the licenses. The few winners seemed dumbfounded at their good fortune. (Mr. Schweitzer did not win.) "I thought the chance to hunt buffalo would never come around in my lifetime," said one winner, Darrlyd Pepprock of Stevensville, Mont....
OSU dean regrets treatment of study The dean of Oregon State University's College of Forestry expressed regret that professors attempted to derail a graduate student from getting research published that raised doubts about the Bush administration's post-wildfire logging policy. The student, Daniel Donato, found that forests recover from wildfires best when they are not logged, a notion that conflicts with the administration's decision to log trees that burned in southwest Oregon's Biscuit fire and with a bill in Congress that would speed logging after wildfires. Donato's work was published this month in the journal Science, even though the Oregon State scientists asked the publication not to print the research. The dean, Hal Salwasser, in a letter to the university Thursday, said he should have told the professors to voice their criticism through open scientific debate. He added that he should have congratulated Donato. "Few faculty, let alone graduate students, get their work published in this prestigious journal," wrote Salwasser, who testified in favor of the bill that would accelerate logging after fires....
Bail Possible for Eco-Terrorism Suspect A federal judge took the first steps Thursday to allow bail for an eco-terrorism suspect accused of joining a foiled plot to conduct a Northern California bombing campaign on behalf of the Earth Liberation Front. Magistrate Gregory G. Hollows agreed to release Lauren Weiner, 20, after her parents post a $1.2-million bond and prosecutors are given an opportunity to raise objections. But the judge refused to grant bail to Weiner's two co-defendants, 28-year-old Eric Taylor McDavid and Zachary Jensen, 20. He declared the two men to be flight risks who could pose a danger to society. All three defendants pleaded not guilty Thursday. In a 12-page written ruling, Hollows said that the sizable bail bond posted by Weiner's parents would "supply enough of a hurt or sting" to provide a disincentive to keep the young woman from fleeing underground....
A few Oregon places lose their ‘squaw’ Squaw Flat Canyon: It’s now Carcass Canyon, as it’s been known for decades in Central Oregon. Squaw Creek: Call it Whychus Creek as it flows from the Cascade Range to the Deschutes River. The new name, pronounced “why-choose,’’ means “the place we cross the water.’’ And Squaw Ridge: Henceforth, Hoona Ridge, from a Paiute word for badger. The federal board in charge of place names gave its blessing Thursday to the changes, part of state and federal initiatives to eliminate a word widely considered offensive among American Indians. In all, 16 places in Central Oregon using the word “squaw’’ were changed. That is the largest number from Oregon to be approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, a committee of federal officials that dates to 1890 and the administration of Benjamin Harrison....
Wyoming Cloud Seeding Experiment Begins This Month A five-year, $8.8 million pilot project to examine whether seeding clouds with silver iodide produces a measurable increase in snowfall over Wyoming's Medicine Bow, Sierra Madre, and Wind River mountain ranges starts this month with intensive observations of Wyoming snow clouds. Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) designed the experiment to evaluate a technique that has been mired in controversy for decades. NCAR and partner institutions are deploying both airborne and ground-based instruments from January 16 to February 13 and again from March 10 to 31 to gather key data for the project. Microwave radiometers are capturing variations in snow-producing clouds over the target areas, including amounts and duration of water vapor and liquid water in the clouds. Instruments at selected sites are tracking precipitation rates, common meteorological variables, background air quality, and ecosystem characteristics. NCAR's partners in the observations include the University of Wyoming, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, the Desert Research Institute, and the U.S. Forest Service. Weather Modification, Inc., a private company based in Fargo, North Dakota, has been contracted to seed the target area's snow clouds. WMI is also providing a research aircraft and several ground-based instruments for this year's observations....
Column: Indian Sovereignty Has Outlived Its Usefulness A Sept. 1, 2005, Associated Press article included this statement: "[My] people have lived through natural and human-created disasters, and now with a stroke of a pen the future of a people is at risk." No, this isn't about political leaders and Hurricane Katrina. It is Pueblo of Tesuque governor Mark Mitchell's description of a U.S. Forest Service decision to permit a new chairlift in a ski area that commenced operations 57 years ago. Mitchell's tribal government has sued to have the Forest Service decision on the proposed Ski Santa Fe lift reversed. The issue is "sacred sites," without access to which Mitchell claims his tribe's culture and way of life would fade. Never mind that Ski Santa Fe operators permit access on the mountain to anyone, anywhere, except for skier safety closures. And never mind that Mitchell's tribe has apparently been able to adjust its culture and way of life to operating a decidedly nontraditional casino, not miles away up in the mountains but right on the pueblo grounds. Add that to the overwhelming list of evidence that the Indians' status as wards of the federal government, but "sovereign" as against the states, is not in anyone's best interests. There wouldn't be space in 10 columns for a detailed examination of all the mischief created by the bizarre and antiquated citizenship status of Indians in the United States. Yet, believe it or not, Congress has under serious consideration legislation to create a similar caste problem in Hawaii....
Wyoming Supreme Court upholds forest cabin tax The Wyoming Supreme Court ruled unanimously against a Fremont County couple who said they should not have to pay property taxes on their cabin west of Dubois. Timothy and Janet Britt contended that since they paid an annual fee to the U.S. Forest Service and did not own but leased the Forest Service land where their cabin was located, they should not have to pay any property taxes. "You cannot charge us property taxes on land we don't own nor base the value of personal property (the cabin) on where it happens to be located," the Britts wrote. "You can only base personal property taxes on the intrinsic value of that object, whether it is a desk, a table or a cabin that may be moved." The Supreme Court disagreed with the Britts, ruling that the location of property can help determine market value and if the Britts actually owned the land, the assessment would have been much higher....
Skiers, elk meet in West Vail forest For years, Bob McClain relished watching elk in the forest behind his West Vail home while he had his morning cup of coffee. But about five years ago, skiers started cutting though the elk herd's hangout in the national forest. McClain once watched horrified as skiers cut through a herd of elk just to see them scatter, he said. "These elk are already having a hard time in the winter," McClain said. "And these guys skiing out there think it's real funny." Since then, McClain's elk sightings have been few and far between, he said. The presence of skiers pushed the elk up the mountain where they could look for food and bed down in peace. But this year's high snowfalls have pushed the elk back down the mountain, said Randy Hampton, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife....
F. Service to protect native plants The Umpqua National Forest and the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest jointly announced their decision Tuesday to preserve the “Huckleberry Patch” as a special-interest area. The Huckleberry Patch Special Interest Area is a 9,500-acre swath of land that straddles the Tiller Ranger District and Prospect Ranger District in the Rogue River National Forest. American Indians once spent late summer and fall in the area gathering huckleberries for winter food. Fire suppression over past decades has allowed conifers to encroach upon meadows where huckleberries thrive in the high elevation area southeast of Tiller, said Debbie Anderson, the Forest Service team leader on the project....
The forest or the trees Amassive yellowbarked ponderosa pine, once 100 feet tall and at least a few hundred years old, lies prostrate in the forest west of Los Alamos. A few others, of equal size and age, are still standing nearby, though some have lost their needles and look ready to topple over in the next galeforce wind. “I’m pretty sure this one was still standing the last time we were here,” said Donald Falk, a University of Arizona treering scientist, as he examines the fallen pine, dirt still trapped between its dry roots. Surrounding some of the ancient pines are dozens of spindly ponderosa pine youngsters, only 20 to 30 feet tall. These doghair thickets are strangling their larger ancestors, competing for nutrients and water, Falk said. Falk is walking through the 640-acre Monument Canyon Natural Area, about 15 miles west of Los Alamos, off Forest Road 10. The site was set aside by the Forest Service in 1932 for research to be done in cooperation with The University of New Mexico. It is the second-oldest forestry research site in the country, protected from both logging and grazing. “This area must be preserved in a natural state as near as possible,” read the inscription on a large wooden sign. The hands-off approach has led to unanticipated problems for the ancient ponderosa pines, said Falk and others....
Report notes species spending So what's one big ol' grizzly bear worth? Some might say it's impossible to put a price on such a magnificent wild animal that is an icon of the West. But how does $6,000 sound? That's about how much the government spent per grizzly bear to protect the species in the lower 48 states in 2004. That number is a rough estimate based on the amount that state and federal agencies spent on the bear, around $7.7 million, divided by the number of grizzly bears believed to be wandering the wilds of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington, which is between 1,200 and 1,400. Still, the number gives some insight into how much it costs to look after some of the nation's most endangered animals and plants. The figures are part of a report to Congress on Wednesday that is intended to help put a price tag on endangered species spending. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which compiled the numbers, gathered information from 30 federal agencies and all 50 states in the hopes of tallying how much was spent on endangered species in 2004. It includes everything from scientific research and public meetings to law enforcement, planning and the most mundane paperwork. All told, the Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that federal and state agencies spent about $1.4 billion on endangered and threatened species, a tiny sliver of the federal government's $2.2 trillion in spending in 2004....go here to see the report.