NEWS ROUNDUP

Former Forest Service firefighter admits to starting fires A former U-S Forest Service firefighter has admitted to starting three wildfires that burned more than 800 acres in a national forest during the summer of 2004. Craig Underwood pleaded guilty yesterday to charges he set the three fires in Los Padres National Forest between July to September of that year. It cost an estimated two-point-five (m) million dollars to put the wildfires out. A special agent with the U-S Department of Agriculture says an image of a car with Underwood's license plate was captured by a surveillance camera near a location where the first fire started....
Oregon's Academic Food Fight It isn't often an academic dean gets up in public and apologizes for participating in an effort to suppress the work of a graduate student. But that's exactly what Oregon State University College of Forestry Dean Hal Salwasser recently did. "I profoundly regret the negative debate that recent events have generated," he wrote in a letter to the college. Salwasser went further and said he should have congratulated the graduate student, Daniel Donato, for having his research published in the journal Science. Donato and five Oregon State University and U.S. Forest Service scientists concluded that logging in the Biscuit Burn in southern Oregon damaged seedlings growing back on their own and littered the forest floor with tinder that could fuel future fires. The Donato study conflicts with an earlier study conducted by Oregon State academic heavyweights John Sessions and Mike Newton. They concluded that salvage logging and reforestation after the Biscuit Burn could regenerate the forest faster than natural methods....
Scottsdale college works to re-establish rare frogs The lowland leopard frog, named for the black spots on its back and side, is being rescued from drought and fire through conservation efforts at Scottsdale Community College. Working with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the college's Center for Native and Urban Wildlife has rescued more than 100 frogs, which are nearing placement on the endangered-species list. The frogs were taken from the Cave Creek Watt Preserve,which was scorched during the state's largest desert wildfire last year. "When you think of deserts, you don't think of frogs," said Roy Barnes, director of the center. "But they are part of the community." Created in 2000, the center has saved many species, including the desert pupfish and the Huachuca water umbel plant, both endangered....
Rare caribou rack stolen from Idaho cabin Rare trophy antlers from a mountain caribou shot by an Idaho hunter in 1892 have been stolen from a cabin north of Priest River. Vandals who accessed the cabin by snowmobile in December smashed the old head mount and packed off the antlers, which had been considered special enough to tour in the Idaho exhibit to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Selkirk Mountain's caribou are the nation's rarest mammal. The handful that still exist are protected by the Endangered Species Act. In the 1800s, however, they were fair game, although they were a virtually inaccessible trophy for anyone but the most determined hunters in this region....
Exclusive Interview: H. Dale Hall, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service F&S:Should hunters be expecting more or less access to public land? Hall: One of my concerns is the future of hunting and the ability to recruit young hunters. With the cost of leases going up, public lands become extremely important, and we need to do everything possible to open up all opportunities for hunting so that we can make sure that it’s not an elite sport 50 years from now. F&S: How high is the issue of exploding wolf populations on the USFWS' priority list? Hall: It’s very high on our list. We were extremely disappointed with the Oregon decision where we were moving to down-list and de-list certain populations of the gray wolf, and turn it over to the management of the state where it should be when populations are healthy. That court case stopped all of that, which means that we have to continue to work even harder with the states in the interim to reach a solution. Finding the proper balance between predator-prey relationships is really important. When you’ve had a species in the environment that for a long time didn’t have one of its predators, then we reintroduce that predator, there has to be a new equilibrium that is reached between predator and prey. If we can’t manage and control the predator populations, the prey populations are the first to suffer. So we’re very concerned about that, and we’re working in every way that we can with the states to get that under control....
Lawmakers grill Forest Service on helicopter use to manage wolves Forest Service Regional chief Jack Troyer pledged Monday to help Idaho wildlife officials trap wolves in wilderness areas this summer. But the state's Department of Fish and Game proposal to dart wolves from helicopters will have to go through environmental review first, Troyer told a joint meeting of the Senate and House resource committees. Fish and Game wants to place radio collars on the wolves so they can learn where wolves den and hang out when their pups are young, said Steve Huffaker, Fish and Game Director. Lawmakers expressed frustration that their support for helicopter use doesn't pull as much weight as about 100 public comments against the plan and the threat of three wolf advocacy groups to sue....
Wolf hunt sparks boycott An animal rights group is renewing its call for tourists to boycott Alaska after legal challenges failed to end a program aimed at killing hundreds of wolves this winter. The move comes after the Alaska Supreme Court on Friday denied a request by Friends of Animals to halt the program. The judges also refused to review the case. The court did not provide an explanation. "As far as a tourism boycott, which I had called off, it will be organized again," Priscilla Feral, president of the Darien, Conn.-based group, said Monday. Over the past two years, Friends of Animals helped stage hundreds of demonstrations called howl-ins in cities across the country to protest Alaska's predator-control program, intended to allow moose and caribou to increase in numbers. Some activists were dressed in wolf outfits at the gatherings, and some howled in imitation of wolves to protest the hunts....
Art project wields big brush of controversy The proposed draping of the Arkansas River by the artists known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude already has destroyed the harmony of two towns and probably will wreck the traffic flow on a major U.S. highway. But no animals likely will die in the experiment - certainly not any trout. Whether this "Over the River" project tentatively scheduled for 2009 will disrupt fishing - or whether such a bizarre undertaking actually can be considered art - is quite another matter. "People are in fear of a huge traffic jam," Greg Felt, a partner in the ArkAnglers fly shops, said of the mob of curiosity- seekers expected to clog U.S. 50 between Salida and Cañon City. Anglers and other citizens who shudder at the disruption this spectacle might bring have flooded the local Bureau of Land Management (BLM) office with a chorus of condemnation. Business people rubbing palms over the prospect of these tourist hordes are singing a different song....
Reward offered in sign thefts in Kane County More than 20 signs along a popular road on the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument have been stolen and Kane County hopes a $1,000 reward will lead to the arrest and conviction of the thief or thieves. County Commission members did not stop there, but also authorized decals to be put on some road signs offering a $250 reward for information on the theft or vandalism of any county, state or federal road sign. The stolen signs on the unpaved Hole-in-the-Rock Road and some roads connected to it consisted of a post with a county road number pasted on it and a decal indicating the road was open to all-terrain vehicle travel. Commission chairman Mark Habbeshaw said monument manger David Hunsaker called him Jan. 24 to report the theft of the signs. One sign was found lying on the ground next to where it was removed and another had been bent over and buried with dirt. The reward offer comes at a time when the county is in negotiations with the U.S. Department of the Interior over control of the roads in the southern Utah county that consists of mostly public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, including the 1.9 million acre monument....
Court won't let Pilgrim family drive to its land A federal appeals court has once again rejected the Pilgrim family's right to drive a bulldozer to its land inside a national park without going through a lengthy permit process and environmental review. The McCarthy-area family -- whose patriarch, Robert Hale, adopted the name Pilgrim -- became a celebrated cause for some land-rights groups in 2003 after the National Park Service rejected the Hales' bid to use an old mining road to access private land inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Hale had aggravated park officials by driving a bulldozer over the old route to get building supplies after a cabin burned down in winter. Represented by the non-profit Pacific Legal Foundation, Hale had battled the Park Service over its permit requirements, but lost in the U.S. District Court and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In March, 2004, the 9th Circuit agreed to reconsider its initial terse dismissal. The administration of Gov. Frank Murkowski filed a brief on the Hales' side, while several environmental groups joined the Park Service. Two years later, after weighing full briefs and hearing oral arguments, a three-judge panel again rejected the lawsuit last week, reaching conclusions similar to those of District Judge Ralph Beistline in 2003....
Old roads, ruts relics of state's history GLO stands for General Land Office. Congress formed it in 1812. Its job was to oversee Congress' order that the new lands the United States acquired from France, Spain and other countries were explored, surveyed and settled. Carla Krause, the city's Special Services Administrator in the Public Works Department, explained to council members in January how GLO roads in Montana grew from that effort. Back in the 1800s, when Montana was in the public domain, the federal government set aside some geographical features for public rights of way. Some roads were put in, but they didn't always follow exactly the set-aside right of way. And not every right of way was traveled. The closest local government was in charge of taking care of the rights of way. The General Land Office merged with the U.S. Grazing Service in 1946 to form the Bureau of Land Management. But the GLO roads surveyed so long ago remain. Landowners may not even know they exist on their property....
Pipe water to the Platte? Coal-bed methane producers might create new options for managing millions of barrels of water pumped by gas wells if they collaborate on a project. That's the idea behind a proposal by Gov. Dave Freudenthal in his "State of the state" address Monday to construct a pipeline from northeast Wyoming to the North Platte River to discharge coal-bed methane water. Pending approval by the Legislature, the Wyoming Water Development Commission would conduct a $500,000 feasibility study to determine support and whether the logistics make sense. Jon Wade, deputy director of the Wyoming Water Development Commission, said pumping coal-bed methane water to the Platte would help Wyoming meet its water appropriation obligations on the river. However, some groups such as the Powder River Basin Resource Council say that piping the water to the Nebraska-bound Platte defeats the state's mission of keeping and making good use of its water resources....
State plans to fight underground fire burning since 1910 The state will take a stab this year at fighting an underground fire that has burned in South Canyon since 1910 and sparked the destructive 2002 Coal Seam blaze. That wildfire destroyed 29 homes in the Glenwood Springs area. The Colorado Division of Minerals and Geology plans to seek bids from contractors to try to seal off openings and cut off airflow to the underground coal seam where the fire is burning. The Coal Seam Fire started when the underground fire ignited vegetation on the surface. High winds quickly drove the wildfire east to the Glenwood Springs area. After that catastrophe, the state did exploratory drilling in the area of the underground fire to get a better understanding of where the fire is burning and where there are underground vents and cavities. Steve Renner, project manager for the Division of Minerals and Geology's inactive mines program, said the area has at least four collapsed mine openings in which air is still feeding the fire. The ground also has collapsed in a few other areas, providing additional sources of oxygen....
Editorial: The trees for the forest IN A NEAT BIT OF CIRCULAR reasoning, the Bush administration is proposing to sell parts of America's national forests in order to save them. The U.S. Forest Service's budget is too thin to manage its lands and maintain its programs, and the president's answer to the problem, rather than increasing the Forest Service's budget, is to cut it further and pay for programs with proceeds from the sale of forest land. It's not that Forest Service land is sacrosanct. Land holdings can lose their value to the public. Proposals last year to sell some Forest Service holdings, such as lots in the middle of industrial areas, were a reasonable way to get rid of liabilities and bring in money. But give the administration a tree and it will take a forest. The president's proposal would amount to the biggest sell-off ever of forest land — 300,000 acres — with California taking an especially big hit. If the sales were raising money to purchase other land more valuable to the nation's heritage, this move would be defensible, even sensible. But President Bush's budget plan is to use the proceeds to make its annual contribution to programs for rural schools and roads. Sales of land represent a one-time capital gain. Schools and roads — or other programs — will need funding year after year....
Idaho strives to restore dwindling elk herds The Clearwater River Basin was once considered elk-hunting heaven. Huge fires in 1910, 1919 and 1934 created vast open slopes where brush that elk favor flourished. Hunters had little trouble finding animals for much of the 1950s to 1980s. "It's safe to say I could see 100 head in 10 days of hunting," said Jim Metcalf of Kamiah, who has been hunting the Lolo Hunting Zone for 25 years. "And today I saw one cow and I hunted 20 days this year and that cow was really spooky." The habitat slowly changed. By the mid-20th century, the U.S. Forest Service aggressively fought and suppressed wildfires. The open country closed in over the decades, and the once-lush slopes became crowded with aged brush. Tall shrubs offered poor nutritional value for elk and the thick stands of trees helped predators like mountain lions and bears. The elk population began to slide....
Forest Service Cancels Logging Near Grand Canyon The federal government has canceled plans to set controlled fires and conduct forest thinning on more than 17,000 acres of old-growth timber near the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The U.S. Forest Service called off the project because so much time had elapsed since it was first proposed that new studies of the area's bird populations would be required, said Cathie Schmidlin, a spokeswoman for the Kaibab National Forest. The project drew criticism from environmentalists who sued in federal court to stop it, alleging the plan would not restore the health of the forest and that wildlife would not be protected. A federal judge ruled in the government's favor last year, but environmental groups filed an appeal....
Group Charges Wolf Creek Developer Also Colluded With County Letters between attorneys for the billionaire developer of the proposed Wolf Creek village and Mineral County officials who approved the project in the fall show the developers guided the approval process, project opponents charged yesterday. Colorado Wild acquired the documents after a Colorado Open Records Act request in September 2004. Key drafts of the letters, though, that the group claims clearly show the county and attorneys for B. J. “Red” McCombs working together had been withheld by the county from documents first turned over last year following the request. Also on Monday, state Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, who has been a growing critic of the project and the role of the Forest Service in the development’s approval process, announced he will introduce a bill in the Colorado House that will call for a independent federal investigation into the lobbying by the developers. Larson also said he is seeking a separate state probe into Mineral County’s controversial approval of the project and subsequent withholding of the key documents on the approval....
Lawmakers Plan an Effort to Reverse Royalty Relief Democratic lawmakers and the White House both said on Tuesday that oil and gas companies should not receive lucrative incentives when energy prices are near record highs. The lawmakers and senior Bush administration officials were responding to a report in The New York Times on Tuesday that energy companies are expected to avoid $7 billion in royalty payments to the federal government over the next five years. The Interior Department forecasts that energy companies will produce about $65 billion worth of oil and gas in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico on which they will not pay any royalties to taxpayers. Administration officials say their hands are tied on the royalties by laws dating back to 1996 and then sweetened by the Clinton administration. Two Senate Democrats, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Maria Cantwell of Washington State, said that they were drafting legislation to change the government's rules....
Farm animal registration may become mandatory Freddie Dale, a fourth-generation cattle rancher near this northeast Texas town, insists he's as independent-minded as the next rancher. But he's about to let the government into his business. Mr. Dale plans to list his ranch, including land that's been in his wife's family for generations, as part of a voluntary statewide registration program for all locales with livestock – from cattle and emus to chickens. The program – which Texas animal health officials Thursday may make mandatory – is the first in a three-part animal identification system....