NEWS ROUNDUP

Two Utah Ranchers Can't Get Paid for their Hay The hay Trent Jorgensen feeds his cattle in Mount Pleasant, Utah he grows himself. But a huge portion of his annual income comes from hay he sells to others for animal feed. These animals 110 miles away at the Bureau of Land Management auction in Herriman, are eating Trent's hay. He made a deal last September to sell about 150 tons of hay to the government for about 15-thousand dollars. The government got the hay, but Trent called me because he never got his money. "I don't understand why they're not willing to come out and make it right 'cause their horses are eating my hay," said Trent Jorgensen. It is the same deal for Neil Sorenson. From his farm in Spring City, he grew and sold about 150 tons of hay, and sold it to the government for 16-thousand dollars. He also never got paid. “We honestly felt like it was a guaranteed thing, when the BLM showed up, state truck, and looked at the hay inspected it and said yep that's what they want,” said Neil Sorenson....
EPA budget cuts trouble environment groups Grants to state and local governments for land and water conservation would be cut 40 percent, and money for the Environmental Protection Agency's network of libraries for scientists would be slashed severely under President Bush's proposed budget. By contrast, Bush next year would spend $322 million for "cooperative conservation" - up from $312 million the Congress approved last year - to encourage more private landowners to protect endangered species, conserve wildlife habitats and do other nature work traditionally done by government. Other proposed increases are $50 million more for cleaner-burning diesel engines and $5 million more for drinking water improvements. Cuts and proposals to sell some of the government's vast land holdings have upset environmentalists. Early in his presidency, Bush called for restoring the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to the full $900 million authorized by Congress. Last year, it was approved at $142 million. For 2007, he wants just $85 million in grants for creating and preserving non-federal parks, forest land and wildlife refuges, a 40 percent cut. "This is the most troubling budget we've seen from this White House," said Heather Taylor, deputy legislative director for Natural Resources Defense Council. The proposal sent to Congress this week would trim EPA's budget by nearly 5 percent, down to $7.2 billion, and the Interior Department's budget by 2.4 percent, to $9.1 billion....
Washington joins Oregon, California and New Mexico in challenging rule Washington is joining Oregon, California and New Mexico in a lawsuit challenging the Bush administration move to open roadless national forest lands to mining, logging, road-building and other development, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday. ‘‘As a recovering attorney,’’ Gregoire, the state’s former attorney general, said she had tried to avoid litigation, asking the U.S. Agriculture Department for an expedited process would enable the state to adopt the protections of former President Clinton’s roadless rule, which barred development on 58 million acres of national forest across the country, and 2 million acres in Washington state. The Bush administration announced plans last spring to give states a voice in the decision making, with an 18-month span for land-use recommendations and the feds making the final call. Last week, Gregoire said, she got the response to her petition: No. So the state is joining the lawsuit filed last summer in San Francisco. Oral arguments are scheduled for July....
Judge rules against Forest Service in local grazing allotment case In a ruling with potentially far-reaching implications for public lands grazing, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Tuesday ruled against the U.S. Forest Service, saying the agency's sheep grazing management plan for four separate grazing allotments in the Sawtooth National Forest violates federal law. Winmill said the management plan violates both the National Forest Management Act (NFMA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to analyze at a site-specific level the capability of the lands to support domestic livestock grazing. In his written ruling, Winmill cited five sets of criteria the Forest Service uses to determine whether lands are incapable of supporting livestock grazing. The five criteria are: lands that are inaccessible to livestock, will not produce at least 200 pounds of forage per acre, are not within 1.2 miles of water, have unstable, highly erodible soils, or are on steep slopes. The Forest Service violated federal law when it failed to adequately assess the capability of the land to support grazing based on the five criteria, said Laurie Rule, an attorney for Advocates for the West, which is representing Hailey-based Western Watersheds Project and Dr. Randall Hermann of Ketchum, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed May 13, 2005. "They have to do this capability analysis in a site-specific manner," Rule said....
Officials to trap more grizzlies in eastern Idaho this summer Officials plan to trap more grizzly bears in eastern Idaho's Island Park this summer and fit them with radio collars to get a better understanding of how many grizzlies are in the area and where they roam. The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, which includes members from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, trapped six grizzlies in Island Park last year and fitted them with radio collars. "It will be interesting to see if we trap the same bears or different ones (this summer)," Lauri Hanauska-Brown, a wildlife biologist with the state fish and game department, told the Standard Journal in Rexburg. Three of the bears trapped last year were released where they were captured, and three others were moved to more remote locations. Of the three relocated bears, one returned to Harriman State Park and was trapped again. Keith Hobbs, the park's manager, said the number of bears trapped, along with signals from two other radio collars, indicate more bears are in the area. U.S. Forest Service officials estimate the grizzly bear population in and around nearby Yellowstone National Park has increased from an estimated low of 136 in 1975, when the bears were listed as a threatened species, to more than 580 bears in 2004....
Roadless rage On oversized furry paws, big cats move silently through the deepest reaches of Colorado's national forests. They bound across frozen meadows, canyons and escarpments, miles away from any human contact. In other words, perfect lynx country. Since being reintroduced from Canada in 1999, the lynx has learned to prosper in these snowy climbs. Last summer brought welcome news to state scientists monitoring the 138 cats known living in Colorado: a baby boom of sorts. They found 46 kittens nestled in deep forest dens. But progress for scientists comes with setbacks. Where stretches of habitat, including Colorado's White River National Forest, intersect roads and highways, the swift and agile creatures can meet with fast-moving fenders. Nine times in the last six years, one of the rare cats has attempted to cross a road and had its tawny pelt plastered to the ground....
April hearing set in Reno on Jarbidge pact A shaky compromise agreement that provides Elko County right-of-way on the South Canyon Road in Jarbidge is set for review in April in Reno federal court. The 2001 pact nearly settled a lawsuit the federal government filed against Elko County that charged the county had undertaken illegal repairs in 1998 on the washed-out road, which runs alongside a fork in the Jarbidge River. The river's population of bull trout was declared threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. Under the tentative settlement agreement, the U.S Forest Service promised not to challenge that Elko County has a right-of-way on South Canyon Road and the county pledged to not perform future repair work on the road without prior Forest Service approval. But after the agreement was reached, two environmental groups - The Wilderness Society and the Great Old Broads for Wilderness - were allowed to intervene in the case by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals....
Back from the brink The move to delist Rocky Mountain wolves has been expected since 2002, when wolf populations first exceeded recovery goals—30 breeding pairs and at least 300 wolves in the three-state region—set out by the feds. By the end of 2004, an estimated 835 wolves were spread among the states, with 153 in Montana, 422 in Idaho and 260 in Wyoming. Numbers for 2005 have edged higher still. But a second delisting requirement—that Montana, Idaho and Wyoming each develop federally approved wolf management plans—has yet to be fulfilled. Though Montana successfully took over management of its wolves in June 2005 with FWS’s blessing, and Idaho’s plan was approved in January 2006, Wyoming has so far refused to develop a plan the feds will approve. Wyoming’s proposed plan follows state law in classifying wolves as a “predatory animal,” and allows the killing of wolves outside protected park boundaries on sight, which just doesn’t cut it for the FWS. Wyoming is fighting FWS’s rejection of its plan, and the matter is now before an appeals court. Montana and Idaho’s eagerness to move ahead, and FWS Director H. Dale Hall’s announcement that Wyoming is the sole obstruction, increases the pressure on Wyoming to revise its plan, particularly since the Wyoming legislature will convene this month. At this point, though, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal is holding strong: He fired back at the FWS Feb. 2 with a statement saying, “We will continue to pursue the delisting petition we have filed, as I doubt the Legislature is any more susceptible to blackmail than I am.” Wyoming and its plan may be the region’s highest profile issue regarding wolf delisting, but there’s no shortage of other matters....
Firm leaves rich history as aviation pioneer A World War II-vintage bomber flying low over a raging forest fire to drop flame retardant became a familiar sight in the Intermountain West, but four decades ago it was a radical idea. Realizing that vision took the right combination of circumstances, including affordable planes, veteran pilots willing to take the risk, and a large, well-equipped airport close to forest fires. That's how Hawkins & Powers Aviation of Greybull grew to be an aerial firefighting pioneer and industry powerhouse. At the height of its operations just a few years ago, H&P employed about 200 people and boasted the best fleet of aerial tankers in the business, according to former company executive Duane Powers.* Though a series of recent challenges -- including two deadly accidents and more than $14 million in debt -- may ultimately result in the dissolution of the company, it leaves behind a history rich in innovation and achievement....
Public sounds off on grizzly delisting If it had been a baseball game, it would have been a rout. At a Wednesday public hearing, 38 people opposed removing federal protections for the grizzly bear. Only two people supported removing protections. But it's not a baseball game. Removing an animal from the list of creatures and plants protected by the Endangered Species Act is a difficult and contentious process, as evidenced by the evening meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to delist the grizzly bears living in and near Yellowstone National Park, a move strongly opposed by most environmental groups. Several themes emerged among delisting opponents;....
BLM gathers in a record sum for oil, gas leases The Bureau of Land Management collected a record $11.8 million Thursday from leasing oil and natural-gas prospects in Colorado. The record revenue reflects high energy prices and the increasing national prominence of Colorado's oil and gas fields, federal officials and energy-industry representatives said. But environmentalists said some of the leases are risky because drilling on the properties could put watersheds and wildlife habitats in danger. The quarterly BLM auction delivered 134,582 acres to energy companies - an area equivalent to about 42 percent of metro Denver. Most of the awarded leases were in western Colorado, although a few were in eastern Colorado's Weld and Yuma counties....
City hits dry hole in drilling-lease bid The West Slope's largest city tried a different approach to protecting its watershed from contamination by oil and gas development Thursday - bidding for the drilling leases itself. But it didn't work. "We were outbid, but I felt good about what we tried to do," said city utilities manager Greg Trainor, who went to the auction in Lakewood on the city's behalf. "Whoever bought them sure wanted them. Every time I bid he was right there topping it, and it was for prices much higher than earlier parcels." Thursday's auction was one of the largest sales of leases in Colorado since 1988, another indicator of the feverish interest in natural gas development in Colorado as prices soar. Leases for parcels on Grand Junction's watershed were included in the auction, despite requests to withdraw them from the sale by the cities of Grand Junction and Palisade, as well as Colorado Democrats Sen. Ken Salazar and Rep. John Salazar....
Federal weed spraying debated The federal government's largest land agency is proposing to triple the number of acres it sprays each year to kill weeds in the West. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to treat nearly 932,000 acres — about the same area as Yosemite and Rocky Mountain national parks combined. The annual spraying would be in parts of 17 states from Alaska to Texas. The aim is to eliminate weeds like cheatgrass that can fuel catastrophic wildfires such as those that ravaged parts of Texas and Oklahoma this winter. Noxious weeds and other invasive plants are now the dominant vegetation on an estimated 35 million acres of the bureau's terrain. Vast tracts of sagebrush have been crowded out by non-native plants and destroyed by fires worsened by cheatgrass....
BLM whistleblower's ex-boss opposed firing in Nevada mine dispute The immediate supervisor of a former federal site manager for a contaminated Nevada mine said Thursday that he gave Earle Dixon a satisfactory job appraisal a month before Dixon was fired in an ongoing dispute with Atlantic Richfield Co. and state regulators. Two other higher ranking supervisors also testified at an administrative hearing that they opposed Dixon's firing in October 2004 by Bob Abbey, then state director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for Nevada. "Nobody consulted me as to whether it was a good idea or not," said Charles Pope, BLM's assistant field manager in Carson City. Pope testified he completed an appraisal in September 2004 that concluded Dixon had successfully completed his one-year probationary status and should be retained. "I believe technically, Earle was doing a good job," Pope told an administrative law judge for the U.S. Labor Department. Dixon accuses BLM in a federal whistleblower complaint of firing him in retaliation for speaking out about the dangers at the former Anaconda copper mine near Yerington, including health and safety threats posed by uranium, arsenic and heavy metals....
Boom brings flood of cultural reviews Because of Wyoming's energy boom, the State Historic Preservation Office has been inundated with requests to review surveys of cultural resources on federal lands, the office's interim director said. For example, Sara Needles said, the Bureau of Land Management's Buffalo Field Office submitted 4,000 review requests to the seven-person SHPO staff last year -- more than any other state had in total. "That tells you something about the impacts and the increase in energy development and the effect it's having on our office," she said. The surge in those requests is one factor behind a new proposal from SHPO and the BLM to change the guidelines governing how the federal government and the state assess potential effects of oil and gas development and other activities on historic and cultural sites in Wyoming. The BLM consults with states on cultural resources found on federal land, such as historical buildings and burial grounds, and whether they warrant protection from development and other projects. The new agreement allows the BLM to determine whether an area has historic properties, then tell SHPO of its findings....
Small desert pool is site of a species' fight for life The imperiled Devil's Hole pupfish, which has been clinging to existence in a remote rock tub in the Mojave Desert since the Ice Age, may not survive another year, federal biologists have warned. Regional groundwater pumping, mysterious changes in mating behaviors and habitat disruptions inadvertently caused by scientists who have been trying to protect the pupfish are being blamed for decimating the species, long regarded as a symbol of the desert conservation movement. In a tragedy that was not publicly announced, scientists two years ago accidentally killed 80 of the iridescent blue fish — about one-third of the population at the time. Fewer than 80 of the inch-long fish still swim in the spalike turquoise waters of a small pool at the bottom of an isolated limestone depression that became part of Death Valley National Monument — now a national park — by proclamation of President Truman in 1952....
Cowboy Cupid Bares His Horse Sense The “woman business” is a heck of a lot like the horse business, says rancher-turned-matchmaker Ivan Thompson. You’ve got to treat them right to ensure obedience. The politically incorrect but charismatic Thompson is the star of “Cowboy Del Amor,” the latest documentary by acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Michele Ohayon, which opens today at the Nuart Theatre. With cinematic tongue planted firmly in check, she profiles this self-professed “cowboy cupid” as he lassos Mexican brides for older gringos who find American women too demanding. It all began when the rancher sought his third (and now ex) wife from Mexico because he “couldn’t get to Afghanistan,” he says in the film. But she got “too Americanized” after being allowed her own car and cellphone. “Pretty soon, she was the boss of the house — of my business, and that only left me the pissants and the tumbleweeds,” he laments. So the horseman dumped wife No. 3 and in 1989, placed a personal ad in a remote Mexican town where he hoped the women might be tamer. He received 80 responses and realized he could rustle himself up a new career....