NEWS ROUNDUP

Breaks hearing mostly congenial as sides disagree U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials heard suggestions on how to manage the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument from all sides Monday night at a public hearing on the bureau's proposed management plan at the Holiday Village Shopping Center. Wilderness and conservation advocates fear the number of roads and airstrips in the bureau's preferred plan will take away from the Breaks' remote quality, though some area hikers said more access is needed. Some worry that increased traffic and noise from aircraft will be a detriment to wildlife, though others who live near the Breaks called that concept ignorant. State Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, said he's concerned that the 120 ranchers who own land in the Breaks will suffer under the management plan. “They'll be driven out,” Butcher said. “You just keep tightening the noose.” He said he worries that the ranching operations will die out, drying up towns like Winifred, Big Sandy, Roy and Geraldine. He's also concerned that oil and gas companies will stay away from the area - even lands surrounding the monument - causing the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenues....
Proposed land deals gain interest Some West River ranchers are interested in the Bush administration’s proposal to sell some public lands in the state, even though members of the South Dakota congressional delegation have stated their opposition. Some of the eligible land parcels are part of the Black Hills National Forest and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands located in Custer and Fall River counties. Local landowners have expressed an interest for years in either purchasing or trading for the federal property, according the Ken Knuppe, a rancher from Buffalo Gap. However, Knuppe said local support among West River ranchers for the land sales would most likely hinge on them having the right of first refusal to buy the public lands located next to their property. “We’d like to see the first option to buy given to the local landowner,” Knuppe said. “That would clear up a lot of frustration that ranchers have with the federal government.” He added that some ranchers aren’t completely against the federal government buying land, but the cattlemen believe the government should also reduce its land holdings when it makes sense to sell land. “A lot of this land that’s managed by the Forest Service is right next to privately-owned land where ranchers are trying to graze their cattle,” Knuppe said. “There’s a ‘checkerboard’ of federal land and private land next to each other and some of of those lands aren’t divided by a fence.” And since there’s no fence between the properties, cattle can wander onto the property and graze — a situation that sometimes causes disagreements among neighbors....
Public-land sale plan challenged by lawmakers Senators from both parties on Tuesday challenged a Bush administration plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest to help pay for rural schools in 41 states. Lawmakers said the short-term gains would be offset by the permanent loss of public lands. They also said profits from the proposed sales would fall far short of what's needed to help rural governments pay for schools and other basic services. "I just don't think we can play Russian roulette with these local communities," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who vowed to "do everything I can" to stop the plan. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, had a more visceral reaction: "No, heck no," he told Bush administration officials at a Senate hearing Tuesday....
Rey: Proponents of Public Land Sale Out There, Just Silent Supporters of the Bush Administration’s controversial public land sale have been quiet, but they’re out there, said Department of Agriculture secretary, Mark Rey during a Tuesday press conference. “What I’m hearing is a level of concern that’s not surprising,” Rey told reporters. “Land sales are controversial.” Support has come from some county officials around the country who are looking forward to getting more land on the tax rolls, Rey said. The press conference was held to announce the beginning of a 30-day public comment session on the proposal. Even though people have been vocal with their frustration, since the land sale was announced earlier this month, no other options have come forward to fund the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, he said. “So far no one else has found another alternative.” Rey also announced a minor shift in the plan. Now, if county and state governments along with land trusts show interest in a piece of land the Forest Service wants to sell, they will have a non-competitive option to buy it for fair-market value. This change was made because the agency recognized some of the lands may not be suitable as National Forest, but they still have public value, he said....
USDA FOREST SERVICE ACCEPTING PUBLIC COMMENTS ON POTENTIAL LIST OF ELIGIBLE TRACTS OF LAND FOR SALE U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service today announced the start of a public comment period on a list of forest lands that would be available for sale as a proposal to provide funding to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (SRS). The list of available forest lands, published in today’s Federal Register, comprises 304,370 acres of land within the 193-million-acre National Forest System. This represents less than 0.2 of one percent of all Forest Service managed land. All of the parcels are considered isolated or inefficient to manage due to their location or other characteristics. Detailed maps of each parcel can now be found on the Forest Service website (www.fs.fed.us). The Forest Service will include in its proposal the opportunity for local and state government agencies and nonprofit land trust organizations the first right to buy these parcels at market value. Comments on the proposed list must be received by March 30 and may be sent by e-mail to SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us....
The Nature Conservancy Applauds President's Support for Conservation of North Georgia's Forest Lands in FY 2007 Budget The Nature Conservancy in Georgia applauded President Bush's request to fund the conservation of north Georgia's forests with $1.5 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in Fiscal Year 2007. If approved, this funding will support the protection of approximately 540 acres of critical mountain forests, which will ultimately be added to the Chattahoochee National Forest for the enjoyment of all Georgians. "This funding will help ensure that the vital north Georgia mountain forests, essential for wildlife and the health of our rivers and streams, will continue to be safeguarded," Tavia McCuean, director of The Nature Conservancy in Georgia....The Fed's acquire land everyday, by purchase, exchange and easements, and that's ok. But if they try to sell less than 1 percent of one agency's holdings, then all hell breaks loose, with even Republicans cowering. Larry Craig should be ashamed of himself. I guess one out of every three acres in the US being owned by the Feds is not enough.
The Forest Service Is Dead; Long Live the Forest Service! n 1982, Earth First!er Dave Foreman used form letters to blitz the U.S. Forest Service with administrative appeals, blocking over 100 timber sales that threatened roadless areas in several Western states. This act of paper monkeywrenching sums up the relationship conservationists had with the Forest Service for three decades. We attempted nearly every act of peaceful hostility -- appeals, lawsuits, tree-sits -- to obstruct what was then the largest single agency in the federal government and the largest single employer in many rural communities. The Forest Service was destroying our old-growth and wild areas; it had to be stopped. That was then. This is now. Today the Forest Service is broken and demoralized, with a budget built more around firefighting than logging. The annual logging cut is a fraction of what it was in its heyday. Biodiversity is threatened less by the prospect of new roads and clear-cuts in wild country than by the ailing condition of old roads and tree plantations. The conservation movement is reinventing itself to partner with old nemeses, the timber industry and rural Western communities, to give the Forest Service new life and a new mission to face the challenge of the next 30 years: restoring to ecological health America's federal forestlands....
DoI staffers stayed on with Pombo Two staffers on the House Resources Committee played key roles in developing controversial environmental legislation while receiving salaries from the Department of Interior in apparent violation of House rules limiting their congressional service to one year. The two provisions they helped develop were attached to the budget-reconciliation bill, passed last month. Lawmakers stripped the provisions during negotiations before final congressional passage. The staffers’ roles in creating and pushing the legislation have raised concerns among congressional Democrats and environmentalists. Brian Kennedy, spokesman for the House Resources Committee, and Hugh Vickery, senior public-affairs officer for the Department of the Interior, said that the proper authorities had approved the necessary waivers. During their service, two of the most controversial pieces of legislation to emerge from the Resources Committee dealt with issues that Coleman and Deery specialized in while at Interior. One controversial provision would have given states revenue-sharing incentives for opting out of the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, a matter Coleman worked on while at Interior’s Minerals Management Service. The second would have amended mining law to allow federal lands to be sold to support the sustainable development of dying mining towns. Environmentalists criticized the provision as a massive giveaway of federal land. Deery, a detailee from the Bureau of Land Management, was an expert on solid-minerals leasing and hard-rock mining....
Cow deaths strike fear in ranchers The search for the Tehama County cattle killers is intensifying, with investigators working extra patrols and a reward that has reached $4,500 for information leading to the arrest of the those responsible, Sheriff Clay Parker said Tuesday. Ranchers have found seven cows, each worth about $1,200, shot to death since the beginning of the year. Six of the shootings were in the Hogsback Road area and one was reported off Blue Oak Road. No meat has been taken from the cows, Parker said. "Idiots shoot them and leave them there to rot," he said. In one case, a cow had to be put down after she was found alive but shot in the back of the head. Her dependant calf, which had not been shot, was killed in a coyote attack, the Sheriff’s Department said....