NEWS ROUNDUP

Column: Kemp"thorne" in Our Side As a Senator from 1992 until 1998, Kempthorne's score in the League of Conservation Voters' rating initially soared to 6 percent in 1993 before sinking back to a solid 0 every year from 1994 on. His abysmal average rating of 1.0 percent over that six-year period covers about 70 votes on a whole range of key votes affecting energy, biodiversity, public health, funding for environmental protection, private property rights, nuclear waste and public lands management from logging to mining to sell-offs. It may help in understanding that record to know that Rep. Richard Pombo earned a 6percent rating in 2005. Among Kempthorne's other accomplishments as a senator was the introduction of legislation supported by the American Forest and Paper Association, American Petroleum Institute, National Mining Association and others, that would have weakened the Endangered Species Act. As a two-term governor of Idaho, Kempthorne joined forces with Boise Cascade in litigation to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from finishing the rulemaking process that culminated in the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule protecting more than 58 million acres of undeveloped forests, which he also sued to overturn as governor. Kempthorne is quoted as calling the rule a "federal edict," apparently forgetting that national forests belong to all Americans rather than just Idaho residents. Kempthorne has remained an opponent of species protection, moving immediately to allow the killing of wolves after taking over management of the threatened species from the federal government in January....
Kempthorne backed sale of federal lands as U.S. senator In the six weeks since he was nominated as U.S. secretary of interior, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has sidestepped questions about whether he backs President Bush’s proposal to sell off public lands to reduce the deficit and help rural schools. But he’ll have to break his silence Thursday. Several members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee opposed to the land sales are expected to grill Kempthorne during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill. Kempthorne is expected to support Bush’s plan to sell 125,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management property and 300,000 acres of national forest land to the highest bidder to raise money for the U.S. Treasury. Although as governor he has pushed for greater state control over federal lands, he endorsed similar federal land-sale proposals while serving as a U.S. Senator from Idaho from 1992 to 1998. In 1998, Kempthorne sponsored an amendment to the Senate version of the fiscal 1999 budget resolution that allowed proceeds from the sale of public lands to be used to compensate private landowners for taking steps to conserve endangered species. Kempthorne’s amendment reversed an earlier amendment by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, that expressed the Senate’s objection to selling off public lands to finance the federal landowner compensation program. “This is not a question of whether we should sell excess BLM lands; it is taking place,’’ Kempthorne said on the Senate floor April 2, 1998. “It is a question of where the revenues should be utilized.’’....
State may acquire Chirikof Island, cattle A land trade between the State of Alaska and the federal government which politicians say would “preserve” the cattle of Chirikof Island could be complicated because Gov. Frank Murkowski has attached it to another land swap that would require an act of Congress. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton dated March 13, Murkowski attached a potential Chirikof deal to another goal some Alaskans have long coveted, a road from King Cove to Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. That road would go through designated wilderness within the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge and require permission from Congress. Administration officials said a deal that gives the state Chirikof Island, which the federal government is ready to give up, could make a road through Izembek more palatable in Congress. “The reason (Chirikof is) in there is just to sweeten the pot,” Ed Fogels, an Alaska Department of Natural Resources spokesman said. State officials want to trade two townships northeast of the town of Cold Bay — a tract of about 41,000 acres — in exchange for the roughly 206 acres of right-of-way needed to build a road between the two remote towns. The state land could then become a part of the Izembek refuge....
Column: Regulating Every Drop of Water Doesn’t Make Sense American farmers and ranchers have a good track record of taking care of the land and water through conservation, including wetlands protection and restoration. That’s why Farm Bureau is closely watching and awaiting a decision currently before the U.S. Supreme Court that could alter the Clean Water Act as we know it. At issue are two consolidated cases, Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Rapanos v. United States. The combined case, on which a decision is expected in early July, looks at whether wetlands should be subject to Clean Water Act protection based on remote or non-existent connections to navigable waters. In the Carabell situation, a lower court ruled that a wetland separated by a man-made berm from a ditch that connects through tributaries to navigable waters qualifies for Clean Water Act protection, even though there’s no hydrological connection between the two. Farm Bureau strongly believes that man-made drainage ditches, fields and pastures that have been used by farmers and ranchers for years should not be federally regulated in the same way as rivers, streams, swamps and bogs. Regulating a field with a few low spots is not logical....
Firefighter indicted for arson A 33-year-old Kennard firefighter is charged with setting 23 fires in the Davy Crockett National Forest over the past year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday. A federal grand jury seated in Beaumont has indicted Ryan James Eff on a charge of arson, according to Matthew D. Orwig, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas. "While forest service firefighters put their lives at risk and worked tirelessly to extinguish the fires, they realized a number of them were a result of criminal activity by one of their own," Orwig said in a press release issued late Wednesday. Eff worked as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service, assigned to perform firefighter duties in the Davy Crockett National Forest, according to the indictment. He is charged with intentionally setting fires in or near the national forest from about May 2005 to April 2006. "During each of these fires, USFS personnel responded and worked to suppress and extinguish the fires using aircraft and heavy equipment in extremely dangerous conditions," the U.S. Attorney's press release stated....
Environmental groups merge The Ecology Center and the Native Forest Network, two of the groups critical of federal forest management in the Northern Rockies, have merged. Operating jointly as the new WildWest Institute with some 800 members will improve the groups' effectiveness, Executive Director Matthew Koehler said Wednesday from the organization's Missoula office. Koehler is one of two staff members and said a third will be on board within a few weeks. A news release said WildWest will be a "leading public lands watchdog in the Northern Rockies," monitoring nearly 20 national forests. Areas of concern for the group include removal of trees, watershed quality and the future of roadless lands. The Ecology Center and the Native Forest Network last week asked a federal judge to stop the U.S. Forest Service from beginning a forest-thinning project in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. A lawsuit filed by those groups and Friends of the Bitterroot charges the project on almost 5,000 acres jeopardizes the environment and amounts to industrial logging, rather than being the "healthy forest" plan advanced by the Forest Service....
Colorado forester tapped for Washington post Jim Bedwell, supervisor on Colorado's Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests, has been selected to serve as national director of recreation and heritage resources in Washington. "Jim has outstanding leadership skills from his many challenging and diverse assignments throughout the outfit, including being the lead forest supervisor for Colorado state officials on issues of statewide importance," U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth said. "His exceptional skills in working collaboratively with a variety of internal and external stakeholders will serve him well in this new assignment." In his new role, Bedwell will lead the recreational programs on the national forests and grasslands, from primitive backcountry to highly developed activities like alpine skiing....
Congress Sneaks Through Recreation Access Tax Although widely and wildly opposed by hundreds of recreation groups and the legislatures in several western states, Congress has just slipped through the Recreation Access Tax (RAT) in the dark of night. This means more access fees for hiking, skiing or mountain biking on federal land, driving on Forest Service roads, and even parking at public trailheads. Right now, such fees, called RATs by opponents, are uncommon in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, but that’s about to change. RATs are already common in Colorado and Pacific Coast states. In April, the RAT was tacked on—or “earmarked”—as a rider on a monstrous ($388 billion) omnibus spending bill and passed without public hearings or even the knowledge of most representatives and senators who voted for it. It extends and widens a temporary RAT passed in 1996. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) voted for the bill without knowing the RAT was piggybacked onto it. Baucus "is absolutely furious that this provision was stuffed in the spending bill in the dark of night," aide Barrett Kaiser told Scott McMillion at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Kaiser also said Baucus plans to “readdress” the issue as soon as possible. The measure is supposed to raise about $200 million in new revenue for recreation projects on public lands....
Wolves to be removed from lands The Hon-Dah pack of Mexican wolves is to be removed permanently from the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The removal is the result of the pack being directly involved in five confirmed cattle depredations and one confirmed cattle injury on Tribal lands since June 7, 2005. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the Hon-Dah Pack permanent removal order on April 19, at the request of the tribal council. Tribal Wildlife Services, assisted by the Interagency Field Team and USDA Wildlife Services, began trapping operations immediately. Trapping is the method of first choice for removal. If trapping fails, then lethal methods will be employed. The service has an agreement with the White Mountain Apache Tribe that allows for removal (including lethal take when circumstances dictate) of livestock depredating wolves on Fort Apache Indian Reservation. The Hon-Dah pack was transferred to a release pen on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation on June 23, 2003. The pack's territory is exclusively within the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. On April 20, a pack member was successfully live captured and removed to the Ladder Ranch captive breeding facility in southwestern New Mexico. Trapping efforts continue for the remaining pack members....
Roundtail and Headwater Chubs Illegally Denied Protection Under Endangered Species Act In response to a petition and lawsuit from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced today that two native southwest fish, the roundtail and headwater chubs, will not receive protection as threatened or endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. In making its determination, the FWS did not find the two fish species are safe from extinction, but rather denied protection based on technical grounds. To date, the Bush administration has protected only 41 species under the Endangered Species Act, compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 234 under Bush senior’s administration. The Bush administration has delayed and denied protection for hundreds of known imperiled species. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a formal scientific petition to gain protection for the two chubs in April 2003, documenting a precipitous decline in both species....
Bald Eagle Fights Don't Mean Habitat Is Full, Experts Say Recent violent territorial disputes among bald eagles in the Chesapeake Bay could be nature's way of controlling the birds' increasing numbers, experts suggest. But, they add, there is still enough habitat in the region for nesting, and despite media reports, the conflicts may not be a nationwide pattern. "For every population there is a gradient of habitat," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation at the National Audubon Society. "In other words, there is the best habitat and the good habitat, which is not as good as the best. "So what we're seeing [with the eagles] is competition for prime location. It doesn't really mean all the habitat has been used up." According to government estimates, about 7,000 nesting pairs of bald eagles now exist in the wild.....
Not enough wolves killed, officials say Wildlife officials say the number of wolves collected in the state's aerial wolf-control program this winter was less than half of what was expected. Officials had hoped for a harvest of up to 400 wolves this season in five areas of Alaska. Aerial gunners so far have reported taking 153 wolves through the program, which ended April 30. High fuel prices, bad weather and a court ruling that halted the entire program for a week in January likely contributed to lower-than-expected wolf kills, wildlife officials said. A closure of one of the culling areas west of Anchorage during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race also shortened the season....
House Passes Measure to Allow Game Hunting in Calif. National Park Privately hunted deer and elk would be allowed to remain on a national park island off the coast of California under legislation approved late Wednesday by a congressional panel. The House Armed Services Committee passed the measure despite objections from the National Park Service that trophy game hunts on Santa Rosa Island restrict public access and interfere with native species. The 53,000-acre island 40 miles off Santa Barbara is part of the Channel Islands National Park. The legislation, sponsored by committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., would void a court-ordered settlement that requires the deer and elk to be removed from the island by 2011....
Bill on widow, her park home goes to Bush Legislation allowing an 83-year-old widow to keep her summer home in Rocky Mountain National Park is headed to the president's desk. House members voted unanimously Tuesday for a bill that would let Betty Dick keep the cabin near the park's west entrance, which she has used for decades. The bill previously had been amended and approved by the Senate. "After a two-year bureaucratic battle, Betty can return to Colorado this spring with the peace of mind that she will be able to keep her home for the rest of her life," Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said in a statement. Udall, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and others in Colorado took up Dick's cause after the National Park Service threatened to evict her. Park officials have testified to Congress that tailoring legislation to one person would set a bad precedent for other agreements on national park land....That's right Parkies, screw the 83 year-old widow because helping her would set a bad precedent. Another fine example of the government's attitude towards it's citizens.
Park Service keeps ban on most ads in parks Strict prohibitions on allowing advertising and marketing in the national parks in return for donations will remain, spelling an end to a National Park Service proposal that called for looser restrictions. The Park Service proposed last year letting some employees solicit donations, accepting alcohol and tobacco company donations for the first time and giving donors the right to put their names on rooms, benches and bricks. All were dropped in new guidelines issued Monday by Park Service Director Fran Mainella. About $100 million in donations and $150 million in entrance fees augment the taxpayer funds that support the national park system. The 390-unit system has an annual budget of about $2.2 billion. Deciding what donations park managers can accept -- and the level of recognition that can be granted in return -- has been a touchy subject for the Park Service. Park rangers and other employees, advocacy groups and environmentalists complained that last year's proposal went too far by opening the door to an unseemly amount of commercialization....
State control of resources raises oil costs A principal reason fuel prices are high and likely to remain so is a trend worldwide toward state ownership and control of oil resources that is raising questions about how quickly large tracts of oil and gas will be developed and made available to consumers. While some state-owned oil companies, such as Saudi Arabia's Aramco, readily develop their vast oil reserves to help hold down prices and satisfy the demands of consuming nations, other major tracts of oil have fallen into the hands of governments that are less attuned or outright hostile to pleas from drivers around the world who want them to continue the flow of cheap and readily available fuel. Bolivia, with the second-largest reserves of natural gas and oil in South America, this week became the latest example of a nation to seize control of critical energy facilities that had been operated by private companies that were gearing up to produce the fuel needed by hungry markets....
Bipartisan Bill Extends Farm Bill Until WTO Negotiation Completion Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., introduced legislation to extend the current farm bill until the World Trade Organization negotiations are complete. Talent and Lincoln, both members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, support extending the bill until global trading rules are in place before writing the next farm bill. The current farm bill, passed in 2002, is scheduled to expire in 2007. "A farm bill extension, pending a fair agreement at the WTO, sends a signal to our trading partners," says Talent, Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Marketing, Inspection and Product Promotion. "We will not unilaterally disarm farmers and ranchers in Missouri without assurances that we will get real and meaningful reforms from them in return. We must maintain the current framework until we know the rules of the game." Charlie Kruse, president of Missouri Farm Bureau says he believes extending the 2002 farm bill puts the most pressure on the Europeans to come to the table and discuss meaningful trade reform in the WTO....