NEWS ROUNDUP

Energy development called a threat to U.S. natural, cultural resources The federal government's rush to develop energy on millions of acres of federal land in the West is leaving vast natural and cultural resources languishing, the head of the National Trust for Historic Preservation says. Richard Moe, head of the National Trust, said the nation is in danger of losing a critical part of its heritage as archaeological sites and artifacts in such places as Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients and Utah's Nine Mile Canyon lie undocumented and unprotected. The misnamed Nine Mile Canyon stretches for 75 miles from around Price to Myton, Duchesne County. According to Jerry Spangler, an Ogden archaeologist who is now the director of the Colorado Plateau Archaeological Alliance, a 45-mile section hosts many examples of ancient Indian rock art. Tens of thousands of rock art images are in Nine Mile Canyon, he said. About 1,000 archaeological sites with rock art, granaries or other cultural resources have been documented, Spangler added, "and we estimate that that represents only about 10 percent of the total." In a report to be released today, the National Trust says only 17 million acres of the 262 million acres that the Bureau of Land Management oversees in 12 Western states have been surveyed to identify cultural resources....
Park Service, locals at odds over road's fate The National Park Service has proposed turning a washed-out road in north-central Washington's upper Stehekin Valley into a trail for hikers and horseback riders, but the idea is meeting opposition from residents of the rural community. Stehekin sits at the end of Lake Chelan, accessible by boat, floatplane or on foot. The community is surrounded by wilderness area, the North Cascades National Park and U.S. Forest Service land. The 23-mile Stehekin Valley Road leads away from the lake into the national park, but parts of it have been impassable for months. The Park Service made the lower 12 miles accessible to vehicles, but the upper 11 miles remain closed....
Gila plans to use herbicide to kill salt cedar The Gila National Forest plans to use a herbicide to kill salt cedar along the Gila River of southwestern New Mexico. The U.S. Forest Service has been illing salt cedars, also known as tamarisk, with Darlon 3A for several years in the San Francisco River drainage, and decided to expand the program to three forks of the Gila River. Salt cedars, which are not a native plant, crowd out cottonwoods, willows, alders and other native vegetation. "They really take a lot of water," said Don Luhrsen, a wildlife specialist with the Gila National Forest. "They also produce salt, which makes the area too saline for other plants." The proposal would pull out, roots and all, those salt cedars that have trunks less than 2 inches in diameter, Luhrsen said. Crews would cut down larger ones and paint the chemical on the stump. No spraying is planned....
Owl decision is delayed until June 2 The pygmy owl will stay "delisted" at least until June 2, a federal judge decided Monday. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton declined environmentalists' requests to put a temporary hold on the federal government's mid-April decision to remove the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl from the endangered-species list. Bolton set a June 2 hearing here on a request from the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife for an injunction blocking the delisting for a longer period. Bolton's reasoning was that environmentalists couldn't prove that any new development in owl habitat is imminent. Six developments — four on the Northwest Side, one near Sahuarita and one near Apache Junction — have all been freed from federal reviews of their effects on the owl by the delisting. But they still must get their federal Army Corps of Engineers permits processed....
Debate: Are Ariz. owls a distinct subspecies? Research that suggested splitting pygmy owls in Southern Arizona, south Texas and Mexico into separate subspecies will be a key point at today's hearing on the future of the Arizona owls' endangered status. Environmental groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will argue over whether the Arizona birds represent a significant portion of the entire range of pygmy owls and deserve protection as an endangered species. One issue is whether Arizona's owls are genetically different from those in Mexico. Glenn Proudfoot, a veteran pygmy owl researcher, told the service in a written comment last fall that the pygmy owls in Southern Arizona and the Mexican states of Sonora and Sinaloa are genetically separate from those in other parts of Mexico, and that those in Arizona and northern Sonora appear to have been separated from those in Sinaloa for some time. Given that, the birds in Arizona and Sonora should be managed distinctly from the others, he said....
Green groups see red over Pombo Web site The long-simmering stew between national environmental groups and Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, has spilled onto the powerful House committee chairman's Web site. Environmentalists contend Pombo is improperly torching his political adversaries and spreading lies on the committee's taxpayer-funded Web pages. "Propaganda is legal," said Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope, "but the taxpayers shouldn't be paying for it." Pombo argues that his sites -- one titled "Earth Day" and a second focused on reforms of the Endangered Species Act -- shine light on eco-myths and the fund-raising machine behind a movement that spends millions of dollars to block environmental policy reforms. "It's all part of the policy debate," Pombo said. "Hey, these groups can't scream that my site is political and turn around and say their stuff is educational. They can't have it both ways."....
Lined up, ready to fight In anticipation of what could be one of Arizona's worst fire seasons, federal and state agencies have positioned small air tankers throughout the state. At least 14 single-engine AT-802s are in place from Marana to Show Low, waiting for the call. Fred Mascher, Arizona State Land Department single-engine air-tanker manager, said the versatile firefighting planes are at strategic locations and readied a month earlier than last year. "The potential for wildfire is catastrophic this year," Mascher said. The concern is over extremely dry vegetation caused by a record winter drought. In most years, at least some pockets of Arizona get enough rain to lessen fire risk, but this fire season, every inch of the state is susceptible to wildfires....
Groups say BLM can do better Two oil and gas lease sales in Colorado and Utah this month are examples of how the Bush administration's focus on oil and gas is opening hundreds of thousands of acres to drilling at the expense of fish and wildlife habitat, said Brian O'Donnell, director of Trout Unlimited's public lands initiative. An auction in Utah today will be the largest government lease sale in state history. Another in Colorado last week was one of the largest on record there. Both push into sensitive lands, including habitat for endangered ferrets in Colorado and parcels in Utah known for Indian rock art and scenic views. The Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the Interior Department, is responsible for managing energy and mineral rights, wilderness, wildlife habitat and historical and archaeological sites on millions of acres of public lands, mostly in the West. Hunting and fishing groups say energy development shouldn't be the BLM's dominant activity. But while President Bush's proposed 2007 budget asks for $25.4 million in new money for the oil and gas program, including $9.2 million to expedite energy permits, it seeks no increase for caring for riverbanks and other wildlife habitat, they say....
Ex-interior secretary urges activism A former U.S. cabinet member on Sunday gave a cautiously optimistic prognosis for the future of the West, and of the nation’s changing political winds, at a conference in Aspen. But Bruce Babbitt, a former U.S. secretary of the interior, dashed any presidential hopes his fans might have had when asked if there was any chance he would be running to replace George W. Bush in 2008. He was the final speaker at the Sopris Foundation’s weekend conference, “Innovative Ideas for a New West,” which drew speakers from around the nation and the world to the Aspen Institute campus. Babbitt called the conference an “extraordinary Western enterprise,” which he deemed critical to revitalizing political momentum among a segment of the population somewhat demoralized by Bush administration policies, including efforts to sell off an increasing amount of public lands and to expand energy exploration throughout the West and along the coasts....
Az man 1 of 5 indicted for ecoterrorism in Washington A new grand jury indictment returned Thursday alleges that five people were behind the firebombing of the University of Washington's horticulture center in May 2001. Only one of the five, Briana Waters of Berkeley, Calif., had previously been indicted in the case. The new indictment in U.S. District Court in Seattle also named Justin Solondz, 26, formerly of Jefferson County, Wash., and William C. Rodgers, of Prescott, Ariz., who committed suicide in jail after being charged with other acts of ecoterrorism. Two others referred to in the indictment were not identified. The UW fire, one of the Northwest's most notorious acts of ecoterrorism, was set early on May 21, 2001. The horticulture center, which was rebuilt at a cost of about $7 million, had done work on fast-growing hybrid poplars in hopes of limiting the amount of natural forests that timber companies log. The Earth Liberation Front, a shadowy collection of environmental activists, claimed responsibility five days after the fire, issuing a statement that said the poplars pose "an ecological nightmare" for the diversity of native forests....
Utah campground closed because of plague A campground at Natural Bridges National Monument has been closed because of bubonic plague detected among field mice and chipmunks. Plague also has been found this spring in rodent populations at Mesa Verde National Park and Colorado National Monument. National Park Service officials said there never has been a reported human case of bubonic plague originating from the parks or national monuments. "We come down on the conservative side when it comes to closing campgrounds," said Joe Winkelmaier of the U.S. Public Health Service. "We just like to be sure when it comes to plague." Several weeks ago, park rangers noticed a large number of dead field mice at Natural Bridges, about 40 miles west of Blanding. Chief Ranger Ralph Jones showed that tests indicated they died from the plague....
Elk keep aspens from thriving A bundle of scraggly, decrepit sticks poked out of the ground alongside Bear Lake Road. Therese Johnson, a Rocky Mountain National Park biologist, crunched through the dead winter grass to examine the branches. “This aspen is dead,” she said. The sticks never grew to become a full-fledged aspen tree. Their roots could be a decade or more old, but they never grew taller than a couple of feet, Johnson said. Elk have gnawed the branches repeatedly, keeping the tree from thriving. Nearby, taller aspen show the teeth marks of elk — dark gouges in the trunks about 6 feet from the ground. The holes could leave the trees vulnerable to fungal diseases, but that isn’t what worries park employees the most. Around Johnson’s ankles, tiny twigs shoot up from the soil. They should become young trees that replace the older, dying aspen, but their ends have been nibbled by elk. Without natural predators or hunters to keep them moving, the park’s elk herd has grown to as many as 3,000 animals and tends to stay in the same spots, Johnson said....
Historian's DVD shows the Glen Canyon of old W.L. "Bud" Rusho liked Glen Canyon Dam. But while he worked to document the dam construction in the 1950s and early '60s, in his words, "I fell in love" with the amazing southern Utah canyon that the dam eventually drowned. Glen Canyon Dam is seen under construction in 1963, with the Colorado River starting to back up behind it. Last week Rusho released "Glen Canyon Remembered," a DVD that provides a haunting glimpse of the canyons that have been lost beneath the waters of Lake Powell. Running one hour, 10 minutes, with extras such as a historic film, the DVD is available at Ken Sanders Rare Books, 268 S. 200 East. Besides the lore of the river and the beauty of the vanished canyons, the DVD provides stories about the massive archaeological salvage project that attempted to save some of the region's prehistoric treasures. It describes the history of the region, including John Wesley Powell's two explorations; surveys for railroads and dam sites; the "discovery" of Rainbow Bridge, which had been known to Indians in the area; ill-fated gold dredging; river-running; early filmmaking in the canyon; and the mysterious disappearance of the young artist Everett Ruess....
Supreme Court favors state in water dispute over dams Maine won a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday upholding its water regulations such as requiring fish passage as part of federal licensing of dams. The paper company S.D. Warren had argued that the state had no business meddling in licenses of five dams along the Presumpscot River between Sebago Lake and Portland because water simply backed up behind the hydropower dams and spilled over its turbines without pollution being added. But the state Board of Environmental Protection decided the dams provided a "discharge," qualifying for regulations under the Clean Water Act because of the changes in water flow, temperature and oxygen level. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court agreed. The Supreme Court case was the first heard by Justice Samuel Alito and among those heard in the first term of Chief Justice John Roberts, who had each been criticized by environmentalists for past opinions. But the court voted 9-0 in favor of state regulation....
High court accepts Duke pollution case The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to use a lawsuit against Duke Energy Corp. to consider giving federal regulators and environmentalists more power to force pollution reductions. Justices next fall will take up a lower court decision that said power plants don't need permission to release more pollutants into the air when modernizing to run for longer hours. Charlotte-based Duke was sued over improvements at eight plants in the Carolinas. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said that although the plants would operate more hours and pollute more each year, the hourly rate of emissions wouldn't increase. The dispute may affect pending suits that raise similar issues, including cases against Duke's new Cinergy unit and American Electric Power Co., according to a brief filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on behalf of 14 states and the District of Columbia. "In the 4th Circuit and wherever else the decision is applied, sources of pollution will be able to undertake physical changes that increase actual annual emissions without any scrutiny," Spitzer's brief argued. The suit was filed by the federal government in December 2000, just before President Clinton left office. The Bush administration pressed ahead at the lower court levels, but urged the Supreme Court not to review the 4th Circuit ruling....
Column: How to Think Sensibly, or Ridiculously, about Global Warming The crusade to fight global warming with tough reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions has entered its war-room phase. Already we are seeing the fruits of a multi-million dollar PR campaign: lavish cover stories in Time magazine (“Be Worried, Be Very Worried”), Vanity Fair, and Wired; multiple global-warming scare specials on PBS, HBO, and the network news; and, finally, the imminent release of Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Soon the Ad Council will begin airing TV spots pulling on the usual heartstrings: We have to stop global warming for the children! One of these ads--featuring a montage of kids counting down “tick, tick, tick”--is reminiscent of the infamous 1964 anti-Goldwater ad. Unfortunately, the green warriors substitute propaganda for persuasion, insist that there is no debate about the science of climate change, and demonize any scientist who dares dissent from their views. They advocate putting the U.S. and the world on an energy starvation diet, to the exclusion of a wider and more moderate range of precautions that might be taken against global warming. Underlying this effort is a sense of panic over two things: the collapse of the Kyoto Protocol, and frequent polls showing that Americans aren’t buying into global-warming alarmism. The latest Gallup poll on environmental issues found that only 36 percent of Americans say they “worry a great deal about global warming”--a number that has hardly budged in years. Global warming, Gallup’s environmental-opinion analyst Riley Dunlap wrote, puts people to sleep. Even among those who tell pollsters that the environment is their main public-policy concern (who are usually less than 5 percent of all Americans), global warming ranks lower than air and water quality, toxic waste, and land conservation....
Biotech causes uproar with diarrhea treatment A tiny biosciences company is developing a promising drug to fight diarrhea, a scourge among babies in the developing world, but it has made an astonishing number of powerful enemies because it grows the experimental drug in rice genetically engineered with a human gene. Environmental groups, corporate food interests and thousands of farmers across the country have succeeded in chasing Ventria Bioscience's rice farms out of two states. And critics continue to complain that Ventria is recklessly plowing ahead with a mostly untested technology that threatens the safety of conventional crops grown for food. "We just want them to go away," said Bob Papanos of the U.S. Rice Producers Association. "This little company could cause major problems." Ventria, with 16 employees, practices "biopharming," the most contentious segment of agricultural biotechnology because its adherents essentially operate open-air drug factories by splicing human genes into crops to produce proteins that can be turned into medicines. Ventria's rice produces two human proteins found in mother's milk, saliva and tears, which help people hydrate and lessen the severity and duration of diarrhea attacks, a top killer of children in developing countries. But farmers, environmentalists and others fear that such medicinal crops will mix with conventional crops, making them unsafe to eat....
Tegelers hit the trail with authentic chuckwagon It's a “shootout” of sorts. But happily it simply matches the taste of chicken fried steak, beans, biscuits and apricot cobbler among friends of America's western history instead of a deadly six-shooter. There are 70 certified historic chuckwagons - along with many less-aged but authentic chuckwagon competitors - hailing from locales as far ranging as Georgia to California; and a couple from this county, Lonnie and Barbara Tegeler proudly help represent the Lone Star state's Cowboy traditions with his family's historic No. 23 Rocking T Chuckwagon. Here's a little chunk of this sturdy wagon's long/hard-working history: The Rocking T Chuckwagon has been in the Tegeler family for almost a century, originally bought by Lonnie's grandfather Herman before 1910. It was the primary mode of transportation for Herman, wife Dora and sons Raymond and Leroy - including taking corn and cotton crops from the fields, delivering cotton to the Phillipsburg cotton gin and hauling feed and supplies from “the larger community” of Kenney....