NEWS

Officials abandon checkpoint after 'hippie' run-in U.S. Forest Service officers drew their shotguns but then got into their vehicles and abandoned a checkpoint without firing a shot after about 200 people at the Rainbow Family gathering surrounded the officers, an agency spokeswoman said. ''We're not going to compromise the safety of our officers,'' agency spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said Tuesday. ''We have to reavaluate whether or not we're going to continue any checkpoints because of what happened.'' At least 500 people have converged in Routt National Forest for the gathering but the Forest Service had been turning away new arrivals from entering because the group hasn't gotten a permit for large groups. The group's annual event, often described as a huge gathering of hippies, is expected to draw between 15,000 and 20,000 people to the Routt National Forest for a weeklong July 4th event. About 60 to 80 people already at the event site approached the officers who had been turning people away and surrounded them in a ''hostile manner'', Ottaviano said. She said more than 100 other people who had been hanging out near the checkpoint because they were not allowed in joined the smaller group, forcing the officers to retreat. Ottaviano said the checkpoint has been disbanded. No one was stopping people from entering the area but officers will continue their patrols, she said....and Kit Laney gets five months in Federal Prison...soft on hippies and hard on ranchers appears to be the Bush Administration policy.
Judge hears suit over logging plan in Sierra forests The management plan for 11.5 million acres of national forest in the Sierra harms wildlife while illegally increasing logging under the guise of fire prevention, environmental groups told a federal judge Monday. They want the U.S. Forest Service to return to a 2001 plan approved in the last days of the Clinton Administration, a plan they say offers more protection for the environment and 200 scarce species such as the California spotted owl, martin and Pacific fisher. The hearing, set to conclude today, is the latest legal skirmish in a 15-year battle over managing the 11 national forests. U.S. District Judge Morrison England Jr. said he might schedule additional hearings before ruling in what he called an enormously complicated lawsuit. U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey approved the plan in March 2005, agreeing with Forest Service officials who advocated increased logging. They argued that thinning trees, particularly around communities, is needed to cut the risk of deadly wildfires such as the ones that cut a swath of destruction throughout Southern California in 2003....
Outfitters rallying for preservation Durango-area outfitter Mike Murphy has an answer to people who oppose preserving roadless areas in national forests and say public land should be open to everyone: Look at the satellite images of his corner of Colorado on the Internet. "You take a look at that map and look at all the roads in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico, and you won't want to see another road for a long time," Murphy said. Murphy, who has led hunting trips into Colorado's backcountry for 28 years, said he is being squeezed out of places by oil and gas development and increasing off-road vehicle use. He's one of 131 Colorado outfitters asking a state task force weighing the fate of 4.4 million acres of roadless national forest land to support keeping development out of the remaining remote spots....
Thomas at odds with drillers over forest use Oil and gas drilling in national forests should be allowed as industry works with land managers to put environmental safeguards in place, an energy executive said Monday. Bruce Hinchey with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming said he doesn't agree with U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas' statement Saturday that national forests should generally be off-limits to new drilling. "I don't think you need to totally have everything off-limits, because you still have logging and mining that occurs in the forest as well," Hinchey said. "It depends on the areas." Hinchey said there is not a lot of drilling on national forests, and what does occur happens on forest edges. Interior parts of national forest tend to be much costlier to explore because the areas are not easily accessible. Thomas, R-Wyo., said Saturday he does not think national forests should be open to oil and gas development because of the special qualities these areas possess. At issue specifically in Wyoming are lease parcels in the Wyoming Range. While there are some existing drilling operations there now -- and Thomas said existing operations should be allowed to continue -- new parcels are being sold for energy leases....
Biologists revive plan to save trout with poison For the fifth time, biologists are proposing to poison a remote Sierra stream to restore what may be America's rarest trout. In an effort dogged by controversy since 2002, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service and California Department of Fish and Game are again contemplating the use of chemicals to clear non-native fish from Silver King Creek south of Lake Tahoe. The idea is to allow the threatened Paiute cutthroat trout to flourish in its native habitat, a goal supporters say would be a profound success for the Endangered Species Act. "It would be a huge success story," said Bob Williams, field supervisor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife. "This would be a species we can remove from the (endangered) list. "It's one of the rarest trout we have." Permit problems and opponents concerned about use of the chemical rotenone in the pristine mountain creek have halted the project each of the last four summers. Last August, a team hiking into the wilderness to perform the task was ordered to turn around after a federal judge sided with conservationists against the project....
Sierra Club investing heavily in state races The Sierra Club plans to shift millions in campaign cash from Congressional races to state and local campaigns this fall, a sign from the nation's oldest and largest environmental group that Washington is becoming less relevant to its cause. In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press, Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said his group is dedicating about a third of its anticipated $5 million to $10 million campaign fund to competitive state races this year. In past years, it has invested only 5 percent of its political money in state legislative campaigns. "We are putting 10 times as much energy into state races," Pope said. "We've never made that national investment in state races before." With partisan Washington deadlocked over most environmental issues, state governments nationwide have been taking a lead role on initiatives ranging from global warming to fuel economy standards. Despite Democrats' hopes to gain seats in the House and Senate, most political observers think the climate in Washington is unlikely to change....
Fences set up to protect archeological, biological heritage Fencing has been installed at the Comanche Springs area to protect and restore wetland habitat for several birds on the federal Endangered Species Act Species of Concern list and an archeological site that is on the National Register. "The intent is to fence out cattle, vehicles and people dumping trash around the wetlands," said Jacqueline Guilbault, director of the Manzano Conservation Foundation's special projects. Comanche Springs is in northeastern Valencia County, in the Manzano foothills. The goals are to improve wetland conditions, provide a safer environment for birds and wildlife and protect environmental, archeological and cultural resources. "Historically, the wetlands have experienced illegal dumping, cattle trespassing and target shooting. Also, trucks and off-road-vehicles drive through the wetlands area destroying vegetation, causing erosion, damaging archeological sites, polluting water, disturbing nesting of migratory birds and damaging habitat for birds and wildlife," she said....
Brit Guards' Bearskin Hats May Be Banned A British lawmaker is gathering support for his call to ban the towering bearskin hats worn for almost 200 years by the red-coated soldiers who guard the country's royal palaces. The motion, introduced by Labour party lawmaker Chris Mullin in March, declares the hats made from the fur of Canadian black bears "have no military significance and involve unnecessary cruelty." Conservative lawmaker Ann Widdecombe has now urged her party to support the motion aimed at replacing the bearskins with artificial substitutes. "Black bears, who are intelligent and curious animals, are slaughtered in Canada so that their skins may be used for ceremonial hats," Widdecombe wrote in a letter to her party colleagues on Thursday. Widdecombe's letter was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday. So far, 180 of 646 lawmakers in the House of Commons have signed the motion. On Sunday, about 100 animal rights activists staged a naked demonstration in London to protest against the hats....
Trew: Wildfires top long list of life's hazards About the time I think I have "seen all, been there and done that" I encounter a new experience. The recent big prairie fires top all my lifeís previous dangerous episodes. I have suffered frostbite from being out in blizzards trying to save cattle, been caught in the open prairie with hailstones big as your fist bouncing off my head, survived floods with eight inches of rain raging along every creek and canyon, fighting prairie and wheat fires from Perryton to Canadian to New Mexico to back here at the ranch. I have survived countless horse wrecks and a couple of car wrecks, and thought I had experienced all the occupational hazards of agriculture and life in general. I was wrong. Sunday and Monday, March 12 and 13, take the grand prize of all my lifeís chapters. We were told by telephone a fire was burning along McClellan Creek north of the ranch. With winds at 60 mph, a prairie fire would move fast. We drove to a hilltop on Interstate 40 to see the fire already past our ranch moving to the northeast. It appeared to be past us and we prepared to go help our neighbors. Suddenly, the wind changed to the north and instead of a narrow fire burning northeast, we were faced with a 20-mile-wide fire traveling south straight to our ranch. We sat in the car and watched it cross both interstates and exit roads in seconds. We raced back to our home and prepared to fight as long as possible....