NEWS ROUNDUP

Fixing the ozone hole slows efforts on global warming When more than two dozen countries undertook in 1989 to fix the ozone hole over Antarctica, they began replacing chloroflourocarbons in refrigerators, air conditioners and hair spray. But they had little idea that using other gases that contain chlorine or fluorine instead also would contribute greatly to global warming. CFCs destroy ozone, the atmospheric layer that helps protect against the sun's most harmful rays, and trap the earth's heat, contributing to a rise in average surface temperatures. In theory, the ban should have helped both problems. But the countries that first signed the Montreal Protocol 17 years ago failed to recognize that CFC users would seek out the cheapest available alternative. The chemicals that replaced CFCs are better for the ozone layer, but do little to help global warming. These chemicals, too, act as a reflective layer in the atmosphere that traps heat like a greenhouse....
Legislative Victory For Land Conservation New land conservation tax benefits for family farmers and ranchers are included in recent pension reform legislation. The new law will combine an adjusted tax incentive for land conservation with common sense reforms to ensure the public benefit of conservation donations. “This law will help landowners and land trusts protect important lands across America,” said Land Trust Alliance President Rand Wentworth. The new law extends the carry-forward period for tax deductions for voluntary conservation agreements from 5 to 15 years and raises the cap on those deductions from 30 percent of a donor’s adjusted gross income to 50 percent and to 100 percent for qualifying farmers and ranchers. This allows ranchers, farmers and other modest-income landowners to get a much larger benefit for donating very valuable development rights to their land....
Scientists: Buffelgrass a threat Scientists from the Desert Laboratory issued a call to arms on Tuesday, telling Pima County it must spend millions to eradicate buffelgrass or face the "unhinging" of the Sonoran Desert ecosystem. Julio Betancourt, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, painted a bleak picture in his presentation to the Pima County Board of Supervisors. The African grass, imported by cattle ranchers in the early 20th century, spreads prolifically, especially along roadways. It has fueled destructive fires in recent years in a landscape that's not fire-adapted. Betancourt said buffelgrass has taken over as much as a third of the desert in Sonora and is spreading rapidly in Pima County. It threatens the open space purchased by the county under recent bond programs, as well as homes in the Foothills. Fed by the heavy rains, the grass is responsible for the verdant hillsides more typical of Ireland than Southern Arizona. But when the monsoon rains recede, it could be fuel for next year's fires. Betancourt predicted an erosion of tourist revenues and property values within 20 years as saguaros and palo verdes give way to the grass, which the state deemed a noxious weed last year....
Cabin woes Officials have proposed renewing special-use permits for standing cabins in the San Gabriel Mountains, but delayed a decision for cabins burned in the Curve and Williams fires nearly four years ago. For the 465 cabins in 18 recreation residence tracts throughout the Angeles National Forest, the wait should be over by the end of the year. Others remain in limbo. A July 31 letter from Forest Supervisor Jody Noiron to cabin owners stated an environmental analysis would be done on the impact of issuing 20-year permits for cabins. It also stated they were proposing renewing the 465 permits on those expiring Dec. 31, 2008. Those in limbo include the cabin owners in about 60,000acres scorched north of Azusa to north of Claremont during two fires in September 2002....
Federal officials refuse to restrict off-road use In the latest wrangling over the Southern California desert's most popular off-roading area, federal wildlife officials decided against protecting 16 insects that live among the wind-carved dunes. Environmental groups said Monday they likely would challenge the decision, and riding enthusiasts said they were relieved. Grant George, who owns a dune-buggy shop in Rialto, said he feared that if the jewel beetles, sand wasps and velvet ants had received protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, it could have lead to further restrictions at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. It was an attempt to "use the Endangered Species Act as a tool to close public land, and we're pleased the federal government made a sound, scientific analysis," said George, who is president of the American Sand Association, which has been active in keeping the dunes open for riding....
Gila's Standing Trout Unlimited (TU) recently criticized the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to downlist Gila trout from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act. This action moves this rare species one step closer to being removed altogether from the endangered species list. "The Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to meet its own criteria for downlisting," said Bill Schudlich, Chair of the TU New Mexico Council. "One of the most important criteria is the protection and replication of the four pure lineages of Gila trout. To date, not all of the lineages have been replicated." "Given the fact that Fish and Wildlife does not meet the objectives identified in its own recovery plan, we cannot understand why it has taken such a step at this time," added Schudlich....
Desert Connections Yet the valley — an hour northeast of Las Vegas — is on its way to becoming a real estate development of historic proportions, with as many as 159,000 homes, 16 golf courses and a full complement of stores and service facilities. At nearly 43,000 acres, Coyote Springs covers almost twice as much space as the next-largest development in a state famous for outsized building projects. Helping make Coyote Springs come alive was an alliance between a multimillionaire developer and one of the highest-ranking members of Congress: Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader and a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
Over the last four years, Reid has used his influence in Washington to help the developer, Nevada super-lobbyist Whittemore, clear obstacles from Coyote Springs' path. As the project advanced, Reid received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Whittemore. The contributions not only went to Reid's Senate campaigns, but also to his leadership fund, which he used to help bankroll the campaigns of Democratic colleagues. Whittemore also helped advance the legal careers of two of Reid's four sons. One of the two, Leif Reid, who is Whittemore's personal lawyer, has represented the developer throughout the Coyote Springs project, including in negotiations with federal officials....
Editorial: Plight of Preble's tells a larger story The Preble's meadow jumping mouse has hopped back into an endangered species debate as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service nears a final decision on the rodent's status. The future of this small creature has been embroiled in years of controversy as experts and advocates considered whether it meets U.S. standards for habitat protection. The Preble's was placed on the endangered species list in May 1998, and its status has been under review ever since. The logic of devoting years of research to a 3-inch rodent - 9 inches if you count its tail - can be difficult to grasp, but the issue raises important questions about preserving Colorado species from the threats of development. The Preble's is threatened by residential, commercial and agricultural development. The battleground is 31,000 acres now off-limits to development to protect the species....
D.C. insider named to head Utah's BLM Bureau of Land Management Chief of Staff Selma Sierra, a Westerner who has spent most of her career in Washington, will head the agency's Utah office. The newly named director will inherit some of the most bitterly fought land management issues in the West, including identifying and preserving wilderness characteristics, refereeing disputes over ownership of roads across federal land, and expanding energy production, including development of oil shale. The Utah BLM office manages 22.9 million surface acres, another 12.3 million acres of subsurface mineral rights, and 2.3 million acres of tribal lands. A New Mexico native, Sierra worked in the Interior Department during President George H.W. Bush's administration before going to work as a deputy press secretary for the House Ways and Means Committee and then press secretary for New Mexico Rep. Joe Skeen. She worked two years at the Commerce Department before joining BLM as assistant director of communications and then, last year, was named chief of staff....
Park service recommends killing deer Despite the impassioned pleas of local animal rights groups, more than a 1,000 non-native deer would be shot and killed at Point Reyes National Seashore if a new plan endorsed Monday by the National Park Service goes forward. The park service would donate the animals' meat and hides to nonprofit or charity organizations. A California condor recovery program and soup kitchens have expressed an interest in the meat, and American Indian groups are interested in the pelts. A final environmental impact statement released by the National Park Service Monday recommends 1,350 deer (800 axis and 550 fallow) be killed over 15 years by park service staff or contractors trained in wildlife sharpshooting. The impact statement also recommends that the park service seek approval to use experimental contraceptives on 100 to 150 fallow does, which would be allowed to live. These drugs are not thought to be effective with axis does. There is no drug registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for contraception in deer....
Judge is asked to lift fish ladder demands Using a new provision of federal energy law for the first time, PacifiCorp is asking a judge to let it off the hook on building fish ladders to help salmon over four Klamath River hydroelectric dams. A weeklong trial began Monday before a federal administrative law judge in Sacramento, Calif., and a ruling is expected next month that promises to be a key factor in whether the Portland-based utility decides to keep operating the dams, which are blamed by fishermen, American Indian tribes and conservation groups for contributing to declining salmon returns to the Klamath River in Northern California. Three straight years of low returns of wild chinook to the Klamath led federal fisheries managers this summer to shut down most commercial salmon fishing along 700 miles of California and Oregon coastline. The Commerce Department has estimated the catch this year will be just 16 percent of average, with direct losses of $16 million to the 1,500 fishermen in the area. Administrative Law Judge Parlen McKenna will decide whether federal agencies were justified in prescribing that as a condition of getting a new operating license for the dams, PacifiCorp build fish ladders over them, install fish screens on turbines and leave more water in the river, rather than running it through turbines....
Farmers fight for their water on Front Range Dan Wacker misses the crops that once covered his 80-acre farm, the ones that have withered and died since the state turned off his wells. He wants his water back. Nina Guthrie was forced to sell her farm and she wants the state to pay for her loss. The two were among about 100 farmers and their wives, some of them nearing bankruptcy, who gathered to find out what they could do after the state shut down hundreds of wells on the Eastern Plains because Front Range communities and farmers with senior water rights claimed the most precious resource in the West. The news this night was grim. The farmers were told they need to accept the fact they won't get their water back and the only satisfaction they're going to get is if they sue the state. "If you think you're going to file a takings case and get water, you're confused," said Chuck Miller, a property rights activist. He urged the farmers to form coalitions and file lawsuits....
Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for 100 years: study Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for the past century, according to a Danish study, suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming. Danish researchers from Aarhus University studied glaciers on Disko island, in western Greenland in the Atlantic, from the end of the 19th century until the present day. "This study, which covers 247 of 350 glaciers on Disko, is the most comprehensive ever conducted on the movements of Greenland's glaciers," glaciologist Jacob Clement Yde, who carried out the study with Niels Tvis Knudsen, told AFP. Using maps from the 19th century and current satellite observations, the scientists were able to conclude that "70 percent of the glaciers have been shrinking regularly since the end of the 1880s at a rate of around eight meters per year," Yde said. "We studied 95 percent of the area covered by glaciers in Disko and everything indicates that our results are also valid for the glaciers along the coasts of the rest of Greenland," he said....
Trew: Historic Lincoln, N.M., offers window to the past This columnist usually writes about the past using personal recollections or those sent in by readers. Recently, Ruth and I spent three days and nights at the Ellis Store Bed & Breakfast in Lincoln, N.M. With little imagination, we were able to turn back the clock about 100 years or more while spending a nostalgic and interesting weekend in the real Old West. The Ellis Store building is 155 years old with walls of adobe about two-feet thick. Shady, vine-covered verandas adorned both front and back containing rows of wicker furniture. The roof was part galvanized tin and part wooden shake shingles. All doors and windows appeared to be original or of proper period. The history of the old building revealed it had been a private home, boarding house, ranch headquarters, a doctor’s office and TB sanitarium, and a general store at one time or another. The legal abstract goes back to the early 1800s and a Spanish Land Grant. There is absolutely no doubt Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett stayed and slept in the building as the Ellis Store was a gathering place for one of the range war factions....