30th annual Public Land Law Conference

September 25-27, 2006
Missoula , MT

The Law of Ecosystem Restoration: National Policy Implications of the Clark Fork River Basin Natural Resource Damage Program

Keynote Speaker: Lynn Scarlett, Deputy Secretary of the Interior

The Public Land & Resources Law Review proudly presents the 30th annual Public Land Law Conference, held in beautiful Missoula, Montana. The conference will focus on the history, successes, and continuing challenges of implementing this national program in Montana’s Clark Fork River Basin.

Background

In 1983, the State of Montana filed a natural resource damage (NRD) lawsuit against ARCO to recover damages for mining-caused injuries to the Clark Fork River Basin’s water, soils, vegetation, fish and wildlife, and for the public’s lost use and enjoyment of these resources. As part of a 1999 settlement, the state received $215 million, including about $130 million earmarked to restore or replace the injured resources. While the state’s NRD litigation is not fully resolved, major steps are already underway to restore or improve the injured natural resources and the recreation opportunities that accompany them. For example, the NRD program will help fund full restoration at the confluence of the Blackfoot and Clark Fork rivers, where a multi-party consent decree signed in 2005 (pursuant to a separate Superfund enforcement action) will result in the historic removal of the Milltown Dam and the tons of toxic sediments contained in its reservoir.

Focus

Many issues raised in the ongoing Clark Fork River Basin restoration reflect national concerns about natural resource damage assessment and implementation. This conference will provide insights into current NRD law and policy developments nationwide, with a look ahead at possible resolutions in the Clark Fork River Basin and beyond. Starting with keynote speaker Lynn Scarlett, special attention will be paid to issues before the federal advisory committee examining U.S. Department of the Interior NRD programs.

Who Should Attend

This conference offers Continuing Legal Education credits for attorneys. The program will also be of interest for federal, state, tribal, and local policy officials and resource managers; scholars; and representatives of industry, environmental, and community development groups involved in ecosystem restoration. There will be ample opportunity to participate in facilitated discussions with panel members and to speak with them outside of their presentations. Some of the speakers will publish their presentations as articles in the Public Land & Resources Law Review.

Conference Schedule

Lynn Scarlett, Deputy Secretary of the Interior, will deliver the Keynote Address on the evening of Monday, September 27, 2006. Tuesday will include interactive morning talks and panel discussions on national NRD issues; an on-site lunch provided; an afternoon session on Clark Fork River Basin issues; followed by a catered evening reception on the Clark Fork River, for all conference participants. Wednesday morning sessions will focus on lessons learned in the Clark Fork River Basin and in other states’ NRD programs, and will explore implications for national policies and practice; the program will conclude at noon. Plans are also underway for an optional tour of the Milltown Dam restoration site in conjunction with the conference.

Sponsored by the Public Land & Resources Law Review, the Public Policy Research Institute, and the University of Montana School of Law, with additional support from the Clark Fork Coalition, the Montana Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law Bar, and the Montana Water Trust

NEWS ROUNDUP

Critical red-legged frog habitat cut by feds The Bush administration Thursday dramatically shrunk the land deemed crucial for survival of the California red-legged frog, a threatened amphibian at the center of a national debate. After years of litigation and scientific dispute, the Fish and Wildlife Service formally declared 450,288 acres as critical habitat for the frog once celebrated by Mark Twain. It's a sprawling patchwork spread over 20 California counties, including Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and portions of Merced, Nevada and El Dorado counties. But the frog's critical habitat no longer includes the county commemorated in Twain's famous ''The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.'' It is also 39 percent smaller than scientists had proposed in November, and 89 percent smaller than officials suggested at the start of the Bush administration. That angers environmentalists but gratifies congressional critics who dispute the usefulness of critical habitat....
Conservationists rally against drilling plan Pinedale Middle School eighth-grader Tracey McCarty said she wanted to find out about ozone levels in Sublette County when she began a prize-winning science fair project last November. With the increased development in the Jonah natural gas fields in southwest Wyoming and 3,100 more wells planned, McCarty wondered whether gas development affected ground-level air quality, specifically ozone levels. So she set up an experiment designed to measure ozone levels at four locations around Pinedale. What the 14-year-old amateur scientist found were ozone levels exceeding national standards. "We got a shocking number of ground-level ozone from my calculations ... We measured ground-level ozone at about 182 parts per billion, and definitely the limit of what we should have in this area, or any area, is under 90 parts per billion," McCarty said Thursday. McCarty joined a host of conservationists, ranchers and Sublette County residents speaking at press conferences in Pinedale and Laramie to announce the filing of two appeals of the Bureau of Land Management's decision approving the Jonah Infill Drilling Project. The appeals were filed by the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, the Center for Native Ecosystems and the Pinedale-based Upper Green River Valley Coalition....
Former EPA director advocates balancing environment, business Christine Todd Whitman served a frustration-filled two years as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She joined the Bush administration as it began its first term, and she was regarded highly as a moderate voice. But two years later, a period interrupted by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, she resigned, frustrated by environmental groups, business resistance, congressional opposition and a White House that appeared to have its eye on different victories. Whitman will be in town next week to address Valley Forward's Livability Summit, which will focus on smarter growth strategies, said Diane Brossart, the group's executive director. Valley Forward is an organization that promotes a balance of economic growth and environmental quality. The Republic's Michael Clancy discussed the issues with Whitman, a former governor of New Jersey....
Column: Kane County can't cope with free enterprise Kane County's history includes an experiment in the 1870s when Mormon leader Brigham Young tried a form of socialism in which residents pooled and divided resources for the common good. That didn't last long. But it appears Kane County's current conservative Republican commission still has a problem with the free-enterprise system. How else can the commission's recent actions trying to subvert an environmental organization's purchase of Bureau of Land Management grazing rights be interpreted? Between 1999 and 2001, the Arizona-based Grand Canyon Trust bought $1.5 million of grazing permits on 350,000 acres of Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument land from willing sellers, with the idea of retiring those permits. Fearing the loss of their area's agricultural industry, Kane County Commissioners sued to take away the trust's property, arguing the permits must be used to graze cattle. Even though the trust was using some permits for grazing, that wasn't enough. Commissioners persuaded the Utah Legislature to spend more than $100,000 of state tax money to sue the BLM for issuing the permits to the Grand Canyon Trust. If an environmental organization sued to obtain grazing permits from a rancher, conservatives would call this "a taking." So how can they justify trying to grab the trust's legally obtained rights?....
Schweitzer explains bison plan to ranchers Gov. Brian Schweitzer is proposing an expanded bison hunt and state payments to ranchers who remove their cattle from grazing grounds in the West Yellowstone area and the Gardiner basin. The measures, part of a 10-year management plan, would help preserve Montana's brucellosis-free status and save the state money it otherwise would have to spend hazing and slaughtering bison, he said. "It doesn't make any sense to haul (the bison) up and bring them to slaughter," said Schweitzer, who rolled out his ideas Wednesday in a meeting with landowners. "We're putting the entire cattle industry at risk. I think we can do it better, and I think we can do it cheaper." Several ranchers expressed skepticism at his plan, saying the solution should come from the federal government....
Helping Save Prickly Victims of Development The operation began military-style at the crack of dawn. Bearing welders' gloves, shovels and tweezers for medical emergencies, the brigade of 40 moved across the desert, undaunted by rattlers, in single-minded pursuit of their well-defended targets. It was the 141st mission of the Cactus Rescue Crew, and its challenge could be seen nearby, where whirling sprinklers signaled another "championship golf fairway" under construction, another "active adult master-planned community" in progress. That would soon bring extensive "blading" — clearing for development — to this spot outside Tucson populated by baby saguaros, lurching barrels and spiny clumps of hedgehogs. In this booming state, second only to Nevada in population growth, the citizens' brigade was organized out of concern that plants on vast swaths of the Sonora Desert were vanishing. The cactus rescuers, volunteers all, have pioneered a novel approach to sprawl, swooping in at the 11th hour to save the desert flora from the bulldozer....
Environmental group sues EPA over Central Valley dust rule An environmental group sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday claiming a new regulation over air pollution in the Central Valley is too lax. Earthjustice is challenging the rule over particulate matter with a lawsuit filed in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In particulate matter pollution, tiny specks of dust and dirt can linger in the air and become lodged in people's lungs, causing numerous health problems, such as asthma. Agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the nation's most polluted air basins, is one of the leading causes of particulate matter in the region. The agriculture regulation earlier this year required farmers to water service roads, plant grass between trees and buy updated equipment to help cut down on dust pollution. That is not far enough to significantly cut down on pollution, said Paul Cort of Earthjustice....
Irrigators to pay more for power Klamath Basin irrigators will pay higher power costs under an Oregon Public Utility Commission decision Wednesday. The ruling goes into effect Sunday and covers 1,400 Klamath Reclamation Project irrigators and 700 off-Project irrigators. It's intended to put them on rates similar to other PacifiCorp irrigation customers after a seven-year phase-in. Scott Seus, a California farmer and chairman of the Klamath Water Users Association's power committee, used a baseball analogy to describe the ruling. “It's not a home run, but a double,” he said. “They recognize what we have advocated all along - that there is a credit for value. (Phase-in) allows people time to adjust their irrigation practices to stay in business. “The commission came out somewhere in the middle. That's probably a reasonable approach. It gives us breathing room.” The amount of cost increase varies among customer classes, but each now pays less than a penny per kilowatt hour while other PacifiCorp irrigation customers pay 6.98 cents, according to the utility commission....
Government made $9 million in loans to ineligible farmers The Agriculture Department loaned $9 million over six years to farmers who shouldn't have gotten loans, according to an audit released Thursday. The 98 farmers failed to fully repay earlier loans, according to the agency's inspector general. Congress considers those borrowers ineligible for future loans. Through its Farm Service Agency, the department is a lender of last resort; it loans money to farmers and ranchers who can't get credit from banks or other lenders. In 2004 alone, the department issued $323 million in loans, the audit said. The farmers got credit because department employees misunderstood the rules and approved some loans by mistake, the audit found. In other cases, debt history was missing from the department's automated system for tracking loans, or the system wasn't used, auditors reported....
Mad cow suspected in Canada Federal officials Thursday tested a British Columbia dairy cow suspected of contracting mad cow disease, potentially bad news for Canadian cattle ranchers still recovering from a two-year ban on their beef in the United States. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said it was trying to confirm whether it is a new case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE. The cow was identified on a Fraser Valley farm through the national BSE surveillance program. It would be the fifth case in Canada since May 2003, when the U.S. border was closed to Canadian beef after the sick cows were detected in Canada....

FLE

DEA Agent Who Shot Self In Foot Sues U.S.

A Drug Enforcement Administration agent who stars in a popular online video that shows him shooting himself in the foot during a weapons demonstration for Florida children is suing over the tape's release, claiming that his career has been crippled and he's become a laughingstock due to the embarrassing clip's distribution. Lee Paige, 45, blames the video's release on DEA officials in an April 7 federal lawsuit filed against the U.S. government. A copy of the pro se complaint by Paige, a DEA agent since 1990, can be found below. According to the lawsuit, Paige was making a "drug education presentation" in April 2004 to a Florida youth group when his firearm (a Glock .40) accidentally discharged. The shooting occurred moments after Paige told the children that he was the only person in the room professional enough to carry the weapon. The accident was filmed by an audience member, and the tape, Paige claims, was turned over to the DEA....

Documents Show Link Between AT&T and Agency in Eavesdropping Case

Mark Klein was a veteran AT&T technician in 2002 when he began to see what he thought were suspicious connections between that telecommunications giant and the National Security Agency. But he kept quiet about it until news broke late last year that President Bush had approved an N.S.A. program to eavesdrop without court warrants on Americans suspected of ties to Al Qaeda. Now Mr. Klein and a few company documents he saved have emerged as key elements in a class-action lawsuit filed against AT&T on Jan. 31 by a civil liberties group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The suit accuses the company of helping the security agency invade its customers' privacy. Mr. Klein's account and the documents provide new details about how the agency works with the private sector in intercepting communications for intelligence purposes. The documents, some of which Mr. Klein had earlier provided to reporters, describe a mysterious room at the AT&T Internet and telephone hub in San Francisco where he worked. The documents, which were examined by four independent telecommunications and computer security experts at the request of The New York Times, describe equipment capable of monitoring a large quantity of e-mail messages, Internet phone calls, and other Internet traffic. The equipment, which Mr. Klein said was installed by AT&T in 2003, was able to select messages that could be identified by keywords, Internet or e-mail addresses or country of origin and divert copies to another location for further analysis....

AT&T asks judge to order documents alleging wiretaps returned

Attorneys for AT&T have asked a federal judge to order a San Francisco civil liberties group to return ``highly confidential'' documents that allegedly show that the telecommunications giant provided detailed records of millions of its customers to a government intelligence agency. In documents filed on Monday, AT&T's attorneys also asked Judge Vaughn Walker to order the Electronic Frontier Foundation to refrain from referencing the documents in its lawsuit. The EFF filed a lawsuit against AT&T in January alleging that AT&T had collaborated with the National Security Agency in a ``massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.'' Last week, the group filed additional documents to the federal court in San Francisco totaling more than 140 pages. The documents purportedly provide evidence of the technology that AT&T had used to conduct surveillance for the NSA. The documents, which included a sworn declaration from retired AT&T technician Mark Klein and confidential company documents, were voluntarily placed under seal by the group pending a decision by the judge to make them public....

Librarians Win as U.S. Relents on Secrecy Law

After fighting ferociously for months, federal prosecutors relented yesterday and agreed to allow a Connecticut library group to identify itself as the recipient of a secret F.B.I. demand for records in a counterterrorism investigation. The decision ended a dispute over whether the broad provisions for secrecy in the USA Patriot Act, the antiterror law, trumped the free speech rights of library officials. The librarians had gone to federal court to gain permission to identify themselves as the recipients of the secret subpoena, known as a national security letter, ordering them to turn over patron records and e-mail messages. It was unclear what impact the government's decision would have on the approximately 30,000 other such letters that are issued each year. Changes in the Patriot Act now allow the government discretion over whether to enforce or relax what had been a blanket secrecy requirement concerning the letters. Lawyers for the group, the Library Connection of Windsor, Conn., argued that their client was eager to participate freely in the debate last year over the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. But federal prosecutors asserted that the Patriot Act required that the group's identity remain secret and that the government would suffer irreparable harm if any information about its investigations became known. The decision by the Justice Department to drop the case was applauded by the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the lawsuit on behalf of the librarians. The civil liberties group said it would identify its clients at a news conference once court proceedings in the case are completed in a few weeks....

Efforts to secure US borders ‘have slowed since 9/11’

The growth in the number of agents patrolling US borders has slowed in the 4½ years since the September 11 terrorist attacks and concerns over illegal immigration override fears of terrorist infiltration in the allocation of border resources, according to a new analysis. The report, by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Trac) at Syracuse University and released last week, also found that, although the national commission investigating the 2001 attacks warned of vulnerabilities on the long northern border with Canada, the southern border with Mexico has continued to take priority. The administration and Congress “have not taken the commission’s recommendations to heart”, the study said. The data gathered by Trac show that the US has poured resources into border security over the past decade, but that the effort has actually slowed since 2001. It said the annual growth rate in the number of full-time Border Patrol agents was higher in both the first and second terms of president Bill Clinton than it has been so far under President George W. Bush. Between 1997 and 2001, the second Clinton term, the number of agents increased by 42 per cent to 9,651. In the four years following the attacks, that number has risen by a more modest 15 per cent to 11,106. Proposals under consideration by Congress would almost double the size of the Border Patrol to 21,000 – making it by far the largest federal law enforcement agency, nearly double the current size of the Federal Bureau of Investigation....

Security lapse reveals secrets of Air Force One

Air Force One, the presidential jet, is a near-mythical symbol of US power, shrouded in so much secrecy that even foreign leaders invited on board are forbidden from seeing every corner. But the aircraft just became rather less mysterious after it emerged that detailed plans of its interior and exterior had been made publicly available on the website of an American air force base. One diagram shows the location of the president's suite, at the very front of the Boeing 747, which is known to include a medical facility, workout room, kitchen and office, as well as a bedroom. Another shows the location of oxygen tanks which could, in theory, be targeted by a terrorist sniper. The information appears to be intended for personnel involved in responding to an emergency on board. The documents, which had not been removed from the site yesterday, add precise detail to what was already known about the president's plane: that it contains 85 telephones, 19 televisions, facilities for film screenings, flares to repel missiles and shielding to protect onboard electronics from an electromagnetic pulse. They also underline the previously publicised fact that the plane always pulls up at public events with its left side facing people and buildings - protecting the president's quarters on the right side....

NEWS ROUNDUP

The New Ranch May Be Key to the Success of the New West There’s a saying in farming and ranching circles that asphalt is the last crop. That paints a dim picture, but Tuesday’s panelists chose instead to focus not on lamenting the issue, but on showing through example how modifying traditional ranching lands and practices to meet new challenges has renewed the definition of success for ranchers and habitat alike throughout the Rockies. Moderator Jack Wold, president of Wold Oil and Gas and a rancher himself, led the discussion on the threats and signs of hope in Rockies ranching, with student researcher Andrew Yarbrough, author and environmentalist Dan Dagget, ranchers and leaders of the Country Natural Beef co-op Doc and Connie Hatfield, rancher Dale Lasater, New Seasons Market CEO Brian Rohter and rancher and Wyoming State Senator John Schiffer. The lively discussion kicked off with a presentation from Yarbrough highlighting the changes ranching has seen over the last several decades, and the trends that promise to shape – for better or worse – the future of ranching in the Rockies. Like conservation and biodiversity, ranching’s biggest threat is population growth, with ranch lands being sold off to developers with offers too tempting for struggling farmers and ranchers to turn down. Shrinking healthy soils and grasses, consolidation of the livestock industry and the ongoing effects of government subsidies were also on trial during the discussion....
Lawsuit against BLM dismissed A U.S. District Court has dismissed a suit by a local rancher who accused the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of destroying the viability of her ranch by allowing oil and gas companies to extract minerals below the surface. Tweety Blancett, who leases federal land in San Juan County near the Colorado state line, alleged in the Dec. 2004 suit filed in United States District Court in Washington, D.C. that the BLM "failed to comply with its mandatory duties under the Taylor Grazing Act." The purpose of the Act is to safeguard livestock grazing areas. The suit also alleged the BLM did not take enforcement action against oil and gas companies who have violated BLM regulations. According to a written opinion filed March 20 by Judge John D. Bates, the court lacked jurisdiction in the matter and dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning Blancett could refile. "I thought it was an interesting decision," Blancett said. She added that while the court dismissed the claim, Bates did recognize the ranch was not viable. "The court agrees, and will presume for the purpose of resolving the present motion that the alleged lack of enforcement action for the violations was the primary cause of decline," Bates wrote. "He's not disagreeing the ranch has been destroyed," Blancett said. "This judge was very knowledgeable on the issues." However, BLM officials said although the opinion may have acknowledged a decline in the ranch, it did not agree the BLM failed to live up to its obligations....
Group appeals feds' approval of Burnt Mountain expansion A coalition of backcountry skiers and environmentalists refuses to surrender Burnt Mountain without a fight. This week the coalition appealed a U.S. Forest Service decision that allows the Aspen Skiing Co. to expand east of the Long Shot trail on Burnt Mountain. White River National Forest Supervisor Maribeth Gustafson approved the Skico project as an amendment to the ski area's master plan in February. The Skico wants to thin trees on about 500 acres of Burnt Mountain and add roughly 200 acres of skiable terrain that would provide a "semi-backcountry experience." It might pursue the project this summer and might some day add a chairlift to serve the terrain. Donald Duerr, director of the Wyoming-based Ark Initiative, prepared the appeal. A 217-page document lays out the arguments, which often go into excruciating detail. One other environmental organization, eight individuals from the Roaring Fork Valley and two people from Florida are also appellants....
Navy drilling for geothermal energy Developers have often been reluctant to hunt for new geothermal energy because of the enormous cost and risk associated with drilling down deep below the earth's surface. So the U.S. Navy is increasingly doing the drilling on their behalf, scouting for untapped reserves of heat pent up beneath the surface of military facilities. One of the Navy's most recent geothermal discoveries, at Fallon Naval Air Station in Nevada, will culminate with a private power plant coming on line in 2008, officials said during a congressional hearing Thursday. Under the deal, the Navy will share profits with the contractor, making industry "more willing to partner in what is still a risky enterprise," said Wayne Arny, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and facilities. The Navy is conducting similar activities at a handful of other sites, which officials see as part of a larger effort to open federal property to renewable energy development as an alternative to foreign oil....
Don't count on federal timber payments, Smith says Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith says he will fight hard to renew a program that has pumped more than $2 billion into Oregon and other states hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. But the Republican said rural counties and school districts across the West should not depend on the federal subsidies indefinitely. “I have a duty to my colleagues in county government to remind them this was a temporary program. This was never meant to be a permanent thing,” Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press. Smith said he was speaking out because many counties – including some in Oregon – are locking the federal payments into their operating budgets for such basics as schools and roads. “This is a mistake,” Smith said. “It just isn't wise to lock it into permanent baseline budgets.”....
Cougar plan draws fire It's hard to find anyone who really likes the proposed state plan for controlling cougars, but the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission is widely expected to adopt it this week. The commission meets Thursday in Salem to consider the plan put together by biologists from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to address a rising number of complaints that cougars have been eating more pets and livestock -- and scaring more people -- since voters adopted a ban on hound hunting in 1994. The plan tries to restore the balance of cougars, humans, livestock and game animals that was in place in 1994. That's the year Oregon voters adopted a ban on hound hunting, widely considered the most effective means of killing cougars. Voters reiterated their support for the ban two years later. The cougar plan calls for holding Oregon's cougar population at or above the 1994 estimate of 3,000 animals. The current estimate is 5,000. It gives the department authority to kill cougars as long as livestock kills and complaints from people exceed 1994 levels, which they now do, and in 66 wildlife management areas where deer, elk and bighorn sheep herds are struggling. The Oregon Hunters Association grudgingly supports the plan, but contends it should have given hunters a bigger role in controlling cougar numbers....
Plum Creek shuts down half a shift at sawmill Plum Creek has cut half a shift at its sawmill here and offered the 45 employees impacted by the cut transfers to other plants in the valley. The sawmill used to have two full-time shifts. Plum Creek will cut that to 1.5 shifts, Hank Ricklefs, vice president of manufactured products said Tuesday. The reason for the cuts is the head rig saw is designed to take larger dimension timber. But Ricklefs said Forest Service sales and its own timber don't supply the volume of large logs that are needed to keep the head rig saw running at 80 hours a week. Most sales today are smaller dimension timber, he noted. “It's completely driven by wood supply issues,” he said. The other side of the mill uses a smaller saw that accommodates smaller-diameter timber, but the two are designed to work in tandem, Ricklefs noted....
Can Missoula's Mountain Bikers and the Forest Service Get Along? The president of Mountain Bike Missoula, a cycling advocacy group, is holding a weathered, two-week-old newspaper article in his hand. Ryan, an attorney with graying hair and an athletic build, doesn't look like the typical stereotype of a mountain biker – a teenager illicitly building big jumps in the woods. But Ryan, a Missoula native, has been biking the trails around here for 20-odd years, and knows his way around just about all of them. Ryan describes MBM members as an eclectic mix of middle-aged bikers and younger freeriders. The reason for his frustration is the article in his hand: A month ago, the Forest Service warned local bikers in a terse letter to stay off the Blue Mountain National Recreation Trail, a nine-mile, scenic trail overlooking Missoula’s valley floor. Following the letter, an article in the Missoulian reiterated the letter’s warning – noting that a hefty $175 fine would be slapped on anyone caught on two wheels on the trail. The sudden announcement took the local mountain bike community by surprise. But for a few years, their relationship with officials on the Lolo National Forest’s Missoula Ranger District has been on the rocks. In their view, the increased fines and abrupt letter were typical communication in a string of conflicts between local land managers and mountain bikers....
As wood rots, timber companies still seek Biscuit timber Four years after the giant Biscuit fire, timber companies remain interested in logging trees it killed. But both loggers and the U.S. Forest Service say the end of the salvage is near, given the deterioration of timber in the Siskiyou portion of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. "We are interested in the volume. We need the wood," said Steve Swanson, president of Swanson Group Inc. in Glendale. "Without a doubt the quality and value of that wood has diminished," he said. "And it's not going to get any better. The chance of a viable sale diminishes every single day." Darrel Bonde, timber manager for South Coast Lumber Co. of Brookings, said the two planned salvage sales this year "will be the last shot at anything. It'll all be gone after this summer." Forest officials say no date has been set for timber auctions. The logging would be harvested by helicopter to reduce soil damage. The sales would be in areas designated as roadless. Environmentalists say any salvage harms the natural recovery after a fire and is not economically justifiable....
New diversion aids fish The historic channel of Clearwater River that meets the North Umpqua River roared back to life last week with the opening of a gate on PacifiCorp's newly completed water diversion project. It had been 50 years since the natural connection sustained Clearwater River's flow. A previous man-made project had diverted all of its flow to Toketee Lake -- a reservoir that formed with the construction of a dam on the North Umpqua River. The new diversion puts part of Clearwater River back on its original course to allow fish, amphibians and habitat debris to pass between the two rivers again. It was one of the requirements in PacifiCorp's 35-year relicensing settlement agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and other state and federal agencies for its 185-megawatt North Umpqua Hydroelectric Project....
Gunnison sage grouse won't be put on list Federal officials announced Wednesday that they have decided against placing the Gunnison sage grouse on the endangered species list, saying the bird's numbers have stabilized or increased over several years. The decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reverses one in 2000 that designated the bird as a candidate for the list, meaning it needed protection but wasn't a priority. A new analysis of data from Colorado and Utah state wildlife agencies showed that the number of Gunnison sage grouse increased to an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 birds from about 3,000 in 2003, said Pat Mehlhop of the regional Fish and Wildlife office in Lakewood. "We said, 'Let's look at these trends more thoroughly and determine if they are as large a threat as we first perceived them to be when we put (the grouse) on the candidate's list,'" Mehlhop said. Environmental groups had petitioned to have the bird listed as threatened or endangered after it was classified as a candidate for federal protection....
Deal blocks testing during hunt An energy company has agreed to stop seismic testing on a Wyoming national forest just before hunting season begins, after negotiating with a hunters' group. ExxonMobil agreed to stop geophysical seismic activity two weeks before hunting season begins and throughout the season in Hunt Area 143 west of LaBarge on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Forest Service officials last year agreed to allow seismic activity during hunting season, but that decision was appealed by the Wyoming Wildlife Federation and Wyoming Outdoor Council. The seismic activity -- which includes use of ATVs, helicopters, cables and explosives to determine the presence of oil and gas -- was halted last year after the appeal was filed. A court was supposed to take up the case this winter, but the groups reached an agreement out of court....
BLM proposes multi-year birth control program for wild horses The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, concerned about deteriorating conditions at the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range, is proposing the use of birth control over the next five years to limit herd growth while the agency works on range improvement projects and a long-term herd plan, an agency official said. BLM officials also want to use a bait-trapping program this summer to capture and take up to 24 horses off the range, which is in southern Montana and northern Wyoming. Linda Coates-Markle, BLM's wild horse and burro specialist for Montana and the Dakotas, said this and the birth control effort are more humane and less intrusive than traditional round ups that cull horses from the land. "We have to limit grazing impacts, at least temporarily, until we get out of the drought, and the range has a chance to show an improving trend," she said. The carrying capacity of the range is just over 140, assuming good range conditions, Coates-Markle said. The current herd size is estimated near 160 horses -- not counting the foals BLM expects this year -- and range conditions cannot be considered good, she said....

GAO

Reports

National Park Service: Major Operations Funding Trends and How Selected Park Units Responded to Those Trends for Fiscal Years 2001 through 2005. GAO-06-431, March 31.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-431

Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06431high.pdf

Testimonies

National Park Service: Major Operations Funding Trends and How Selected Park Units Responded to Those Trends for Fiscal Years 2001 through 2005, statement for the record by Robin M. Nazzaro, director, natural resources and environment, before the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations. GAO-06-631T, April 5.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-631T

Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d06631thigh.pdf

Correspondence

Endangered Species: Time and Costs Required to Recover Species Are Largely Unknown. GAO-06-463R, April 6. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-06-463R

Jury awards $9.25M to cattle raisers

A federal jury on Wednesday awarded $9.25 million to cattle raisers who said large meat packing companies had underpaid producers for live cattle. The class action lawsuit was filed by three men and sought almost $43 million from Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. doing business as Excel Corp., Swift Beef Co. and National Beef Packing Co. The jury awarded damages of $4 million from Tyson, $3 million from Cargill-Excel and $2.25 million from Swift, Reed Rasmussen, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, told The Associated Press. The jury ruled in favor of National Beef. From April 2, 2001, to May 11, 2001, the U.S. Department of Agriculture misreported the boxed beef cutout prices for choice and select cuts of meat. The lawsuit alleged the meatpackers knowingly used that information to pay less to cattle producers than they would have if the cutouts were correct. The packers denied knowing about the faulty reports before the USDA acknowledged them. The erroneous reports were the result of a flawed computer program that took into account a lesser quality of beef when calculating cutouts for choice and select cuts. As a result, the choice and select cutouts were too low. Tom White, an Omaha, Neb., lawyer who represented the plaintiffs, said the packers treated his side's witnesses, the cattle producers and the jury with contempt. The suit was filed by Herman Schumacher of Herreid, Michael Callicrate of Kansas and Roger Koch of Nebraska....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Two candidates say state should drop wolf litigation Wyoming should drop its court battle with the federal government over wolves and negotiate a wolf-management plan, a Republican gubernatorial candidate says. "This litigation, I don't think, has gotten us anywhere," Ray Hunkins, a Wheatland lawyer, said Monday during a campaign stop. "Meanwhile, the packs are growing; the safety concerns are also growing." Dale Groutage, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, also said he favored dropping the litigation during a recent interview with Wyoming Public Radio in Laramie. Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat who is seeking re-election, has spearheaded Wyoming's legal action against the federal government on the wolf issue. Freudenthal defended the state's litigation and dismissed Hunkins' suggestion as a surrender. "It's not a new option," he said. "It's one available, to capitulate to the feds."....
Grading the "State of the Rockies" The Rockies Baseline is established as a set of key indicators to “take the pulse” of our region and measure where we are against our goals, and how we compare to other regions of the country. Baseline statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau show a 7% growth rate in the region since 2004, well over the national average of 2%, with a total population of 19,400,000 (2004). Other baseline statistics from 2004 include: - Commuters in the Rockies average a 22-minute drive to work each day, compared to the 25-minute average - About 20% of families in the region speak a language other than English at home - About 22% of the region’s population identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino - Median home value in the region was $162,232 - High school graduates stood at 27%, those who went on to obtain at least a Bachelor’s Degree were at 17%. - Regional median income was slightly below the national average at $43,391 - Poverty levels across the Rockies stood alongside the national average at 10% - Employment growth in the Rockies was 8%, with the largest gain in the service industry at 15% - both exceeding the national average....
Planned fire escapes boundary, burns cabins While angry homeowners accused the U.S. Forest Service of incompetence, firefighters worked Tuesday to contain a prescribed burn that escaped containment lines and destroyed four cabins in a rugged, scenic area of central Wyoming. The Forest Service started the prescribed burn Saturday outside a cabin subdivision near Sinks Canyon State Park and completed it on Sunday, Shoshone National Forest Fire Information Officer Ben Cramer said. Cramer said strong winds stoked the fire on Monday and blew it into the subdivision that borders the forest and contains 30 to 35 mostly seasonal vacation homes and cabins. But the burned-out cabins were evidence of negligence on the part of the Forest Service to at least one owner, while the forest supervisor indicated it was a surprise act of nature rather than mishandling by the Forest Service. Shelli Johnson of Lander, one of those who lost a cabin, said her family was angered by the "careless negligence" of the Forest Service because the agency left the fire unattended before it was completely out. "The facts show this did not have to happen," Johnson said in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press. "It was not an accident. F.S. officials made the conscious decision to leave an area that was still smoldering and did not return to it for at least 12 hours. And we are now the victims of their incompetence."....
Feds reject appeal to stop oil and gas drilling in Los Padres National Forest The U.S. Forest Service rejected appeals filed by the California attorney general and three environmental groups that would have halted oil and gas drilling in Los Padres National Forest, which spans San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. The Forest Service essentially said the appeals were premature because no new leases are being considered. But the state attorney general-s office said analyzing the effects of additional drilling is needed before leases are granted. The state said the Forest Service was ignoring the purpose of environmental review. "That (is) the gist of our challenge, that the National Environmental Policy Act and its state counterpart, the California Environmental Quality Act, are on the books to influence how decisions are derived, not to be applied after they-re decided," spokeswoman Teresa Schilling said. Los Padres supervisor Gloria D. Brown announced last summer that the Forest Service would open an additional 52,000 acres of Los Padres to oil and gas development. New surface drilling, power lines and roads would be limited to 4,000 acres, and the remaining 48,000 would be open for underground slant drilling....
U.S. Scores High Marks This Earth Day Though 2005 offered a full plate of environmental episodes that riveted the world's attention, including environmental calamities in China, Hurricane Katrina, and the U.N. conference on climate change, the march of environmental progress continues, according to the 2006 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, released today by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI) and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). "With over a decade of compiled research in the Index, the facts speak for themselves -- it's impossible to deny the environmental improvements we've made and the certain progress we'll continue to make over time," said Dr. Steven Hayward, author of the Index, senior fellow at PRI, and F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI. The eleventh edition of the Index of Leading Environmental Indicators (available at www.pacificresearch.org) highlights the positive trends occurring in key areas including climate change, air quality, water quality, toxic chemicals, and biodiversity in the U.S....
Governor holds fate of ecoterrorism bill An unusual coalition of interests lobbied on behalf of a bill addressing the threat of ecoterrorism that won final legislative passage last week. The legislation defining what crimes are considered acts of ecoterrorism and setting penalties awaits action from Gov. Ed Rendell. The governor faces a Saturday deadline to either sign or veto the bill, but he could take action as early as today. The bill defines ecoterrorism as using or threatening force against businesses and facilities involved with animals, plants and natural resources such as coal and oil and gas reserves for political and social reasons. The penalties range from misdemeanors to felonies with jail time and restitution for property damages. The coalition supporting the legislation includes industries, academic institutions and professional associations that ordinarily have little in common. The lineup includes the pharmaceutical industry, biotech industry, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, Pennsylvania Forestry Association, Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh and University of Pennsylvania....
Worldwide Wetland Restoration Could Reduce Bird Flu Threat The loss of wetlands around the world is forcing wild birds that may have avian influenza onto alternative sites like farm ponds and paddy fields, where they come into contact with chickens, ducks, and geese, finds a new report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Restoring the tens of thousands of lost and degraded wetlands could help reduce the threat of an avian flu pandemic by providing wild birds with their preferred habitat, according to the report authored by Dr. David Rapport of Canada. The report’s preliminary findings were announced today at a scientific seminar on avian influenza taking place at UNEP headquarters in Nairobi. "Wetland depletion has direct implications for migrating wild birds," Dr. Rapport writes. "Wetland habitat world-wide continues to decline, owing to agricultural expansion and urban development, resulting in fewer staging areas for wild migrating birds."....
Water plan heads for Austin fight Dallas-Fort Worth's battle for future water supplies heats up in April, when critics will argue the region's water plan is illegal. Local business leaders, concerned about the region's future water supply, say the plan must go forward -- or D-FW will face a dire, and dry, future. The 16-county D-FW region, dubbed Region C for compiling the state-mandated plan, is set to present a final version of the plan to the Texas Water Development Board on April 18 at a meeting in Austin. Opponents say they'll testify against the plan, according to Janice Bezanson, executive director of the Austin-based conservation group Texas Committee on Natural Resources. Since discussion of the plan began, controversy has swirled around proposals to study flooding thousands of acres of land to build two different reservoirs, Marvin C. Nichols Dam and Reservoir, about 125 miles northeast of Dallas near Mount Pleasant, and Fastrill Lake in southeast Texas. Two massive, separate coalitions oppose the reservoirs. Their members include environmentalists, landowners, farmers, ranchers, timber companies, business owners, politicians, government officials and wildlife conservationists. The Marvin C. Nichols opposition is citing state legal requirements that water plans be consistent with long-term protection of the state's water resources, agricultural resources and natural resources....
Global warming can cause extinction of thousands of species, says new study Thousands of animal and plant species may disappear from earth's surface as a direct result of global warming, warns a joint study by Australian, Canadian and U.S. scientists. Global warming today is one of the most serious threats to earth's biodiversity and may even rival or exceed risks due to deforestation, say the scientists who have summed up their findings in an article in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology. The study carried out by scientists from the University of Toronto, the University of New England, the U.S. Forest Service, the Worldwide Fund for Nature and Conservation International is an extension of a paper in 2004 that prophesied that a quarter of the various live species of the planet would face the prospects of extinction by 2050 because of the impact of global warming. The scientists confirm that conclusion. Emphasizing that climate change is rapidly becoming the most serious threat to earth's biodiversity, Jay Malcolm, assistant forestry professor at the University of Toronto and lead author of the study, said, "This study provides even stronger scientific evidence that global warming will result in catastrophic species loss across the planet."....
The Disappearence of Big Fish It's common knowledge that we are running out of oil. What's not so well known is that we are also running out of big fish. The harsh realization that catches of big fish-marlin, sharks, swordfish and tuna-are declining rapidly is beginning to sink in. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization considers about 75 percent of all fish fully exploited, over-exploited or depleted. The crisis can be seen most extremely across the Pacific, the world's largest source of tuna, where catches are shrinking along with the average size of the fish. Today a 70 pound swordfish-which is too young to have even reproduced-is considered "a good sized fish" and can be legally landed in the US. Just a few short decades ago the same fish averaged 300-400 pounds and could be caught close to shore with a harpoon. In the past two years, the Pacific has seen quotas, restrictions on catches, freezes on effort and even moratoriums. The US longline fleet had to shut down for the second half of 2005 in the Eastern Pacific. Japan and China were not far behind....
Survivor recalls worst train wreck in Montana history Warren Jones and Maurice Odquist were among the passengers on the Milwaukee railroad's Olympian train just after midnight on June 19, 1938, when the train plunged into the rain-swollen waters of Custer Creek 26 miles east of Miles City. Nearly 50 people were killed and scores more were injured, but Jones and Odquist were unhurt. As it happened, they were both packing cameras, and as soon as it was light enough they began photographing the dramatic, devastating scene, the worst train wreck in the history of Montana. They ended up shooting remarkably similar pictures of twisted wreckage and partly submerged passenger cars. Jones sent his film to his father in Milwaukee for developing, while Odquist apparently sent his to Life magazine as quickly as he could. On July 4, 1938, Life splashed Odquist's photos all over a spread that was headlined "A Survivor Photographs the Worst American Train Wreck Since 1887." The Olympian, as every Milwaukee train that ran between Chicago and Tacoma was known, was a fast air-conditioned train, described in a contemporary newspaper account as "the railroad's pride." Shortly before their departure, Jones' father changed the boys' accommodations, moving them from a "tourist" Pullman car into a standard Pullman, which was roomier. That decision probably saved their lives....
Gold-seekers found richness in the land History says sheep came to California along the wagon trains of the 1850s. It was a standard food item for the working and exploring parties. Sheep were highly popular. They furnished their own transportation and they needed no refrigeration, the miners of the Mother Lode consumed more than a half million sheep during this same decade. The shortage of cotton and the need for more wool during the Civil War inflated the price of wool, making sheep raising more profitable. The number of sheep in California increased from 1 million in 1860 to 6 million by 1876. Kit Carson drove the first sheep into the Sacramento Valley, about 15,000 head, by the way of Salt Lake. Then, he sold to the ranchers whatever they wanted. Later, quite a few Sacramento Valley sheep men drove their mutton wethers to Montana or Virginia City for the miners to eat during the 1870s and 1880s, most were 2-year-old wethers. Going to the mountains with sheep and goats stopped rather abruptly in the early 1930s, when the Forest Service said "no more sheep or goats in the Coast Range Mountains," or "no more burning." Burning the brush and dead logs is what made the feed better for the livestock to eat, there would be lots of new leaves and grass to come....

NEWS ROUNDUP

It’s wolf-eat-wolf as moose herds dwindle Gnawing leisurely on the remains of a moose carcass, the wolf pack’s alpha male seemed unaware that mortal danger was coming ever closer. Suddenly the eight-member rival pack burst into view. The alpha scrambled to his feet, but too late. Howling and barking, the enemy chased him down and mercilessly attacked, killing the hapless victim within a couple of minutes. It’s not unusual for the gray wolves on Isle Royale National Park to target each other, said John Vucetich, a Michigan Technological University wildlife biologist who witnessed the carnage from an airplane in January. But the rival pack’s brazen invasion of another’s territory was a sign – the wolves are hungry. The reason is a steady decline of moose, now at their lowest ebb in the 48 years that scientists have studied the two species in Isle Royale’s closed environment. “One of the ways the wolves struggle through a food shortage is to try and usurp territory from their neighbors,” Vucetich said. He and fellow researcher Rolf Peterson estimated the moose population at 450 this winter, down from 540 last year. Only four years ago, they totaled an abundant 1,100 in the national park, located in northwestern Lake Superior and accessible only by boat or airplane. Meanwhile, the wolf census held at 30 for the second consecutive year. But their numbers are sure to drop because there won’t be enough moose to feed them all, the scientists said. There are about 15 moose for every wolf. The normal ratio is 40 to 50 moose per wolf....
Study: Park's wolves worth millions People who visit Yellowstone National Park to catch a glimpse of its wolves bring $35 million to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming each year, according to a study led by University of Montana economist John Duffield. Those dollars are "direct impact" money spent on "motels and lemon pies," Duffield said. They turn over in local communities, pushing the regional economic impact to around $70 million a year, he said. Wolves are a "public good" and a national asset, said Duffield, who presented his findings during the 18th annual North American Wolf Conference. The study, which ran from December 2004 to February 2006, analyzed written surveys completed by about 1,900 randomly selected park visitors from places other than the three states surrounding the park.* It found that 3.7 percent of the park's 2.8 million annual visitors said they would not have visited Yellowstone if it didn't have wolves. In terms of costs, the increased tourism revenue vastly outstrips any losses suffered by ranchers and the hunting industry, he said, adding that confirmed livestock depredation in the three states has averaged $27,000 yearly over the past decade....
BLM picks oil-shale development contenders The U.S. Bureau of Land Management narrowed the field of oil companies hoping to exploit vast oil-shale reserves in Utah and Colorado, government officials said Monday. In a second elimination round, Exxon Mobil Corp. and a tiny Utah company, Oil-Tech Inc., were knocked out of the running for research and development leases to work 160-acre parcels of BLM land. That leaves four companies in contention out of 16 that originally submitted applications. In Colorado, the surviving nominees are Shell Frontier Oil & Gas Co.; Chevron Shale Oil Co; and EGL Resources Inc. In Utah, Alabama-based Oil Shale Exploration Co. was picked over Oil-Tech to work an abandoned mine. Both companies applied to work the same mine, ensuring one would be eliminated. The companies provided their best and final proposals, said James Kohler, chief of the solid minerals branch for the BLM in Utah....
Forest Service set for summer of work at High Uintas lakes It's shaping up to be an interesting - and unusual - summer in the High Uintas Wilderness. After years of debate, followed by several more years of planning, the Forest Service in June will begin dismantling a series of backcountry reservoirs that date back to the turn of the last century. The purpose: to stabilize and restore the high mountain lakes, which were enlarged by the construction of earthen dams, to something close to their original state. Three lakes on the south slope - Farmers, White Miller and Water Lily - are scheduled to be restored this summer. Further east, a pair of larger reservoirs - Fox and Crescent - are scheduled for repairs. Altogether, the project calls for 13 lakes to be returned to their natural condition over the next few summers. "These are reservoirs that were basically built by the pioneers 80 years ago with primitive tools to provide irrigation water," said Mike Elson, acting district ranger for Ashley National Forest. "They were amazingly well built, but they don't meet current dam standards and they are difficult to maintain, especially with the wilderness designation limiting motorized use. So we began looking for a way to move this water to facilities that are more accessible and modern." Central Utah Project officials, and environmentalists, have long clamored for the High Uintas project....
Group seeks protection for lizard An environmental group on Monday filed a petition with the federal government seeking endangered or threatened status for a desert-dwelling lizard, saying off-roading in wind-sculpted dunes of remote San Bernardino County is leading to the reptile's demise. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service generally takes 90 days to decide if such petitions warrant further review, said Al Donner, an agency spokesman in Sacramento. If that's the case, Donner said, it could take another few years to determine if the Mojave fringe-toed lizard should be protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Off-roaders were concerned that another protected species in the desert could lead to riding limits at Dumont Dunes, much like a threatened plant has done at the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near the Mexican border. "With the amount of closures in the last 10 to 15 years in the desert, we feel strongly that each additional closure needs to be done in a legal and proper way," said Fred Wiley, executive director for the Off-Road Business Association, which has an office in Temecula. Each year, some 140,000 visitors go to the 10,500-acre Dumont Dunes, said Doran Sanchez, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which operates the dunes. The petition for the seven-inch, black-flecked lizard is focused on a specific population of the reptile that lives around the Amargosa River, which meanders through Inyo and San Bernardino counties. The lizard also lives in other parts of Southern California and Arizona....
Resort operators outline visions for future of Mount Hood region The operators of resorts at Mount Hood have a vision that includes huge parking lots that connect with shuttle buses or aerial cable cars to three ski areas. Their vision includes a new road through Clackamas County forests so truckers can transport goods from Portland to the east side of the Cascades and avoid skier-caused traffic jams. Their vision includes widening highways, building sewage treatment systems, using stream water for snowmaking, developing land for housing and parking lots, and a collective marketing strategy that includes the U.S. Forest Service. All the ideas are in a March 13 "memorandum of understanding" drafted by the operators of Timberline, Mt. Hood Meadows and Mt. Hood Skibowl. It's, at most, a wish list of projects the resorts see as necessary to accommodate the building boom under way in Government Camp and the projected increases in the number of skiers making day trips from Portland. Most of what's in the document has yet to be formally proposed....
Allard introduces revised plan to allow forest management Sen. Wayne Allard said Monday that legislation pending in the Senate would allow thinning in national forests as part of a long-term solution to a severe bark beetle infestation in the West. Allard, R-Colo., said the bark beetle has chewed through 7.5 million trees in Colorado, killing or weakening drought-stressed forests. He said 6.3 million acres of hazardous fuels have accumulated, creating a fire danger. His plan would provide $225 million over the next five years to hire companies to thin forests, taking out underbrush along with some small and some larger trees to ensure uniform growth. Allard said his plan would protect water supplies by keeping fire debris out of the runoff and would allow federal land managers to work faster. ‘‘This would be achieved through steady, judicious and effective forest management over time. This represents a better, more cost-effective strategy than having to deal with catastrophic events under emergency circumstances,’’ Allard said....
Column: Selling unused federal land a good idea Isn't it great to sell your junk at a yard sale, ridding your home of the stuff that no longer fits your lifestyle but just takes up space? Yard sales illustrate the beauty of markets: Both partners benefit. The buyer gets something new; the original owner takes the proceeds and uses them for personal goals. The government owns assets, too -- a 600 million-acre federal estate. But it's difficult for this government to hold yard sales. Even a whisper about selling publicly owned assets typically sets off a firestorm of criticism. That happened recently when the Forest Service announced plans to sell off some land. Sens. Jeff Bingaman, D-New Mexico, and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, expressed opposition. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., declared the idea dead in the water. But cooler heads may yet prevail. Why? There may be no alternatives, and it's a good idea. The Forest Service proposes to sell off less than one-tenth of a percent of the federal estate, at most about 300,000 acres out of its 192 million acres. These lands provide little benefit to the average American, who pays for their management with taxes....
Column: Big Greens and Beltway Politics As business and environmental groups attempt to influence government environmental decisions, only one side consistently comes out on top. You don't have to dig too deep into campaign contributions to see who hands over more money to candidates and both major political parties. Oil and gas companies hand over millions more dollars to special interest groups and presidential campaigns than do environmental organizations. And their investments pay off quite well. Rarely is there an environmental victory that comes out of Washington. On contrary, big oil companies win time and again. Certainly there are not many policy wonks that keep an eye on Washington who would deny that campaign contributions influence public policy. This may well be the ill fate of the environmental movement--attempting to play ball with the big boys in Washington. Will they ever be on par with the likes of Enron or others who virtually write our environmental and energy legislation year after year? It has long been my belief that the Sierra Club and rest of the big environmental groups, along with the Democratic Party itself, that do the most harm to environmentalism. It's not the Republicans. If anything, the Republicans have been the best mobilizers of environmentalists by rallying people against their policies, even though many of the same policies were present during Democratic administrations....
Milltown Dam's hydroelectric power generating plant shut down for final time By Bill Scarbrough's count, Milltown Dam was a hydroelectric power generating plant for 98 years, two months and 29 days. That ended on Friday sometime shortly after noon. Over the course of an hour or so, Scarbrough and fellow NorthWestern Energy dam operator Mike Haenke flipped switches, turned dials and tracked meters while forever shutting down the four operating turbines and generators inside the dam's powerhouse. NorthWestern shut down the dam's hydroelectric generation as an important first step toward removal of the dam at the confluence of the Clark Fork and Blackfoot rivers east of Missoula. The shutdown was timed to take place just ahead of the effective date of a consent decree that officially sets the Milltown Dam removal project in motion. On Monday, authority over the dam will shift from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to the Environmental Protection Agency. NorthWestern remains the dam's owner. EPA is the lead agency in a $100 million project to dismantle the dam and remove about one-third of the 6.6 million cubic yards of contaminated mud that filled Milltown Reservoir during a flood the same year the dam began producing electricity. The dam was constructed by William Andrews Clark, one of Butte's Copper Kings. It began producing electricity on Jan. 9, 1908....
Column: There IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998 For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem. In truth, however, the biggest part of the problem is neither environmental nor scientific, but a self-created political fiasco. Consider the simple fact, drawn from the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero). Yes, you did read that right. And also, yes, this eight-year period of temperature stasis did coincide with society's continued power station and SUV-inspired pumping of yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. In response to these facts, a global warming devotee will chuckle and say "how silly to judge climate change over such a short period". Yet in the next breath, the same person will assure you that the 28-year-long period of warming which occurred between 1970 and 1998 constitutes a dangerous (and man-made) warming. Tosh. Our devotee will also pass by the curious additional facts that a period of similar warming occurred between 1918 and 1940, well prior to the greatest phase of world industrialisation, and that cooling occurred between 1940 and 1965, at precisely the time that human emissions were increasing at their greatest rate. Does something not strike you as odd here?....
When Phoenix, Tucson merge Phoenix and Tucson are heading for a collision. Arizona's two largest metropolitan areas are on course to meet and merge within a decade, engulfing several small towns along the way. The downtowns of the two major cities are separated by 120 miles. But their suburbs reach much farther along Interstate 10. Planned developments stretch 60 miles south of metropolitan Phoenix, deep into Pinal County. In Tucson, new projects are heading 40 miles north into Pinal, the only county that separates the two regions. That leaves only a 20-mile gap between the two cities' growth. Urban researchers are calling the corridor a megapolitan, or "super-sized" metropolitan area, and see it spanning from Prescott in the north all the way south to Sierra Vista and the Mexico border. The Phoenix-Tucson stretch is the epicenter. Dubbed the Arizona Sun Corridor by researchers, the megapolitan area is one of 10 expected to be the center of most of the nation's growth during the next 35 years. The combined population of metropolitan Phoenix and Tucson today is about 5 million. Forecasts call for the swath's population to top 10 million by 2040....
You don't know jack In a town that gave birth to the mythical "jackalope," a controversy appears to have sprung. Douglas residents, normally brimming with pride over the half-antelope, half-jackrabbit that has come to symbolize the town and its largest tourist draw, are seemingly torn about putting the jackalope, a statue of which graces downtown, out to pasture. The Douglas Budget reports in its April 5 edition that the town is actually debating whether to keep the old jackalope or replace it with one that could be ridden on. No sooner had that decision been reached when people decided they didn't want to see the old jackalope retired to stud just yet. As to whether the new jackalope will replace his older brother, no decision has been made. "We will not make a move without careful analysis of public opinion," Jackalope Square Advisory Committee Chairwoman Bobbe Fitzhugh told the paper....
Traders once used the Old Spanish Trail to head toward California Before it was the land of oil and apples, traders made their way through San Juan County heading toward California along the Old Spanish Trail with mules and goods for trade. The trail, which is currently being studied for deveopment into a designated national park trail, which will bring both awareness and activity to accessible parts of the 2,700-mile long route, is thought to have wound its way through the canyons and mesas of Blanco and Aztec. "This trail has some of the best outdoor recreation in the country," Sarah Schlanger, Bureau of Land Management archeologist with the New Mexico state office, said. "(We are traveling along the route and speaking with area residents) to find a way to connect people to the trail." The main goal of the trail, when it began, was to find a land route to California for the purpose of trading goods, textiles and livestock without having to use the water routes already in use....
It's All Trew: Crocks: The Tupperware of their day The dictionary says, “ A crock is an earthen jar made of baked clay, with a wide mouth and no handles.” Another statement says, “Clay cooking vessels go back to the beginnings of man, even before the discovery of fire, when humans used clay dishes to cook food out in the hot sun.” Clay food storage containers were so common they could be called the Tupperware of their day. As a little boy I can remember crocks, and crock-type bowls that were in everyday use in the Trew homes. My favorite crock story tells of chuck wagon cooks who kept their sourdough batch growing in a small crock with a lid. The thick walls of the crock kept the temperature more even than other vessels, and the wide mouth allowed the cook to work and pinch off biscuit dough when needed. Each day, the cook fed his dough with flour and other ingredients to keep it growing. The saddest thing that could happen to a wagon crew is when for some reason the sourdough died and a new batch had to be started. There were no biscuits until the new dough began producing. If the weather was hot, the sourdough crock was hidden underneath cowboy bedrolls to keep it cool. In cold weather, the cook slept with the crock to keep the dough from freezing....

FLE

Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room

AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers' phone calls, and shunted its customers' internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's lawsuit against the company. Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF's lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants. On Wednesday, the EFF asked the court to issue an injunction prohibiting AT&T from continuing the alleged wiretapping, and filed a number of documents under seal, including three AT&T documents that purportedly explain how the wiretapping system works. According to a statement released by Klein's attorney, an NSA agent showed up at the San Francisco switching center in 2002 to interview a management-level technician for a special job. In January 2003, Klein observed a new room being built adjacent to the room housing AT&T's #4ESS switching equipment, which is responsible for routing long distance and international calls. "I learned that the person whom the NSA interviewed for the secret job was the person working to install equipment in this room," Klein wrote. "The regular technician work force was not allowed in the room." Klein's job eventually included connecting internet circuits to a splitting cabinet that led to the secret room. During the course of that work, he learned from a co-worker that similar cabinets were being installed in other cities, including Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego....

How the FBI Let 9/11 Happen

Anyone paying attention to the Zacarias Moussaoui trial gets it now. All the 9/11 blanks are filled in, and the picture is complete. Sorry, conspiracy freaks and blind partisan hacks. Dull, common, gross incompetence is again at the heart of a deadly government cluster-hump. Do not linger on Moussaoui's bizarre suicide-by-testimony or the literal cheerleading for his execution—He knew. He lied. And 2,749 people died. Neither of these is the real story of this case. Rather, the story is the definitive proof Moussaoui's case provides that the U.S. government—pre-PATRIOT Act, pre-NSA wiretaps and all—had and missed clear opportunities to stop 9/11. The FBI uniquely and repeatedly punted carefully gathered evidence of an attack in favor of adherence to bureaucratic hierarchies and power trips. The testimony of FBI agent Harry Samit forever buries the quaint notion that 9/11 was unforeseen and unpreventable. Beginning with Moussaoui's August 16, 2001 arrest Samit mounted a global and indefatigable investigation of the man and concluded that an attack involving hijacked airplanes was imminent....

U.S. Military Secrets for Sale at Afghan Bazaar

No more than 200 yards from the main gate of the sprawling U.S. base here, stolen computer drives containing classified military assessments of enemy targets, names of corrupt Afghan officials and descriptions of American defenses are on sale in the local bazaar. Shop owners at the bazaar say Afghan cleaners, garbage collectors and other workers from the base arrive each day offering purloined goods, including knives, watches, refrigerators, packets of Viagra and flash memory drives taken from military laptops. The drives, smaller than a pack of chewing gum, are sold as used equipment. The thefts of computer drives have the potential to expose military secrets as well as Social Security numbers and other identifying information of military personnel. A reporter recently obtained several drives at the bazaar that contained documents marked "Secret." The contents included documents that were potentially embarrassing to Pakistan, a U.S. ally, presentations that named suspected militants targeted for "kill or capture" and discussions of U.S. efforts to "remove" or "marginalize" Afghan government officials whom the military considered "problem makers." The drives also included deployment rosters and other documents that identified nearly 700 U.S. service members and their Social Security numbers, information that identity thieves could use to open credit card accounts in soldiers' names. After choosing the name of an army captain at random, a reporter using the Internet was able to obtain detailed information on the woman, including her home address in Maryland and the license plate numbers of her 2003 Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicle and 1998 Harley Davidson XL883 Hugger motorcycle....

Bush’s Bogus Theory of Absolute Power

The Bush administration has a theory to explain why the Founding Fathers secretly intended for the president to have boundless power. Even though the new “unitary executive theory” is nowhere in the Constitution, White House officials continually invoke it to justify scorning federal law. The fact that the administration is getting away with this charade symbolizes how docile much of the American media and political opposition have become. Earlier this year, members of Congress anguished publicly over how many of the original USA PATRIOT Act surveillance powers should be renewed. A bipartisan agreement was finally reached, giving the White House almost everything it wanted. As part of the deal to renew the Patriot Act, Bush administration officials agreed to provide Congress more details on how the new powers were being used. However, Bush reneged in a “signing statement” quietly released after a heavily hyped White House signing ceremony on March 9. He decreed that he was entitled to withhold any information that would “impair foreign relations, national security, the deliberative process of the executive, or the performance of the executive’s constitutional duties.” He announced that he would interpret any provision in the law obliging notifying Congress “in a manner consistent with the president’s constitutional authority to supervise the unitary executive branch and to withhold information.” In other words, any provision of the law that requires disclosure is presumptively null and void. The crux of the “unitary executive” is that all power rests in the president, and that “checks and balances” are an archaic relic. This is the same “principle” the Bush administration invoked to deny Congress everything from Iraqi war plans to the records of the Cheney Energy Task Force. Bush has invoked the “unitary executive” doctrine almost a hundred times since taking office, according to a study by Miami University professor Christopher Kelley....

Mayor Nagin Continues to Snub the Second Amendment

Law-abiding citizens of New Orleans who were forced to relinquish their legally owned firearms to the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) will have to wait, indefinitely, to regain their property. The City of New Orleans revealed they have not returned any firearms, as Mayor Ray Nagin and the city have yet to set up a return process. “Mayor Ray Nagin continues to deny freedom by denying lawful citizens their Second Amendment rights,” stated National Rifle Association (NRA) Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. “First, he confiscates law-abiding citizens’ firearms and lies about it. Then, he fails to comply with court orders. Now he refuses to return the legally owned firearms to their rightful owners by dragging his feet. It’s a disgrace.” After denying the illegal confiscation for months, on March 15, 2006, Mayor Nagin and the NOPD conceded in federal court that they do have seized guns stored in locked steel containers. The city then agreed in court to a process by which law-abiding citizens may file a claim to receive their confiscated firearms. However, a New Orleans official handling the gun confiscations stated that no guns have been returned because the NOPD requires background checks, and the city has not set up a process....

Two in Homeland Security now charged with child sex crimes

It's called "Operation Predator," a high-priority Department of Homeland Security program that does battle against those who prey sexually on children. Now, with the arrest Tuesday night of a department deputy secretary, at least two of the agency's own top personnel stand charged with just such offenses. "It hammers home the fact that these individuals can be anywhere," said John Shehan, of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which works closely with Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. Brian Doyle, deputy press secretary to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, faces 23 counts of using a computer to seduce a child and transmitting harmful materials to a minor. He was caught in a police Internet sting in which a detective pretended to be a 14-year-old girl. The other Homeland Security official charged with a sexual offense involving a girl is veteran administrator Frank Figueroa, 49, the ICE special agent in charge of the agency's operations in central and northern Florida. Figueroa, who also ran the agency's El Paso, Texas, office, has pleaded not guilty to charges he exposed and fondled himself to a teenage girl last year at a mall in Tampa....

NYPD detectives convicted of mob murders

Two highly decorated former detectives were convicted Thursday of moonlighting as hitmen for the mob in one of the most sensational cases of police corruption in New York history. Louis Eppolito, 57, and Steven Caracappa, 64, could get life in prison for their roles in eight murders committed between 1986 and 1990 while they were simultaneously on the payroll of both the NYPD and Luchese crime family underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. Federal prosecutor Daniel Wenner described the case as "the bloodiest, most violent betrayal of the badge this city has ever seen." Prosecutors said the two men carried out two hits themselves — in one case after pulling a mobster over in a phony traffic stop — and delivered up some of the other victims to the Mafia to be killed....

Prosecutors Want Dental Jewelry, but Defendants Are Spared

Federal prosecutors in Washington State tried to remove elaborate customized dental jewelry bonded to the teeth of two accused drug dealers, saying the jewelry was bought with drug money and should be forfeited to the government. The men were on their way to a dental clinic Tuesday morning when their lawyers learned of the effort, rushed to court and persuaded a judge to halt it. The prosecutors had been granted permission to remove the jewelry in a secret proceeding in the federal court in Tacoma. In a sworn statement dated March 29 and unsealed this week, a federal agent, Brice P. McCracken, told a judge that the two men, Donald L. Lewis and Flenard T. Neal Jr., had used money from selling marijuana and cocaine to buy dental "status symbols which drug traffickers purchase to portray their status in the criminal community." Mr. Lewis and Mr. Neal are awaiting trial in Tacoma on drug and gun charges. They have pleaded not guilty. The dental jewelry, known as grills, cost "from $1,000 to anywhere in excess of $25,000," Special Agent McCracken wrote, saying he based his assessment in part on research he had conducted on a Web site called gangstagold.com. Zenon P. Olbertz, a lawyer for Mr. Lewis, said he was troubled by both the prosecutors' secrecy and their zeal. "The government has a legal right to take property, in general, that was obtained though illegal acts," Mr. Olbertz said. "But the process of covertly maneuvering to go essentially into someone's body to remove things that have been attached is frightening."....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Montana Pollution Rules Draw Federal Objections Federal energy officials are opposing new rules by Montana to force companies that extract methane gas from underground coal beds to clean up the water pollution caused by drilling operations, even as state officials cite an unreleased 2003 federal report that says cleanup costs are relatively inexpensive. The Denver office of the Environmental Protection Agency produced the report but never published it, saying it related to a proposed drilling application that was dropped. A Montana consulting firm obtained a copy of the EPA report, however, and handed it over to Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D). Last month, Montana's Board of Environmental Review, citing the EPA paper and other economic studies, voted to force coalbed methane companies to leave the state's streams as clean as they were before drilling started, although the companies do not have to clean up existing pollution. "We want to develop energy in Montana, but we want to do it right," Schweitzer said in an interview. "Here's the bottom line with the federal government: They're usually not helpful, and they weren't this time, either." The Energy Department and the Wyoming congressional delegation are backing companies that are trying to block Montana's new rules, on the grounds that they could hamper energy development. The department submitted analyses by two of its national laboratories concluding that the state's regulations were "unnecessarily stringent" and "inconsistent."....
Cities move to defend against railroad attacks Boston officials envision keeping rail cars carrying hazardous chemicals at least 10 miles away unless the city is their destination. A plan in Chicago would prohibit such tanker cars in its downtown Loop. In Cleveland, city officials are considering banning them near Lake Erie, water treatment plants, and crowded neighborhoods. Transport of these chemicals presents one of the knottiest public policy problems in the effort to protect the nation's cities from terrorist attack. Federal law requires railroads to carry such chemicals, which are used in manufacturing, water-purification systems, and wastewater-treatment plants. But with no federal regulations for securing the transport of these chemicals, The District of Columbia has enacted rules of its own and at least five other cities are considering them. These moves have drawn a sharp rebuke from industry and federal officials, who say such piecemeal efforts are misguided. Since 9/11, they point out, railroads have fortified rail yards and worked with the chemical industry to conceal where and when these tanker cars pass near or through cities. The threat looms large. Government studies suggest that the explosion of one tanker car carrying, say, chlorine would cause up to 100,000 deaths in a densely populated area. So Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago have proposed ordinances requiring that such deadly chemicals be rerouted around them unless they're destined for the cities themselves. The fact that the rail industry, with federal support, has sued the District of Columbia over its law has not deterred them....
Bush's Interior Nominee: Comfort in Consensus Eagle Island State Park here has horse-riding trails, picnic tables and a water slide. Under a recent compromise between the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, President Bush's nominee to oversee the nation's public lands as secretary of the interior, the park may one day get its own gravel mine, too. Aides to Mr. Kempthorne defend gravel mining at Eagle Island, outside Boise, as a way to raise money for park improvements without causing undue environmental harm. But others see it as a lobbed softball that his critics in the United States Senate will smack toward the fences at his confirmation hearing, raising questions about his judgment and environmental priorities. The hearing may begin as early as next month. Is it your position, Governor — pause, clear throat, sip from water glass — that mining inside America's parks is good public policy? "It's going to be like stepping on a rake," said Justin Hayes, program director for the Idaho Conservation League, an environmental advocacy group concerned about the mining plan. Governor Kempthorne, a second-term Republican, declined to be interviewed. But an analysis of his positions and votes over a 20-year public career in Idaho, and interviews with people who have worked with him, suggest that the plan, which he accepted as a provision of a parks improvement bill approved this week by the overwhelmingly Republican Legislature, reveals much about him....
Buried treasure in Texas From atop a 40-foot-high walkway on a towering natural gas rig, Doug Hampton scans the grassy scrubland that has served ranchers since the 19th century. He doesn't see much evidence of that history now -- no cattle, horses or cowboys. Instead, out on the horizon, he sees the future of this vast expanse north of Fort Worth. "Just look out there. See?" he said, pointing to another solitary steel structure. "There's a rig over there, another out there and another way out there." Mr. Hampton is a project manager for Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp., one of several companies tapping into the nation's fastest-growing natural gas field -- the Barnett Shale. The reservoir is vital to a tight U.S. supply market, has become a template for other fields nationwide, and is turning oil and gas into this region's most important industry. The changing landscape is making wells on high schools and private property a familiar sight. Even Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport is reviewing its options with 12 companies to lease land for drilling....
Couple still waiting for government's promised Clark Fork River cleanup work some 20 years later Some 20 years ago, Kathy Hadley was fuming. She and her husband Wayne had already spent years writing letters, going to meetings, doing whatever they could to try and convince government officials they'd forgotten an important piece of the puzzle when they designated areas around Butte and the Milltown Reservoir as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund cleanup sites. “I'd show them the map and point to that thin little blue line that connected Butte with Milltown,” Hadley said. “I told them they'd forgotten the Clark Fork River.” So finally, she called her sister and lined up a trip to Washington, D.C. Before they boarded the homeward-bound airplane, the upper Clark Fork had become part of the largest Superfund site in the country. Two decades later and the Hadleys are still waiting for the promised cleanup of the upper 120 river miles of the Clark Fork River. The Environmental Protection Agency signed a Record of Decision outlining the cleanup 2 1/2 years ago. But work won't start until a consent decree is also signed, outlining who will pay for what. No one knows for sure when that will be completed, although there are rumblings that it's getting close. The Hadleys aren't going to hold their breath....
Park's wolf idea causes worries With an elk population nearly double what biologists say it should be, Rocky Mountain National Park officials are looking for ways to manage the overgrown population. Officials at the park, which straddles the Continental Divide in Larimer and Grand counties, are considering a variety of options to cut back on elk. Re-introducing gray wolves is one of the options being considered. But the prospect of re-introducing the carnivores, which were eradicated from Colorado more than 60 years ago, has raised concerns from Colorado ranchers, including those in Moffat County. Les Hampton, a former Moffat County commissioner working with the Colorado Division of Wildlife on wolf issues, said this week that he is worried about the U.S. Park Service's plans. Hampton told the Moffat County commissioners Tuesday that re-introducing wolves in Rocky Mountain National Park could lead to wolves being re-introduced at other national parks, including Dinosaur National Monument. "I don't like what's going on," Hampton said....
Environmentalists appeal forest grazing ruling An environmental group continues to seek an end to grazing in Medicine Bow National Forest between Cheyenne and Laramie, appealing its federal court case. The Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance claims that cattle have been causing unacceptably high levels of fecal coliform bacteria in creeks in the forest's Pole Mountain section. The group says that violates the Clean Water Act. In January, the U.S. District Court in Denver ruled against the alliance and another plaintiff, the Center for Native Ecosystems, saying they needed to show not only a Clean Water Act violation, but lack of good faith in implementing best management practices. "We feel the district court was wrong," alliance spokesman Jeremy Nichols said. Ranchers who graze cattle and sheep in the forest, represented by Mark Eisele, president of the Pole Mountain Cattlemen's Association, have said they operate legally and have taken many measures to reduce the effect cattle have on streams. Such measures include pumping water out of streams and wetlands to water tanks to help keep cattle and their droppings away from those streams and wetlands....
Utah lawmakers revive lands-for-schools issue A recent finding by the U.S. Census Bureau that Utah remains last in the nation in the amount of money it spends per school child is reviving interest in a plan to make the federal government turn over some of the vast public lands it holds to pay for schools. Versions of the idea have been around for years, and they mostly have gone nowhere. But in an election year in which school funding remains a big issue, lawmakers' interest is picking up again. This past week, Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced legislation first championed by fellow Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop. And Bishop recently plugged it before what he said was a receptive audience at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. "I'm encouraged," Bishop said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I think there is some traction with the idea." The bill would require the Interior Department and Forest Service to give 5 percent of public land to Western states. States would hold the land in trust to be sold or leased with the proceeds going to public schools. The idea is based on the argument that Utah and 12 other Western states lose out on sales tax because of their vast acres of public land. The federal government owns on average just over half the land in those states, compared to about 4 percent in the rest of the country. Western lawmakers argue that Westerners put a larger share of their personal incomes toward state and local taxes as a result....
Suit over motorized closures is settled Four environmental and recreation groups have reached a settlement with the U.S. Forest Service over a lawsuit that was filed last December. The settlement restores the motorized closures made in the March 2003 Revised Forest Plan for the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The suit - filed by Nordic United, Bridgerland Audubon Society, Winter Wildlands and the Bear River Watershed Council - was sparked by a Forest Service decision made last July that cut in half a 9,000-acre area set aside for nonmotorized recreation in the Franklin Basin area of Logan Canyon. Under the terms of the settlement, the area will be restored to the acreage established in the 2003 Forest Plan. "This settlement agreement illustrates the willingness of skiers and conservation organizations to work with the Forest Service to resolve winter recreation conflicts in the Bear River Range," Wally MacFarlane, president of Nordic United, said in a statement....
Trail Controversy: Shawnee plan leaves many equestrian spots open It's the start of tourism season in Southern Illinois, and campground owner Tom Luchies has plenty of empty sites. In fact, all of the campsites at 34 Ranch, an equestrian campground in Herod, were open at the beginning of April, one month after the forest administration for the Shawnee National Forest announced its adoption of a trail designation plan. Luchies said campers riding their horses out of his campground into the Shawnee National Forest last year faced too many hassles from hikers and Forest Service personnel for them to feel welcome in the forest. Luchies watched one of his last permanent campers pulling out of his campground one pleasant Wednesday in early April. He said those campers had reserved a site for the full year last year. This year, he said they told him they feel there are less stressful recreational opportunities elsewhere....
Prospects dimming for Senate passage of endangered species bill A bipartisan group of senators trying to craft an Endangered Species Act rewrite has failed to reach consensus, signaling dwindling prospects of Senate action in the wake of House passage of an endangered species bill last year. Although talks continue, the stalemate is welcome news for environmentalists. They viewed the House-passed bill as dangerously extreme and feared that no matter what the Senate produced, the final product could be unacceptable because of the need to combine the two efforts. "If I cried, it's probably crocodile tears," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "It's hard to see, with an extremist piece of legislation like that, how anything acceptable could result." For property rights advocates, though, Senate inaction would be a missed opportunity. The House bill by Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., would require the government to compensate property owners if steps needed to protect species thwart development plans. It also would stop the government from designating "critical habitat" where development is limited....
Corral your inner cowboy Weathered cowboys on horseback swing lassoes skyward roping the first of 400 calves to be branded in traditional ranch fashion. Men and women in dusty Stetsons and worn chaps swoop in, each with a job in the branding process. Short and sassy Nancy Wilson, the 56-year-old matriarch of Wilson Ranches, burns the identifying LE on the bawling calf's side. It's a sight to see for a city dweller, which is just the point at Wilson Ranches Retreat Bed and Breakfast. Phil and Nancy Wilson, owners of the 9,000-acre spread near Fossil in Central Oregon, opened the B&B six years ago, wanting to share their Western life. Granted, it's not a vacation for everyone, particularly those who like the pampered grandeur of swank hotels. The ranch resides a good three hours east of Portland, on sprawling acreage dotted with cows and horses and the occasional coyote. The bunkhouse -- a renovated 1910 Sears Roebuck catalog home -- offers seven comfortable rooms, two with private baths. One of those has a clawfoot tub and lots of Epsom salts for post-riding soaks....
Cattle jam on Daly City street in run-up to rodeo It's something you might see in a dream: 21 adult Texas longhorns weighing up to a ton each, and 85 young steers at 600 pounds each, trotting up Geneva Avenue. That was a real-life responsibility for the chaps-wearin', gun-totin', lasso-throwin' cowhands who guided the herd Thursday morning from the Baylands' former railway yard to the Cow Palace for the 61st Grand National Rodeo. The Daly City institution began Friday and runs through April 15, and plenty of livestock will be on hand for urban cowboys and girls to take a gander at, among other draws. About 17 riders kept tabs on the Thursday procession, which recreated the kind of cattle drive that funneled steers from trains to the rodeo grounds until truck shipping became the norm. "We herd the cars, they herd the cows," said Daly City Police Sgt. Lou Pezzola, 43, who has done traffic control for the cattle drive for the past four years. "The cattle pretty much know the routine better than us."....
Boys with true grit Frederick is a small, bucolic community. The traffic is sparse and the signal lights are treated as more of a suggestion than the rule of law. This is where President Theodore Roosevelt came to hunt in the summer of 1905. It is where Comanche Chief Quanah Parker leased his tribe's pastures to Texas ranchers W.T. Waggoner and Burk Burnett. It is where Jack "Catch 'Em Alive" Abernathy built his reputation for catching wolves live, by driving his fist down their throats. It was a feat that both bewildered and thrilled Roosevelt....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Be careful with that big mustache With the advent of cowboy poetry has come a leap in the wearing of large mustaches not seen since the administration of Chester A. Arthur. And along with its popularity, it has stirred an increased scrutiny in the realm of fashion vs. sanitation that last appeared during the Afro-wearing years. As any Afro-wearer can tell you, if you wanted a job in the college cafeteria, you were required to wear a net. To date I have not seen any cowboy waiters at Dairy Queen wearing a net on their 'stache, but it can't be too far off. To comply with the International Bureau of Grooming and Fastidiousness, Reg. 002, on this date of the Hirsute Moon in regards to public display of facial hair defined as, though not limited to: mustache, cookie duster, pencil thin, handle bar, caterpillar, cow catcher, lip brush, broom, nose tickler, flavor enhancer, Copenhagen reservoir, soup strainer, ant trail, moth attracter, louse nest and bird house for the migrating house fly, a copy of this regulation should be prominently displayed over the sink in Spanish and English, in establishments where food is being served, animals are allowed to run free or surgery is being performed....