NEWS ROUNDUP

13 million acres proposed for Mexican spotted owl habitat More than 13 million acres in four Western states would be designated as critical habitat for the endangered Mexican spotted owl under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal released Tuesday. The proposal includes 4.9 million acres in Arizona, 4.6 million acres in New Mexico, 3.3 million acres in Utah and 569,125 acres in Colorado. Public and tribal lands are included. A final decision is expected in August. Public comment will be taken through Dec. 18...Forest Service chief wants regulations eased Federal land managers could reduce the risk of wildfire and prove to the public their desire to create healthy forests if some environmental regulations were eased, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service said Monday. Critics have said proposals like President Bush's Healthy Forest Initiative are a thinly veiled effort to log more large trees from federal lands. But Bosworth said the president's proposal to speed up the environmental review process and to reduce the amount of time spent on project appeals will create opportunities for the Forest Service to accomplish effective thinning and prescribed burning, thus reducing the undergrowth that turns smaller fires into major ones...Republicans reject Baucus' efforts to halt Front drilling Republicans late Monday rebuffed an attempt by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., to keep gas drillers out of a small area of Montana's Rocky Mountain Front while the Interior Department studies options for buying them out. The Front's 200-square-mile Badger-Two Medicine area is considered sacred by the Blackfeet Tribe, and drilling there would be controversial, Baucus told a House-Senate committee that negotiated a final energy bill. Baucus offered an amendment that would have put a three-year moratorium on drilling there while the Interior Department explores options for buying or trading out leases in the area bounded by Glacier National Park, the Blackfeet reservation and the Great Bear Wilderness Area. "No leaseholder worth his salt will pursue these," Baucus said shortly before the committee rejected his amendment 7-6 along party lines. "It will not happen."...Forest plan curbs snowmobile access Snowmobilers will find some areas of the White River National Forest closed this winter, now that the newly adopted forest plan is in effect. The forest plan means new winter-travel restrictions in some areas of the White River, including some areas that were formerly popular with snowmobilers, such as the Thomas Lakes area near Mount Sopris. All designated wilderness areas were already closed to motorized uses, but the forest plan identifies recommended wilderness areas that will carry the same management regulations, according to Kenealy. "We have significant pieces of ground that are now managed as wilderness," he said...Deaths of three Yellowstone wolves investigated Federal officials are investigating the deaths of three wolves including one that was apparently shot. The wolves include the alpha males of the Greybull River and Sunlight Basin packs, according to Mike Jimenez, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf coordinator in Wyoming. The wolves were found at different times this fall and in different places, so there is no direct evidence the deaths might be linked...Rare wildflower threatened by oil and gas exploration, lawsuit says Environmental groups trying to protect a rare wildflower that grows only on oil shale barrens in Utah and Colorado filed a lawsuit Tuesday against federal wildlife officials. The groups say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Endangered Species Act by not responding to a petition by environmentalists to protect the Graham's penstemon, a small lavender flower found only in northwestern Colorado and in the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah. The wildflower has been listed as an endangered species candidate for 27 years but has never been granted full protection status, the suit says. The primary threat to the flower is oil and gas exploration and drilling in its habitat...Norton says good relations with landowners help environment Interior Secretary Gail Norton told a group of conservationists Tuesday that the Bush Administration has helped protect open spaces and endangered species by cooperating with land owners rather than focusing on criminal penalties. Norton said focusing merely on punishments caused people to do just the minimum to avoid penalties, and that they should be encouraged to do more to protect the environment...Environmentalists argue Puget Sound whales should be added to endangered species list Killer whales swimming in the Puget Sound and nearby waters, whose numbers have declined almost 20 percent from 1996 to 2001, should be placed on the endangered species list, environmentalists say. The Puget Sound orcas are genetically distinct and don't mingle or reproduce with any other groups of whales, according to a coalition of environmentalists suing the government...Humans blamed for extent of endangered-species list Conservationists believe the extinction rate for species is 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than it should be under natural conditions, meaning many creatures may disappear during the next few decades. The primary reason: humans. The planet's biodiversity is significantly threatened by everything from expanding cities to deforestation, agriculture and fishing, the union said...Feds Report on Large Salmon Kill in Ore. A federal report on what caused the deaths of 33,000 salmon in the Klamath River in September 2002 points to a large return of fish and low water levels as two primary factors. The report is likely to become evidence in the trial of the Yurok and Hoopa tribes' lawsuit against the federal government claiming its decision to restore irrigation to farmers violated responsibilities to sustain salmon harvests...Judge denies immediate road access for Pilgrim family federal judge on Tuesday rejected a backwoods family's request to use an old mining road so they can haul winter supplies to their remote cabin in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline denied the Pilgrim family's motion for a temporary restraining order, saying the National Park Service was justified in wanting to assess the environmental impact of reopening the road inside the southeastern Alaska park. "Vehicular travel over the roadway in question has not occurred for more than 65 years. This was not a secret at the time plaintiffs purchased the property, as many living within the park boundaries lack vehicular access to their property," Beistline wrote in his 18-page ruling. "Therefore, it is reasonable to allow the Park Service time to investigate the issue before making a decision."...Pilot considers it his "civic duty' to kill wolves Bob Magnuson considers it his "civic duty" to kill a wolf every now and then. That's why he's planning to apply for a permit to hunt wolves with his airplane this winter after the Alaska Board of Game approved the state's first aerial wolf-control program in more than 15 years...Survey: Park Service employees fear outsourcing Most National Park Service employees are afraid of losing their jobs to private companies, and morale within the agency is declining, according to a recent survey by a conservation group. Roughly two-thirds, or 66 percent, of 1,361 Park Service employees who responded to the survey designed by the Campaign to Protect America's Lands, a nonprofit group based in Washington, indicated that agency competitive sourcing efforts concerned them a "great deal." Nearly a quarter said they were somewhat worried by such efforts, and only 3 percent said they were not at all bothered...Editorial: Don't privatize park jobs The Bush administration should not push ahead with an ill-advised plan to turn federal jobs in the national parks and forests over to private contractors. While the theory sounds appealing - that private companies can do the same tasks for less money - the reality has proven to be far different...Beware of National Aviation Heritage Area, Group Says The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Tuesday on a bill that would create a National Aviation Heritage Area encompassing several counties in Ohio and Indiana. But a conservative public policy group says creating a new national heritage area is not a good way to celebrate the Wright Brothers' first flight...Drought prompts grazing reductions in Nevada Federal land managers are reducing grazing on public lands across Nevada to deal with what they call the driest rangeland conditions in 15 years. Bureau of Land Management officials said a lingering drought in what is already the nation's driest state prompted them to close portions of 10 grazing allotments and reduce the number of livestock allowed on others...Walden proposes volunteer firefighter program In a phone call Monday to Bureau of Land Management Director Kathleen Clarke, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) urged the creation of a volunteer citizens' wildland fire response program to combat wildfires that break out on federal lands in Oregon. During his call to Clarke, Walden stressed the damage done to Oregon's cattle ranching community by wildfires that destroy grazing land, as well as critical species habitat. The volunteer program is necessary to remove prohibitions that prevent local citizens and volunteer firefighters from using readily available equipment to quickly attack fires on federal lands before they become major conflagrations. A similar volunteer firefighting cooperative program is operating in Nevada... Subsistence hunters oppose NPR-A plan Subsistence hunters on the North Slope say expanding exploration in the northeastern corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska could hurt their way of life. The Bureau of Land Management wants to revisit environmental protections approved in 1998 that officials now say are keeping nearly two-thirds of the oil in the NPR-A's northeastern section off-limits...Daschle says deal near on forests bill Backers of a Healthy Forests bill now before Congress have broken an impasse, and Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he expects a deal by week's end. The bill, introduced by President Bush and passed by the House last spring, remains one of a handful of pieces of legislation being negotiated as lawmakers prepare to wrap up the year's business before Thanksgiving. "In the not-too-distant future, I think we'll be able to announce an agreement," Daschle said. "We're much closer to getting something passed than we were just last week."...Judge Decries Pro-Industry Mining Rules A federal judge yesterday upheld Interior Department regulations that allow more mining on public lands but criticized the rules, redrafted just weeks after President Bush took office, for putting industry wishes above environmental protections...High Plains discloses plans for Ft. Lyon water transfer High Plains A&M, a Nevada-based LLC which has been buying land and water rights under the Ft. Lyon Canal Company, has disclosed at least some of the details of proposed transfer of irrigating water from agricultural to municipal use. The disclosure came during negotiations with the Ft. Lyon Canal Company which began Wednesday and are continuing through today...Water plant director is sentenced in fish kill A Warsaw, Ind., man who oversaw the dumping of tons of sludge and diesel fuel by the city's wastewater treatment plant, killing thousands of fish in a river, will spend nearly four years in prison. A federal judge sentenced David Van Dyke, 53, to 46 months in prison on Tuesday for sewage discharges and a subsequent cover-up last year while he was the Warsaw plant's director. Van Dyke, who must pay a $39,370 fine, will begin his prison term on Dec. 30...We have evidence, say sheep saboteurs ANIMAL rights activists who claim to have sabotaged the feed of a shipment of sheep bound for the Middle East say they will distribute video evidence of the action. Patty Mark, a spokeswoman for Animal Liberation, told Sky News this afternoon proof would be distributed to the media after police and others said they doubted the activists had managed to contaminate the food. Police say they have no evidence to back up the protesters' claims, made this morning, that pig meat was dumped into the food and water supply of the sheep, due to be loaded for transport tomorrow. The contamination was intended to stop the shipment being acceptable in its destination market, as Muslims do not eat pig meat...PETA Delays Ad Poking Fun at Clay Aiken People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has delayed a new ad campaign with the slogan "Get Neutered, It Didn't Hurt Clay Aiken," while it waits to see if Aiken will apologize for negative comments he made about cats, PETA officials said Tuesday. "If Clay Aiken intends on staying famous, he has to learn to take a joke," said Dan Mathews, vice president of the Norfolk, Va.-based animal rights group. The ad features the crass puppet Triumph the Insult Comic dog from "Late Night" with Conan O'Brien urging pet owners to spay or neuter their animals. The barb came from Triumph, but PETA allowed the ad because of an interview Aiken gave to Rolling Stone Magazine in June where he said he didn't like cats...Rancher ordered to demolish unauthorized dams A Salmon-area rancher has been ordered to remove three unauthorized dams and could pay $10,000 in civil penalties for violating state law. The Idaho Department of Water Resources says Roger Ball excavated one-thousand feet of stream-bed in Little Sawmill Creek near the community of Lemhi. Rancher gets camel for easy riding Despite years of prolonged drought, a camel in cow country seems mighty incongruous. But there Samson is, two humps swaying like Jell-O as he parades beside a homestead-era, chinked barn at the far northern edge of Yellowstone County. "Camels don't spit," cattle rancher Don Golder says in a chatty, reassuring way as he feeds pellets to his young, halter-broke camel. "They belch and regurgitate at you."...Twins advance with top roping wins Little hands can throw big loops, and the big loops thrown by Hopkins County ropers Bryan and Bradley Caudle have caught a lot of wins. The Caudles, 5-year-old twin brothers, have been invited to demonstrate their roping talents at the World Championship dummy roping competition in Las Vegas in early December, when the National Finals Rodeo will be under way...