NEWS ROUNDUP

Advocates, USFS at odds over Basin When U.S. Forest Service supervisor Don Bright looks over the parched prairie of eastern Conata Basin, denuded of vegetation and pockmarked with prairie dog holes, he sees devastation.When Jonathan Proctor of the Predator Conservation Alliance views the same scene, he sees a success story in the making for prairie dogs, black-footed ferrets and other wildlife. The widely differing perspectives on the same piece of ground illustrate the ongoing public argument about the impact of prairie dogs, grazing and drought in Conata Basin....
Forest Service Decides to Cite Congressman for Fire Damage When two-term Rep. Henry E. Brown Jr. (R-S.C.) burned brush on his Cordesville tree farm March 5, gusts of wind blew the fire onto the adjacent Francis Marion National Forest, causing at least $4,000 in damage to 20 acres. On Sept. 8 came some unexpected fallout. On Friday, overturning earlier internal directives to "take no action" against Brown, Forest Service headquarters in Washington announced that the lawmaker would be served with a violation notice....
Ex-Forest Service worker accused of misconduct A group opposed to gas development in the HD Mountains has accused a former Forest Service employee of violating ethics standards by consulting for one of the energy companies with leases to drill in the HDs. The HD Mountains Coalition contends that Dick Bell, who retired from the San Juan National Forest in January 2003, crossed the line on ethics when he began consulting for Petrox Resources Inc. in June 2004. Meeker-based Petrox is one of three energy companies with gas leases in the unroaded area of the HDs....
Editorial: Cynical move on roadless rule The Bush administration has placed an unpopular rollback of national forest roadless rules on hold - but only until after the election. No matter what face the U.S. Forest Service puts on the maneuver, the timetable amounts to a cynical attempt to defuse a widespread controversy until after the polls are closed. Voters shouldn't be fooled....
Bat's 'endangered' listing a blunder, many experts say Few scientists think the federal government was right in 1988 when it listed the lesser long-nosed bat as endangered. In the 1980s, surveys sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found only 500 bats in Arizona and 15,000 in Mexico. The agency feared the bat's "drastic decline" could harm the plants it feeds on, including saguaros, organ pipe cacti and the agaves used to make tequila. Grazing in Southern Arizona was restricted to protect foraging habitat. But when the summer sun sets here to unveil the Milky Way, up to 500 of the bats bolt from an old mine shaft each minute. By day, about 20,000 of the flying mammals are inside, hanging upside down....
The skills to survive: Grizzlies Chuck Neal has tracked grizzly bears for nearly 30 years. His passion for grizzlies takes him across hundreds of miles of prime bear habitat each year in and around Yellowstone National Park. Neal, a retired ecologist from Cody, Wyo., does most of his research on foot, often in remote areas that grizzlies prefer and people steer clear of. "The grizzly bear is intelligent enough and has the physical capabilities to adjust to almost any environmental condition if - and this is the important part - we give him the room," Neal said....
New highway crossings target wildlife safety Of all the problems that grizzly bears face in the West, one of the toughest may be your favorite 40-foot-wide ribbon of asphalt. Over the next six years, more than 70 wildlife crossings will be added to roads and highways in Montana. They range from culverts to underpasses to a dirt-covered, 150-foot overpass expected to cost more than $1 million. The crossings in northwestern Montana are intended to cut down on problems not only for bears but for all wildlife....
Heartworm shot may have killed wolf A report on the death of federally protected red wolf suggests a heartworm-prevention drug may have led to the adult female's death. The medicine, ProHeart 6, has been recalled by the Food and Drug Administration after reports of negative side effects in treated dogs, including death. The rare red wolf that federal wildlife managers at a Charleston nature preserve were counting on to help save the endangered species had been injected with the drug last month by members of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service....
Back from the brink: Federal government to propose the removal of Yellowstone grizzlies from endangered species protections The stubby-legged, 1,000-pound behemoth doesn't have a name, but Karl Rappold recognizes him instantly. The grizzly bear and the 52-year-old rancher have crossed paths for 28 years. "He looks like a big angus cow, the same size," Rappold said. "He's just a tremendous animal to see." The big grizzly has wandered out of the Bob Marshall Wilderness each year and onto Rappold's 7,000-acre ranch near Dupuyer, land that his grandfather homesteaded in 1882. Rappold's father or grandfather may have aimed a rifle at the grizzly, or an ancestor, especially if he got too close to the livestock. Today, though, Rappold tolerates the grizzlies that come onto to his land and even tries to make sure they keep out of trouble....
Grizzly deaths hit limit set by U.S. The government's mortality limit for female grizzly bears in the Yellowstone area has been reached with the recent killing of a bear by a surprised elk hunter, a wildlife official said. A hunter acting in self-defense shot the bear the weekend of Sept. 10-11, said Chris Servheen, scientist in charge of the grizzly bear recovery plan for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "With this death, we have hit the mortality threshold for female bears established in the 1993 recovery plan," he said. "This mortality limit has not been exceeded since 1997."....
Bitterroots may be crucial to grizzly recovery A year later, the government approved a plan to import 25 grizzly bears over five years in an effort to establish a sustainable grizzly population and aid recovery of the bears south of the Canadian border. Wildlife officials estimated that it would take 50 to 110 years for the population to reach the goal of 280. Although it was heavily favored in public comments, the project was halted after Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne threatened to sue. "I oppose bringing these massive, flesh-eating carnivores into Idaho," Kempthorne said at the time. "Whenever there's an encounter between a human and a grizzly bear, the human does not fare well."....
As flow of salmon surges, US moves to cut protections With salmon returning to Pacific Northwest rivers in bountiful numbers not seen since the 1960s, the Bush administration has moved aggressively this election season to roll back policies designed to help the fish survive passage through the region's huge hydroelectric dams. In a series of announcements this year, federal fish agencies, which have spent billions of dollars to protect salmon from dams under the Endangered Species Act, essentially sided with power producers over environmentalists on what steps need to be taken to protect the fish. Most recently, the National Marine Fisheries Service, which oversees protection of salmon, released a plan Sept. 9 that would end years of debate about whether to breach four dams on the lower Snake River....
Editorial: Preserving dams, restoring salmon In their new salmon recovery plan, federal fisheries officials conclude that the Columbia and Snake river dams are an immutable part of the Northwest landscape. At least for the near future, that's true. That's not saying concrete is found in a state of nature, or that John Day Dam is a manmade equivalent of Mount Hood. Instead, it is a recognition that major dams in the Columbia system are not going to be punched open anytime soon, certainly not in the 10-year period covered by the federal government's proposed new plan....
Soaring aloft with Amelia, a falcon, offers a dramatic view of migration Each year peregrine falcons -- birds whose hunting prowess has been known for nearly 3,000 years -- make their way from the Arctic tundra to the rain forests of Central and South America and back again. This miracle of migration captured the imagination of naturalist Alan Tennant, who began tracking the birds with a crew of researchers on the barrier islands of the Texas Gulf Coast. Unwilling or unable to let the idea of the falcons' journey go, Tennant persuaded a pilot named George Vose to fly him wherever the birds would lead and wrote about the experience in "On the Wing: To the Edge of the Earth With the Peregrine Falcon."....
Snowplane advocates hope ban is revisited Advocates for motorized recreation want the National Park Service to take another look at its ban of snowplanes on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park. The BlueRibbon Coalition, based in Pocatello, Idaho, is hoping a federal judge issues a favorable ruling on snowmobiles, which the group believes will open the door for the return of snowplanes to the lake. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer in Cheyenne is mulling whether to strike down a Clinton-era ban on snowmobiling in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks....
Woman gives up home battle, agrees to leave Mojave land The fight is nearly over for Connie Connelly. After almost 31 years of living in a remote desert home, Connelly said she reluctantly decided this week to yield to National Park Service officials who have spent years trying to evict her from five windswept acres in the northeastern Mojave National Preserve. "Sometimes you've got to pick yourself up by the seat of your pants and go on," said Connelly, 44, who was cited earlier this year for trespassing on federal land. "They're unwhippable." Earlier this week, Connelly signed and submitted paperwork agreeing to be relocated from her Ivanpah home. She asked to be moved to isolated northern Wyoming, said Sondra Humphries, chief of the National Park Services' Pacific Resources Program Center in Oakland....
Without a remedy, Lost Forest will be forest lost The Lost Forest is dying. But whether the cause is thousands of off-road vehicles, Christmas Valley irrigators or chronic drought is anyone's guess. There are more questions than answers for the tree die-off in the Lost Forest, a 9,000-acre stand of pine and juniper that has survived for centuries among sand dunes and sagebrush in Central Oregon's semiarid high desert. How and why the forest survives in a place that resembles the surface of Mars has intrigued generations. Now, it's the forest's sudden fragility that has land managers puzzled....
Comments overwhelming against Front drilling More than 49,000 Americans - an overwhelming 99.76 percent of those who wrote - have urged the Bureau of Land Management to nix an oil and gas exploration plan on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front. An analysis of 49,180 comments submitted to the BLM in response to a drilling proposal by Startech Energy Inc. found 49,064 opposed to the idea and 116 in favor....
New rules aim to curb off-road travel Four-wheeling visitors to the McCullough Peaks won't be as freewheeling next month when new off-road vehicle designations will put the brakes on unrestricted travel. Increasing off-road vehicle use in the Peaks area prompted the Bureau of Land Management to release the final McCullough Peaks Travel Plan on Wednesday....
Canyon Holds Ancient Civilization Secrets The newly discovered ruins of an ancient civilization in this remote eastern Utah canyon could reveal secrets about the descendants of the continent's original Paleo-Indians who showed up before the time of Christ to settle much of present-day Utah. Archaeologists estimate as many as 250 households occupied this canyon over a span of centuries ending about 750 years ago. They left half-buried stone-and-mortar houses and granary caches, and painted colorful trapezoidal figures on canyon walls....
Ski village an uphill climb The battle for what could come of McCombs' 287.5 acres of spruce and aspen atop Wolf Creek Pass promises to be spectacular. The venerable owners of the Wolf Creek Ski Area who recently abandoned the McCombs village team are suing him. Environmentalists of all ilk are mobilizing lawyers for land-protecting appeals. Locals on the Pagosa Springs side of the southern Colorado mountain pass fear a loss of business and jobs to the village. Leaders on the other side of the pass in Mineral County see a bounty of jobs and tax revenue if the plan goes through. The speedy time frame for completion of the Forest Service's environmental impact statement on the access road and the date of the final decision for the project - 10 days before the presidential Inauguration Day - are also raising eyebrows among opponents of McCombs, a well-connected Republican from Texas....
Alaska senator upset with walk-out Dems U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens wants an apology from Senate Democrats for walking out of a committee considering two bills sponsored by his Alaska colleague, Lisa Murkowski. If he doesn't get the apology, Stevens said, he will put a hold on all bills sponsored by Senate Democrats running for re-election. "They've got to learn a little bit of common sense and particularly senatorial courtesy, or I will teach it to them," Stevens said Thursday, the day after the Democratic walkout. Democratic Sens. Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico and Tim Johnson of South Dakota walked out on the Senate Energy Committee hearing when the Murkowski bills were about to come up. One Republican on the committee had not shown up, and the walkout prevented the needed quorum to take action on amendments and send the bills to the Senate floor....
Hearst Land Settlement Leaves Bitter Feelings The mesmerizing tranquillity at San Simeon Cove this weekend was far removed from the turmoil surrounding the future of the cove and of the 18-mile stretch of wild, undeveloped coast from here north almost to the Monterey County line. After fighting for years to preserve unfettered public access to the area, conservationists say they have been defeated by a state board's approval on Wednesday of an agreement that allows the land's owner, the Hearst Corporation, to restrict the public's use of the entire stretch of coast. The agreement is part of a larger deal under which the state will pay $95 million to descendants of the publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst to preserve most of the 82,000-acre Hearst Ranch....
Valley cities vow to fight ruling that will take water from farms Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez is ready for war after a court ruling that he fears will take water from farmers and jobs from the San Joaquin Valley to restore salmon in the San Joaquin River. Lopez joined 10 other speakers at Fresno City Hall last week to begin their battle against the ruling handed down in August, when U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento decided the federal government’s operation of Friant Dam on the San Joaquin violates a state law protecting downstream fish....
Move would keep more water in reservoirs Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns and North Dakota Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan made a key inclusion last week to the Interior Appropriations Bill for 2005. They added what they called "Drought Conservation Measures" into the appropriations bill to protect water levels on Montana's Fort Peck Reservoir, North Dakota's Lake Sakakawea and South Dakota's Lake Oahe. That bill came out of the full Senate Interior Appropriations Committee Tuesday and now heads to the Senate for consideration....
Retracing a Grim Past It is known, to those who know it at all, as California's Trail of Tears. In 1863, U.S. soldiers rounded up Indian tribes across Northern California at Chico Landing in Butte County. Then they marched them across the sweltering Sacramento Valley, over the rugged North Coast mountains, to what was known then as the Nome Cult Reservation. Of 461 Indians who set out under guard, only 277 completed the 100-mile, 14-day trek. Many were abandoned, too sick to continue. Some escaped. Others were killed. For decades, some descendants tried their best to forget. These days, they make a point of remembering....
Honoring an Apache Warrior Almost 7,000 feet high in the middle of the country's first preserved wilderness, before the cement was mixed and the rocks and mortar were laid, this volunteer project started with an it'edjidile, a blessing, in the language of the Apache. Harlyn Geronimo, a medicine man and the great-grandson of the Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo, prayed, raising fingertips smeared with the yellow pollen of the river cattail to a gray, overcast sky....
Efforts to Preserve Seabiscuit's Home Enter the Final Stretch Mendocino County environmentalists and historical preservationists are nearing completion of a complex deal that would permanently protect more than 4,600 acres of the historic Ridgewood Ranch, final resting place of the famed racehorse Seabiscuit. Nestled in an oak- and redwood-studded valley about eight miles south of Willits, the ranch became a beacon in the 1940s for thousands of Seabiscuit fans who made the pilgrimage 130 miles north from San Francisco to see the legendary horse....
Hunt for Superstition treasure OK'd Ron Feldman looks toward the Superstition Mountains and sees gold and silver bars that have been stashed in a mine shaft for more than 150 years.Now he has U.S. Forest Service approval to go look for them. He's not claiming the cache is the legendary Lost Dutchman Mine of Jacob Waltz, but he's sure it's related....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Concrete not an easy thing to corral The cement truck driver added to our education by pointing out that five yards of concrete weighs 20,000 pounds. It's not that we were complete novices around cement, sand and gravel. We have poured footings, built rock walls, patched old water tanks, shoveled out feed bunks and irrigation ditches, and driven over lots of concrete cattle guards. But alas, in retrospect we put too much faith in plywood and drywall screws. We built a form. It looked good, but then again I live in a land where the illusion of a fence is considered as good as five strands of barbed wire and a post every eight feet. We stack things against rusty wire and make extensive use of stays fashioned from willow branches, mesquite limbs, string, BBQ grills, car parts, hoe handles, cardboard, pillowcases and coyote hides....