NEWS ROUNDUP

Conservation Groups Pleased Idaho Wilderness Bill Introduced Today, in the final hours of the 108th Congress, Representative Mike Simpson introduced the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. The bill would protect nearly 300,000 acres of the Boulder-White Clouds as wilderness and take other steps to advance rural economic development and protection of recreation opportunities. Conservationists have sought wilderness protection for the Boulder-White Clouds for over 20 years. The bill contains compromises that have concerned the conservation community since Rep. Simpson first announced them, at the beginning of the summer....
Group files lawsuit against USDA over gorge plan A Columbia Gorge group has filed a federal lawsuit charging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent approval of new rules regulating the national scenic area does not adequately protect the gorge's landscapes. The lawsuit contends that the revised rules fail to protect forests, clean water, salmon habitat and farmland. They also say the plan exposes protected areas to excessive logging in the 80-mile section of the Columbia River Gorge....
Sheep grazing to continue in SNRA Sheep grazing will continue in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Ketchum Ranger District, the Forest Service announced on Thursday. However, modifications will be made. "Grazing is considered an appropriate activity on the SNRA as long as the values for which the SNRA was created back in 1972 are not substantially impaired," said Sara Baldwin, an SNRA ranger. "I have determined that with the mitigation and management requirements we have identified, my decision for these allotments will not cause substantial impairment to SNRA values."....
Saving Salamander to cost between $106 and $408 million Saving the California tiger salamander in Santa Barbara County over the next 25 years will cost between $106 million and $418 million, a price tag to be borne mostly by "the real estate sector," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. In releasing a draft analysis, which is open to public comment until Nov. 8, the federal agency also estimated that $1 million has been spent for economic impacts since early 2000 when the salamander was listed as an endangered species in Santa Barbara County. Some local officials scoffed at the numbers and ridiculed the report's conclusion that the real estate industry would bear the cost....
Judge delays environmentalists' bid to halt Trinity County mine A federal judge on Friday delayed an emergency bid by environmental groups to block mining along a popular creek west of Weaverville in Trinity County. The groups filed two lawsuits against an exploratory mining pit in Shasta-Trinity National Forest after logging of the one-acre site had already begun Thursday. Critics say the acre contains nine old-growth trees suitable as spotted owl habitat. Nearly two-dozen members of the Canyon Creek Coalition who went to the site Friday intending to chain themselves to the remaining trees won a promise of no more logging until a meeting Monday. They may then discuss forming a conservation conservancy to buy the mining claim, said Jimmy Curran, whose family helped organize the opposition....
Gabriel blasts prairie dog settlement South Dakota Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel on Friday criticized a federal court settlement that changed some terms of a federal-state plan to poison prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota. Gabriel said the best part of the settlement, reached Wednesday in Denver, is that it allows poisoning to go forward this month on Buffalo Gap National Grassland in Fall River County and in Conata Basin south of Badlands National Park. But Gabriel said the court settlement falls short of the federal-state agreement reached in August to poison prairie dogs on federal land....
Rare Ferrets Released In Northwest Colorado Nearly two-dozen black-footed ferrets have been released near Dinosaur National Monument as part of a government effort to re-establish the rare animal in parts of the West. By this weekend, 11 more ferrets will join the 23 animals in the Wolf Creek Management Area of northwest Colorado. In all, 149 black-footed ferrets have been released to date in Colorado, Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said Thursday....
Officials look into killing of grizzly A federal investigation into the fatal shooting of a grizzly bear that attacked a Gillette hunter Sunday in Teton County is expected to be concluded next week, an official said this morning. Roy Brown, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent in Lander, had launched a probe into the shooting earlier this week because the bears are protected by federal law. Although the man responsible for killing the bear that attacked Weston Scott has not been charged with any crime, Brown will submit his report to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne. Federal prosecutors will determine whether to charge the Indiana man, whom Brown declined to identify. "They have the say-so whether it falls under the self-defense category or not. I'm basically the collector of facts," Brown said....
Judge upholds firing of Park Police’s Chambers An administration judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board has upheld the firing of former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers. In an Oct. 6 ruling, MSPB Judge Elizabeth Bogle said the Park Service had a legitimate reason for disciplining Chambers for making statements to the media and Congress about her agency’s budget and staffing problems. The Park Service placed Chambers on administrative leave in December and fired her in July....
Ranchland goes public Almost 1,900 acres of the McMaster Ranch between Keir Lane and Eagle Bay Drive is now open to the public. The Bureau of Land Management finalized the sale last week, which means that the public now is welcome to hike, bike, hunt and horseback ride on what previously was private property. Steve Hartmann, BLM assistant field manager, is thrilled with the acquisition, which is the first of a two-part sale announced earlier this year. But he also wants people to be aware that some restrictions on access remain, and that the second part of the 5,636-acre deal probably won't be completed until the first part of 2005....
Mine threat just a stunt to criticize land laws An environmental group has staked a claim to mine 20 acres of land next to a posh subdivision near Hayden Lake, Idaho, to illustrate how antiquated the nation's mining laws have become. Members of The Lands Council drove a stake into some public land near the Canfield Mountain subdivision on Thursday, and said they could mine the surrounding land under the Mining Law of 1872. "Hard-rock mining trumps all other uses and values associated with America's public lands," said Mike Petersen of The Lands Council....
Democrats ask for probe of reported changes to salmon study Leading Democrats called for an investigation Friday into a report that federal biologists rewrote an analysis that said a water transfer plan could hurt endangered salmon in northern California. In a letter to the inspectors general of the Interior Department and the Commerce Department, the House members said the report suggested a "catastrophic failure of oversight." At issue is a recent report in The Sacramento Bee that said federal biologists evaluating the effects of shifting millions of gallons of water to Southern California from rivers in the north were ordered by their superiors to revise a conclusion that the plan would hurt endangered salmon....
Congress Sends Indian Land Consolidation Act to President Last night, the House of Representatives passed S. 1721, the Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments of 2004, by unanimous consent. S. 1721 will tackle fractionation by providing a new federal probate code that will limit fractionation and promote estate planning. In particular, the "single heir" rule for small intestate interests will put a cap on the growth of fractionation. The bill will also allow tribes and individual owners to acquire and consolidate highly fractionated interests, and it expands and makes permanent the federal land acquisition program. Hall said it is important to know that the probate provisions in the law will not take effect for at least 18 to 24 months....
Environmental Group Cites Partisanship in the Judiciary Federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents are several times as likely as Republican appointees to rule in favor of plaintiffs who sue the government claiming violations of environmental law, according to a report issued yesterday by the nonpartisan Environmental Law Institute. The authors of the study -- which examined 325 judicial rulings between Jan. 21, 2001, and June 30, 2003 -- said the results show the degree to which ideological polarization over the environment has influenced the federal judiciary. The nonprofit institute, which researches environmental law but does not litigate or lobby, focused on cases brought under the National Environmental Policy Act, a 35-year-old law requiring agencies to assess how proposed federal policies and programs affect the environment....
Congress allows nuclear sludge remain in Idaho, South Carolina waste tanks Lawmakers agreed Friday to allow tons of radioactive sludge from Cold War bomb-making to be left in underground tanks at federal facilities in South Carolina and Idaho instead of being shipped to a central repository. The measure reclassifies the sludge from high level to incidental, a category that means it can be left in the tanks and combined with concrete grout. The sludge accounts for about 1 percent of the tank waste, and the rest still will have to be removed....
New Research Questions Uniqueness of Recent Warming A new analysis has challenged the accuracy of a climate timeline showing that recent global warming is unmatched for a thousand years. That timeline, generated by stitching together hints of past temperatures embedded in tree rings, corals, ice layers and other sources, is one strut supporting the widely accepted view that the current warm spell is being caused mainly by accumulating heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions. The authors of the study, published in the current issue of the online journal ScienceExpress, said they did not dispute that a sharp warming was under way and that its pace could signal a human influence. But they said their test of the methods used to mesh recent temperature records with centuries-old evidence showed that past natural climate shifts were most likely sharply underestimated. Many climate scientists credited the new study with pointing out how much uncertainty still surrounds efforts to turn nature's spotty, unwritten temperature records into a climate chronology....
Lawyers Oppose Delay In SUV Vandalism Trial Lawyers for a Caltech graduate student accused of firebombing sport utility vehicles oppose a bid to delay his trial. Attorneys for Billy Cottrell filed a motion this week objecting to a delay sought by prosecutors. Authorities said they need more time to research defense claims that Cottrell suffers from a form of autism. The 24-year-old physics student is accused of damaging or destroying 125 SUVs in the San Gabriel Valley last August. He has been held without bond in federal custody and could face 35 years to life in prison if convicted. Authorities believe the vandalism -- in which more than $3 million in property was damaged or destroyed -- was carried out by radical environmentalists....
Lawmakers move toward deal on hurricane, drought aid House-Senate bargainers neared agreement Friday on an election-season $14.7 billion package of aid for East Coast hurricane victims and drought-stricken farmers, participants said. Though eleventh-hour changes remained possible, lawmakers were hoping the House would approve the legislation late Friday and recess for the last weeks of the presidential and congressional campaigns. The Senate, which was juggling several major bills, was unlikely to consider the measure until Saturday or later....