NEWS ROUNDUP

Showdown In Wyoming Over Gas Wyoming has called itself the cowboy state for years. The Old West may be changing, but you can still find plenty of cowboys in Gillette. Nowadays though, broncos aren't the only rough ride in that town. The cowboys say their biggest fight these days is with energy producers. And they don’t like the way things are going. "I feel helpless. I just don’t have a good feeling, you know," says cowboy George Smith. "I don’t trust these people. Their past dictates that." Energy has been big business in Gillette for years. From open mines, more than a million tons of coal are dug up and shipped out of town every day. But the new craze that has Smith so upset is methane gas. It’s trapped in underground coal seams all over the area. In just eight years, 17,000 methane wells have been sunk in the Powder River Basin. And 33,000 more wells are planned....
House defeats plan to limit game wardens' entry onto land A plan to limit game wardens' ability to enter private land was rejected by the South Dakota House on Wednesday after opponents said the measure could weaken enforcement of hunting laws. A bill that would have repealed the open-fields doctrine failed on a vote of 27-43. The doctrine is based on court decisions and laws that give game wardens authority to enter private lands, away from houses, to check hunters without getting permission from landowners. Supporters argued that the measure was needed to protect landowners' property rights. Conservation officers could have still entered land to check hunters if they had the owner's permission or had reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, they said....
Lecturer details successes of 40-year-old Wilderness Act A unique mixture of pragmatism and idealism has made the Wilderness Act a resounding success since its adoption 40 years ago - an approach that will prove beneficial in attempts to preserve wildlands in the future, a leader in the wilderness preservation movement said Tuesday night. "That mix is the very philosophy that undergirds the Wilderness Act itself," said Doug Scott, policy director of Campaign for America's Wilderness. "The Wilderness Act was written by pragmatists who wanted to get things accomplished." Scott was the first of 11 local and national speakers who will reflect on the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Act during this year's Wilderness Lecture Series at the University of Montana....
Survey: Science, politics at odds Politics trumps science when it comes to the government's role in protecting endangered species and the environment, federal scientists said in a new survey. Of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service scientists who replied to the survey, 71% said the agency cannot be trusted to save endangered species. The 42-question survey released Wednesday was taken by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Both groups have been harshly critical of the Bush administration's stance on science. "The survey reveals an alarming disregard for scientific facts among political appointees at the Fish & Wildlife Service," says Lexi Shultz of the scientists group. The scientists surveyed are responsible for studying endangered species, fisheries and wildlife conservation. In written responses, scientists complained that agency chiefs are overly friendly with ranchers who are hostile to science and whose cattle graze on public lands....
Environmental groups assail cuts in Bush's proposed budget An alliance of several of the nation's leading environmental and conservation organizations charged Wednesday that, when viewed as a whole, President Bush's 2006 budget makes cuts far deeper than those he proposed specifically for the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency. In short, the groups said the budget stands as "the most anti-environment budget blueprint ever proposed by his administration." EPA's proposed spending was trimmed by about 6 percent and that for Interior slightly less than 1 percent, according to administration figures. But the advocates said the decrease would total more than 10 percent when cuts in environment-oriented programs scattered throughout other governmental agencies, including those for energy conservation, Amtrak subsidies, coastal protection and wildlife habitat restoration, are taken into account....
President Bush Reinforces Commitment to Cooperative Conservation in 2006 Budget President Bush continued to build on the legacy of cooperative conservation established in his first term by supporting programs in the 2006 budget thatpromote partnerships with the American people to conserve our nation's land and water, wildlife and other natural resources. The Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce departments and the Environmental Protection Agency all fund key partnership programs that will empower states, tribes, local communities, conservation groups, private landowners and others to undertake conservation projects. These projects range from wetlands restorationefforts occurring along Ball Bay on Upper Klamath Lake; to the removal of invasive plants in Palm Beach, Fla.; to the development and implementation of self-regulating strategies to mitigate the trend of declining marine populations in Kenai Fjords, Alaska. The funding supports the president's executive order signed last year on "Facilitation of Cooperative Conservation."....
Clash over policies on energy, pollution The tension between the desire to find more energy sources and the need to deal with the pollution they produce is creating a political dust-up that may define George Bush's environmental policy during his second presidential term. Buoyed by his reelection and a larger Republican majority in Congress, Mr. Bush is pushing for more oil, gas, and coal development on public lands - including the controversial coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. This is the foundation of his energy policy. At the same time, the administration wants to change landmark air-quality laws by easing some of the regulatory burden on coal-burning power plants and other energy producers while relying on the marketplace to provide incentives for reducing pollution. But despite the power of the GOP in Washington these days, administration plans here are no slam-dunk. Prominent Republicans are among those skeptical of oil drilling in ANWR, and some have joined the ranks of lawmakers already concerned about the climate change caused by human energy consumption. Some traditionally conservative red-staters along the Rocky Mountain front - ranchers, for example - are speaking out against more oil and gas drilling there....
U.S. gaining forest land despite development Despite a booming population and urban sprawl, the United States has gained 10 million acres of forests since 1990. That’s enough trees to cover all the land in New Jersey — twice. “We’re continually growing more than we’re cutting,” said Brad Smith, an authority on the nation’s estimated 3 billion trees at Forest Service headquarters in Arlington, Va. “People think urban sprawl is eating all the forest — we can’t say that.” Over the past 50 years, according to the Forest Service, 24 states added woodland — seven of them more than a million acres each. New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania were the biggest gainers. Texas, Florida and California lost the most....
Tankers could return to fight wildfires in June The small planes and heavy helicopters that stepped in to fight wildfire across the West last year after the U.S. Forest Service stopped using big air tankers for safety reasons will be back again this year, the Bush administration's top forest official said Wednesday. And 20 heavy air tankers or more will be back on the job if an analysis to be completed by June 1 shows they are safe to fly, Agriculture Department Undersecretary Mark Rey said in a telephone interview from Portland. "We actually achieved a higher rate of success on initial attack with the reconfigured fleet we used last year than we had in previous years," Rey said. "That having been said, we still believe the large tankers are useful tools. They are more cost-efficient than helicopters to fly."....
Appeals force more grazing analysis The Prescott National Forest has to rework its analysis of four Verde Rim grazing permits after Forest Supervisor Mike King agreed with four administrative appeals of the project. The Prescott National Forest Friends, Forest Guardians based in Santa Fe, and two individuals appealed the Verde District’s decision and analysis of the four grazing permits southwest of Camp Verde. The four appeals raised similar concerns, agreed Prescott National Forest Friends Chair Jim Powers of Prescott and Prescott National Forest Ecosystems Treatment Staff Officer Mark Johnson. Powers said his main complaint was that forest officials didn’t follow the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the forest’s own land management plan....
Genetic Barcodes Will Identify World's Species A team of international scientists launched an ambitious project on Thursday to genetically identify, or provide a barcode for, every plant and animal species on the planet. By taking a snippet of DNA from all the known species on Earth and linking them to photographs, descriptions and scientific information, the researchers plan to build the largest database of its kind. "We have discovered that it is quite possible to have a short DNA sequence that can characterise just about every form of life on the planet," Dr Richard Lane, director of science at the Natural History Museum in London, told a news conference. Less than a fifth of the Earth's estimated 10 million species of plants and animals have been named. Researchers working on the Barcode of Life Initiative hope that genetically identifying all of them in a standardised way on a global scale will speed up the discovery of new ones....
Rey won’t endorse timber fund extension The Bush administration’s point man on forest policy declined Tuesday to endorse extension of a law that has pumped billions of dollars into rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. The so-called county payments law is working as intended, Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey told a Senate committee. It was meant to help offset sharp declines in timber sales since the late 1980s, due in part to changes in federal forest policy that restricted logging to protect endangered species such as the northern spotted owl. But "it’s a very difficult budget environment right now," Rey said, pointedly not asking the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to reauthorize the law for another seven years. It is set to expire next year....
Jittery sheep lead to hang gliding ban Concern over skittish sheep led to a hang gliding ban from Vista Point, a popular lookout along scenic Highway 74 where enthusiasts have been taking off for years. New signs warn pilots they face up to $1,000 in fines and a year in jail for taking off from the longtime launching pad. The Bureau of Land Management said the hang gliders could be scaring endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep roaming in the mountains below. ''The U.S. advent of hang gliding is right here in Southern California. Vista Point is one of the early, early launching points,'' said pilot Tad Hurst, who is working to reverse the BLM's ban....
Lawmaker backs USDA's policy on stream flows Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., says a pledge by federal officials to cooperate with water users on restoring the environment should settle a long-standing dispute and prevent cities, farmers and ranchers from being forced to give up water. Allard says a letter from Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey signals an end to past attempts by the U.S. Forest Service "to extort water rights from Colorado citizens" by requiring that some water be released from reservoirs strictly to maintain fish and habitat in rivers and streams. "This is very important, in my view. It's something I've been working on for years," Allard says. Although Rey's pledge addressed just Colorado, Allard says it could set a precedent across the West. Environmentalists, though, say the Jan. 19 letter from Rey simply reinforces recent decisions by the Forest Service that have stressed cooperation with the state rather than mandates. They says the government still must comply with environmental laws and a federal court decision last year saying the Forest Service must ensure there's enough water for fish and wildlife habitat....
State engineer imposes priority on North Platte For the fourth year in a row, junior water right holders may be out of luck in the North Platte River Basin. Wyoming State Engineer Patrick T. Tyrrell announced Wednesday that senior water rights now have priority upstream of Guernsey Reservoir, due to the continuing drought. "Unfortunately, our guys know the drill real well by now," Tyrrell said. He blamed the combination of below-average snowpack and continuing low carryover storage in the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoir system. The North Platte Project storage and runoff forecasts for the coming season fall well under the 1.1 million-acre-foot "trigger" value, which represents full ownership supply. This is the forth year in a row of low water availability in the North Platte system, said a frustrated Tyrrell....
U.S. puts off entry of Canadian cattle The Bush administration on Wednesday slightly backed off on opening the borders to Canadian cattle and beef starting March 7. Because its investigations of mad cow disease in Canada are incomplete, there will be a delay in admitting meat from cattle that were 30 months or older when slaughtered, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said. This is consistent with the policy of keeping out live cattle of that age because they are considered more at risk for having the brain-wasting disease. The administration's plans are still on track to open the border for younger animals and meat from those animals, which is expected to significantly increase U.S. supplies and hold down prices....
Good boots, publicity helped Justin flourish The first three pairs of boots that H.J. "Joe" Justin made in his small shop in Spanish Fort were sturdy and long-wearing, which made their buyers happy. Soon cattle herders along the Chisholm Trail and down into Texas knew about Justin's boots. By the end of 1879, his first year in business, Justin had sold $1,000 worth of boots and hired a full-time employee, an elderly leather tanner named Bill Grace. By 1887, the 28-year-old Justin was working night and day to keep up with the demand for boots. And he had won the hand of 24-year-old Annie Allen, the daughter of Spanish Fort's doctor. They were married Jan. 12. Annie pitched in, even designing a self-measuring kit after a Montana rancher ordered boots for his cowhands, who could not come to Spanish Fort for a fitting. The invention created a mail-order business....
Hollywood Honors Singing Cowboy Gene Autry The late Gene Autry, Hollywood's best-known singing cowboy, has been honored in Hollywood, where he made his fortune and defined a movie genre. The intersection at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue was Gene Autry's first Hollywood home. Seventy years ago, it was the site of the old Hollywood Hotel, where he lived for a time after moving to Los Angeles from Chicago. Today, it is a tourist destination and home of the Kodak Theatre, where the Academy Awards, or Oscars, are presented each year. "It is Hollywood's 118th birthday, and we celebrate it by dedicating this corner to forever be known as 'Gene Autry Square'," he announced. Gene Autry is the only entertainer with five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for each branch of the entertainment business: movies, television, radio, stage performance and music....
The bucks stop in Fort Worth for Durango The bull Durango must have wondered what all of the hoopla was about Saturday night at the Southwestern Exposition Livestock Show and Rodeo. There were highlights of his career presented on the video boards throughout the arena. Rodeo announcer Bob Tallman was waxing eloquently about the bull's outstanding career. And the 5,700 fans at Will Rogers Coliseum in Fort Worth were on the edge of their seats. It was a special night for the bull that is owned by Neal and Jim Gay of Mesquite, the Fort Worth rodeo's senior producers. This would be his last appearance as a bucking bull....