NEWS ROUNDUP

Greens Defeat Pombo By Running from Green Issues There's a line between political spin and outright deception. Environmental organizations crossed over that line in their post-election analysis of House Resources Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Pombo's re-election defeat. Defenders of Wildlife and the League of Conservation Voters, among other environmental groups, want people to believe that Mr. Pombo's defeat was a referendum on his environmental record. While Pombo's efforts to fix the Endangered Species Act, overhaul the National Environmental Policy Act, and promote U.S. energy independence by opening part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf to environmentally-responsible oil exploration came up during the campaign, they were largely incidental to the Greens’ efforts. Instead of focusing on these issues, the Greens’ commercials and other campaign material focused -- largely unfairly -- on Pombo's ethics. Those fed up with Washington scandals found in Pombo a convenient target and took their frustrations out on him. Other incumbents -- including those who have been staunch allies of the Greens -- were swept out of office for the same reason. Rep. Jim Leach, who received a mere 27 percent rating from the League of Private Property Voters (LPPV) -- kind of the antithesis of the League of Conservation Voters -- lost re-election. So too did Lincoln Chafee (LPPV rating: 33), Nancy Johnson (LPPV rating: 36), Sue Kelly (LPPV rating: 18) and Michael Fitzpatrick (LPPV rating: 36). Are we to believe this was a referendum on their environmental positions, too? No. Richard Pombo and these other members did not lose on environmental issues....
Peninsula cows get second chance to graze Waiting till the cows come home? This winter, years after being removed from most of the Peninsula's public pastures, they're headed back. Reversing a no-cow trend, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has drafted a new policy that would reintroduce livestock to 5,000 grassy acres in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, perhaps even on the popular Russian Ridge and Monte Bello preserves. The goal is to reduce wildfire risk in an area that is too big to mow and too dangerous to burn -- and fend off the encroachment of forest. Inspired by successful grazing on San Jose's Coyote Ridge, district managers plan to present the policy for approval to their board of directors in January. ``The paradigm was to kick cattle off when you acquired property,'' said the district's Kirk Lenington, who is managing the project. Overgrazed, eroded and trampled pastures had alarmed the region's environmentalists. But further research brought a turnaround in thinking. Removing cattle from San Jose's Silver Creek Hills in the 1990s, for instance, led to depletion of wildflowers that are food for the endangered bay checkerspot butterfly. Wildflowers and butterflies are also largely gone from Santa Teresa County Park. ``Cattle are one of the few effective tools that are available to manage grasslands on a large scale,'' Lenington said....
Deal reveals holes that get in way of preserving land It seemed like a good idea, at least on paper. The federal government would trade some land it owned in northeast Oregon for riverside property along the North Fork of the John Day River. Oregonians would end up with protected wilderness areas along one of the state's more attractive waterways. Loggers and ranchers would gain access to some valuable land. And the federal outlay would be minimal: reimbursement of the costs for the company setting up the deal. But the Blue Mountain Land Exchange didn't work out as planned. Instead, its collapse last month -- after more than four years of negotiations -- offers some striking insights into the pitfalls of the government's favored approach for securing treasured national resources. The wreckage of the exchange also illuminates the tangle of conflicting interests that can arise when government functions are turned over to private entrepreneurs. The issue of land exchanges remains highly controversial in Oregon and other Western states, which face rising property values and development in what were once pristine natural areas. Federal agencies such as the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management rely on land trades -- which are assembled by private companies -- because they lack money to buy property outright. The swaps are the most direct means of protecting rivers such as the John Day from development or repairing environmental damage, offering the chance to trade isolated fragments of federal land for well-placed privately owned parcels....
Local Chefs Rally Behind Idaho Elk Ranchers There's been a lot of talk about the elk ranching industry lately, especially after nearly 100 elk escaped from a private hunting reserve in eastern Idaho in August. Some lawmakers have expressed concern over "shoot a bull" operations like that one, in which hunters pay thousands of dollars for a guaranteed kill. Local elk ranchers think that might lead to a ban on the industry, something they don't want to see happen. And they're not alone, local chefs are also rallying behind their cause. "If they close elk ranches in Idaho, we can't have it," said Randy King, Executive Chef at Crane Creek Country Club. Local chefs gathered at the Owyhee Plaza Hotel in Boise, home of the Gamekeeper restaurant, to show their support for elk ranching in the Gem State. "If we cannot have elk on the Idaho table, it diminishes our tourism value, our local restaurant value," said King....
Bison hunt to start Wed. The Montana hunt for bison that leave Yellowstone National Park opens on Wednesday, with the state providing nearly triple the licenses available last year. Shane Colton of the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission said the increase to 140 licenses is a step toward better management of the bison herd. The activist group Buffalo Field Campaign opposes any hunting of Yellowstone bison and said the license increase simply worsens a bad idea. Hunters will be divided into two districts, one the Gardiner area near the park’s northern edge and the other near West Yellowstone, along the park’s western edge. Hunting will be staggered over a three-month span and will end Feb. 15. Montana’s first bison hunt in 15 years took place last fall and winter. The license increase and its focus on bison cows makes the hunt more of a herd management tool, Colton said....
Tiny fish, small space When an animal or plant is placed on the endangered species list, typically its habitat has dwindled or outside influences have dramatically threatened its survival. But in a remote lake outside Pinedale, there is a different endangered tale. The Kendall Warm Springs dace, a 1- to 2.5-inch fish, is thriving in its habitat. Still, it is listed on the endangered species list. The problem? Its habitat is about 900 feet of water on the entire planet. "Nine hundred feet in the whole world is not a good place to be," said Joe Neal, fisheries biologist for the Bridger-Teton National Forest's Pinedale office. "The springs are 1,200 feet, and they only live in the bottom 900 feet." Still, there are several thousand dace "doing quite well" in the warm springs....
Owens backs roadless areas Gov. Bill Owens on Monday asked the federal government to protect most of the state's 4.4 million acres of roadless areas from new development and permanent roads, ending a year-long review of U.S. forest lands in Colorado. In what is expected to be one of his last major acts as governor, Owens accepted the full recommendation of a 13-member bipartisan task force that held hearings around the state, considered more than 40,000 public comments and determined that the bulk of the natural lands should be preserved. "Few things are more important to Coloradans than the responsible stewardship of our National Forests. The scenic landscapes, abundant wildlife and mountain vistas make Colorado such a wonderful place to live ...," Owens wrote in his letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johans. The request - technically a petition that still must be approved by the U.S. Forest Service - is part of a state-by-state process established by the Bush administration to end the 30-year debate over roadless protections. But the rule, which overturned a previous blanket set of nationwide protections written in the waning days of Bill Clinton's presidency, remains in limbo in the federal courts amid numerous legal challenges....
Derby wildfire damages cutthroat trout habitat For some, fish may not rank high on the list of important casualties in a wildfire. But the thought of losing a robust group of Yellowstone cutthroat trout south of Big Timber troubled Jim Olsen. Those cutthroat are among "our best," said Olsen, a fisheries biologist for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. For weeks, he and other Montana fish biologists have been trying to save a population of cutthroat trout threatened by the aftermath of this year's gigantic Derby Mountain fire. In the Deer Creek drainage, wildlife officials fear that erosion could send tons of debris into the waterways and kill thousands of the cutthroats, already a species struggling in the northern Rocky Mountains. That might not have been a big deal, but these particular Yellowstone cutthroats are some of the heartiest in the area, partly because they've shown they're able to live alongside brown trout, which tend to out-compete cutthroats on their own turf. So, as the Derby Mountain fire still smoldered, state and U.S. Forest Service officials hatched a plan to get some of the fish out, take them to another creek not damaged by the fire and return them to Deer Creek once the threat of erosion had eased....
Global warming may fan wildfires Some scientists fear global warming could stoke ferocious wildland fires in parts of the world, disrupting fragile ecosystems and hampering efforts to protect communities. Recent studies have tied rising temperatures to an upswing in widespread forest fires, particularly in the Western United States, which has experienced an unusually high number of severe wildfires in recent decades. "There's really no happy side to this," said Thomas Swetnam, who heads the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona. Battling wildfires is an arduous and expensive task that has been complicated by thick forest undergrowth and the increasing encroachment of people near forest land. "You add on climate change, and it's going to make things that much worse," Swetnam said. Scientists are already seeing a change in wildfire behavior due to rising temperatures. Fire seasons have grown longer or more severe in parts of the Western United States, Siberian taiga and Canadian Rockies. If the trend continues, some predict frequent wildfire outbreaks that will be harder to put out....
Wildfire triggers multiple inquiries focusing on how safely it was fought At least one group of investigators has finished interviewing witnesses about the Esperanza Fire, which killed five U.S. Forest Service firefighters last month. But it's unclear where two other federal investigations stand. Those are the inquiries that have some firefighters concerned about potential legal repercussions. One of the investigative agencies previously has pursued involuntary manslaughter charges against a fire commander after a fatal blaze. Forest Service spokesman Al Matecko, a member of the joint California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and Forest Service inquiry, said investigators took statements from two dozen Forest Service employees and 10 CDF employees about the Esperanza Fire. The joint investigation team wants to improve firefighter safety, not find blame, Matecko said. Investigators hope to complete their inquiry in 45 days. The U.S. Agriculture Department's inspector general's office and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration are also looking into the fatal fire. If the inspector general's investigators find firefighter wrongdoing, criminal charges could be brought. OSHA, which investigates workplace deaths and safety issues, could issue citations and fines if it finds workplace rule violations....
Studies Find Danger to Forests in Thinning Without Burning Thinning forests without also burning accumulated brush and deadwood may increase forest fire damage rather than reduce it, researchers at the Forest Service reported in two recent studies. The findings cast doubt on how effective some of the thinning done under President Bush’s Healthy Forests Initiative will be at preventing fires if the forests are not also burned. The studies show that in forests that have been thinned but not treated with prescribed burning, tree mortality is much greater than in forests that have had thinning and burning and those that have been left alone. Another study, on Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest in Northern California, had similar findings. The studies, combined with other recent research showing that climate change is reducing snowpack and making the fire season longer and more intense, have prompted researchers to urge the Forest Service to use prescribed fire more....
Kennard Firefighter Guilty of Arson United States Attorney Matthew D. Orwig announced today a 33-year-old Kennard firefighter has been convicted of setting three arson fires in the Davy Crockett National Forest. Ryan James Eff was found guilty today following a bench trial before United States District Judge Ron Clark. According to information presented by prosecutors, Eff was employed as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and assigned to perform firefighter duties in the federally owned Davy Crockett National Forest. Eff was indicted in May 2006, and charged with setting three arson fires. The indictment also noted that Eff was responsible for intentionally setting 23 arson fires in locations in or near the Davy Crockett National Forest from about May 2005 to April 2006. During each of these fires, USFS personnel responded and worked to suppress and extinguish the fires using aircraft and heavy equipment in extremely dangerous conditions....
Forest plans trails for ATVers Public meetings are scheduled this week in Cheyenne and Laramie regarding the Medicine Bow National Forest’s plan to establish more than 100 miles of trails for off-road vehicles on the eastern half of the Snowy Range. According to an environmental assessment of the plan, the chief of the Forest Service in 2004 recognized that unmanaged recreation, particularly off-road vehicle use, was one of the four major threats to the nation’s forests and grasslands. The intent of this proposal, according to the Medicine Bow's Melissa Martin, is to concentrate ORV use in two areas -- north of Mountain Home and west of Albany -- while closing 235 miles of unauthorized roads and 39 miles of unauthorized trails. Designating trail bike and four-wheeler trails will allow families, including children without driver’s licenses, to travel together on their machines, so long as each vehicle has an all-terrain vehicle permit from the state, Martin said. Presently, without designated trails, drivers of ATVs on the Laramie District roads must have driver’s licenses, she said. The ATV trails will allow machines up to 50 inches in width to pass the gates, Martin said....
Oil-shale leases OK'd The Bush administration Monday authorized oil-shale leases for five sites on public land in western Colorado, the first leases since the shale bust of the 1980s wrenched the region's economy. The approval was for relatively small-scale "research and development" leases, but it was the government's biggest endorsement yet of oil shale, a vast petroleum resource with a checkered past. Officials and boosters say shale development is key to reducing the nation's dependence on foreign oil. Environmentalists say the impact on wildlife and water quality has not been sufficiently taken into account. "Our national and economic security depend on our developing domestic energy resources like the oil shale found in western Colorado," said Assistant Interior Secretary C. Stephen Allred. Oil shale is a black rock bound with organic material that turns into oil when heated. The 1.8 trillion barrels of oil believed to be trapped in the Green River formation in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah amount to more than three times the size of Saudi Arabia's proven reserves and could meet 25 percent of current U.S. demand for more than 400 years, advocates say....
Klamath Farmers Appeal Order Over Salmon Klamath Basin farmers are going ahead with their appeal of a federal court ruling that gave more water to salmon, raising doubts among salmon advocates that farmers are really interested in solving the region's environmental problems. Attorneys for the Klamath Water Users Association, which represents about 1,000 farms irrigated by the Klamath Reclamation Project, filed a brief Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in their appeal of an injunction speeding up the timetable for the government to increase Klamath River flows for threatened coho salmon. The appeal came after the Bush administration withdrew its own appeal and four weeks before a summit organized by the governors of Oregon and California to find solutions to the Klamath Basin's long-standing environmental problems, particularly four hydroelectric dams widely blamed for hurting struggling salmon runs. "While we're getting close to turning the corner and getting along a lot better, we're not quite there yet. Until we get there, we have to keep our options open," said Greg Addington, executive director of the association....
Group wants logging ban to protect owl Citing a "prolonged and accelerating decline" that halved Washington's spotted owl population since the early 1990s, a Seattle environmental group asked a federal judge Monday to bar logging on about 50,000 acres of private timberlands in Western Washington. The Seattle Audubon Society targeted four sites owned by the Weyerhaeuser Co. in southwest Washington where spotted owls have been seen. The group says these are examples of Western Washington sites where the court should order the state Forest Practices Board to halt all logging. Joined by the Kittitas Audubon Society, the Seattle group said state rules "offer no meaningful protection" for owls outside 13 "special emphasis" areas where the state chose to better protect the reclusive birds. A spokeswoman for the Forest Practices Board said the board tightened some rules affecting owls last year and is awaiting a new federal plan to restore owl populations. Weyerhaeuser said no owls have been seen for some time at two of the sites targeted in the suit, and the company does not plan to cut any timber at the other two sites....
Court pulls plug on power plant For now, the Medicine Lake highlands will remain free from geothermal power development. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last week reversed a lower court ruling, rejecting federal leases for a proposed geothermal power plant near a volcano about 30 miles east of Mt. Shasta. The leases are held by Calpine, a San Jose-based energy company. While opponents of the plant, called the Fourmile Hill project, said the ruling was a major victory, representatives for the U.S. Forest Service and Calpine said their attorneys are still reviewing it to determine what to do next. The Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which had issued the leases to Calpine, were listed as defendants with the energy company in the lawsuit brought by the Pit River tribe and some environmental groups. Possible next steps include taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court or starting the lease process anew, with environmental and cultural reviews 9th Circuit Judge Clifford Wallace said the original leases lacked. Calpine is also reviewing the ruling and will discus its options with the Forest Service and BLM, said spokeswoman Katherine Potter....
Gold Buckle Network Adds Dozens of Award-Winning HorseFlicks Programs to its Online Western Video Library Gold Buckle Network™ (GBN™) (www.goldbucklenetwork.com) announced today that is has added 37 new titles from award-winning production and marketing company HorseFlicks to its leading online western video library. The full-length shows include 12 episodes from the American Ranch Story TV series and 25 Horse Breed episodes. All 37 new HorseFlicks shows are currently available in the "Open Range" and "Western Travel" categories of the GBN online western video network. HorseFlicks is a Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex video production and marketing company specializing exclusively in equine television programming. HorseFlicks recently captured an unprecedented 14th Award of Excellence in equine TV production at the 2006 Aurora Awards Competition. HorseFlicks was honored with the Gold Award of Excellence for The Gypsy Vanner, which was produced for Magnolia Ranch in Katy, Texas. This and other programs are available in high-quality digital streaming video at www.goldbucklenetwork.com. GBN is an online TV network, music source, and department store for everything Western....
Lockeford man inducted into Cutting Horse Hall of Fame Graeme Stewart is a pioneer in cutting horse contests, at least on the West Coast. In the 1940s, the art of cutting cows away from the rest of the herd was popular in areas like Texas, but it wasn't until 1950 that a western chapter was formed. Although he didn't compete in contests in the 1940s, Stewart "cut" cattle on his ranches in Shasta, Trinity and Siskiyou counties. But once the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association was created in 1950, Stewart, then in his late 20s, decided to do it professionally. Stewart's love for horses and then cutting horse competitions led him to a 26-year career that led to his induction to the association's Hall of Fame on Nov. 1 in Reno, Nev....
It's All Trew: Settlers protected hay meadows Almost as important as water is adequate forage for working livestock that provided food and transportation for humans. The better the forage quality, the better the worker. To prove that forage is important, we merely point out the many wars and skirmishes fought over the grazing rights along our waterways. Settlements were born adjacent to creek meadows and fortunes established because of the never-failing hay production produced by sub-irrigated lands. Since most of our early day settlements began before the advent of barbed wire fences and with little timber available for rail fences, keeping stray livestock off your meadowland was a serious problem. Some owners went too extremes in their efforts. The book “Hidetown — The History of Wheeler County” tells of one hay meadow owner who hired a man to dig a moat by shovel around his property. Many a settler around Fort Elliott and other western forts made a living cutting, hauling and selling meadow hay to the military. All Spanish settlements in the Great Southwest and Mexico had to remove all livestock and large poultry from the creek bottoms during the growing season in order to grow and harvest hay, grain and other produce....