NEWS ROUNDUP


Feds to Start Removing Wolf Protections The head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday his agency will start removing federal protections from gray wolves in Montana and Idaho by January, regardless of whether Wyoming has submitted an acceptable plan to manage its own wolves by then. Wyoming's plan is tied up in lawsuits, and Fish and Wildlife Director Dale Hall said his agency is moving ahead with Idaho and Montana, where management plans are already in place. Defenders of Wildlife, which advocates on behalf of wolves, vowed to fight the move, saying delisting by state is illegal. Under the federal plan, states could have complete oversight of their wolves within 12 months, Risch said. Idaho is estimated to have 650 wolves in about 60 packs, while Montana has 270 and Wyoming 309. After delisting, Idaho's federally approved wolf-management plan requires maintaining a minimum of 15 packs, while Montana has a benchmark of 15 breeding pairs....
Pro hunters shoot turkeys on Santa Cruz Island Professional hunters killed about 250 of 300 wild turkeys on Santa Cruz Island to protect rare foxes. Biologists said the turkeys were threatening the fox recovery program. Thousands of pigs were killed on the island during the past 18 months for the same reason. The turkey kill has been taking place on The Nature Conservancy’s portion of the island, which is part of Channel Islands National Park, because the flock spends most of its time on that portion of the island. Scientists said the kills are necessary because turkeys and pigs provide prey for golden eagles. The eagles are attracted to the island, where they also kill the endangered foxes. The island pigs had kept turkey populations in check by eating their eggs and competing with them for food. With nearly all the pigs gone, the turkey population had boomed....
Law cited for river access Wanting to ensure his cattle have access to water from the Green River, rancher T. Wright Dickinson cited a law that predates the civil war to make his case to take down sections of fence on the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge's borders. Dickinson, a former county commissioner, presented his case Tuesday to Moffat County commissioners requesting water gaps -- areas without fence -- on the refuge's land that borders his leased land. The cited law, R.S. 2477, goes back more than 100 years, and it has recently been used for public access to what has historically been considered a road, with the idea of "if it was a road back then, it should be a road now." Dickinson made the case that it should apply to rivers as well, asking that 11 water gaps that have historically allowed access to the Green River in Browns Park be added to the commissioner's map of access....
Study says plan to pump Yampa River water to Front Range is feasible A $3.2 billion proposal to pump water from the Yampa River 200 miles to the Front Range could work, according to a new study. The Yampa, one of the state's last rivers with unclaimed water, could provide more than 97 billion gallons per year to the fast-growing population center across the Continental Divide, according to the feasibility study by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. The district likely would not take the lead on such a project, but leaders said they would provide information to interested Front Range cities. They could face tough opposition from ranchers, rafters, kayakers and northern Colorado municipalities who want to keep the water in the Yampa River basin. The river is considered one of the West's last wild rivers because it has only a few small dams and diversions....
Forest Service scales back logging The Medicine Bow National Forest has reduced the amount of clear-cutting it has planned for the southwestern area of the forest. The Forest Service had originally proposed clear-cutting 552 acres in the Devil's Gate area but has reduced the proposed amount to 283 acres. The agency also has decided not to allow cutting in important elk and deer winter range in response to comments from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and from a local conservation group. Clint Kyhl, Laramie district ranger, said the agency is concerned that thousands of acres of trees killed by beetles have increased the risk of catastrophic fires in the area. Rather than clear-cutting on 165 acres, he ordered that only trees larger than 8 inches in diameter be removed because they're likely to be killed by beetles in the next few years....
Fire raises burning questions There was little room for political correctness in the Stillwater Pavilion on Tuesday as a packed crowd grilled agency representatives about the handling of August's Derby Mountain fire. Why was a private helicopter "called off" the fire on the afternoon it was first discovered? Why was one home protected when another was not? Why were there so few preparations when severe red-flag warnings were predicted? And why were resources sitting idle elsewhere? County, state and federal representatives answered some of those questions and provided insight into others. Some issues, however, remain unresolved. The meeting was organized by Keith Martin of Nye, who contacted Rep. Denny Rehberg's office on behalf of the Absarokee Rural Fire District Board. Martin questioned the use of a private helicopter that had been working in the area for a mine exploration company. The pilot told Martin that he had been dropping 100 gallons of water on the fire every four minutes when the Forest Service called him off. "That's pretty hard for me to swallow when you see so much ground burned up," Martin said....
St. Helens Plume Seen in Portland Like a giant smokestack, percolating Mount St. Helens let loose a billowing steam plume easily seen Tuesday in downtown Portland, Ore., about 50 miles away. Cold weather combined with the volcano's ongoing release of water vapor to make the display particularly impressive, scientists said. Mount St. Helens has been undergoing a low-key eruption since September 2004. The white plume emitting from the snowy peak could be seen clearly against a blue sky. The vapor temperature was near the boiling point of water _ 212 degrees _ while temperatures at the mountain were around or below freezing, Scott said....
Little loggers are big concern The munching march of pine beetles through Colorado's ski country could lower the timberline by a few thousand feet in the coming decades and change the nature of skiing in the nation's skiingest state. The Front Bowls of Vail? Colorado, the moonscaped Andes of the Rockies? Ski The Baldest State? The devastating infestation of bark beetles in Colorado's central Rockies is promising sweeping mutations in Colorado's ski landscape. Initially, the race to gird threatened stands of conifer against the ravaging rice-sized insects will improve the skiing, with thinning and deadfall removal opening once impenetrable glades. But when the full impact of the predicted 70 percent to 90 percent or higher mortality rate is realized in the next two decades, skiers could be grinding through nothing but wind-scoured, sun-baked snow, avoiding massive swaths of closed terrain where new trees are growing while keeping a keen eye peeled for tumbling timber succumbing to the slightest of breezes....
New promise for trout streams The clear water splashing through rocky pools and over gravel bars in this remote Amador County stream might signal hope for other trout streams throughout the Sierra Nevada. Three years ago, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. paid crews to remove a dam on West Panther Creek that had been part of the company's hydroelectric generation system but also had blocked trout migration for more than seven decades. That removal was one of the first under the guidelines of modern environmental law as part of a deal that allowed the relicensing of PG&E's Mokelumne River Project. Now, volunteer conservationists and government biologists are visiting Panther Creek several times a year to measure its progress. They've found that the stream easily tossed downstream hundreds of tons of gravel that had plugged the area behind the dam. They say Panther Creek's ability to resume its life as a trout stream means such restoration likely will work elsewhere as well....
Column - Proposed mine could have dreadful impact As the eagle flies, it's approximately 2,500 miles from Colorado to the abundant fishing rivers of Alaska's Bristol Bay, a long cast by any stretch of the imagination. Yet what is being proposed in this faraway place by Northern Dynasty Mines Inc., with the apparent complicity of the Bureau of Land Management, touches the heartstrings - and fishing lines - of the millions of anglers who have been there, or who hope to someday. At issue is the planned Pebble Mine, a combined gold, copper and molybdenum excavation touted as the largest open-pit mine on the continent. The location, just north of Lake Iliamna, sets off alarm bells for a significant portion of a drainage that nourishes North America's most prolific salmon populations, along with Alaska's largest rainbow trout. For anglers, hunters and conservationists, the area represents another battleground in what seems to be serial struggles to balance the resources of our wildest and richest state....
Feds want more wells even as deer decline The Bureau of Land Management has proposed a substantial increase in the number of wells on the Pinedale Anticline along with winter drilling in crucial big game habitat, even as the mule deer population has fallen 46 percent in the area. In an document released this month, the BLM proposed 4,399 new wells on 12,278 acres. According to the supplemental environmental impact statement, “drilling and completions within big game crucial winter habitats would occur in each of three Concentrated Development Areas within a core area centered on the Anticline Crest.” The wells could eventually access a predicted 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under the anticline. Drilling is proposed about 60 miles southeast of Jackson in areas previously off limits in winter to all human presence. The BLM request comes in tandem with a new mule deer study, focusing on the northern half of the Pinedale Anticline, that shows a 46 percent decline in the mule deer population since drilling began in the area. This year, the herd’s population numbers held steady after four years of decline....
Feds withdraw rare wildflower proposal The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday withdrew its proposal to list as threatened a wildflower that grows only in areas of Utah and Colorado where oil shale and tar sand exploration are being done. The decision prompted environmental groups who have fought for the listing of the Graham‘s penstemon to accuse the FWS and Bureau of Land Management of choosing energy development leases over a threatened species. The flower is a member of the snapdragon family and blooms in lavender flowers. Larry England a botanist with the FWS in Salt Lake City said the proposal was withdrawn Tuesday because the service couldn‘t show that the threats to the species and its population range were imminent. Frates said after Tuesday‘s announcement additional legal action is "extremely likely."....
Federal fight for rural communities continues Washington, D.C.: Working to reinstate vital funding for the nation’s rural schools, roads and services, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith are filing amendments to authorize and fully fund a one-year extension of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act of 2000, commonly known as the county payments law. Despite the Bush Adminis-tration’s commitment to enact a one-year fully-funded extension of the county payments safety-net, the law was allowed to expire in September. A one-year extension of the program, including a portion to be paid out of timber receipts, would provide up to $500 million nationally for 700 rural counties in more than 40 states. The senators’ proposal would fully fund the extension — without a new tax or raising existing taxes — by closing a tax loophole that currently allows government contractors to avoid their tax obligations. The senators’ proposal would provide a revenue stream for county payments by withholding Federal taxes from payments the Federal government makes to government contractors providing goods and services. The Federal government does not currently withhold taxes on payments made to government contractors and a recent study by the Government Accountability Office revealed that a surprisingly large number of those contractors have never paid their federal taxes....
Motorcycle riders group seeks 730-acre purchase A motorcycle riders group wants to buy 730 acres next to John's Peak to add to 506 acres it owns in a controversial area favored by off-road-vehicle enthusiasts for decades. The acreage is owned by LaMinora Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Forest Capital Partners, and is located just to the west of John's Peak, north of Jacksonville. David Lexow, president of the Motorcycle Riders Association, said his non-profit organization wants the land, offered at $1.82 million, so it can better manage the area and rehabilitate trails that have been damaged by years of uncontrolled off-road-vehicle use. The MRA is considering applying for a state grant funded by gasoline taxes paid for by off-road-vehicle users and from registration fees to help buy the land. Lexow said the MRA already has agreements to use up to 35,000 acres in the area, including tracts owned by timber companies and the Bureau of Land Management....
BLM suspends leases due to ferrets The possibility of losing potential habitat for the endangered black-footed ferret has led the Bureau of Land Management to suspend oil and gas drilling leases on about 29,000 acres of public land in the Uinta Basin. The suspension comes after an Interior Department review board said the BLM failed to follow environmental policies before the leases were issued. The Center for Native Ecosystems, an environmental advocacy group in Denver, challenged the leases, contending the BLM didn't comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. Much of the land in question is in the Snake John and Shiner parts of eastern Utah's Uinta Basin, near Coyote Basin. It is land that's home to white-tailed prairie dog colonies, which provide potential habitat for the black-footed ferret. The ferrets use the prairie dogs' burrows for shelter. White-tailed prairie dogs also contribute to habitat and are prey for eagles, hawks and other wildlife. The BLM's Interior Board of Land Appeals agreed with the Center for Native Ecosystems that the BLM needs to follow the National Environmental Policy Act before issuing leases....
Lawsuit seeks to sheild Alaska sea otter A conservation group, alarmed at a decrease in the number of sea otters in southwest Alaska, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Tuesday to try to compel the government to designate critical habitat to help the endangered species recover. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service generally is required to designate critical habitat when a species is listed as endangered or within a year if it can‘t be done immediately. The sea otter was put on the list in August 2005. Douglas Burn, a wildlife biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Anchorage, said while he can‘t comment on the lawsuit the agency is not ignoring the issue. He said a team of experts is helping develop a recovery plan for the sea otter and has discussed the role of critical habitat....
Fish and Wildlife Service Won't Consider Mono Basin Area Sage-Grouse The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced two petitions to add the Mono Basin area sage-grouse to the federal list of threatened and endangered species did not have substantial scientific or commercial information to demonstrate that Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection is warranted. The sage-grouse is a large bird that can grow up to 30 inches long and 2 feet tall found in areas where the elevation is above 4,000 feet. The Service responded to a petition they received on November 15th 2005, from Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic. Under the ESA the service is required to review petitions to decide whether they have enough scientific evidence. The service is concerned about the long term decline of the sage-grouse and is working with Western state wildlife agencies and federal agencies to conserve and manage the sagebrush habitat.
Center for Biological Diversity Offers Free Endangered Wildlife Ringtones Calling all cell phone users: Now you can personalize your ringtones with the mesmerizing calls of the Blue-throated Macaw, Beluga Whale, Boreal Owl, Mountain Yellow-legged Frog, Yosemite Toad or any one of 40 other endangered wildlife species, absolutely free. "People really respond to the wildlife ringtones -- the animal calls are fascinating, they personalize your phone, and they sound cool when it rings," said Peter Galvin, the Center's Conservation Director. "The best part is that they inspire people to understand and work to protect endangered wildlife." The ringtones allow cell phones to come alive with the haunting hoots of over two dozen rare owls from around the world, the sensational songs of tropical birds, the crazy croaks of more than a dozen imperiled amphibians, or the underwater orchestras of Orcas and Beluga Whales. The free Web site allows users to listen to ringtones, send them directly to their phones with one easy click, and download photos and fact sheets for each of the featured wildlife species. Users can also take action to save endangered species worldwide....
Mystery gift may be valuable vomit A mysterious gift given to a Montauk, N.Y., woman from her sister might be a valuable piece of petrified whale vomit, experts said. Dorothy Ferreira said the four-pound item, which might be worth as much as $18,000, was given to her by her sister, The New York Times reported Monday. "I called my sister and asked her, 'What the heck did you send me?'" Ferreira said. "She said: 'I don't know, but I found it on the beach in Montauk 50 years ago and just kept it around. You're the one who lives by the ocean. Ask someone out there what it is.'" Walter Galcik, an expert on such matters, examined the unattractive lump and concluded it might very well be ambergris, a valuable perfume ingredient created in the intestines of sperm whales and vomited into the ocean. "He told me, 'Don't let this out of your sight,'" she said. However, selling the item could prove troublesome for Ferreira. Endangered species legislation passed in the 1970s complicates the process of trading in ambergris. An Australian couple who found $300,000 worth of the substance on a beach has faced multiple legal challenges in their attempts to sell it.
County builds case against park plan Park County commissioners are getting some help to build their case against closing Yellowstone National Park's East Entrance during winter. The commissioners have received a $50,000 grant from the governor’s office to study the costs and options of keeping the entrance open. That money will help fund a feasibility study to be completed by Ecosystems Research Group of Missoula, Mont. A National Park Service proposal for winter use in Yellowstone calls for the closure of Sylvan Pass and the East Entrance due to safety and financial concerns. The Park Service has estimated that it spends $200,000 annually controlling avalanches on Sylvan Pass, Commissioner Tim French said. Commissioners say the Park Service must also weigh heavily the financial impact of closing the entrance on the winter economic tourism season in Park County....
Looking Back at Alston Chase's Playing God in Yellowstone Philosopher Alston Chase wrote Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park, a book whose central thesis is that the National Park Service, aided and abetted by the budding environmental movement, is to blame for destroying Yellowstone National Park. This thesis is probably shocking to many since the Park Service has been held up as one of the most revered American institutions, and Yellowstone has often been cited as one of the great success stories under its management. Playing God in Yellowstone was first published in 1986, years before I ever set foot in the park that Chase argues had already been destroyed. I first came to Yellowstone in June 1993 and have only now read this famous work. Even with the time lag, I have found it especially provocative and even relevant for today, at least in a big picture sense. Nevertheless, Playing God in Yellowstone is ultimately disappointing, though not because it is out of date. In this essay, I will argue that while Chase's criticisms of both the National Park Service and the environmental movement have a lot of merit, his voice from nowhere approach cloaks his own ideological--perhaps, religious--presumptions. As a result, Playing God in Yellowstone is not really of much help in shedding light on why Yellowstone is so valuable and therefore what if anything has gone wrong. If we are to have a Yellowstone ethic, we need greater clarity on what is so valuable about this Yellowstone that so many of us love. Chase is not happy about the state of things in Yellowstone, and he is painstaking in showing us the story of how Yellowstone came to be destroyed from what it once was. For one thing, there are fewer beaver, and it turns out that the story as to why there are so few beaver is critical to understanding so much else. Fewer beaver existed because of depleted vegetation. The vegetation was depleted because there were too many elk. There were too many elk because there were not enough wolves or mountain lions. There were not enough wolves and mountain lions because the Park Service had killed them along with as many coyotes as they could wipe out as well. There are also no more Indians in Yellowstone, who had hunted elk and had also through their direct influence affected the vegetation and land. In fact, Chase argues that the numbers of elk and bison are historically way out of proportion, far outnumbering the numbers that probably ever existed in Yellowstone at any point in the history of Earth....
British Lord Stings Senators Rockefeller and Snowe: 'Uphold Free Speech or Resign' Lord Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, has sent an open letter to Senators Rockefeller (D-WV) and Snowe (R-Maine) in response to their recent open letter telling the CEO of ExxonMobil to cease funding climate-skeptic scientists. (http://ff.org/centers/csspp/pdf/20061212_monckton.pdf). Lord Monckton, former policy adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, writes: "You defy every tenet of democracy when you invite ExxonMobil to deny itself the right to provide information to 'senior elected and appointed government officials' who disagree with your opinion." In what The Charleston (WV) Daily Mail has called "an intemperate attempt to squelch debate with a hint of political consequences," Senators Rockefeller and Snowe released an open letter dated October 30 to ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, insisting he end Exxon's funding of a "climate change denial campaign." The Senators labeled scientists with whom they disagree as "deniers," a term usually directed at "Holocaust deniers." Some voices on the political left have called for the arrest and prosecution of skeptical scientists. The British Foreign Secretary has said skeptics should be treated like advocates of Islamic terror and must be denied access to the media. Responds Lord Monckton, "Sceptics and those who have the courage to support them are actually helpful in getting the science right. They do not, as you improperly suggest, 'obfuscate' the issue: they assist in clarifying it by challenging weaknesses in the 'consensus' argument and they compel necessary corrections ... "....
Fifth of Farm Animal Breeds May Face Extinction - FAO About 20 percent of farm animal breeds have been brought to the brink of extinction as world agriculture narrows its focus to just the most productive livestock, the United Nation food body said. One breed is being lost each month, and the globalisation of livestock markets is the biggest single factor hitting farm animal diversity, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in a statement on Friday. Of more than 7,600 breeds in the FAO's global database of farm animal genetic resources, 190 have become extinct in the past 15 years and a further 1,500 are considered at risk of extinction, it said. "This process leads to a narrowing genetic base ... within the commercially successful breeds ... as other breeds, and indeed species, are discarded in response to market forces," Irene Hoffmann, chief of the FAO's animal production service said in the statement....So, "shoot, shovel and shutup" may soon apply to farm animals? What a great law we have.
California farmers harvest bumper crop of money When you grow cotton, the plants aren’t the only green things lining up in nice, orderly rows. So are the payments from the federal government to help the farmer cope with the all the adversity of growing the plants. Central Valley farmers and ranchers were paid more than $2.1 billion in federal crop subsidies in the ten years ending in 2005, according to a report from the Environmental Working Group. The EWG says total farm subsidy payments to all California agriculture added up to $5.94 billion for the ten year period, putting California – the nation’s Number One agriculture state – a paltry Number Ten in the handout line. Midwestern states reaped far more in federal payments, the report says. Many of the Central Valley’s top crops like tree fruits and nuts, receive little, if any, federal crop payments. The EWG report says 91 percent of all farmers and ranchers do not collect government subsidy payments in California, citing figures from the USDA. In Iowa, however, 70 percent of all farmers get a government check....
Huge gold chunk in La Grande loaded with lore, rich in tall tales When dealer Rick Gately recently bought a 2-pound gold nugget from a miner, he discovered the buyer must always beware -- even when what glitters really is gold. The huge nugget turned out to have a long and shady past. Gately first saw the chunk of ore when a middle-aged miner recently walked into his La Grande Gold and Silver store claiming to have just found it. It weighed a staggering 33.3 ounces and measured 7-by-6 inches, a massive nugget by modern standards. To compare: Among the largest chunks of gold hereabouts is the 7-pound "Armstrong nugget," allegedly found near the ghost town of Susanville in 1913 by miner George Armstrong. It's on display at a U.S. Bank branch in downtown Baker City. About 5.5 million ounces of gold have been extracted from Oregon's mountains and streams since the frontier era, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Half to two-thirds came out of Eastern Oregon....
It's All Trew: Will Rogers was never changed by his fame Thanks to Dixie Jo Crockett of Alanreed for the loan of a 1935 scrapbook created by her late uncle W.M. Burroughs. He always wanted to be a pilot but was too tall, so he became an aircraft mechanic. His interest in flying is probably the reason for creating the scrapbook. The book contains many newspaper articles about the death of Will Rogers and Wily Post. The pair were flying from Fairbanks to Point Barrow, Alaska, when fog forced them to land on a small stream only 15 miles from their destination. Later, when the fog lifted, they took off and continued their journey. At exactly 8:18 p.m., on Aug. 15, 1935, (shown by a stopped watch), the plane crashed, killing the two men aboard. Will Rogers was 55 years old and lived in Claremore, Okla. Wiley Post was 36 and a well known pilot. Rogers was born an Indian in 1879 on a ranch in the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. Although he dropped out of school in the 10th grade, he became a nationally recognized entertainer. Fame never changed him. He often stated, "I never met a man I didn't like." A freed slave working on the ranch taught young Will how to use and twirl a rope....