NEWS ROUNDUP

IRS eyes funds for firefighters' families The tax collector is threatening to take a big bite out of the $1 million raised for the survivors of five firefighters who were killed battling the Esperanza blaze in October. The hundreds of donors who contributed to the fund also may not be allowed to deduct their gifts on this year's tax returns, Riverside County supervisors said Tuesday. "In our haste to raise the money, we weren't thinking of the IRS codes," said Supervisor Jeff Stone, whose district suffered damages from the 42,000-acre arson fire in the San Jacinto Mountains. Bob Duistermars, president of the Central County United Way, said an Internal Revenue Service representative recently notified him that the money must be awarded for a well-documented charitable need. Otherwise, it would be considered taxable income. The United Way is overseeing distribution of the money. "Apparently the loss of your life in public service does not automatically create a charitable need," Duistermars said....
Salvage logging bill dead for year With just days remaining in the legislative session, two Republican senators say there is not enough time to take up a controversial bill to speed logging of burned forests and planting of new trees after storms and wildfires. Sens. Mike Crapo of Idaho and Gordon Smith of Oregon say they will try again next year to approve the logging bill, which many Democrats and environmentalists strongly oppose. "Oregon should be allowed to manage its forests," Smith said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "There was little bipartisan support for a salvage bill in this Congress. Without broader bipartisan support in the next Congress, Oregon is going to be in a very tight bind." Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is likely to chair the forestry subcommittee in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel next year, said he will look at the logging bill, but is unlikely to support anything resembling the bill that passed the GOP-led House this spring....
Rivals learn to share public land Under a wide-ranging proposed deal, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest would get 573,000 acres of new designated wilderness. But an additional 713,000 acres, in a 3.3 million-acre national forest, would be deemed suitable for logging. The Beaverhead Strategy has won backing from conservation groups, wildlife organizations, timber companies and leading public officials. Republican Secretary of State Brad Johnson calls it a "historic effort." Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer dubs it "unprecedented and visionary." And, says Bruce Ramsey, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest supervisor, "It represents to us a way out of gridlock.". It may also be a model for other places in the West, including a national forest in northeast Washington....
Agents, landowners killing more wolves Wolves caught eating what they shouldn't are paying a higher price these days. A record number have been killed this year in the northern Rocky Mountains for going after cows, sheep, dogs and other domestic animals. So far, 152 wolves have been shot by government agents or private landowners, about 50 more than last year and an eightfold increase from five years ago. In Wyoming, one-quarter of all wolves living outside Yellowstone's protective boundary were killed after reports of attacks on livestock. Wolf managers are taking a more aggressive tack with problem wolves mostly because the population in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho has soared beyond expectation in recent years. "We've got a recovered population so we're pretty hard on them if they get into trouble," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. There are at least 1,264 wolves in the three states, according to new figures provided Monday....
One pass for all the parks Outdoor enthusiasts will have a new $80 annual pass, starting next year, enabling them to get into national parks, national forests and wildlife refuges. The America the Beautiful - the National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass will replace annual recreation passes from five federal agencies to create one comprehensive pass. It replaces the $50 National Parks annual pass and the $65 Golden Eagle Passport that covers forest, wildlife refuges and other sites. Golden Eagle, Golden Age and Golden Access passports will remain valid until they expire. The new pass allows access to more than half a billion acres, including 193 million acres of national forests and 258 million acres under the Bureau of Land Management. "It's a big step forward for people who like to use national parks, national forests and BLM lands," said Jim Maxwell, spokesman for the Forest Service in Colorado....
West Slope uranium rush Colorado's vast stores of uranium are once again causing an unprecedented rush of investors, hedge funds and prospectors toting Geiger counters and stake poles. After three decades on hiatus, thousands of prospectors are back on the Western Slope, staking claims and seeking permits, bent on tapping the region's rich uranium reserves. And with uranium prices hitting record highs, they are ready to cash in before everyone else. The price of the metal used as raw material inside nuclear reactors has jumped nearly 100 percent during the past year, buoyed by demand from energy-hungry nations such as China and India that are embracing nuclear-fired electricity to power their galloping economies....
Gas firm to citizens: Trust us on watershed Robert C. Behner, vice president of Genesis Gas and Oil, attempted Tuesday night to make a first step toward establishing trust in the eyes of the Palisade and Grand Junction residents whose municipal watersheds the company plans to drill for natural gas. The results were mixed. Behner, along with officials from the Bureau of Land Management and the cities of Palisade and Grand Junction, kicked-off a year-long “community development” planning process during a forum Tuesday night meant to air public opinion about how the governments should work together to regulate Genesis’ drilling operation. The BLM expects the community development plan to help it and Genesis establish “best management practices,” or ways to reduce impacts of drilling on the watersheds....
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services rejects blackbird protection The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined on Tuesday to list tricolored blackbirds as an endangered species, noting that the bird's population has increased with conservation efforts and it is not threatened. The agency's decision ends a nearly two-year effort by the Center for Biological Diversity to get the birds on the Endangered Species Act. "The population numbers have increased substantially in the last four years," agency spokesman Al Donner said. "Secondly, there is a broad-based conservation effort under way that is helping the species recover." A 2004 agency survey showed the tricolored blackbird population increased to 260,000 by 2004, up from 154,000 in 2000....
Park Service proposal to kill non-native deer approved for West Marin he days of non-native deer populations in the Point Reyes National Seashore are officially numbered. A National Park Service plan to kill off fallow and axis deer by a combination of contraception and shooting has been approved and entered into the Federal Register. The deer - which biologists say have run roughshod over the park's ecosystem - will be eliminated by 2021 under the plan. "We will now get a group of people together to begin to talk about how to implement the program," said John Dell'Osso, Point Reyes National Seashore spokesman. "Nothing will start until next year." The plan to shoot the deer has been controversial, and groups such as the Marin Humane Society vow to keep fighting the plan....
Water, hope flow into valley In Los Angeles, William Mulholland is remembered as the visionary who helped transform the city from a dusty desert town into a metropolis by building a 240-mile aqueduct in 1913 that brought water from the Sierra Nevada to the city. In the Sierra Nevada's Owens Valley, though, he is bitterly regarded as the villain who stole farmers' water and drove them to ruin. Today, after decades of legal battles, Los Angeles will make amends, in a modest way, for what Mulholland and the city did. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will turn a valve and raise a steel gate to send water spilling once more into a 62-mile stretch of the Owens River, which was a rushing stream generations ago before the aqueduct diverted its flow and reduced it to a pathetic trickle. The farmers and ranchers who were ruined by the Los Angeles Aqueduct are long gone, and there is little hope the water will ever turn all of the scrubby, rocky landscape green again. But businesses hope the revitalized river will help the area's struggling towns by attracting more tourists....
Arrival of El Niño may mean dry winter for Colorado f last week's snowstorm had you dreaming about baking in the sun on a south Florida beach, there may be no need to make travel plans. Forecasters are predicting a virtual no-show for snow and slightly warmer temperatures across much of Colorado for the next few months. Scientists said last week's storm may be the last significant snow accumulation the Front Range sees until late February. "It might be the last hurrah for quite some time," said Klaus Wolter, a University of Colorado and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist. Keeping the snow and ice at bay is El Niño, a periodic warming of ocean water in the central and eastern Pacific. The warm-water mass gained strength in recent months and will influence weather conditions across the globe as long as it persists. It is forecast to last through spring. In the United States, an El Niño typically guarantees a wet winter for southern states, including the Four Corners region....
Box Elder commissioners reject road settlement The Box Elder County Commission this morning refused to go along with the county attorney's negotiated settlement of a contentious dispute over public access to a road through a mountain ranch. The settlement would have meant the county dropped criminal charges against rancher Bret Selman for closing the road in exchange for his admission that the road belongs to the county. The commission deadlocked 1-1, with Commissioner Scott Hansen voting for the settlement and Clark Davis opposing it. Suzanne Rees was absent due to illness. Chambers were packed with ATV riders, snowmobilers and elected leaders - Brigham City Mayor LouAnn Christensen was there. All were angry that those who want access were not included in settlement discussions. The reason for their opposition: The road through the Selman ranch would be closed from Nov. 1 through July 15 each year. The Selmans have always contended that the road belongs to them, and that their ability to close it is vital to the protection of Sharptail Grouse, deer and elk that live on the 7,000 acre-ranch. County Attorney Amy Hugie told the commission the Selmans have valid concerns about wildlife, vandalism and trespassing, and those were factors in the mediation session last week in Salt Lake City, where the settlement was reached....
Senate rejects $4.8 bln farm disaster aid The U.S. Senate rejected $4.8 billion in disaster aid for U.S. farmers and ranchers on Tuesday, despite pleas that tens of thousands of producers could go broke without help. Advocates vowed to try again next year, when Democrats control Congress and lawmakers try to wrap up work on bills to fund most of the federal government. The White House has threatened to veto disaster aid. Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, criticized the disaster package, saying it would send money to some growers who did not need it. But supporters said the legislation was critical to help those whose crops were hurt by drought or other damaging weather this year. Gregg derailed the package by objecting that it violated spending limits. Senators voted 57-37 to exempt it but 60 votes are needed under Senate rules, so the package failed. Gregg said the package amounted to a 23 percent increase in farm subsidies for this year.
Rancher reaches plea deal in fatal wreck A Cache County rancher charged with manslaughter for the death of a motorist whose car hit a stray steer can avoid prosecution by keeping his fences fixed and his cattle off the highway for the next two years. Darrell Kunzler, 70, was charged with second-degree felony manslaughter for a November 2004 crash on State Road 30, west of Logan, that killed 40-year-old Kimberly Johnson, a mother of six from Auburn, Wash. As part of a plea bargain agreement in which Kunzler pleaded no contest to one count of class A misdemeanor reckless endangerment, the manslaughter case may be dismissed two years from now. Kunzler faces up to a year in jail when he is sentenced for the reckless endangerment on Feb. 5 before 1st District Judge Gordon Low. Three other reckless endangerment counts were dismissed. The misdemeanors all pertain to non-fatal car/cow crashes during 2003 and 2004....
Cultivating cattle culture Batey this week will take part in the Great Florida Cattle Drive near Kissimmee. The event is like the movie "City Slickers" on steroids: hundreds of ranchers and less experienced folks riding horses and wagons on a 50-mile cattle drive over four days. Alachua County residents participating include Chris Machen, wife of University of Florida President Bernie Machen. She went on cattle drives and other horse-riding trips when her husband worked at the University of Utah, and said she couldn't pass up the chance to experience Florida's version. "This is such an adventure," she said. The inaugural Great Florida Cattle Drive was held in 1995, so organizers missed holding the sequel on the 10th anniversary. The event recreates the cattle drives typical in Florida before the fence law of the 1940s, said Larry Ellis, an organizer. "We're trying to preserve the cow culture of Florida," he said....