NEWS ROUNDUP

Suit filed to force expansion of Mexican gray wolf program reintroduction plan An environmental group went to court Thursday in an effort to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expand a program to reintroduce the endangered Mexican gray wolf in New Mexico and Arizona.
The Center for Biological Diversity, which has offices in both states, alleged in a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., that Fish and Wildlife has refused to implement recommendations of a scientific panel that reviewed the program. The "hostility toward science is undermining the wolf recovery program," the center said. The lawsuit seeks to force Fish and Wildlife to expand the area where wolves are allowed and to permit them to be released directly onto the Gila. Currently, wolves initially are released only in Arizona. The lawsuit also wants ranchers who graze livestock on public land to take responsibility for disposing of carcasses to reduce the likelihood that wolves will become used to feeding on livestock. The lawsuit said successful wolf-recovery programs in the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes are not saddled with "such devastating and politically motivated limits."....
Feds propose wolf deal A compromise on Wyoming’s wolf management plan, if accepted, could lead to the removal of the wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act. Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will meet with Gov. Dave Freudenthal on Monday to discuss the compromise, proposed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Mitch King. The plan includes a permanent region where the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would manage wolves as trophy game, which means they could be shot only by hunters who first obtain a license. The boundary would run from Cody to Meeteetse, around the outer edge of the Wind River Reservation, down to the Boulder River, back up through Pinedale, and up to Jackson and west to the Idaho state line. Outside of that boundary, wolves would be considered predators and could be killed without regulation. Wyoming’s current wolf management plan, which the federal government has rejected, contains a moveable boundary between trophy and predator areas that Game and Fish would review every six months....
Guilty pleas unveil the tale of eco-arson on Vail summit By the time the firebombs exploded, "Avalon" was well on his way down from the top of Vail ski area, breaking his trot only long enough to stash empty gas cans beneath a fallen tree. A half-mile away, the stately Two Elk ski lodge roared into flames, and Avalon - the nom de guerre used by Bill Rodgers, a slightly built, alternative-bookstore owner from Prescott, Ariz. - was making his getaway from one of the nation's most destructive acts of eco-terrorism. The next day, as tendrils of smoke wafted off the mountaintop, he would rendezvous in Vail with an accomplice known as "Country Girl," and together they drove in his Toyota pickup to a Denver library, where they composed an e-mail communiqué claiming responsibility. "This action is just a warning," they wrote, explaining their act as a protest against the ski area's expansion plans into terrain thought to be a home of endangered Canada lynx. "Putting profits before Colorado's wildlife will not be tolerated." A year after a nationwide dragnet solved the mystery behind dozens of eco-terror attacks across the West, Chelsea Dawn Gerlach - a.k.a. Country Girl - and Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff on Thursday formally pleaded guilty to the 1998 Vail fires in an Oregon federal courtroom....
Nevada Workers Free Locked Up Bull Elk It's not all checking hunting and fishing licenses. Sometimes the issues are bigger. Like when a Nevada game warden was handed the chore of figuring out how to separate two bull elk who locked horns while sparring and couldn't untangle them. The saga began Nov. 21 when a rancher in Reese River Valley spotted the two elk. By the following day, the animals were gone and the rancher assumed they had separated. A week later, according to Nevada Division of Wildlife biologist Tom Donham, the rancher was out looking for some of his cows and saw the elk again. This time, he called the wildlife department and Donham, game warden Brian Eller and Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist Bryson Code headed out to see what they could do. When they reached Indian Valley, south of Austin, it was Nov. 29, one week after the elk were first seen. "When we arrived where the rancher had last seen them, we found them pretty quickly. They were both lying on the ground and one of them was in a very uncomfortable looking position with his head directly above the others head and his nose pointing straight up to the sky," Donham said....
Regulating oil and gas pits: Conservation organization's rule may need revisions Three years ago the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division (OCD) enacted Rule 50, which regulates the operation of oil and gas waste pits. According to critics, the rule is either very inadequate or it needs some moderate tweaking to become effective and practical. Oil and gas industry representatives oppose the rule, claiming that, while well-intended, it imposes too great a financial burden on their operations. Meanwhile, landowners, environmentalists and others contend the rule falls short of providing adequate environmental protection. They claim there is little enforcement of the rule's guidelines. In response to the criticisms of the rule, the OCD is holding public outreach meetings throughout the state....
Wind farms dying on the vine Xcel Energy is ahead of schedule with construction of its wind projects, but the utility backed off several others because it can't get the power to customers' homes. The reason: a shortage of transmission lines. Building the high-voltage power lines, which carry electricity from generating stations to substations before delivering it to homes and businesses, has lagged the rapid construction of wind farms because of cost, location and regulatory and technical issues. And that, in turn, has discouraged wind farms in many areas, especially in northeast Colorado, one of the windiest areas in the state....
A Tribute to Rick Stroup Bozeman should thank Rick Stroup, a longtime resident and retiring head of the Ag-Econ & Econ Department at MSU. Rick has contributed much to our community. With his forthcoming move to North Carolina State University, an era ends. In the 1970s a small group of scholars at MSU developed the principles and policies that became known as free market environmentalism (FME). Rick was present at the inception, along with John Baden, Terry Anderson, and PJ Hill. Bozeman was the vanguard of this movement and Rick’s departure terminates its identity with MSU. How did this movement start? What has it accomplished? In 1971 Milton Friedman spoke at the University of Montana. This closely followed the Bolle Report’s scathing indictment of the U.S. Forest Service’s timber management on the Bitterroot National Forest. When asked about reforms, Friedman advocated selling the national forests. Rick attended with John Baden, who debated Friedman. Driving home, John and Rick discussed possible solutions to federal land management problems. The exchange with Freidman generated an article in the prestigious Journal of Law and Economics. It marks the birth of FME. The nascent movement gained stature in 1978 when Rick and John founded the Center for Political Economy and Natural Resources at MSU. There, Rick and the others wrote and published numerous reports challenging the Progressive Era’s paradigm that emphasized centralized bureaucratic management....
Column - American icons protected from development Congress quit work last week and left behind two priceless gifts of permanently protected, iconic American landscapes under our Christmas trees. Years of community activism caused Congress to withdraw a half-million acres of magnificent wildlife habitat in New Mexico's Valle Vidal and along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front from oil and gas drilling. Permanent protection for 100 miles of the Rocky Mountain Front was tucked into the massive tax breaks bill among the very last acts of Congress. This act culminated more than a decade of anguished public debate as local Montanans, wildlife lovers, hunters and conservationists argued vociferously against converting one of America's most astonishing wild places into an oil and gas field. New Mexico's Valle Vidal spans 100,000 acres of the state's most prolific habitat for elk and other wildlife northeast of Taos. El Paso Corp. recently targeted Valle Vidal for coalbed methane drilling. The company used its contacts in the Bush administration to push so-called "fast tracking" to force the Carson National Forest to open 40,000 acres of Valle Vidal to leasing. Ironically, a different oil company, Pennzoil, originally donated the Valle Vidal in 1982 to the Forest Service for protection of its wildlife habitat. The threat of drilling the Valle Vidal galvanized hundreds of New Mexico businesses, outfitters and communities in a massive outpouring of public concern (www.vallevidal.org). The Valle Vidal's location next to America's largest Boy Scout camp at Philmont Ranch generated national interest. New Mexico politicians lined up one by one to support a bill prohibiting oil and gas drilling on the Valle Vidal, until finally New Mexico's powerful senator, Pete Domenici, head of the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee, also succumbed to the tidal wave of public opinion....
Forests need modern-day equivalent of Marshall Plan Environmental groups that have sued the Forest Service in the recent past, now lobbying Congress to expedite salvage and fund more timber sales? The challenges of forest restoration call upon everyone “to set aside conflicting views and interests, to bury the animosity of conflict-ridden pasts, and to find a common interest in restoring the ecological health of our forests,” a prominent environmental leader said in Missoula last week. Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest, formerly the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, made the remarks at the conference, “Challenges Facing the U.S. Forest Service,” presented by the University of Montana’s O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. Referring to himself as a West Coast liberal green who was one of the first tree-sitters; a deer hunter, failed pole vaulter for the MSU Bobcats, whose work history ranges from driving forklift in Chicago to driving cattle in southeastern Wyoming to monitoring foreign fishing vessels in the Bering Sea, Mitch told those assembled for the conference that his group is “meddling to expedite the preparation of federal timber projects, even on a post-fire salvage sale” and that “they have fallen to lobbying Congress to fund more timber sales, some of questionable profitability.” “The justification for these transgressions, compromises, and downright flip-flops,” he said, “is that our forests are damaged by many decades of livestock grazing, road building, industrial logging, and misguided fire policy—and are further threatened by an actively and rapidly warming climate.” Acknowledging that are groups on his side that reject any notion that common ground does exist, Friedman told the audience that a corollary could possibly be found in the Marshall Plan, through which “the many conflicting paths that led to a ruined Europe were overcome to build a better common future, a new path in common, after World War II.”....
Increased fines may stem rope duckers The worst part of patrolling ski slopes? It's not stringing miles of rope, not the cold, not even navigating steep slopes with a laden sled. "Dealing with poachers is such a hassle. Everyone's got a smart mouth. Everyone's got a reason for being in a closed area," said Jim Hersman, who has patrolled Winter Park's slopes since 1971. "We like getting things open as soon as possible to eliminate that hassle." Hersman estimates this year is one of his quietest when it comes to chasing down rope-ducking scofflaws. He credits the sharpened teeth in the venerable Colorado Skier Safety Act, which lawmakers last year revised to increase the fine for resort violations from $300 to $1,000. Signs are up at many resorts warning skiers that boundary and closure violations can cost up to $1,000. The signs put the onus on the skier to know what's open and what's not. Just because there's not a rope doesn't mean it's open, is the message....
Private landowners make room for threatened species of Lupine flower The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently designated critical habitat for three Oregon species native to the grasslands of the Willamette Valley, including threatened Kincaid’s lupine, which is also found in Douglas County. The private lands containing habitat for Kincaid’s lupine are owned by Lone Rock Timber Management Company, Roseburg Forest Products and Seneca Jones Timber Company. These companies work cooperatively with state and federal agencies to implement conservation and recovery activities for this species on their private properties. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, private landowners’ successful voluntary management is demonstrated by the continued survival of several flourishing patches of Kincaid’s lupine....
Young prepares to protect home turf Rep. Don Young on Wednesday said he will continue pushing for development of Alaska's oil and mineral deposits as the highest-ranking minority member on the House Resources Committee. Meanwhile, the committee's new Democratic leadership is hinting at a departure from industry-friendly policies. Young said his top-tier issues will include fighting Democrats' efforts to permanently close the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and working for completion of a pipeline that would siphon natural gas out of the North Slope. "Serving as the top Republican on the resources committee will be essential in fighting the anti-growth agenda the new leadership will seek to advance," said Young....
Gov't may protect Utah cactus The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will study whether a rare Utah cactus should be protected as an endangered species, a move that could affect oil drilling in the state's Uinta Basin. Fish and Wildlife is taking the action -- the first step toward deciding whether to list the plant as protected -- in response to a 2005 lawsuit by conservation groups asking for emergency help for the Pariette cactus. The groups say a proposal to double the number of oil wells in the area where the cactus is found threaten its existence. The Pariette was originally thought to be a form of another species, the Uinta Basin hookless cactus, which is already listed under the Endangered Species Act. But in 1996, scientists decided Pariette was a separate species. Fish and Wildlife will officially determine whether the hookless cactus is actually three different species, including the Pariette, and whether the Pariette deserves its own Endangered Species Act protection, said Diane Katzenberger, a spokeswoman for the service....
GOP misses chance to reshape environmental laws If ever there was a Congress in which Republicans were positioned to remake the nation's environmental laws, it was the 109th. But by the time the session ended last week, the GOP's environmental agenda had been largely thwarted. Whether it was rewriting the Endangered Species Act, opening up most of the nation's coastline to oil and gas drilling, or selling off public lands in the West, Republicans failed to enact a range of ambitious proposals. "It was the best chance for Republican-shaped initiatives for as long we can remember," said Daniel Kemmis, senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana. Republicans began the session with majorities in both chambers, a sympathetic president, and a tough-talking property rights champion in charge of a key environmental committee. That they went home empty-handed, Kemmis and others say, is testament to a changing, greening West; the pitfalls of overreaching; and an emerging alliance between environmentalists and a traditional GOP base, hunters and anglers....
EPA orders Arizona property owner to remove illegal fill from Virgin River he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently ordered Littlefield, Ariz. resident Dan Reber to remove an earthen dam that he built across a portion of the Virgin River located on his property without a federal permit, a violation of the Clean Water Act. The EPA also required the property owner to immediately stop discharging dredged and fill materials into the river and to develop a restoration plan for the site. “Unauthorized filling of waterways and damming of open waters can have serious environmental consequences,” said Alexis Strauss, the EPA’s Water Division director for the Pacific Southwest region. “The Virgin River supports a very diverse number of bird populations, including two endangered species, and is critical habitat for two endangered species of fish. The EPA’s action underscores our commitment to protecting this very important water resource.” From January to April 2005, the Army Corps of Engineers received calls and written complaints stating that Reber was illegally constructing a dam across the Virgin River, which adversely altered the river’s natural flow pattern and characteristics, increasing the potential for bank erosion. At the request of the Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA inspected the site in October and confirmed that Reber constructed the earthen dam with a bulldozer without an Army Corps of Engineers permit....
GAO Report on USDA Conservation Programs As might be expected, survey respondents most frequently identified receiving payments as the primary incentive for landowners to participate in USDA conservation programs for the benefit of threatened and endangered species or their habitats. The other most frequently identified incentives were program evaluation criteria that give projects directly addressing threatened or endangered species greater chances of being funded by USDA and landowners' personal interest in conservation. Relatedly, limited funding for programs overall and for the amount available to individual landowners was the most frequently identified disincentive to participation in USDA's programs. Fears about federal government regulations, paperwork requirements, participation and eligibility requirements, and the potential for participation to hinder current or future agricultural production were the next most frequently identified factors limiting participation....
Nature Conservancy slaughtering wild turkeys on Santa Cruz For at least 50 years there have been wild turkeys on Santa Cruz Island. Unlike wild hogs that are not native to North America, no one has been able to document any environmental problems introduced - or perhaps more correctly - "reintroduced" populations of wild turkey have created for native species. None. There's wild, knee-jerk speculation, but no science. But apparently that isn't stopping the Nature Conservancy from contracting with a wildlife control company to slaughter all of the 1,000 of so wild turkeys on Santa Cruz Island, according to Steve Smith with the California Bowman Hunters. Smith said the slaughter apparently began this past week. This is more biased science adopted as policy. A policy gone astray. Because there were no turkeys on Santa Cruz since the last ice age, apparently there shouldn't be any. That's the Nature Conservancy's scientists' belief. I can understand removing wild hogs, which root up the landscape and decimate native plant and invertebrate populations that didn't evolve with them. But the desire to rid the Channel Islands of all things non-native for the last 500 to 1,000 years doesn't make sense. Especially not turkeys. Turkey bones are one of the most common things found in the La Brea tar pits, having lived in and evolved with all of the plants and animals that currently live here....
Arizona city trying to annex part of park A trip to Lake Powell could cost you a bit more if an Arizona city succeeds in annexing a portion of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. National Park Service officials worry the measure could affect hunting within the park and send ripples through the agency, setting a precedent for how other national parks are managed. In order to reap the revenue from a proposed 3 percent sales tax at the Wahweap and Antelope Point marinas and other concessionaires within the park, the city of Page, Ariz., wants to annex 21,000 acres of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Glen Canyon Dam between Lee’s Ferry and the Utah state line. The proposed sales tax and annexation will not affect Bullfrog, Hall’s Crossing or Hite marinas on Lake Powell in Utah. Page Mayor Dan Brown said the tax is aimed at vacationers who use city facilities and emergency services, and it would bring in about $500,000 for the city annually....