NEWS ROUNDUP


Gray wolves to lose some protection Federal protection for about 4,000 gray wolves in three western Great Lakes states — northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan — will end in about a month, the Fish and Wildlife Service announced. Plans to do the same in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming probably will take the rest of this year, service director H. Dale Hall said. A formal proposal, with public hearings and a two-month comment period, will be published this week. Two wildlife advocacy groups — the Defenders of Wildlife and Sinapu, a Colorado-based wolf advocacy group — warned they might sue to prevent taking wolves in the Rockies off the endangered list. Another group, the Center for Biological Diversity, claims the proposal will "end in the mass killing of wolves." Ed Bangs, the Fish and Wildlife recovery coordinator in the Rockies, says Wyoming wants all its wolves outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks classified as "predators" that can be shot on sight without restriction. He hopes that talks with the state will produce an acceptable plan. If not, Fish and Wildlife will keep federal restrictions in Wyoming, Hall said. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal said Monday that the agency's threat "raises the interesting question of whether any (wolf) packs outside Yellowstone in Wyoming are even necessary."....
Wyo wolves could stay under federal control Whether Wyoming's gray wolf population will be part of the animal's broader removal from federal protection in the Rocky Mountains is yet to be seen, but federal officials said a proposal for delisting will move forward with or without Wyoming. Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the Interior, told reporters in a news conference Monday that if Wyoming does not move forward with a federally approved management plan, a "significant portion of the range would remain protected under the Endangered Species Act." Population levels necessary to meet federal requirements in those areas outside the national parks would continue to be overseen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she said. That means management would be largely unchanged. Idaho and Montana would be able to move forward with their state plans, which call for maintaining a minimum number of wolves in each state, and would not shoulder any additional burden because of Wyoming, she said....
Criminal charges dropped against rancher who closed road Box Elder County's new attorney dropped criminal charges against a Box Elder County rancher who kept a gate over a disputed mountain road. Stephen Hadfield, who replaced former County Attorney Amy Hugie, told rancher Bret Selman that he didn't see the case as a criminal matter, Selman said. Hugie, frustrated with the county's inability to resolve a dispute over the road, had charged Selman last winter with five class B misdemeanors. The county - backed by recreationists who want access to public lands and a loop road for motorcyclists and ATV riders - claims the road belongs to the public. Selman and his parents, Fred and Laura Selman of Tremonton, claim the stretch of dirt road through their ranch southeast of Mantua belongs to them. Motorcyclists, ATV riders and snowmobilers are damaging their land and threatening wildlife, the Selmans say....
Environmental concerns hit ski plans Beneath a steely sky and icy snow flurries, cross-country skiers glide over a 130-acre alpine meadow that Kirkwood Mountain Resort has preserved for wildlife and recreation. In nearby restaurants, diners use plates and utensils that are reusable or made with recycled materials. And employees receive financial rewards for carpooling to work. Kirkwood, a 35-year-old vacation community nestled in a box canyon south of Lake Tahoe, is a proud signer of a national environmental charter for ski areas. Yet Kirkwood is the only California resort to receive an F in the current report card by an environmental coalition that rates Western ski areas for development practices, water and energy consumption and natural resource protection. And Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Development Co.'s plans for hundreds of dwellings and a ridgeline restaurant visible from wilderness trails have provoked the ire of community activists....
State sues to delist mouse It has been almost two years since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began reviewing a proposal to remove the Preble's meadow jumping mouse from the list of threatened and endangered species. But the agency still has not issued a final decision, and now the state of Wyoming wants a federal judge to compel the agency make up its mind. A lawsuit filed last week asks U.S. District Court to force a final action within one month. It also asks the court to direct the Fish and Wildlife Service to strip the 3-inch mouse of its federal protection. “We've asked the court to put them on a deadline,” state Attorney General Pat Crank said. The Fish and Wildlife Service acknowledged Monday that the agency response is late. After missing a 12-month deadline in February 2006, it announced a six-month extension, which it also failed to honor....
Bill would authorize suing feds Several powerful Wyoming legislators are sponsoring a bill that would ask the state attorney general to watch for opportunities to sue the federal government over any failure to follow the federal Endangered Species Act or the National Environmental Policy Act. The bill comes as Gov. Dave Freudenthal's administration continues to negotiate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the federal agency's proposed wolf-management plan for the state. Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, chairman of the Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee, is a main sponsor of the legislation. It would give the Wyoming attorney general's office as much as $250,000 to hire three more lawyers to take legal action in Wyoming, but possibly also to intervene in litigation anywhere in the country....
Hayman fire arsonist re-sentencing in question A judge Monday agreed to reconsider his decision that a former Forest Service employee invalidated her guilty plea by filing an appeal in the worst wildfire in Colorado history. Judge Thomas Kennedy's decision could mean the difference between a re-sentencing hearing for Terry Barton or a new trial that could include additional charges from up to four counties ravaged by the Hayman fire in 2002. Barton, who admitted setting the fire by burning a letter in a drought-stricken area, is serving a 6-year federal sentence, but her 12-year state sentence was thrown out by the state Appeals Court. She pleaded guilty to a state felony arson charge. Prosecutors argue that Barton broke her word when she appealed. With Barton listening by telephone Monday, her lawyer Mark Walta told Kennedy that prosecutors should have raised that issue when Barton filed her appeal in 2003 and it's too late to do so now....
In the Rockies, Pines Die and Bears Feel It Jesse Logan retired in July as head of the beetle research unit for the United States Forest Service at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Utah. He is an authority on the effects of temperature on insect life cycles. That expertise has landed him smack in the middle of a debate over protecting grizzly bears. You just never know where the study of beetles will take you. Dr. Logan seems, in fact, to be on a collision course with the federal government, in the debate over whether to lift Endangered Species Act protections from the grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park. The grizzly population in the greater Yellowstone area is estimated to be at least 600. The population is centered in the park proper, federal scientists say, where it has reached its likely natural maximum and has leveled off. But in adjoining stretches of national forest, the number of grizzlies is continuing to go up by 4 percent to 7 percent a year. Their resurgence in the past 50 years is why the federal government announced in 2005 the start of proceedings to take them off the endangered or threatened species list. Dr. Logan enters the fray on the question of what grizzly bears eat, how much of it will be available in the future, and where. All that, he says, hinges on the mountain pine beetle and the whitebark pine....
Following the Tracks of a Killer Mountain Beetle In early September, Jesse Logan, a 62-year-old insect specialist with a knack for mathematics and a deep love for the Western landscape, gazed across a rolling meadow 10,400 feet high in the rugged Wind River Range in Wyoming. Moving carefully with the aid of two trekking poles, Dr. Logan favored a left knee injured three years ago by a Colorado avalanche that killed a close friend. He had not been sure he would ever get into back country like this again. Yet here he was, nearing the end of an arduous expedition, organized and led by Louisa Willcox, director of the wild bears project for the National Resources Defense Council, carrying a 40-pound pack over 12,000-foot passes in a roadless wilderness. Dr. Logan is an authority on the effects of temperature on insect life cycles. Across the way he could see likely signs of a particularly aggressive organism he was seeking but hoping not to find here, the mountain pine beetle. The beetle is the most destructive timber pest in the Western United States. The rising warmth across the Rockies is expanding its range north and, equally important, uphill. Dr. Logan had hoped to find no incipient, major outbreaks here. But many of the pine trees across the way were an unhealthy red. This did not look good....
Senate Panel Examining Firefighting Costs The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hear testimony tomorrow, January 30 on questions related to cost-sharing among local, state, and federal jurisdictions and comparisons of firefighting and prevention methods. There is a growing debate in Washington about the increased federal costs of firefighting and the best fire prevention methods. Since 2000, the federal government has carried more than $1 billion of the costs of suppressing the fires according to the Government Accounting Office (GAO). Several studies have suggested the Forest Service is carrying too much of the burden. It its most recent report, the GAO said some federal officials are concerned the current framework insulates states and local governments from having to carry the financial burden of protecting the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The GAO said that might reduce incentives for nonfederal entities to help mitigate fire risks, “such as requiring homeowners to use fire-resistant materials and landscaping.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Inspector General (IG) issued a report entitled “Forest Service Large Fire Suppression Costs.” This report bluntly said states and local governments should pick up more of the tab....
New Forest Plan Could Impact Ice Climbing Access The newly proposed Gallatin National Forest Travel Plan has caused quite a stir in the ice climbing community. Ice climbers comprise one of the largest user groups during the winter in Hyalite Canyon, one of the many areas of focus, and a proposed plan to change winter accessibility has taken the group by storm. The Travel Plan has had a varied history. In 2002, the Gallatin National Forest originally began working on a new travel plan to manage multiple uses of the public lands. Climbers were ecstatic about a possible victory for winter access in October 2004 when Forest Service officials released a “preferred alternative” that called for plowing to the Chisholm Campground and ungated access beyond that point. Ice climbers banded together to advance this original alternative to the travel plan. Recently, however, Forest Service officials, in an effort believed to be beneficial to family-oriented cross-country skiing activities, have decided to plow the road to the Blackmore Campground and then gate access past the Hyalite Reservoir on January 1, beginning in the 2007-2008 season. This will effectively shorten the season for those ice climbers who do not own or have access to snowmobiles, since access to Hyalite is generally limited later in the season by vehicle clearance due to snow-packed roads....
Colorado's Storm Peak Lab: Science in the snow Up the mountain from the Steamboat Springs Ski Resort, atmospheric scientists have studied everything from snow crystals and pollution to the impact of ultraviolet radiation on vegetation. Scientists at the Storm Peak Laboratory have conducted research here since 1981. Currently, climate change tops their priorities. The findings made at Storm Peak could be important to how the ski industry adjusts to warming temperatures. "With a warmer climate, you will have a shorter ski season," said lab director Dr. Gannet Hallar. "You'll have an earlier melt and a later onset of snow. This makes a lot of difference for the skiing community,"she said. But less snow has an impact far beyond vacationing skiers and snowboarders, Hallar and the other researchers stressed. "Water is a major issue in Colorado," said Hallar. "Our water serves Las Vegas and Los Angeles. So less snow in Colorado influences water across the nation." The lab has determined that an increase in sulfate pollution from power plants reduces snowfall by about 15 percent....
Trouble in paradise In a federal courtroom, Greg Adair looks like someone who might be more comfortable dangling from a 3,000-foot granite wall than sitting at the plaintiff's table. The long hair, the rock-climber physique and the suit and tie just don't seem to mix. He is an uneasy legal warrior for a place where people from around the globe stop to gawk — Yosemite Valley. Adair is the blue-collar activist who has led two local groups in a legal battle for Yosemite's ecological soul. They have won impressive court decisions over the last six years, stopping vast construction projects in the glacial valley. The man behind these court victories is a 45-year-old Bay-Area resident with eclectic pursuits — construction worker, rock climber, philosopher and ardent friend of nature....
National Parks Case May Affect Access The plunging waterfalls and soaring crags chiseled by the Merced River draw millions of visitors each year, but the crowds are precisely what threatens the waterway and the park. Efforts to safeguard the Merced have spawned a court battle over the future of development in Yosemite National Park's most popular stretch. The case may come down to the challenge facing all of America's parks: Should they remain open to everyone, or should access be limited in the interest of protecting them? In November, a federal judge barred crews from finishing $60 million in construction projects in Yosemite Valley, siding with a small group of environmentalists who sued the federal government, saying further commercial development would bring greater numbers of visitors, thus threatening the Merced's fragile ecosystem. "The park's plans for commercialization could damage Yosemite for future generations," said Bridget Kerr, a member of Friends of Yosemite Valley, one of two local environmental groups that filed the suit....
5 dozen killer whales believed to be hunting salmon off S.F. coast A large group of endangered killer whales has been spotted off the coast of San Francisco, a long way from their usual feeding grounds along the Washington coast. The magnificent black and white predators were first seen off Half Moon Bay, where they were apparently searching for salmon, which are declining in numbers in the Pacific Northwest. Photos were taken Jan. 24 of from nine to 15 orcas swimming in the open water between the Farallon Islands and San Francisco. Although killer whales have been seen off the coast before, researchers believe some five dozen or more individuals are now regularly leaving their historic habitat in the Puget Sound area for the abundant waters near the Golden Gate....
Calif. Town's Economy 'Hostage' to Fly This city lives in the shadow of a 1-inch fly that that slurps nectar and zooms around like a hummingbird. The Delhi Sands flower-loving fly is the only fly on the federal endangered species list. Recent counts have yielded no more than two dozen of the flies at any time, and their best hope of survival is pinned on prime breeding habitat in Colton, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. But that prime habitat is considered prime real estate by Colton officials. They say restrictions on building on the habitat have limited commercial growth and cost tens of millions of dollars in economic development. So city leaders have fought to get the fly off the endangered list since it was placed there in 1993. "It's absurd that an economy and a community should be held hostage by a fly," said Daryl Parrish, the city manager....
Cruise line agrees to $750,000 fine in collision with whale Princess Cruise Lines will pay $750,000 to settle federal charges that a cruise ship hit and killed a humpback whale near Glacier Bay in 2001, according to an agreement approved in U.S. District Court Monday. As part of the agreement, the cruise line said the ship Dawn Princess had a "close encounter" with two humpback whales in July 200l, but did not admit that the ship actually collided with a whale. The cruise line said it was guilty of failing to operate its vessel in at a "slow, safe speed" while near the humpback, but had implemented new safety procedures. The company will pay a $200,000 fine to the government and $550,000 to the National Park Service Foundation. The Park Service money will go to an account for Glacier Bay National Park, to be used for whale research and conservation efforts. Tomie Lee, superintendent of Glacier Bay National Park, said in a statement she was satisfied with the agreement....I see the Bush Justice Dept. is continuing to divert court fines to private non-profits. In this case 70 percent or so of the court fine is diverted. Who picks the non-profits and how, and where is the hue and cry over public input into this decision? Where is the Congressional oversight? If all citizens must obey these laws, then all citizens should benefit from noncompliance. The fines should go to the general treasury.
NAFTA Environmental Commission Rules Against Liquefied Natural Gas Facility On U.S.- Mexico Border The Secretariat of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a tri-national commission set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement, announced January 25th that it was rejecting a request by Mexico to suspend an investigation into whether the country violated its own laws in approving a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility next to a biodiversity hotspot on the U.S. border. In 2005, U.S. and Mexican conservation organizations filed a formal petition with the NAFTA Commission to challenge the Mexican government's granting of permits to Chevron to build the LNG terminal just 600 yards from the Coronado Islands. The islands, located 11 miles south of the U.S. border, provide critical nesting habitat for six threatened or endangered seabird species and 10 other species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. The Commission was expressly created to prevent "maquiladora"-style projects, as it was feared by many that the lifting of trade barriers under NAFTA would result in the increased flight of polluting industries and dangerous projects to areas where environmental and health and safety laws were not enforced. Accordingly, the environmental side agreement to NAFTA provides a process for citizens of any NAFTA country to challenge the nation's failure to enforce its environmental laws....
Coordinator works to improve management of the Rio Grande for all users Abeyta, the daughter of a Sandia National Laboratories chemist and granddaughter of ranchers near Mora, has spent her career studying water quality along the Rio Grande. She's a trained scientist living in the state's largest city, but her roots are firmly planted in her family's rural, agricultural heritage. Abeyta, 49, worked for the USGS for 22 years, focusing on water-quality studies. In 2000, in the midst of a legal battle over the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow, she was asked to join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as coordinator for the Middle Rio Grande. Her job as head of the Rio Grande Bosque Initiative is part scientist, part diplomat and part project coordinator. She works with pueblos, farmers, ranchers, city officials, environmental groups, scientists and state and federal agencies along the 180-mile stretch of the Rio Grande from Cochiti Dam to the head of Elephant Butte Reservoir to implement the 21 recommendations in a decade-old Rio Grande Bosque management plan....
'Big House' harmed by influx of animals The "Big House" at Casa Grande Ruins National Monument has withstood centuries of desert punishment, but encroachment by unnaturally high populations of animal species is causing permanent damage to the Ruins. Pigeons, round-tail ground squirrels and other rodents have overpopulated the 480 acres of pristine Sonoran Desert encompassed by the monument. The lasting effects of their waste byproducts and living habits have spurred the Ruins staff to take preventative action. Enter WildEdge Conservation Science. For more than a year, Dawson and his team have visited the Ruins with an arsenal of trained raptors, which take controlled flights intended to abate the overpopulation of pigeons and rodents. "Our mission is to address human-wildlife interaction problems," Dawson explained. "For example, pigeon problems are huge in Phoenix and outlying areas. Our approach is to find solutions that do not involve poison, but are more natural and environmentally sound." A common current-day bird abatement program involves baiting pigeons with poisoned grains. However, Dawson said, this method also puts protected birds at risk....
$155 million home planned at club For Sale: Ten bedroom, 53,000-squre-foot stone-and-wood mansion at The Yellowstone Club. Amenities include heated driveway, wine cellar, indoor/outdoor pool and a ski lift that can be boarded inside the house. Spectacular views. Price: If you have to ask, you can't afford it. But if you're curious, it's going on the market at $155 million. Billionaire developer Tim Blixseth calls the house "The Pinnacle." He said it should be complete in 12 to 14 months. Forbes Magazine said the sales price makes it the most expensive "publicized" mega-home of its kind. "You can't believe the number of people interested in this thing," Blixseth said of possible buyers. "And the guys who are calling aren't going to have to borrow any money." Locati Architects of Bozeman designed the house, which is between Pioneer Mountain and Lone Peak, a short distance from the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area....
Climate change means hunger and thirst for billions: report Billions of people will suffer water shortages and the number of hungry will grow by hundreds of millions by 2080 as global temperatures rise, scientists warn in a new report. The report estimates that between 1.1 billion and 3.2 billion people will be suffering from water scarcity problems by 2080 and between 200 million and 600 million more people will be going hungry. The assessment is contained in a draft of a major international report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to be released later this year, Australia's The Age newspaper said. Rising sea levels could flood seven million more homes, while Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef, treasured as the world's largest living organism, could be dead within decades, the scientists warn, the newspaper said....
Climate change may crush wine industry By any measure, California wines rank among the best in the world. But a 2-degree rise in temperature could make Napa Valley chardonnay a thing of the past. Warmer grape-growing regions such as the Livermore Valley could be knocked out of the premium wine game entirely. "It's clear that there's the potential for really substantial problems, and almost certainly going to be some change," said John Williams, owner and winemaker at Frog's Leap Winery in Napa Valley. Although grapes may feel the heat first, they won't be alone. Many of the state's signature crops — avocados, oranges, almonds — will face serious declines in yield by midcentury, according to computer models that project climate changes....
The race that Barbaro could not win The eight-month survival saga of Barbaro, a story that captured the emotions and imaginations of millions around the world and raised questions about the extent and expense of his treatment, ended early Monday morning. Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner last May with a 6 1/2 -length victory margin that was the largest in 60 years, was euthanized at the hospital where he had been since the day he suffered multiple fractures in his right hind leg. The widespread fascination with Barbaro's ordeal was born out of the competitive nature of horse racing and an unusually long and complicated medical treatment. People who didn't care about horse racing suddenly did. "It was a difficult night," said Dean Richardson, the surgeon at the New Bolton Center of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at Kennett Square, Pa. Richardson had repaired Barbaro's three broken bones, one of which broke into 20 pieces. "He didn't lie down all night, for the first time since he has been here," Richardson said at a news conference. "It was the first night that he was clearly distressed by his own condition. "We meant what we said all along. If we couldn't control his discomfort, we wouldn't go on."...
Sheriff's Department investigating Redington Pass cattle shooting The Pima County Sheriff's Department is looking for those responsible for the shooting deaths of several cattle in the Redington Pass area northeast of Tucson. A local rancher notified authorities Friday after finding six of his cattle shot to death near a watering hole, according to a press release from the Animal Cruelty Taskforce. Deputies found three freshly killed cows and three that had been killed earlier in the week, judging by the state of decomposition and evidence that scavengers had eaten parts of the carcasses, according to the release. Authorities believe the three most recent killings occurred Thursday or Friday of last week....
Too many cows for Wash cattle producers High corn prices and not enough processing plants have produced an oversupply of cows, causing feedlot headaches for Pacific Northwest cattle producers. When animals are fed corn in feedlots for even a few extra days, it can cost ranchers thousands of dollars. Then beef processors dock producers if their animals are even a few pounds too fat. Cattle can gain three to five pounds a day in a feedlot and only bring about $20 a head in total profit, so they have to be sold quickly when they are ready. "The losses are just huge," said Rod Van de Graaf, co-owner of a large feedlot in Sunnyside. "We are just trying to hold on." Van de Graaf said he feeds about 240 tons of corn a day, and he's got hundreds of cattle milling around that should already have been shipped to market. The closure of a Tyson Foods Co. processing plant near Boise, Idaho, is forcing ranchers in Idaho and Oregon to ship their cows to a Pasco plant, ranchers said. "They (Tyson) are putting you off for three to four weeks when you have cattle ready," Beus said....
2 senators take aim at meatpackers A pair of Iowa senators has revived legislation to challenge the dominance that the nation's largest meatpacking companies hold over that market, offering a bill that would ban those companies from buying livestock in an effort to eliminate what the lawmakers contend are practices that gouge small farmers and ranchers. The new "packer ban" bill resembles a similar, hard-fought initiative that was defeated as part of the 2002 farm bill. Like the old bill, the new one asks Congress to prohibit large meat producers from using their market heft to buy and raise their own livestock. It also would restrict the sort of contracts that the large companies may strike with those who raise cattle just before the cattle are shipped to packing plants for slaughter. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat and the new chairman of the agriculture committee, contend that the large meatpacking companies use their overwhelming buying power to obtain livestock long before they are sent to packing plants for slaughter. That practice, they say, enables those companies to keep livestock prices low and undercut farmers and ranchers who also are trying to sell cattle on the open market....
An ol’ time cowboy Even at 81 years old, I.C. “Tiny” Earp still gets out to visit the ranch once or twice a week. Earp, who had a birthday Jan. 15, turned over the last 1,000 acres to his children at the start of 2006, but it doesn’t keep him away. Earp’s ranching career began when he received a Hereford heifer when he was 4. He said the cow produced 14 calves. “I can remember the first bull calf I ever sold,” he said. “It brought $12 and weighed 500 pounds.” After spending some time working at a gasoline plant and ranching on the side, Earp took over George Cowden II’s ranch between Crane and Imperial. Along with the land he already had, Earp said that gave him nearly 20,000 acres, which he said he watched over largely by himself. On a ranch, Earp noted, three types of figures can be found: rodeo cowboys, cowboys by trade and cowmen. Because he was able to figure out the business side of the ranch, he considers himself among the latter, although he also made a go of it in rodeo....
It's All Trew: Higgins was stage station At most settlements in the Llano Estacado, buffalo hide hunters were the first Anglos to camp or pause for a spell at the site. From 1873 to 1878, hunters hunted illegally in the eastern Texas/Oklahoma panhandles, which was supposedly Indian Territory. In 1874, one of the area's first settlements was established as a resting place for hunters and travelers going south from Fort Supply. The stop was called The Commission Creek Stage Station and known locally as Polly's Hotel. After Fort Elliott was established in 1875, creating a new military road to Fort Supply, the future of the Stage Station seemed assured. Further promises for the future arrived as a mail route began passing through the settlement, which was sold and renamed The Latham House....