NEWS ROUNDUP

Couric handwringing over green backlash In her CBS blog, the day after the Oscars, anchorwoman Katie Couric frets that Hollywood's overwhelming embrace of Al Gore and the politics of global warming might prove to be a political setback with the hicks in the sticks. "But as the throngs of celebrities greeted Al Gore as a secular saint, I wondered if this might usher in a backlash against environmentalists," she speculated. "It wasn't too long ago, afterall, (sic) that environmentalists were decried as tree-huggers, and former President Bush rallied against them – trying to say it was the spotted owl against logging interests and jobs in the West." Couric also wonders out loud if the Academy Awards Best Documentary Oscar presentation to Gore for his "An Inconvenient Truth" might start the public thinking global warming is a "liberal" cause. "The Oscars may give Gore's critics ammunition to reject a school of thought that's been validated by countless scientists worldwide," she mused....
Gore's Oscars could spur action on climate The double Oscar win for "An Inconvenient Truth," former Vice President Al Gore's expanded slide-show on global warming, could spur grassroots support for the fight against climate change, environmental advocates said on Monday. That's because a movie, especially one that many Americans have seen on home video, takes the issue beyond the realm of distant policymakers and puts it on a more personal footing, according to Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "The funny thing about the Oscars is, they're very intimate -- people watch them in their living rooms," Pope said in a telephone interview. "Global warming has seemed abstract, distant, something 'for people who know more than I do.' "I think what (the Oscar victory) really does is it puts this issue into people's living rooms," he said. "While the climatology is really complicated, they're going to see that the solutions are pretty common-sense, and people will talk about them and get excited."....
Gray wolf's endangered listing gets fresh look The Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday started a series of hearings on whether to remove the Canadian gray wolf from the endangered species list, a proposal embraced by ranchers and decried by wildlife groups. The agency proposed the delisting last month after announcing that a wolf-recovery plan had surpassed all expectations. Reintroduced to the Northern Rockies in 1995, the wolves now number more than 1,200 in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The proposal was a relief to ranching and farming communities, where wolves have proved bad for business by preying on sheep, calves and other livestock. Wolf packs have attacked hunting and ranching dogs, prompting calls to loosen restrictions on shooting the predators. The wolf population has gotten so numerous that they're starting to spend time on private land, and they're killing more livestock," said John Thompson, spokesman for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. The recovery program has been especially successful in Idaho, home to more than 700 of the reintroduced wolves. Under the proposed delisting, the wolves would lose their protected status, and federal wildlife agencies would turn over control of their management to the states....
Colo. Lawmakers delay roadless resolution, groups lobby governor Lawmakers are giving Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter and his administration some time to decide how 4.1 million acres of roadless forest land in Colorado should be managed while several groups are lobbying officials on a plan endorsed by the former administration. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction and Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, said they'll delay introducing a resolution asking Ritter to adopt the plan to give him and new state natural resources chief Harris Sherman time to talk to the groups. But the legislators want Ritter to leave intact the plan written by a task force and approved by Owens before he left office in January. Owens, a Republican who couldn't run again because of term limits, sent the petition seeking protection for most of the 4.1 million acres of forest land to federal officials. In 2005, Owens criticized a Clinton-era road-building ban on 58.5 million acres of forests nationwide as creating wilderness outside the congressional process....
Mark Rey, Public Lands Enemy No. 1? In October, recently retired Forest Service planner Richard Artley made a few headlines when he blew the whistle on his former employer’s secretive plan to close thousands of recreational facilities. Now, he’s blowing the whistle on the man behind it, his former boss, Mark Rey, who currently holds the position most people don’t know even exists. Officially, Mark Rey is called the Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources & Environment. Unofficially, he is often called much less complimentary names, but I won’t go into that here. Suffice to say, he is considered the enemy of those trying to protect our public lands from commercialization and privatization. Rey is President Bush’s handpicked controller of the Forest Service, and he has done and excellent job for his boss. In his position, he sets policy for our national forests, and is the person behind recent controversies such as....Go here to view Artley's open letter.
Hayman Firestarter May Get New Trial A woman who admitted starting the worst wildfire in Colorado's recorded history has appealed a judge's ruling that said prosecutors could withdraw from her plea agreement, possibly leading to a new trial -- and a longer prison term. Colorado's Supreme Court has ordered prosecutors to explain why they believe the ruling should stand. The appeal by the attorney for Terry Lynn Barton, filed last week, prompted Teller County District Judge Thomas Kennedy to reschedule a Monday hearing set to discuss the possibility of a new trial. Kennedy ruled Feb. 5 that Barton violated terms of her plea agreement when she appealed her 12-year prison sentence, opening the way for prosecutors to withdraw the agreement. Prosecutors have been deciding whether to ask for a new trial or a new sentencing hearing for Barton, who is serving a 6-year federal prison term for setting the June 2002 Hayman fire....
Gov calls for tighter wildlife protection The federal government is jeopardizing wildlife in the West by not assuring adequate reviews of some energy development, Gov. Dave Freudenthal told members of the Western Governors Association this week. On Tuesday in Washington, D.C., fellow Western governors agreed with Freudenthal and approved a resolution calling for an amendment to the federal Energy Policy Act. That amendment would strengthen environmental requirements to assure energy development is not harming big game habitat and migration corridors. The resolution was sponsored by Freudenthal, who argued a portion of the 2005 federal law allows certain lands to be excluded from environmental reviews, including some lands considered crucial to big game. According to the Bureau of Land Management, 1,361 permits to drill were approved under categorical exclusions in an eight-month period ending in September 2006, Freudenthal's office reported in a press release. Wyoming had the most with 596, followed by New Mexico with 538; Utah, 111; Colorado, 59; California, 37; Arizona, 18; and Eastern states, two....
Utah Developer Wants To Build Among Indian Ruins For more than 1,200 years the ancient Anasazi made their home here along the Utah-Arizona border. Now, a developer wants to set a modern-day subdivision among the ruins sites, clustering homes so they capitalize on rather than harm what remains of the ancient dwellings. St. George developer Milo McCowan wants to build 700 to 800 houses and town homes on 270 acres west of Kanab Creek. The area is in the process of being annexed into city of Kanab. But most important, McCowan said, is preserving and even encouraging more study of the area’s archaeological resources. “We are dedicating 20 acres in the project for long-term archaeological excavation and study, hopefully in partnership with a university,” McCowan said. “Amateur archaeologists could move here and live and assist with a significant dig in their own neighborhood.” The subdivision – named Chaco Canyon after the famous Anasazi ruins in New Mexico – would also include open spaces, trails, an amphitheater for the performing arts and a museum featuring the area’s artifacts, he said. The entrance road will wind between two ruin sites....
Matheson introduces land swap bill Congressman Jim Matheson introduced a bipartisan bill today proposing a land exchange between the Utah school trust land administration and the Bureau of Land Management. The Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007 authorizes the exchange of more than 40,000 acres of school trust lands for roughly the same number of acres of BLM land. The parcels of state trust land are scattered-in checkerboard fashion-amid the federal land, complicating each agency's management objectives. "This legislation received input from a broad and diverse group of stakeholders-public and private, urban and rural, industry, conservation, sportsmen and education," said Matheson. "The result is a proposal that is fair to the taxpayer, beneficial to Utah school children, mindful of hunting and other public access opportunities, and a better configuration for land managers to protect habitat, watershed and recreational values." Sen. Bob Bennett has introduced the companion Senate bill....
Study: Pygmy Owl Numbers Down in Mexico A university study shows the population of a tiny endangered owl in northern Mexico has declined by an estimated 26 percent over the last seven years, a finding that environmentalists said bolsters their arguments for greater protection for the bird in Arizona. Annual surveys by a scientist show the birds are continuing to decline in numbers, although there have been some years with rebounds, according to the University of Arizona study. "There's been some variation in there," Aaron Flesch, a senior research specialist in the university's School of Natural Resources, said Tuesday. The tiny bird's numbers increased in 2005 and were similar in 2006 in northern Sonora, but "overall the trend is negative." "Should this apparent decline continue, recovery strategies that rely on pygmy owls from northern Sonora and persistence of pygmy owls in the Sonoran Desert could be jeopardized," the report said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the owl on the endangered species list in 1997 because of population declines in Arizona. But the agency withdrew it from the list last year after determining it was not a distinct subspecies and thus not worthy of protection....
Wolf supporters show up in force Opponents of removing wolves from the federal endangered species protection in Wyoming far outnumbered supporters of delisting wolves at a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service public hearing on wolf management Tuesday. "The Endangered Species Act has been hugely successful in restoring the gray wolf and we want it to stay that way," Sierra Club regional spokesman Adam Rissien said at the hearing. Wolf advocate Emily Swift read an essay she wrote about family vacations in Yellowstone Park before urging the panel to rethink delisting wolves. "I believe this country should be thinking about future generations and I would like my children to be able to appreciate the wolves as I have," Swift said. The state and federal governments have been litigating over the issue of wolf management since the rejection of the state's first wolf management plan in 2004. The situation has so far prevented removing wolves from federal protections in Wyoming and also in Montana and Idaho. Recently the federal government has begun steps to turn over management to the other states and says it's prepared to continue to manage the animals in Wyoming alone if necessary....
Wyo. Senate: Let gov negotiate on wolves The Wyoming Senate on Tuesday approved a wolf management plan that calls for giving the governor's office authority to negotiate with the federal government over the boundaries of a permanent wolf area in the northwest corner of the state. If the House agrees today with the Senate position, at least the boundary provisions of the state's wolf management plan could meet with federal approval. On Monday, the Senate had voted to exclude most private land from a permanent management area in which wolves would be managed as trophy game animals. Outside that area, they would be managed as predators that could be shot on sight. Mitch King, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, on Monday had said that any reduction of the management area his agency had proposed last fall would be unacceptable. He said a reduction would lead to his agency rejecting a state wolf management plan. After the Senate vote Tuesday, King said it was critical for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office to have the latitude to negotiate a management plan that the federal agency can approve. He said he hadn't read the bill the Senate had approved, but said that based on his understanding of it, it would satisfy his agency's concerns over the boundary issue. "I think we're well on our way," King said. He said the ultimate result depended on whether the House votes to agree with the Senate proposal....
Russell Brooks, dead at 41: Property rights lawyer passionate about his work With a hearty laugh and a Southern lilt that made his oral arguments sing, Seattle-area lawyer Russell Brooks spearheaded the fight for property rights in the Northwest. After turning to law as a second career, Brooks became best known for winning a ruling that forced federal fisheries officials to reconsider virtually all Endangered Species Act protections for West Coast salmon. He also argued against a racial tiebreaking provision used by Seattle schools in a case currently being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. He died of a heart attack Sunday at the age of 41. After working as a computer programmer in Texas for about 10 years, Brooks, a Mississippi native, went to law school in California. There he interned at the Sacramento-based, Libertarian-leaning Pacific Legal Foundation, which later hired him and sent him north to revive its office in Bellevue....
Sage grouse not affected by recreation activity, group says A hunting season for Greater Sage Grouse in part of the Piceance Creek basin and a portion of the Roan Plateau was opposed by a working group developing a conservation strategy for the potentially endangered bird. At a Tuesday night meeting in Rifle, the group of local government, landowners and other interest groups decided they do not want to see hunting reinstated for the Greater Sage Grouse, which has been petitioned for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act. The group also thought recreational activities over the several-hundred thousand acre area do not have many adverse impacts during key reproduction and brood-rearing seasons. The Colorado Division of Wildlife leads the effort to develop a conservation plan for the grouse in various regions, as well as a statewide plan, area Wildlife Conservation Biologist John Toolen. The effort is designed to help the current population of grouse in the region, estimated at between 1,200 to 1,500, reach healthier levels while dealing with impacts such as recreation and rampant energy development....
Interior Report Finds 'Wall' Between Field Staff, Leaders Communication. Trust. Leadership. A report by the Interior Department inspector general, released this month, provides a glimpse of how these issues can arise in agencies that have to manage a workforce spread across the country. The report, by Earl E. Devaney, Interior's inspector general, focused on the law enforcement office at the Fish and Wildlife Service. Devaney praised the office for "significant progress" in overhauling its operations since 2002, when the secretary of the interior called for improvements. But Devaney also found some problems in the law enforcement office, such as a "general mistrust of senior management" and a lack of communication between the headquarters and the field, "which has created a perception that there is a 'wall' between management and field personnel." For the review, Devaney's staff conducted more than 110 interviews, traveled to field offices and hired a consultant to survey the law enforcement staff. Of 369 employees asked to participate in the survey, 88 percent responded -- an indication, the report said, that the employees are highly committed to the Fish and Wildlife Service....
Committee tackles the ‘evolving West’ with few Westerners When the House Natural Resources Committee assembles today to discuss “The Evolving West,” there won’t be many Democratic members from the fast-evolving Rocky Mountain West there to hear it. Only two serve on the committee. Under Democratic leadership, the committee that sets policy for the public lands and energy of the West has changed from a bastion of pro-industry, conservative Westerners to a committee dominated by Pacific Coast lawmakers and Easterners. The transformation comes as Democratic political leaders look at Rocky Mountain states as the most fertile territory to pick up seats and electoral votes in 2008. That’s why they’ve scheduled an early primary in Nevada and are holding their convention in Denver. Republicans warn that Democrats could lose their momentum in the West if they don’t heed rural, Western concerns about the difficulties imposed by environmental restrictions. A Republican leadership aide took a harder line about the committee’s Democratic lineup, predicting that Democratic policies on resource issues will alienate voters. “These were strategic decisions made to facilitate a liberal agenda and insulate some Democrats from taking difficult votes on the issues,” the aide said....
Groups form fund to pilot agricultural water leasing program A new fund has been created by a coalition of conservation groups and municipal entities that will allow water to be leased from farmers and kept in the Rio Grande rather than being diverted for irrigation. The $250,000 Living River Fund was created by the city of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority and six conservation groups. It will be used to establish a pilot agricultural water-leasing program -- the first of its kind on the Rio Grande -- in an effort to provide sustained flows in the river and for the endangered species that depend on it. The fund organizers seek to identify farmers who would voluntarily participate in the water-leasing initiative and have contacted the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, which oversees water management on the Rio Grande from Cochiti Reservoir to Elephant Butte, to get that information out more widely. The Water Authority contributed $225,000 to the fund as part of a February 2005 agreement with conservation groups. The agreement settled a portion of an ongoing lawsuit between cities, farmers and conservation groups over the river and endangered species....
Allegations fly over Utah prairie dog decision Nicole Rosmarino, conservation director for Forest Guardians, believes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made the wrong decision by denying the group's petition to upgrade the status of the Utah prairie dog. "There's no question that biologically the prairie dog is endangered," she said, "It warrants this upgraded status." Rosmarino said population numbers and threats warrant upgrading the threatened species to endangered, but she believes USFWS officials denied the petition to keep their management options open under the lesser status and caved to political pressure. Larry Crist, USFWS Utah Ecological Services field supervisor, said the decision was based on the best information available and the information provided in the petition....
Hoeven asks to let hunters kill elk North Dakota's governor took the position that qualified volunteers instead of paid sharpshooters should be allowed to kill elk in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the highest level of the National Park Service on Monday. The state wants the park to let sportsmen and women participate in killing as many as 1,000 elk when the park begins an elk population reduction program starting in 2008. The park has said it can't allow any form of public hunting without congressional action, and Gov. John Hoeven asked Interior Department Secretary Dirk Kempthorn to intervene. Hoeven said he got an assurance from the Interior secretary that he will look into the matter. Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor said she's already asked park officials to clarify whether qualified volunteers fit the definition of a sharpshooter....
Officials urge controlled hunt in parks Key Democratic lawmakers are pushing legislation to allow hunting to cull elk herds and control a deadly animal disease inside national parks visited by millions of tourists a year. Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado introduced the legislation in the House last week to allow hunting in the Rocky Mountain National Park in his state, and Sen. Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota will put forth a bill this week to allow hunting in his state's Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The lawmakers' plans are opposed by some who say hunting should be allowed on some federal lands but not in public parks. "Three million park visitors don't want to be ducking bullets," said one National Park Service official who asked to remain anonymous. "Hunting should be allowed in forests and wildlife refuges, not in parks populated by millions of visitors." The National Park Service says it can no longer rely on relocating herds to other states to control the population because it could spread chronic wasting disease -- a transmissible neurological condition afflicting deer and elk that is similar to mad cow disease in cattle and scrapie in sheep....
Elusive lynx leaves tracks in snow, but not much else In the parking lot of the Blackrock Ranger Station, photographer Andrew Weller grins and pulls a plastic bottle of bobcat urine from the back of his pickup truck. With any luck, a square of carpet drenched in the stuff will catch the attention of a Canada lynx, which will step through an infrared beam, triggering a remote camera up on Togwotee Pass. Weller and I are tagging along with a crew from Endeavor Wildlife Research to look for lynx tracks about a mile west of Togwotee Mountain Lodge. Earlier that day, one of the company’s co-founders, Jenny Burgharat, spotted some fresh tracks about 20 feet from the road. With skis and snowshoes, six of us will follow the tracks through dense lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, wherever they lead. Canada Lynx, it turns out, are curious cats. Foreign smells, sights, and sounds can elicit brash and even ridiculous behavior. According to Weller, wildlife photographers and biologists will sometimes hang old compact discs from tree limbs, where a lynx will bat at the flashing plastic-encased metal, just as a domestic kitten would assault a piece of string....
Climate Panel Recommends Global Temperature Ceiling, Carbon Tax A panel of scientists has presented the United Nations a detailed plan for combating climate change. VOA's correspondent at the U.N. Peter Heinlein reports the strategy involves reaching a global agreement on a temperature ceiling. A group of 18 scientists from 11 countries is calling on the international community to act quickly to prevent catastrophic climate change. In a report requested by the United Nations and partially paid for by the privately funded U.N. Foundation, the panel warns that any delay could lead to a dangerous rise in sea levels, increasingly turbulent weather, droughts and disease. The report was issued three weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that global warming is real and caused in large part by human activity. But unlike the IPCC report, this latest document makes policy recommendations. Panel member John Holdren of Harvard University says the world must be mobilized immediately to avoid catastrophe....
RFK Jr. rips President Bush for environmental policy The crowd that nearly filled Virginia Tech's 3,000-seat Burruss Hall Auditorium to hear environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speak probably had an idea about what he thought of the Bush administration before he took the podium. Some of Kennedy's books were on sale in the auditorium lobby, including his most recent -- "Crimes Against Nature: How George W. Bush and His Corporate Pals Are Plundering the Country and Hijacking Our Democracy." But early on in a rambling speech Monday night that lasted more than an hour, the son of a 1960s Democratic icon made it clear that he wasn't critical of Bush because of his political affiliation. He was critical of him, he said, because Bush has implemented policies and circumvented the law in order to enrich his donors at the expense of thousands of lives and America's environmental future. "You can't talk honestly about the environment today ... without being critical of the president," he said....
Pro rodeo should listen to cowboys Imagine if he fought hard against proper representation on the board from what seem to be the only honest people in the sport, the athletes who drive their trucks from city to city, giving up their bodies, hoping to cash checks, but guaranteed nothing. Imagine if even his supporters on the board described him as ruthless and heavy-handed, prone to unleashing strings of profanities at anyone who questioned his tactics. Imagine if he called federal investigators "unadulterated punks" and oversaw an organization that admittedly was experiencing the most unrest from its rank and file in history. Imagine if Stern, with the feds closing in, finally pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, perjury and criminal contempt, crimes that could bring up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ellerman did all of that. Yet the nine-member PRCA board refused to fire him. And when Ellerman finally resigned last week, instead of condemning Ellerman's rule, the board decided to send him away with a full year's salary of more than $200,000. The decision to pay Ellerman a year's salary ultimately was reversed after the decision created an uproar among rodeo cowboys, but clearly the PRCA has come to Houston and reached a crossroads. The board needs a total makeover. And it needs to listen to some good, old country logic. That is, give the cowboys more voices on the board....
PRCA leadership still solid The bad news at the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association: Commissioner Troy Ellerman resigned last week after pleading guilty to obstructing justice by leaking secret grand jury documents to two reporters who were covering the government's probe into steroids in sports. It's the famous BALCO case, and, sadly Ellerman was involved while working as a California lawyer before taking the PRCA's top job. The good news: The PRCA has an interim commissioner named Keith Martin who understands the direction that Ellerman and the board was going. The leadership improved formats and prize money for the sport's stars. They continually tweaked the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour, a series of designated sizable rodeos in cities such as San Antonio and Cheyenne, Wyo., shows that helped competitors qualify for the invitational Texas Stampede in Dallas in November. The lucrative Stampede is a mini-National Finals Rodeo. Martin, who also is executive director of the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo, understands the importance of offering a higher-paying rodeo that features stars....
Positive Influence Forever Cowboys has found a way, it thinks, to mentor youths, be a positive influence in the community and help rodeo committees draw more fans and sell more hot dogs and soft drinks. The concept is "Youth Night," and it's been held at the SandHills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa, Texas, for more than 10 years. Forever Cowboys, a Christian service organization, hopes to take what has successfully been done in Odessa and duplicate it at six or more rodeos this year. "I think once this thing gets going, once rodeo committees and communities see what is happening and how it is affecting their youth in a positive way, I think there is going to be more and more who want to do something like this," said Kory Koontz, a 13-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier and member of Forever Cowboys. Youth Night at the Odessa rodeo started 14 years ago when a group of cowboys and their families decided to reach out to kids in a positive way through rodeo....
Bach in the saddle again The daily grind to stay at the top of any physically active sport can take its toll. At age 49, most professional athletes have long hung up their gloves, hats, helmets or ropes. Millsap resident Allen Bach – who in December won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association 2006 world championship for team roping-heeling – defies age and many other laws of physics and competition. “I’m busier now than ever in my life,” Bach said. He mentors youth through the organization Forever Cowboys, and is involved in management of Cactus Ropes (manufacturer of ropes and saddles) and Heel-o-matic, a company that makes dummy calves that allow ropers to practice “heeling” without having to use live cattle. Bach attributes his success in and out of the arena to, “God [putting] good people in my life.”....
Horse Prefers Painting to Racing Many people make money with the talent of their horses, some on the race track, others in the show arena, or the jumping fields, even the rodeo grounds, but this horse is different. This horse, Cholla, is an artist. A gorgeous copper colored Buckskin, Mustang/Quarter Horse with black mane and tail, standing 15.2 hands and weighing in at 1300 lbs. He has a dorsal stripe down his back complete with zebra like markings on his legs. He creates his art standing at his easel while holding a true artist' brush with his teeth, he mindfully directs his brush with fine and deliberate strokes creating the artistic essence that only a horse named Cholla can reveal. Only Cholla applies the paints to his art and no one moves the easel, or rotates the paper....