NEWS ROUNDUP

Global warming debate spurs Ore. title tiff In the face of evidence agreed upon by hundreds of climate scientists, George Taylor holds firm. He does not believe human activities are the main cause of global climate change. Taylor also holds a unique title: State Climatologist. Hundreds of scientists last Friday issued the strongest warning yet on global warming saying humans are "very likely" the cause. “Most of the climate changes we have seen up until now have been a result of natural variations,” Taylor asserts. Taylor has held the title of "state climatologist" since 1991 when the legislature created a state climate office at OSU The university created the job title, not the state. His opinions conflict not only with many other scientists, but with the state of Oregon's policies. So the governor wants to take that title from Taylor and make it a position that he would appoint....
Fed funds would aid rangeland A $2 million infusion from the federal government added to a proposed $9 million in state funds would go a long way toward keeping Utah's rangelands, watershed and sage grouse populations healthy, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Wednesday. The $2 million, included in the proposed Bush administration budget for the Department of Interior's Healthy Lands Initiative, would be administered by the Utah Partners for Conservation and Development, a cooperative effort by state and federal agencies, Utah State University, private landowners and sporting groups. Since 2003, the partnership has spent $25 million rehabilitating 500,000 acres. Proper management of rangelands and sage grouse habitat is crucial to the state's oil and gas development, said Huntsman, who has pledged to restore 1 million acres of land in Utah during his current term in office. Huntsman emphasized that proper land and habitat restoration also would help ensure the Frontier Line - a joint venture planned by Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California - will be able to transmit not just coal-fired electricity but also power from renewable energy development....
Species Spat: Are agency turf battles hurting wildlife? As we humans crowd Arizona, we're crowding wildlife out. It does not take a rocket scientist to fathom how dwindling rivers, razed deserts and oceans of fresh concrete might just push many species--from pygmy owls and garter snakes to wee top minnows--to the razor's edge of extinction. But pell-mell growth isn't the only threat. According to biologists and conservationists, turf battles between state and federal wildlife officials are also taking a toll. In particular, critics contend that the Arizona Game and Fish Department has devolved from a conservation champion into a conservative hotbed, steeped in resentment of federal oversight and grudging to embrace the Endangered Species Act. As it happens, the ESA is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. And that's what sticks in the state's craw, say critics. For evidence, they point to Arizona's enthusiasm for removing the Southwestern bald eagle from endangered-species status, or often-floundering efforts at recovering the Mexican gray wolf....
A Prickly Problem Ask residents of Gillespie County and chances are that few could imagine there being no pricklypear cactus in this part of the world. But, unless a little moth that is migrating its way across the country toward Texas can be stopped, there may come a day when the state’s official plant is in short supply. Word of that possibility -- depending on who’s asked -- may be greeted as being either good news or bad. Cause for the interest is an insect called the cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) that came into Florida in 1989 and which has since been gradually heading west across the South toward the Lone Star State....
Chronic Problems on Elk Ranches Idaho hunters who like their elk wild have wrangled with elk farmers and their allies in agriculture for more than 15 years. While elk breeders here have largely kept their animals free of disease up to now, sportsmen and those charged with protecting wild herds fear that a disease outbreak among domesticated elk is inevitable and could debilitate the state’s wildlife populations. The stalemate came to a head this fall when up to 160 elk escaped from a large game farm north of Driggs. Now the Legislature is poised to hear a slew of bills, ranging from an outright ban on fenced elk hunts to a licensure system for game farms developed by a game farm industry group....
Commission to look at method to study deer-, elk-ranching rules State officials are proposing a go-slow, collaborative approach to any changes in elk- and deer-ranching rules in Oregon. A proposal to create a dozen-member Cervid Rule Advisory Group will be introduced Friday during a meeting of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission in Seaside. If approved, the group would be made of representatives from the Oregon Elk Breeders Association, the Department of Agriculture, the Oregon Hunters Association, the MAD Elk Coalition, a non-Fish and Wildlife biologist, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Fish and Wildlife, the Oregon Cattlemen's Association and Oregon Farm Bureau. The proposal to create an advisory group is a response to the rejection of three petitions -- two from groups such as MAD Elk and the Oregon Hunters Association that advocated a phase-out of ranching, and one from the ranchers to continue the program -- at the January commission meeting....
Report: Mountain pine beetles were on destructive tear in '06 More than 660,000 acres were infected by mountain pine beetles in 2006, according to a state report released Wednesday. The 2006 Report on the Health of Colorado's Forests developed by the Colorado State Forest Service said there were about four times as many recently killed trees per acre in 2006 than the year before. Most of the damage is in high-value resort areas of Grand, Routt, Summit, Eagle and Jackson counties, the report says. The epidemic began in the mid-1990s and the drought of 2002-04 enabled the beetles to expand rapidly, the report said. Beetle-ravaged forests should be a call to action for residents and lawmakers, providing an opportunity to shape the "next forest," according to the report....
New acting BLM director has ties to West man with ties to New Mexico has been appointed acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced James M. Hughes' appointment Wednesday to replace Kathleen Clarke, who resigned as director in December to return to her home state of Utah. Hughes, the BLM's deputy director for programs and policy since 2002, will serve until a new BLM director is nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Hughes, who has a bachelor's degree in journalism from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, worked for former Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., from 1997 to 2002, after a stint with U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Hughes has held a variety of jobs at the Interior Department between 1986 and 1993, including deputy director for external affairs; director of congressional affairs under Interior Secretaries Donald Hodel and Manuel Lujan Jr.; and deputy assistant secretary for lands and minerals management, also under Lujan, a former New Mexico congressman....
Column - World's most expensive spec house casts a long shadow Some of my friends and neighbors resent the prospect of living near the world's most expensive spec house, a coming attraction in the Yellowstone Club. This is certainly not mere envy of the "haves" by the "have-nots," for some friends are well-educated and well-off. Rather, they correctly anticipate the imposition of costs on innocent communities. It is this injustice they begrudge. I find this proposed $155-million house a remarkable curiosity. I logged the site, or somewhere near it, four decades ago. Further, in the 1980s, I was offered that logged over land for about $10,000 per section‹and the seller would carry the debt. Although the chairman of the holding company, Burlington Resources, was a friend, this wasn't a sweetheart deal: the land was worth little. Today the land I logged is beautiful. Evidence of logging, stumps and traces of skid and haul roads, can be found, but most people wouldn't notice. However, I recall that as the area was being logged, Greens asserted that it was ruined forever. They claimed it would take time measured on a geological scale for it to recover any ecological or economic value. Since then, nature has restored the beauty of the sites and entrepreneurial magic has generated a huge increase in financial value....
BSE Confirmed In Alberta, Canada The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed the diagnosis of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a mature bull from Alberta. The animal's carcass is under CFIA control, and no part of it entered the human food or animal feed systems. Preliminary information indicates that the age of the animal falls well within the age range of previous cases detected in Canada under the national BSE surveillance program. This signifies that the animal was exposed to a very small amount of infective material, most likely during its first year of life. An epidemiological investigation directed by international guidelines is underway to examine what the animal was fed early in its life and to identify its herdmates at the time. All findings will be publicly released once the investigation concludes....