NEWS ROUNDUP

Gore Wins Hollywood in a Landslide For those of you tuning in the to Academy Awards tonight to see if Al Gore would, 1) win an Oscar for his documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and 2) use the platform of the awards ceremony to announce he was running for president -– well yes, the documentary won an Oscar. And no, of course Mr. Gore did not use this platform to announce his candidacy for the White House. Which is not to say his Hollywood audience wouldn’t have been delighted if he had. Mr. Gore received a tumultuous ovation both times he walked onto the stage, once with Leonardo DiCaprio to talk about global warming and later with the producers of the film to accept the award. “You are a true champion of the cause, Mr. Gore,” said Mr. DiCaprio. After Jerry Seinfeld opened the envelope and announced that “An Inconvenient Truth” had won, the director, Davis Guggenheim, handed the statue to Mr. Gore and said: ““All of us were inspired by his fight for 30 years to tell this truth for all of us.”....
Lawmakers Want To Stop Pinon Canyon Expansion Two state lawmakers want to try to stop the Army's proposed expansion of its Pinon Canyon training site by changing the state's eminent domain law. Sen. Ken Kester on Friday said the move is also an attempt to increase pressure on Colorado's U.S. senators to oppose the expansion while in Washington. Colorado law gives the federal government the right to condemn land for certain purposes, like building post offices or court houses. Sponsor Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, said their proposal (House Bill 1069) would bar federal authorities from taking land for use by the military. He said the Army could still buy land but wouldn't be able to use the power of eminent domain to buy from unwilling sellers. "It would just about force them to make an honest deal," said McKinley, a rancher. Kester acknowledged the Army may not have to follow a state law, and said he hopes Sens. Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar "turn up the heat" on the Army now that it's moving ahead with a study of the expansion. "It will impress on them how the people of that area feel," said Kester, who represents the five counties included in the possible expansion area....
House endorses livestock compensation board Montana moved one step closer Saturday to establishing a long-awaited board to compensate ranchers who lose livestock to wolves. In a 79-21 vote, the House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would create such a board, although its funding was slashed from $1 million to $50,000 by the House Appropriations Committee last week. "We'll take what we got, and we'll see what we can do with it," said bill sponsor Rep. Bruce Malcolm, R-Emigrant. Montana is required to establish a livestock compensation board under its wolf management plan, which was approved in 2004 by the federal government. Under the state program, ranchers would file claims with the seven-member Livestock Loss Reduction and Mitigation Board, appointed by the governor. Board members would decide whether to pay them the value of animals lost to confirmed or probable wolf kills, and ranchers could appeal board decisions....
American Trails Offers 10 Steps to Help Save Our Outdoors Have you ever thought about the future of trails and greenways in America? 10 steps have been compiled that envision a better quality of life, more livable cities, healthier and fitter adults and children and better stewardship of our land and resources. These 10 Steps to Help Save our Outdoors were brought forth at the opening plenary session of over 550 trail and greenway professionals and advocates at American Trails' 18th National Trails Symposium in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois, October 20, 2006. The leading national Presidential hopefuls were also sent letters prior to the event and were asked to submit their ideas and several of them did. After a long and very eventful discussion, these 10 steps were compiled and have been forwarded to the Members of the 110th Congress, the White House, key agency heads and leaders of the trails community, and the national news media. American Trails is the only national nonprofit association of trail and greenway advocates and professionals who work on behalf of all trail interests. For over two decades, American Trails has served as a forum and a catalyst to improve the quality of life for all Americans by pursuing a national infrastructure of trails and greenways and in this effort has compiled the following 10 Steps to Help Save Our Outdoors....
Ex-Forest Service chief backs most of Clinton-era `roadless rule' Former U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth says he largely supports the amount of acreage targeted by a Clinton-era ban on road construction in national forests. Bosworth, who retired Feb. 2 after a six-year stint as the agency's head, said he thinks about 50 million acres should remain roadless. The 2001 "roadless rule" prohibits logging, mining and other development on 58.5 million acres of wilderness in 38 states and Puerto Rico. "I do believe most roadless areas should remain roadless," Bosworth told The Associated Press before being recognized Saturday night at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's annual convention in Reno. "I believe that most wildlife would benefit from leaving most of those roadless areas roadless." In September, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte reinstated the 2001 rule, and sided with 20 environmental groups and four states - California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington - that had sued the Forest Service. Bosworth said he favored the approach of the Bush administration because it addressed the concerns of many rural residents who thought they were ignored before the 2001 rule was imposed....
Book Chronicles the Federal Government’s GIS Success Stories Standards for Success: GIS for Federal Progress and Accountability recounts how geographic information system (GIS) technology helps United States federal agencies streamline work and save money while tackling diverse projects such as monitoring volcanoes and managing forests. This latest book from ESRI Press presents more than a dozen case studies showing how GIS sped up the analysis process, made sharing information easier, and presented a clearer picture of problems and options to solve them. Standards for Success details how agencies such as the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) successfully use GIS in aspects of their work that require geospatial analysis. For example, the Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program adopted GIS, in part, to produce maps that show and analyze potentially dangerous volcanoes and hazardous areas such as Mount St. Helen's in Washington. The Forest Service employs GIS to help manage forests on private land. The EPA uses a Web-based GIS tool to map contaminant risks in water supplies. ESRI Government Solutions manager Christopher Thomas edited the book, which is filled with examples of how government organizations turn to GIS for creative solutions to often pressing concerns....
Deaths happened in off-limits area The three snowmobilers caught in an avalanche in the Helena National Forest over the weekend were sledding in an area that is off-limits to motorized travel, forest officials said. Saturday's avalanche killed Brett Toney, 27 and Kris Rains, 26, both of Townsend, and injured Jason Crawford, 27, of Helena. Forest spokeswoman Amy Teegarden said the men were snowmobiling in Birch Creek Basin northwest of Townsend, an area with steep slopes that is closed to motorized travel. The men were driving across a slope and triggered the slab avalanche that roared down on top of them about 12:45 p.m. Saturday. "It's a proposed wilderness area, which is why it's nonmotorized," Teegarden said. She said she was unsure if there would be any citations issued....
Lease sales could exceed 4 billion tons The Bureau of Land Management expects to sell almost 4.4 billion tons of coal under more than 35,000 acres in northeast Wyoming to mining companies over the next five years, an agency official said. In order to meet that level of transactions in the time period, the agency plans to bundle the new land tracts into groups to be analyzed for their environmental impacts on surrounding areas. Mike Karbs, of the BLM's Casper Field Office, said he hopes combining clusters of coal leases into "South Gillette" and "Wright Area" study groups will expedite the process. He was unsure when the environmental studies would be finished but expected preliminary work to be under way by the fall....
Initiative aims to protect wildlife and heritage of energy areas All too often, project proposals to enhance wildlife habitat are slow to fruition because of bureaucratic red-tape and other paper impediments. A new, ambitious initiative to restore and protect wildlife habitat in southwest Wyoming aims to get those projects on the ground a lot faster. The recently-unveiled Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative will rely on the expertise of a host of participating state and federal agencies to ensure the most-needed habitat conservation and enhancement projects achieve tangible, on-the-ground results, officials involved in the effort said. The initiative partners envision those projects could include riparian work, prescribed fire treatments, wildlife friendly fencing, weed control, mechanical treatments such as chaining, raptor nest construction, and the purchase of conservation easements, among others. Wyoming is the main focus of the Bush administration's proposed $22 million Healthy Lands Initiative which aims to conserve wildlife resources and to facilitate responsible energy development across eight Western states....
Bureau proposes phased plan for coal-bed methane Coal-bed methane development on federal holdings in Montana would proceed with closer scrutiny of environmental effects and stepped-up monitoring under a proposal by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The proposal calls for a phased approach to development but does not set hard limits on the number of wells that could be drilled over an estimated 23 years. The BLM has scheduled a series of public hearings on the proposal during the last week of March. The deadline for submitting comments is May 2. The report is a draft supplement to the 2003 Montana statewide oil and gas environmental impact statement prepared jointly by the BLM and the state of Montana. Matt Janowiak, the BLM’s assistant field manager for minerals in the Miles City Field Office, said the supplement updates the 2003 study and includes new material on phased development. A federal magistrate ordered the BLM in April 2005 to study phased development, after finding the statewide study was invalid because it failed to include such an alternative. Drilling on federal minerals has been on hold while the BLM complies with the court order. The preferred alternative, Janowiak said, “makes some very extensive commitments” for monitoring and observing development effects in the region. “We’re going to be watching every step of the way and make adjustments,” he said....
BLM may hear Utah, Wyo.’s views on oil shale regulations A Bureau of Land Management document and regulations that will govern the commercial production of oil shale and tar sands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming are nearing completion, but the draft regulations may not be released without Utah and Wyoming officials first having a say about what they think the new regulations should cover. Following the mandate of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the BLM is in the midst of creating an environmental impact statement on its oil shale and tar sands leasing program and writing regulations for how the program will be administered. The environmental impact statement will evaluate the impacts of the BLM’s fledgling tar sands and oil shale program throughout the three states and amend the BLM’s management plans for each area to allow for commercial oil shale and tar sands leasing. The agency’s proposed regulations, which will likely be released in draft form sometime after the draft environmental impact statement later this year, will address a variety of issues, including mineral royalties, said BLM Colorado Solid Minerals Chief Jim Edwards....
Feds deny increased protection for embattled Utah prairie dog The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week ruled that the embattled Utah prairie dog does not currently qualify for maximum protection under the Endangered Species Act. The federal agency on Wednesday published a negative finding on a petition to upgrade the species from "threatened" to "endangered" under the ESA. Fish and Wildlife Service officials say the Utah prairie dog's numbers remain stable and "within range of historic fluctuations," and that factors identified by the petitioners amounted to "small, localized impacts" on specific Utah prairie dog populations. “Since the Utah prairie dog is currently listed as a threatened species, it is protected under the Endangered Species Act and benefits from conservation measures and recovery actions afforded by federal protection,” said Mitch King, the Service's Acting Director of the Mountain-Prairie Region. “The Service will continue to monitor the population status, trends and management actions important to the conservation of the Utah prairie dog and we encourage interested parties to continue to gather data that will assist in these conservation efforts,” he added....
Interior secretary views area projects Department of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said the accomplishments by the Bureau of Land Management's Field office in Carlsbad will be held up as a role model for other agencies within his department and communities around the country. Kempthorne arrived in Carlsbad Wednesday night and on Friday visited sites south of Carlsbad to view the local BLM office's restoration and reclamation projects. He said although his department is rolling out the Health Lands Initiative that will allow the BLM in New Mexico to increase the acreage and accelerate the pace of restoration and conservation projects, BLM in Carlsbad is ahead of the game, not only in terms of its landscape level approach, but also in fostering partnerships with the oil and gas industry and agriculture industry, which once were bitter enemies of the BLM....
Melting snow lairs put seal pups in peril Polar bears get fat eating ringed seals, and to avoid that fate, Alaska's smallest pinnipeds dig out snow caves on the sea ice, where they surface to breathe and give birth. Global warming is making that more difficult. Snow is melting sooner on Arctic sea ice, moving up the time when snow lairs dug by ringed seals collapse. For nursing mothers, that means their helpless pups can be left vulnerable to polar bears and foxes, their usual enemies. A collapsed lair leaves pups susceptible to freezing. It even makes them vulnerable to avian predators such as ravens and gulls, which kill by pecking out the pups' eyes and brains. "We're seeing snow melts happening when many of the pups are still dependent on those caves," said Brendan Kelly, a seal and walrus researcher for more than 30 years....
U.S.-Canada ‘salmon war’ treaty to expire Not since the Pig War of 1859 had tensions run as high along the U.S.-Canada border. In 1994, the Canadian government announced a $1,500 fee on U.S. fishing boats headed to Alaska through British Columbia’s “inside passage.” In the United States, there was talk of assessing an oil pollution levy on Canadian tankers transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Three years later, some 200 Canadian fishing vessels blockaded the Alaskan ferry Malaspina as it tried to leave the harbor at Prince Rupert. Some Canadians were also threatening to cancel the U.S. Navy’s lease of a torpedo test range off Vancouver Island. The fight a decade ago was over fish – Pacific salmon – and in the end a treaty was negotiated that defused the hostilities and ended talk of a salmon war. But that treaty expires at the end of next year. The situation is not as volatile as it was in the 1990s – or in 1859, when the United States and Canada almost came to blows over who owned the San Juan Islands and the only casualty was a pig. But a new treaty could be key to the effort to revive endangered wild salmon stocks on both sides of the border, particularly Puget Sound and Columbia River chinook runs....
Wolf management bill clears committee Attorney General Pat Crank says the latest incarnation of a wolf management bill would send a message to the federal government: "Put up or shut up." Unlike a similar bill that died in a House committee on Wednesday, House Bill 213 cleared the Senate on its first reading on Friday, opening a way for the plan to be considered on the Senate floor in detail on Monday. The bill would provide a way for Wyoming to kill more wolves before they are removed from endangered species protection. But first, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would have to accept the state's terms....
Costly storms THIS WINTER’S twin blizzards are visiting serious economic damages on Southeastern Colorado’s cattle industry. Cattle sales are dwindling because ranchers are having difficulty getting to area sale barns and the cattle are stressed by the snow and subfreezing temperatures. The storms, which made the region a disaster area, hit over the Christmas and New Year’s weekends. John Campbell, an auctioneer at La Junta’s Winter Livestock, paints a bleak picture for cattlemen. “Last year we sold about 24,000 cattle, and this year in January we have sold only 9,000,” he said. Some ranchers haven’t even been able to get to market. “At first,” Mr. Campbell said, “ranchers just couldn’t get out of deep snow, and now that it’s melting they are having trouble getting out of the mud. It has really prohibited people from marketing cattle on a timely basis.” He added, “The cattle are still out there but it has just been a rough go through the normal channels as far as marketing goes.” In addition to the travel woes facing area ranchers, there are fewer head of cattle to sell. While the bovine death toll may take months to total, officials are estimating the loss of about 10,000....
Chapter officials hopeful for local sheep processing plant Cecelia Whitetail Eagle remembers when the Ramah Navajo used to raise over 5,000 head of sheep a year. But after years of drought, the Navajo Nation's forced herd reductions, and a market for lamb that's driven prices as low as 75 cents a pound, the local sheep population has fallen dramatically. When local ranchers take their sheep to auction this October, Eagle, the Ramah Chapter's executive director, figures they'll have fewer than 200 head to sell off. "The numbers have just fallen tremendously," she said. But with some help from the City of Gallup, the State of New Mexico, and a meat processing company out of Moriarty, the chapter hopes to bring the herds of yore back. Western Way Custom Meats wants to open a second plant in Gallup. City officials say it could be up and running within six months....
Ranchers hoping to preserve purity of Texas longhorns Hondo rancher Debbie Davis has no beef with those who want to see their Texas longhorns, well, beefier. Her passion, though, lies with preserving the traditional longhorn breed that survived on little grass and water as it roamed Texas and other parts of the West in the mid-19th century. Davis is president of the Cattlemen's Texas Longhorn Registry. In her view, "a true Texas longhorn is endangered right now." So she's striving to keep the bloodline of the traditional longhorn as pure as possible. The longhorn isn't on any endangered lists. But visit any livestock show and all the competition is between longhorns that have far more heft and girth than the traditional gaunt, rangy animal....
Ostriches give riders unpredictable ride at Date Fest The audience would be hard pressed to find an ostriches with their heads in the sand at the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival. What they do see are a flock of long, strong-legged lovelies with their beaks held high, strutting, no, preening as they shake their plumes before heading to the stage. Actually, it's a mud track in the grandstand arena at the fairgrounds. When a distinguished looking rancher in a vest and white hat, serving as the emcee, announced their names over the loudspeaker, the tall, stately birds came forward with their handlers to rousing applause. These big birds aren't just for show, however. They're here to compete in a decades-old Riverside County Fair tradition - ostrich racing. After their intros, the ostriches took their positions at the starting gate, where awaiting jockeys in striped shirts, jeans and red berets, hauled themselves aboard for a wild ride....
On The Edge of Common Sense - Jack and his dog bed As Phoenix rose from the ashes, so Jack, the bull terrier, was the symbol of hope that rose from the cook shack conflagration. Jack was past his prime, though hard of hearing and losing his sight, he still continued to make the winter trip to Walker's camp in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In spite of the cold he slept outside near the cooking fire in his own dog bed. The night the camp caught on fire it was harrowing. Most of the supplies were lost, plus rifles, saddles, tack and years worth of personal treasures. The next morning the fire had burned itself out. In the deep ashes lay the metal skeletons of tools, utensils, firearms and hardware. Jack had survived. Walker spent most of the morning gathering salvageables and sifting memories. He loaded the horses in the trailer, Jack in the bed of the pickup and slid and slipped down the muddy track to Highway 50. He got out to check his load and saw that Jack had abandoned ship!....