NEWS ROUNDUP

Tourists cause global warming Holidaymakers may be ruining their favourite destinations through pollution and greenhouse gases, making the tourism industry one of the world's worst polluters, experts say. A flight to that pristine beach and a few nights in an air-conditioned hotel room, when repeated on the mass scale of modern tourism, is all it takes to put the holiday business on a polluting par with heavy industries. "Tourism is unfortunately one of the vectors of (climate) change at the moment and contributes, through its excesses, to the process of global warming," World Tourism Organisation (WTO) director general Francesco Frangialli told an international conference on meteorology in Madrid this week. In 2006, 842 million people took a holiday in a foreign country and 40% of them flew to their destinations. That's 336 million people, or more than the population of the United States, taking trips which spew greenhouse gases that fuel global warming....
Grizzlies at Yellowstone no longer 'threatened' Three decades after grizzly bears nearly died out in Yellowstone National Park, federal officials announced on Thursday that the grizzlies have recovered and will cease being a "threatened" species there. The fierce predators, which total more than 500 animals in a 14,000-square-mile region in and around the park, will be taken off the endangered-species list by late April, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director H. Dale Hall said. The notice came seven weeks after the agency said it plans to remove the area's gray wolves from the list by year's end. "We are confident that the grizzly bear in Yellowstone will thrive," Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett said. Some conservation groups disagree. The Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Natural Resources Defense Council both claim climate change and human encroachment threaten key foods and habitat for grizzlies, which coexist poorly with people, reproduce slowly and need big, undeveloped areas to live. The council threatened Thursday to sue for continued federal protection....
New Carbon-Dioxide Tracking Developed With concern growing about global warming, researchers said Wednesday they have developed a new system to track carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Being able to determine where and when this major greenhouse gas increases or decreases should help in projecting future climate change and evaluating efforts to reduce releases of carbon. "This is a pretty exciting opportunity," said Richard Spinrad, head of research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It produces an unbiased, objective statement of carbon observations, he said, but doesn't favor any particular policy or economic model. Tracking carbon dioxide release and absorption will improve understanding of its impact, he said, noting that one-third of the economy is weather and climate sensitive ranging from agriculture to transportation to insurance and real estate....
N.D. Lawmakers Consider Blackbird Kills Demand for healthier sunflower oil for potato chip frying is spurring a debate about whether millions of blackbirds should die to make it easier to raise the crop. Demand is rising for NuSun, a sunflower variety that produces oil with less saturated fat and no trans fat, said John Sandbakken, international marketing director for the National Sunflower Association. Saturated and trans fats help clog arteries and increase the risk of heart disease. One reason for NuSun's increased popularity is the decision by the Frito-Lay snack food company to use NuSun oil to cook its major brands of potato chips, Sandbakken said. The company announced the switch in May 2006, and sunflower plantings need to rise by 600,000 acres next year to meet the new demand, he said. But a roadblock to increased sunflower production is blackbirds, which feast on the oilseed crop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates the birds cause about $10 million in damage each year to sunflowers in North Dakota, which produces about half of the nation's sunflower output. Last year's North Dakota sunflower crop was valued at $158 million....
Biologists to gather to weigh ways to save border's jaguars He roars like a lion, ambushes prey and kills them with powerful crushing bites. His name is Macho B and he may be the single most photographed wild mammal in Arizona. One of four or five live jaguars seen in the state this century, Macho B ranges across mountainous terrain 30 miles north and south of the Arizona-Mexico border. More than 70 photographs and videos of the 12-year-old cat have been recorded since 1996 by volunteers who provide state biologists with much of what is known about Arizona's jaguars, which became rare about 1900. So far, Macho B is the star attraction. Macho B and his breed will come under review May 2-3 when biologists from Arizona, New Mexico and Sonora, Mexico, meet in Douglas to consider renewing the 1997 regional conservation plan for the cats, which are listed as endangered inside and outside the United States. The jaguar conservation team includes landowners, ranchers and citizen groups, in addition to state and federal agencies....
Mountain Lion Suspected of Killing Cow A 12-hundred pound cow was killed in a pasture near Tioga last week, and wildlife officials suspect it was a mountain lion that attacked the animal. Tioga-area rancher Francis Franson discovered the dead cow last Tuesday and notified authorities who tried to track the suspected mountain lion. Erma Franson says a plane was used in the tracking attempt, but no sign of the cat was found. John Paulson of the USDA Wildlife Service office in Bismarck says research by his staff indicates the attack on the large cow has all the signs of a mountain lion....
Interior chief: Energy development needn't hurt wildlife U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said Wednesday that new technology will allow resources such as natural gas to be tapped without disturbing wildlife and can reduce American dependence on imported energy. Kempthorne said President Bush's budget dedicates $22 million to restore nearly 500,000 acres in six targeted areas in the West. "These areas have seen growing conflict among competing uses of the land," he said, including wildlife habitat, recreation and energy development. "I am well aware of friction among conservationists, recreationists and energy developers," he told a meeting of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. He added that conservation has been the rallying cry for many groups "only equaled by the cry for more energy and less dependence on foreign oil." He said the goal of the administration is to deliver the energy "in an environmentally sensitive way."....Seems to be a lot of concern about wildlife and recreationists, and none about the person who owns or leases the surface.
Arizona lawmakers pushing new ballot measure on state trust land Just months after Arizona voters rejected rival ballot measures on state trust land, lawmakers are pushing a new, scaled-back proposal. Partially a response to actual or threatened legal challenges to past state practices, the measure would provide exemptions to the Arizona Constitution's current prohibition on sale or disposal of trust land unless it is advertised and auctioned for at least the true value of the land, based on an appraisal. Arizona has approximately 9.3 million acres of trust land remaining from property given the state by the federal government at statehood for the benefit of schools and other public institutions. Use of Arizona's trust land has been controversial in recent years as urban areas have grown into surrounding desert and forests. While conservationists have pushed for preservation of open space, developers are seeking access to property for building. Meanwhile, educators want more money for schools and ranchers are fighting to preserve grazing rights....
Pentagon looking at other options on Pinon Canyon Pentagon officials have assured Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., they are looking at leasing land and other options short of condemning property in their plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday, Philip Crone, a deputy undersecretary of defense, told Allard the Army is looking at leasing agreements and easements as options to expand PCMS by 418,000 acres without having to purchase or condemn land. While Fort Carson officials have said they want to discuss many options with landowners around PCMS, Crone's testimony was the first time that Pentagon officials have made such an offer. Allard has said he will not support the Army's use of eminent domain to expand PCMS and credited Fort Carson officials with looking at ways that ranchers around PCMS may retain their land and grazing ability even if the 238,000-acre training area is expanded....
Stakes are high in roadless rule "Efforts to save roadless areas in the national forests have been going on for 30 years, with little progress. We're losing lands all the time. It's time for the federal government to make a decision," says John Swartout, executive director of Great Outdoors Colorado and one of the 13 members of the Colorado Roadless Task Force. "Last year," Swartout said, "Colorado came up with a proposed rule of protection, with our task force holding 13 public meetings all across the state, receiving thousands of public comments. It was a brutal process, not a lot of fun. We came up with an ugly compromise. None of the sides really liked it, but it was what we could get everyone to agree to, because of diversity on the task force. And it can work." Former Gov. Bill Owens submitted that Colorado rule to the national roadless committee last Nov. 13. But with the change of governors, Colorado has been given additional time for the new administration to evaluate the rule. "Gov. [Bill] Ritter will make the decision within the next two weeks," assured Mike King, deputy director of the Division of Natural Resources....
Refuges losing funds battle National wildlife refuges - after years of budget belt-tightening - have lost so many employees that refuges in Colorado and around the nation have been left unstaffed, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the eight-state Mountain-Prairie Region, which includes Colorado, 44 positions have been lost since 2004. An additional 29 are slated to be cut by 2009, the service said. The impact can be seen in fewer programs for visitors and an increasing problem of invasive plants in the refuges, said Ron Shupe, deputy assistant regional director for the National Wildlife Refuge System. Keeping out invasive plants is a critical issue for refuges that are trying to maintain wildlife habitats, he said. "There are about 160,000 acres out of 3 million total upland acres needing maintenance that aren't getting it," Shupe said. Workers are also having to cover huge territories, he said. Only 78 of the 148 refuges in the Mountain- Prairie Region are staffed, Shupe said....
County says its facing economic disaster over well shutdowns Morgan County officials told Gov. Bill Ritter on Thursday the county is facing "economic catastrophe" unless they get emergency help by April 15 for farmers whose water wells were shut down by the state in a water rights dispute. They asked Ritter to issue an emergency executive order for a moratorium on shutdowns for two years so they can find a solution to a problem that has idled thousands of acres of farmland. "If these farming operations and supporting businesses are allowed to collapse or close, the economic benefits they now generate will be gone for good. My question to you, as the leaders of our state government, is, `Are you willing to shoulder the blame for the clearly pending economic catastrophe in Northeastern Colorado which will be in full bloom by the next election or are you ready to listen to the voices in the wilderness and have the courage and foresight to initiate changes which will avert or weaken the pending impact?" Don Jones, president of the Morgan County Economic Development Commission, asked Ritter....
Officials: Spring will see Tumacacori Wilderness bill It’s been nearly three three years since U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., stood in the shadow of the Tumacacori Mountains west of Tubac and pledged to introduce legislation designating some 83,000 acres of grasslands, riparian canyons, and sky island peaks a federal wilderness area. Now, Grijalva’s party has a majority in the House and Grijalva himself has been given the chairmanship of the committee charged with holding hearings on wilderness legislation. Can Santa Cruz Valley residents expect a Tumacacori Highlands wilderness bill soon? The short answer is yes. So says Doug Scott, policy director with the Campaign for America’s Wilderness and the man who literally wrote the book on the landmark Wilderness Act of 1964. “Legislation will be introduced this spring for sure,” Scott said Wednesday during a tour of the area. “I think this will be a very productive year for wilderness.”....
Activists win on three counts in forest logging challenges A federal appeals court has issued a split decision in an environmental group's challenge of six logging projects in four Utah national forests. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals this week agreed with the Utah Environmental Congress that the U.S. Forest Service failed to comply with federal environmental laws on three of the projects, all located in southern Utah. But the court upheld the agency on the other three projects at the northern end of the state. Utah Environmental Congress executive director Kevin Mueller calls the decision a significant victory for the preservation of wildlife habitat in Utah forests. Generally speaking, the environmental group challenged Forest Service regulations crafted in 2000 that require the agency use only the "best available science" in making logging project decisions, rather than the more stringent regulations that date back to the early 1980s. In the case of the three southern Utah projects, the Forest Service was bound to the older rules because the individual forest plans predate the 2000 changes. The northern Utah proposals were upheld because those forest plans were updated in 2003....
Forest Service Officially Denies Permit for Off-road Event But Unofficially Gives It the Nod Under scrutiny from conservation groups and local homeowners, the Gila National Forest denied a permit request for a large all-terrain-vehicle "Jamboree" in the Burro Mountains from March 22nd to March 25th. Despite the fact that Forest Service District Ranger Russell Ward determined that "there has been insufficient time for public participation and insufficient time to determine all the environmental effects related to [the Jamboree]," Mr. Ward invoked a bureaucratic loophole to condone and encourage the event to continue without a permit. "With a wink and a nod, the Forest Service is going to let dozens of high-powered off-road vehicles into the Burros despite admitting that this event risks harming sensitive Forest resources and exacerbating conflicts with other Forest users. How is the Service doing this? By waving a magic wand and saying the event doesn't need a permit. And that's appalling," said Chris Kassar, wildlife biologist with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity....
Editorial - Sending swarms to harass our people Let's say government officials want you to turn over a piece of your property to them for free. Let's say you refuse, arguing that you have no legal requirement to do so. And let's say the government officials then embark on a harassment campaign to intimidate you into giving them what they want. Should that be legal? We know that the Fifth Amendment protects the public's right to keep government off their property. But is it implicit in that right that government agents cannot abuse their power to harass you? This is the subject of a case now being argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in Wilkie v. Robbins. As R.S. Radford and Timothy Sandefur of the Pacific Legal Foundation explain in a Legal Times article, Harvey Frank Robbins is a Wyoming man who bought a ranch in 1993, “not knowing that the previous owner had agreed to give the Bureau of Land Management an easement over the land. BLM agents, however, had neglected to record the easement, so when the purchase went through, Robbins got the land free and clear.” This clearly was the mistake of the government agents, yet they weren't about to let Robbins off the hook when he did not accede to their request to reinstate the easement. The agents made threats against him. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke during oral arguments “of a pattern of harassing conduct that included trespasses on this man's lodge and leaving the place in disarray, videotaping the guests, selective enforcement of the grazing laws, a whole pattern of things, even asking the Bureau of Indian Affairs to impound his cattle.” Rather than punish these government agents who have clearly abused their power, the federal government is asserting in the nation's highest court the right of government representatives to act in this very manner....