NEWS ROUNDUP

Environmental groups seek to invalidate N.M. county wolf law A federal court has been asked to strike down an ordinance that asserts Catron County's right to trap wild Mexican gray wolves that the county deems a threat to people. "The U.S. Constitution says federal law trumps state and local law when the two deal with the same issue," Melissa Hailey, an attorney for Forest Guardians, said Friday. The Santa Fe-based environmental group and Sinapu, a Boulder, Colo.-based carnivore activist group, sued the county commissioners Thursday in U.S. District Court in Santa Fe. The lawsuit alleges the county ordinance violates the federal Endangered Species Act and that the ordinance is invalid. The lawsuit seeks a court order halting the commission from taking any further action under the ordinance....
Wolves: Good with teriyaki sauce Currently, citizens in New Mexico's Catron County are considering making safety cages at bus stops to protect children waiting for school buses. How many children would have to die before all large predators would be eliminated from New Mexico? No children have been killed, yet. But, as an intellectual exercise in the theory of rights, what would be the governmental response to an animal predator killing a child? I suspect that the environmental lobby would paralyze the government officials since they are the most virulent force acting upon our government these days. With lawsuits and other intimidations no general response would follow the death of a child, only a specific one involving that individual predator. The New Mexico Legislature has considered banning all pit bull breeds of dogs in New Mexico because they are said to be dangerous. So why is there no move to ban wolves, mountain lions and bears who have even more potential for injury and death? Is being killed by a mountain lion somehow different than being killed by a pit bull? As to wolf reintroduction, I have gone 56 years without seeing a wolf in the wild and I can go another 56 years. But the wolf reintroduction is not really about the wolves....
Old growth species mandate lifted from Northwest Forest Plan Acting on an agreement with the timber industry, the Bush administration has decided to quit looking for little-known snails, lichens and other sensitive species before selling timber in Northwest national forests, setting up another round of litigation over a plan created to protect spotted owls and salmon. The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that so-called "survey and manage" provisions have been eliminated from the Northwest Forest Plan by way of a final decision on an environmental impact statement signed by Assistant Secretary of Interior Steve Allred and Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey. The decision makes it easier to log islands of old growth timber that remain standing on areas of national forests and U.S. Bureau of Land Management lands designated for timber production in western Washington, Oregon and Northern California. "This decision is long overdue," said Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group. "We are wasting our time and money to have government employees crawl on their hands and knees and turn over rocks to look for snails and lichens and other critters." West added that none of the species under the "survey and manage" provisions are protected by the Endangered Species Act, and the increase in logging will only fulfill the timber production promises of the Northwest Forest Plan....
So much for saving the spotted owl Two decades after the wrenching drive to save an obscure bird divided Oregonians, reshaped the economy and tore apart the political landscape, the northern spotted owl is disappearing anyway. Even the most optimistic biologists now admit that the docile owl -- revered and reviled as the most contentious symbol the Northwest has known -- will probably never fully recover. Intensive logging of the spotted owl's old-growth forest home threw the first punch that sent the species reeling. But the knockout blow is coming from a direction that scientists who drew up plans to save the owl didn't count on: nature itself. The versatile and voracious barred owl is proving far more adept at getting rid of the smaller owl than the Endangered Species Act was in saving it: Fewer than 25 spotted owls remain in British Columbia, the northern fringe of its range -- and where barred owls first moved into the West. Biologists say the best hope for Canada's spotted owls would be for zoos to capture and breed them, and perhaps someday return them to the wild. Spotted owls are vanishing inside Olympic National Park, where logging never disturbed them. A biologist looking for them says it sometimes seems like searching for the long-lost ivory-billed woodpecker. Barred owl numbers, though, are "through the roof."....
To Oregon timber towns, it was the owl that roared In the late 1970s, some U.S. forest scientists became engrossed by a small, reclusive owl that fed on rodents in the wet, lush and steadily disappearing old-growth forests of Oregon. They determined that if the last of the old forests went away, so would the owl. Environmental groups, looking for a legal wedge in their increasingly aggressive crusade to halt old-growth logging, soon caught wind of the concerns and sued to list the northern spotted owl among the nation's endangered species. What followed was one of the most gut-grabbing economic and social upheavals in modern Oregon history. In the five years after 1990, timber employment dropped from 57,400 to 46,200 sending families to unemployment offices and food banks. Small communities across the state turned desperately to tourists or high-tech moguls to fill the economic void. "They were very emotional, very traumatic times," says Ray Wilkeson, public affairs director of the Oregon Forest Industries Council, a group that promotes logging. "A lot of damage was done to the social fabric of the state." The battle played out in courtrooms, headlines on the streets and in the forests. Loggers convoyed to Portland in a huge protest. On the other side, demonstrators dressed in feathers, sat in timber stands and refused to budge....
BLM monument planning process worries environmentalists Conservation groups are worried that resource-management plans being developed for 14 new national monuments don't do enough to protect the assets the monuments were created to protect. The monuments, most designated by President Bill Clinton during his final year in office, were created to protect a variety of natural and archeological treasures. The Bureau of Land Management has completed management plans for five of the Clinton national monuments. The nine others are being developed. For the next 10 to 20 years, these plans will dictate where visitors can drive their vehicles, where and when ranchers can graze livestock, how and where oil and gas companies can drill wells and when and where motorized boats can be used. The proclamations Clinton signed establishing the national monuments allow most of those traditional activities to continue, so long as they don't harm the monuments' treasures....
Forest Service considers poisoning prairie dogs The U.S. Forest Service is considering a proposal to allow the use of poison to help control prairie dogs on the Thunder Basin National Grassland in northeast Wyoming. The local landowner group that proposed the plan says the poisoning will lead to a more controlled and healthier ecosystem in the 572,000-acre grassland, while environmentalists berate the use of poison to control wildlife. The Forest Service expects to have a draft environmental impact statement complete within about two weeks, according to District Ranger Bob Sprentall in Douglas. "We're hoping to have the final out on this probably no later than the end of the year," Sprentall said Friday. The proposal being studied was offered by the Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association, a group of private landowners in the area. The plan would allow for expanded use of rodenticide poison. Currently, poison can be used to control prairie dogs only if there is a human safety issue or if the animals threaten to damage cemeteries or structures, Sprentall said. Sprentall said current control methods, such as installing barriers and manipulating grass growth, haven't worked well in all situations....
In-situ mines draw federal regulators Federal regulators are planning a meeting here early next month to hear public comments and concerns about in-situ uranium mining. Recent increases in the price of uranium have sparked increased interest in the mining technique, in which chemicals are used to free uranium from the surrounding ore underground. Water holding the freed uranium is then pumped to the surface where it's refined. Four years ago, uranium oxide, or "yellowcake," sold for around $10 a pound. It has jumped to around $135 a pound, with prospects of even higher prices. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees the in-situ mining process. Faced with an increase in the number of applications from companies interested in building new facilities or expanding old ones, the agency is preparing a "generic environmental impact statement" to look at the effects of the in-situ mining technique. Dave McIntyre, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said the agency expects so many new applications from companies interested in in-situ mining that, "if it all comes at once, there will be a resource problem." Preparing the generic environmental document will help to guide supplemental studies for individual projects, McIntyre said. "We want to get public input in case there's something we haven't thought of," he said....
Forest service learns to love fire a little bit Western public lands, including the Payette National Forest in Idaho, the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico and the Bitterroot National Forest that straddles the Montana-Idaho border, have become "let-it-burn laboratories," federal wildfire managers say. Sparse populations surrounding those forests make it possible to pursue some of the nation's most progressive fire management policies. An increasing number of wildfire managers are letting more lightning-caused fires on federal land burn, to help return forests to their natural state where wildfire and trees survived in equilibrium before modern man's arrival. The policy also keeps firefighters from harm's way — and could save millions of dollars otherwise spent fighting fires miles far from civilization. Environmental advocates favor these changes, saying they let Mother Nature take her course— even as some forest communities fear allowing more fires to burn is a recipe for disaster....
Forest Service gives boot to hopscotching squatters Home for Thomas "Hippie" Klinger used to be wherever he anchored his pea-green bus. The 57-year-old, Vietnam-era Army veteran hunkered down in the Ocala National Forest for months at a time, often among a grungy group of other free spirits and ne'er-do-wells whose perpetual presence prompted the U.S. Forest Service last year to sharply prune its length-of-stay rules in the federally managed wilderness. Under old rules, a visitor could stay in the forest indefinitely by hopscotching from campsite to campsite every two weeks. The new rules say visitors must leave after 14 days. Violators risk fines and permanent bans from all federal lands. Klinger was among those pushed out of the Ocala Forest by the new rules. Although he denies it, he also is counted among those furious about the changes, according to federal authorities who charged him with threatening to murder Forest Service Officer Chris Crain, who carried out the new rules. Klinger and co-defendant William Seagraves, 59, were acquitted recently of the charges that could have put both in federal prison for 10 years. Jurors said they sided with defense lawyers who suggested the two were harmless, frustrated men, whose overblown words about killing the burly Crain were just campfire braggadocio....
Wash. forest fires spark debate on climate change It was a monster fire — 175,000 acres of tinder-dry timber just south of the Canadian border in north-central Washington state. In places it burned with an intensity rarely seen, crowning through stands of Douglas fir and ponderosa and lodgepole pine that had been weakened by a bark beetle infestation. "It was clearly a firestorm," said David Peterson, a research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab in Seattle. At its height, 2,300 firefighters battled the blaze, including crews from New Zealand, Mexico and soldiers dispatched from Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Wash. Last year's Tripod fire, the largest in Washington state in more than a century, smoldered through the winter, and several small spot fires have kicked up this summer. Peterson and others scientists say the Tripod fire could be a sign of things to come in the Western forests. Rising temperatures brought on by global warming put added stress on trees, making them more susceptible to bugs and disease, and stimulating the growth of underbrush and other fuels to feed the blazes. Some studies suggest that the number of acres scorched by wildfire could increase fivefold by the end of the century....
Bill would end 1872 mining act On Thursday, lawmakers discussed a bill to dismantle the General Mining Act of 1872, signed by President Ulysses Grant and unchanged since. Under the law, private companies haven't paid royalties to taxpayers for an estimated $245 billion worth of minerals extracted from public lands in the last 135 years. The law also allows companies to buy public land for as little as $5 an acre. The General Mining Act elevates mining's importance above other uses of public land, making it difficult for agencies like the U.S. Forest Service to deny any mine applications, environmentalists say. Mining companies argue that they comply with the existing federal law, as well as state regulations, and say many existing mines have set aside adequate bonds worth millions to cover responsible cleanup and reclamation once their operations are shuttered. Industry problems, including abandoned mines that leak cyanide and heavy metals, make the timing right for change, critics say....
Archaeologist helps firefighters preserve ancient Indian sites When lightning sent flames ripping across a Southern California mountain ridge last summer, fire officials wanted to cut firebreaks with bulldozers. But first they called U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Doug McKay. McKay knew the remote area east of Big Bear Lake was the ancestral home of Serrano Indians and told fire crews to hold off. After walking around the area, McKay warned officials the bulldozers likely would churn up innumerable ancient sites, crushing pieces of history and costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair. Officials took his words to heart and instead had firefighters clear brush by hand. Using shovels, firefighters carved a 2-foot-wide buffer that helped stop the 361-acre fire near Arrastre Creek. In the end, they preserved 22 ancient Indian sites, where McKay has since found an 8,000-year-old projectile point -- akin to an arrowhead -- pottery and other historical cultural items....
Horse trainer bets her luck on mustang named Chance Horse trainer Vixen Barney nervously tightens the saddle's cinch on a wild mustang, shoves a boot deep into the stirrup and swings aboard. A morning ride last week marked the first time anybody had gotten on the 3-year-old bay gelding named Chance. "I truly, honestly expected him to buck, and he never did," said the 34-year-old horse trainer from Enterprise. "Today was a huge day." Barney is taking part in "Extreme Mustang Makeover," a contest giving 100 trainers from 30 states 100 days to gentle and ride 100 wild mustangs. It is organized by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the nonprofit Mustang Heritage Foundation of Bertram, Texas. When the work ends Sept. 22, the trainers will gather in Fort Worth, Texas, with the mustangs to determine who did the best job. The prize: $25,000. The mustangs will be judged on conditioning, ground work with a trainer walking beside them, and a course requiring mustang and rider to negotiate obstacles found on trails and in general riding....
Reseeding Wildfire Areas to Cost Utah Millions It will cost many millions of dollars to purchase and plant new seed on the more than 450-hundred thousand acres burned so far by Utah wildfires this summer. Governor's spokesman Mike Mower says the state will find the money: "Fortunately this has been a good year for Utah - and the Governor has spoken with top legislative leadership - and we believe the funds to help reseed these areas will be there," says Mower. State and private lands account for only 30 percent of the total land charred this year. The rest are federal lands and Utah is not responsible for reseeding that land. However, Mower says state officials want to be sure all of the land is replanted this fall to prevent more flammable grasses from taking root and perpetuating wildfires. Mower says Utah can't afford to wait for the federal government to take care of its share of the land: "The question is who can get the cash first to buy the seed," says Mower. "And remember we're only half way through the fire season. So the Governor's thought is to buy the seed now and work out reimbursement and redistribution of costs later."....
Bush appointee "burrows in" at the Interior Department "Burrowing in" is slang for what happens in D.C. toward the end of a presidential administration when political appointees destined for the dust bin become full-fledged career government officials. Once embedded and untouchable, they are like moles in one of John le Carré's spy novels, left behind to quietly stand guard over the outgoing administration's turf. The practice is legal, and a 2006 government report suggests it has increased in recent years. On July 23, Matthew McKeown, a political appointee under the Bush White House, began a new job as a high-ranking civil-service employee at the Department of the Interior. McKeown was a deputy attorney general in Idaho during the tenure of then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, who is now the Secretary of the Interior. In 2001, the Bush White House appointed McKeown to a job in the Office of the Solicitor, the legal adviser for the Interior Department. In October 2004, McKeown called the Endangered Species Act a form of "permanent hospice care" at an annual conference of the Property Rights Foundation. He also pushed the Healthy Forest Initiative, which environmental proponents say would let loggers cut more trees....
Without U.S. Rules, Biotech Food Lacks Investors This little piggy’s manure causes less pollution. This little piggy produces extra milk for her babies. And this little piggy makes fatty acids normally found in fish, so that eating its bacon might actually be good for you. The three pigs, all now living in experimental farmyards, are among the genetically engineered animals whose meat might one day turn up on American dinner plates. Bioengineers have also developed salmon that grow to market weight in about half the typical time, disease-resistant cows and catfish needing fewer antibiotics, and goats whose milk might help ward off infections in children who drink it. Only now, though, do federal officials seem to be getting serious about drafting rules that would determine whether and how such meat, milk and filets can safely enter the nation’s food supply. Some scientists and biotechnology executives say that by having the Food and Drug Administration spell out the rules of the game, big investors would finally be willing to put up money to create a market in so-called transgenic livestock....
Old cowboy isn't the retiring sort Under the blazing July sun, rancher Rolf Flake looks over his beloved Corriente cattle. It's at least 117 degrees, a temperature seemingly unfit for any living thing to be outside, and beads of sweat drip from his forehead and glide along the lines of his weathered face to his neck. "They're a tough old breed," says Flake. For a moment it's unclear if the Gilbert man is talking about the Corrientes or cowboys like himself. At 76, Flake is the real deal, a true Arizona cowboy who lives his life on horseback tending cattle and watching the sky for rain. He's also a poet who writes about life on the ranch. National Cowboy Day was Saturday and Flake wants you to know that he and others like him are not a dying breed.
"In this urban society you just don't see them," says Flake. "They're off the road."....