NEWS ROUNDUP

Gray wolf shot, killed in eastern Oregon An endangered gray wolf was found shot and killed in late May in a forested area north of La Grande, apparently the fifth known wolf to arrive in Oregon since the species was returned to nearby Idaho more than a decade ago. The adult female animal was badly decomposed and was only recently positively identified as a wolf by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service forensics laboratory in Ashland, officials said. The wolf was not wearing a radio collar, but DNA analysis confirmed it was related to other wild wolves in Idaho. It did not appear to have been the same wolf videotaped in Wallowa County last summer. That animal was black and the dead animal was a more typical gray-brown, said Russ Morgan of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Counting that videotaped wolf, the wolf found dead would be the fifth known wolf to make it to Oregon. The first was captured near John Day in 1999 and returned to Idaho, another was hit by a car on Interstate 84 and another was found illegally shot between Ukiah and Pendleton....
Wolves Of Yellowstone Spur Love And Hate On any given morning in Yellowstone National Park, you can find packs of tourists watching for packs of wolves, CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith reports. What do they feel when looking at these wolves? "My spirit just feels such a resonance with what I'm seeing," said wolf watcher Nancy Waring. Wolf watchers bring more than high-powered scopes: They bring money to area businesses — about $35 million each year. Seventy years ago, aggressive hunting and trapping had all but wiped out the wolves in Yellowstone. But the federal government decided that as predators, wolves were a key link in the park's food chain. So starting in 1995, they brought the wolves back to Yellowstone. They released 41 in the park, housed in pens. Officials were hoping the wolves would have pups and eventually they would end up with about 100. Now, a decade later, the pens are overgrown and there are 300 wolves in the Yellowstone area ... more than 1,300 in the three surrounding states....
New rule would make it easier to kill wolves Shielded by law from hunters, gray wolf populations boomed in the Northern Rockies over the last decade at the expense of some big game herds that represent a sure meal for the resurgent carnivores. But the balance of power in the region's forests could soon tilt against those 1,300 wolves. Federal officials are seeking to give Idaho, Montana and Wyoming wider latitude to kill wolves that prey on big game species or threaten domestic animals. As public hearings on the proposal began Wednesday, state officials and some ranchers welcomed a plan they said could help put wolves in check more than a decade after they were reintroduced to the region. "This is something we need," said Allen Jaggi, a Wyoming state representative from Lyman. "We're in a hell of a mess. We're losing elk. We're losing domestic livestock." Another pending U.S. Fish and Wildlife proposal would go much farther, allowing public hunting of wolves by stripping them of protection under the Endangered Species Act. With that idea facing a near-certain legal challenge _ which could hang it up in court possibly for years _ federal officials said the big game protection proposal gives states at least an interim measure to deal with problem wolves....
Wolves kill seven sheep in Oregon Gulch Rather than try to remove the gray wolves that killed seven domestic sheep northwest of Ketchum last week, an official with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has elected to pursue non-lethal methods to keep the wolves away. The decision to pursue non-lethal methods was made after the owner of the sheep requested the wolves not be killed, Fish and Game Large Carnivore Manager Steve Nadeau said Tuesday. "The livestock producer wanted to work with us to explore all options to keep his stock and the wolves alive," Nadeau said. Nadeau said he has agreed to that plan. The sheep-killing incident occurred on two separate days—July 10 and 12—in a remote portion of the upper Oregon Gulch area. The sheep band was being grazed on a Sawtooth National Forest grazing allotment that covers the area....
Home on the Range: “Home Land: Ranching and a West That Works” The editors of Home Land: Ranching and a West That Works, recently published by Johnson Books and the Rocky Mountain Land Library, explain the purpose of this collection in the preface: “The premise of our book is that conservation is compatible with ranching and farming,” and “that conservationists and agriculturalists are compatible creatures: they actually belong together.” That is, even though some questions of conservation, such as the reintroduction of wolves, tend to pit ranchers and environmentalists against each other, larger questions such as respect for animals and a love for undeveloped land unite them. The editors of Home Land are calling for a productive truce between ranchers and environmentalists. As Jordan writes in the introduction, “Environmetalists have been at least as rigid as ranchers in the thirty-year war that has locked vast regions of the West in litigation and rancor while millions of acres of open land have fallen to development.” If environmentalists and ranchers instead united, Home Land suggests, perhaps some of this development could be halted....
Wilderness proposal worries ranchers A pair of news conferences set for today seem to indicate a debate about wilderness in Dona Ana County is far from over. A group of ranchers concerned about possible impacts of a wilderness designation on grazing allotments announced last week it planned a press event today to highlight its views. Tuesday, a group backing a wilderness designation for thousands of acres in the county announced a press conference of its own. Members of the ranching group People For Preserving Our Western Heritage said backers of the wilderness proposal didn't involve ranchers in creating their proposal. "Our organization felt like the process of engaging support for the effort failed to include us," said Steve Wilmeth, a Dona Ana County rancher. A wilderness designation would place new restrictions on the use of that land. Wilmeth said the group will propose alternatives that would still achieve the goal of preserving land....
Water as collateral? B.J. "Red" McCombs has turned investments in radio, sports, oil and cars into gold. The San Antonio businessman now is applying his Midas touch to water rights, trade-school education and loans for those late on their property taxes. Propel Financial Services LLC will act as a private lender to make up to $100 million in loans to individuals and businesses with nonconventional collateral. "I've been looking at this for some time," McCombs said of the venture, which will include loans with Edwards Aquifer private water rights as a collateral. "Very few people are knowledgeable about water rights right now." In recent years, water rights have become a hot commodity in the San Antonio area, but traditional lenders have yet to recognize them as assets for collateral, said Jack Nelson, CEO of the newly formed Propel. The option is particularly attractive for South Texas farmers and ranchers who have the potential to pay off their equipment or even their land with a loan secured by water rights....
Beetle bill lands in D.C. The entire Colorado legislative delegation introduced a federal bark beetle bill on Tuesday that would commit up to $22 million to help the Forest Service and local communities combat the threat of wildfire and protect water supplies in the state. Colorado's seven members of the House of Representatives introduced the legislation, called the Colorado Forest Management Improvement Act of 2007, on the House floor, while the state's two senators presented the bill in the Senate. The bill would make grants available to at-risk communities in Colorado for the creation of a community wildfire protection plan and would create central collection points for dead trees removed from forests. It would also allow for the creation of Healthy Forest Partnership Zones for high-fire risk areas in order to facilitate an effort between local communities and private industry to reduce hazardous fuels and fire risks to communities. The legislation would make the Forest Service's good neighbor policy permanent. That policy focuses on treatment and thinning projects on Forest Service land adjacent to private property....
Bipartisan Group Works to End Costly Tongass Forest Logging Subsidy While the nation continues to be burdened with huge federal budget deficits, the U.S. Forest Service is still promoting millions of dollars in taxpayer handouts to logging companies for forest road-building projects. The timber program in the Tongass National Forest in Alaska has been hemorrhaging money--and jobs--for years. Since 1996, timber-related employment in the Tongass has dropped from 1,560 to fewer than 200 workers. Yet the subsidies keep flowing in ever greater amounts. The per-job subsidy has risen to more than $200,000, with the total cost since 1982 amounting to about $1 billion, according to Forest Service data and other government sources. "What kind of business model are these people operating under?" asked Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "The taxpayer spigot needs to be shut off. Relying on government handouts for success is not something most economists or smart business owners endorse." A bipartisan group in Congress, allied with budget watchdogs, fiscal conservatives, sportsmen, and environmental groups, has teamed up to put an end to the practice....
Crews fight fires in bear country Firefighters have an added layer of danger when battling blazes in northwest Wyoming: bears. But firefighters practice the same precautions when working in bear country that campers are asked to do -- namely, storing food, making noise and carrying pepper spray. On the Salt Lick fire outside Pinedale, now estimated at 2,500 acres and about 40 percent contained, fire crews are using bear boxes to store food and other bear attractants. They are sleeping away from the bear boxes and carrying pepper spray. Mary Cernicek, spokeswoman for the Bridger-Teton National Forest, said everything the U.S. Forest Service asks the public to do in bear country, firefighters do....
Two states, divided by salmon Oregon and Washington not only sit on opposite sides of the Columbia River, but they're also taking opposite sides in a landmark case on how much should be done for the river's troubled salmon runs. The interstate feud over fish has far-reaching consequences because it will help decide the future of the river's massive hydroelectric dams. While the dams supply inexpensive energy, they also kill many young salmon migrating past. Though fish drive the dispute, the economic stakes are high: Washington enjoys more discounted hydropower because of its higher number of public utilities and stands to reap federal money for restoring salmon habitat. Oregon, on the other hand, does not gain the same benefits from the dams and is pushing to do more for salmon. Washington, siding with the Bonneville Power Administration, which distributes the hydropower, and many electric utilities that buy the power, likes the federal government's proposal to help salmon hurt by the dams. It does a better job focusing aid on the salmon runs that need it, Washington argues. But Oregon, siding with conservation and fishing groups and some Native American tribes, sees the federal approach as pretty close to awful. It offers no new help for fish and may illegally ignore the federal mandate to help endangered species, Oregon says in court filings....
Eagle feather laws still in place Although the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list last month, the laws regulating the possession of the bird’s feathers are still in place. Both the bald and the golden eagle are still protected by the federal act that bears their names: the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act – also known as the “Eagle Act” – as well as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The Eagle Act was passed in 1940, and prohibits the “take; possession; sale; purchase; barter; offer to sell, purchase, or barter; transport, export or import, of any bald or golden eagle, alive or dead, including any part, nest, or egg, unless allowed by permit.” Eagle feathers, however, have had spiritual significance to Indian tribes long before the federal government began passing acts. So in the 1970s, the National Eagle Repository was established to provide feathers of bald and golden eagles to tribal members for ceremonial purposes....
Elusive Yosemite flower ID'd as new species Discovered 84 years ago in Yosemite National Park, the Yosemite bog-orchid is finally an official new species. The tiny orchid — aka Platanthera yosemitensis — was first found by orchid enthusiast George Henry Grinnell in 1923. But it then returned to its hidden state for 70 years until a new generation of botanists rediscovered it in 1993. Fourteen years later, the tiny orchid that botanists then had trouble identifying now has a name, and details about it have been published in the California Botanical Society journal. "I actually smelled it before I found it," said Alison Colwell, a U.S. Geological Survey botanist. "It smelled like sweaty animals — really musky." The petite orchid has yellow pea-size flowers and a potent bouquet which some compare to strong cheese and human feet. The orchid may use its unique scent to attract flies and mosquitoes for pollination purposes, scientists said....
Freudenthal defends feed grounds Feed grounds are a vital part of the state's efforts to manage elk and combat brucellosis for the foreseeable future, Gov. Dave Freudenthal said. "While the federal government acknowledges that, they don't move," Freudenthal told the 2007 Western Regional Meeting of Agricultural College Deans on Monday. "They say, 'That (brucellosis) is a hell of a problem and we hope you are going to work on it.' " Freudenthal said feed grounds are one of the only resources available to the state as long as there is a reservoir of brucellosis in the national parks. Brucellosis is a disease that can cause cows, bison and elk to abort fetuses. "If you get rid of feed grounds, you are only going to push elk onto private property and spread the disease," Freudenthal said. Conservation groups say crowded conditions on feed grounds help transmit brucellosis and that the grounds should be phased out....
S. Dakota looks at new rules for DM&E The state Transportation Commission is proposing new rules that would control the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad's application to use eminent domain to acquire land for its planned expansion. The commission has been asked to grant the Sioux Falls-based DM&E the right of eminent domain to extend its east-west line into Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Eminent domain is the right to condemn and acquire land. A state law provides that railroads can use the procedure if they can show a project is a use consistent with public necessity. The Transportation Commission had planned to hold a hearing on DM&E's eminent-domain application on July 10, but Circuit Judge James Anderson of Pierre stopped the hearing after landowners argued that the commission has failed to pass rules dealing with such applications. The commission on Tuesday announced that it would meet by telephone at 12:15 p.m. MDT today to consider setting a date for a hearing on rules governing applications for a railroad's use of eminent domain....
Waterfowl populations rise by 14 percent in past year With five waterfowl species at or near record numbers, there are plenty of reasons for optimism among waterfowl enthusiasts. Preliminary results from the annual Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey jointly conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Service say overall waterfowl population has jumped 14 percent from last year to more than 41 million birds in the survey area. That number is 24 percent above the 1955-2006 average. “There’s a lot of good news in the survey this year for the total duck population and waterfowl breeding habitat,” said H. Dale Hall, Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We have five species that are at record or near record highs, including canvasbacks, and there are good breeding conditions on the prairies. “However, we remain concerned that pintails and scaup are well below long-term averages.” The survey covers 1.3 million square miles across the north-central United States, south-central and northern Canada and Alaska and estimates the number of ducks in the continent’s most important nesting grounds. Biologists reported most breeding-habitat conditions were the same or slightly better than reported in 2006....
Yellowstone cutthroat not joining endangered list The Yellowstone cutthroat trout does not merit the protections of the federal Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday. While fish numbers have declined substantially, the Service “found numerous robust populations throughout the historic range of the subspecies, most notably in headwater areas,” said Mitch King, regional director of the Service. King also noted the “numerous ongoing conservation efforts” on behalf of the fish by state, federal, tribal, local and nongovernmental organizations. Environmentalists who had pushed for the listing said Tuesday they were disappointed but not surprised....
Humane Society: Gore's message loses bite ONLY one week after Live Earth, Al Gore's green credentials slipped while hosting his daughter's wedding in Beverly Hills. Gore and his guests at the weekend ceremony dined on Chilean sea bass - arguably one of the world's most threatened fish species. Also known as Patagonian toothfish, the species is under pressure from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing activities in the Southern Ocean, jeopardising the sustainability of remaining stocks. It has been estimated that more than 50 per cent of toothfish traded is illegally caught, and includes juveniles vital to the ongoing toothfish population....
North Dakota Stockmen’s Association Will Not Re-Up R-CALF Dues The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association (NDSA) will not be renewing its expiring affiliate dues with R-CALF USA. Disappointed with the lack of communication and respect from the national organization, the NDSA Board of Directors made the decision at its quarterly meeting at the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora, N.D., last Wednesday. “The decision boiled down to accountability,” explained NDSA President Mark Huseth, who ranches near McLeod, N.D. “A trade organization must be accountable to its members, but, time after time, R-CALF refused to answer our questions or acknowledge our concerns. Our directors decided they could not renew the affiliation with R-CALF if they wanted to be accountable to the NDSA’s own members.” Here’s an example: The NDSA issued a letter to R-CALF leaders in March requesting a verifiable audit and seeking information about officer oustings and staff and leadership turnovers within the national organization after an anonymous, purportedly tell-all website was launched. The NDSA also wanted to know why it was not informed of a regional R-CALF meeting that was held in Bismarck, N.D., last fall. The NDSA board was disappointed when, after a long delay, the R-CALF president said he had been instructed by his board not to answer the NDSA’s questions in writing. Instead, he offered to send a DVD of an R-CALF regional meeting in place of a letter. The NDSA still has not received it....