Saturday, October 09, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Conservation Groups Pleased Idaho Wilderness Bill Introduced Today, in the final hours of the 108th Congress, Representative Mike Simpson introduced the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. The bill would protect nearly 300,000 acres of the Boulder-White Clouds as wilderness and take other steps to advance rural economic development and protection of recreation opportunities. Conservationists have sought wilderness protection for the Boulder-White Clouds for over 20 years. The bill contains compromises that have concerned the conservation community since Rep. Simpson first announced them, at the beginning of the summer....
Group files lawsuit against USDA over gorge plan A Columbia Gorge group has filed a federal lawsuit charging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent approval of new rules regulating the national scenic area does not adequately protect the gorge's landscapes. The lawsuit contends that the revised rules fail to protect forests, clean water, salmon habitat and farmland. They also say the plan exposes protected areas to excessive logging in the 80-mile section of the Columbia River Gorge....
Sheep grazing to continue in SNRA Sheep grazing will continue in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Ketchum Ranger District, the Forest Service announced on Thursday. However, modifications will be made. "Grazing is considered an appropriate activity on the SNRA as long as the values for which the SNRA was created back in 1972 are not substantially impaired," said Sara Baldwin, an SNRA ranger. "I have determined that with the mitigation and management requirements we have identified, my decision for these allotments will not cause substantial impairment to SNRA values."....
Saving Salamander to cost between $106 and $408 million Saving the California tiger salamander in Santa Barbara County over the next 25 years will cost between $106 million and $418 million, a price tag to be borne mostly by "the real estate sector," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. In releasing a draft analysis, which is open to public comment until Nov. 8, the federal agency also estimated that $1 million has been spent for economic impacts since early 2000 when the salamander was listed as an endangered species in Santa Barbara County. Some local officials scoffed at the numbers and ridiculed the report's conclusion that the real estate industry would bear the cost....
Judge delays environmentalists' bid to halt Trinity County mine A federal judge on Friday delayed an emergency bid by environmental groups to block mining along a popular creek west of Weaverville in Trinity County. The groups filed two lawsuits against an exploratory mining pit in Shasta-Trinity National Forest after logging of the one-acre site had already begun Thursday. Critics say the acre contains nine old-growth trees suitable as spotted owl habitat. Nearly two-dozen members of the Canyon Creek Coalition who went to the site Friday intending to chain themselves to the remaining trees won a promise of no more logging until a meeting Monday. They may then discuss forming a conservation conservancy to buy the mining claim, said Jimmy Curran, whose family helped organize the opposition....
Gabriel blasts prairie dog settlement South Dakota Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel on Friday criticized a federal court settlement that changed some terms of a federal-state plan to poison prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota. Gabriel said the best part of the settlement, reached Wednesday in Denver, is that it allows poisoning to go forward this month on Buffalo Gap National Grassland in Fall River County and in Conata Basin south of Badlands National Park. But Gabriel said the court settlement falls short of the federal-state agreement reached in August to poison prairie dogs on federal land....
Rare Ferrets Released In Northwest Colorado Nearly two-dozen black-footed ferrets have been released near Dinosaur National Monument as part of a government effort to re-establish the rare animal in parts of the West. By this weekend, 11 more ferrets will join the 23 animals in the Wolf Creek Management Area of northwest Colorado. In all, 149 black-footed ferrets have been released to date in Colorado, Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said Thursday....
Officials look into killing of grizzly A federal investigation into the fatal shooting of a grizzly bear that attacked a Gillette hunter Sunday in Teton County is expected to be concluded next week, an official said this morning. Roy Brown, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent in Lander, had launched a probe into the shooting earlier this week because the bears are protected by federal law. Although the man responsible for killing the bear that attacked Weston Scott has not been charged with any crime, Brown will submit his report to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne. Federal prosecutors will determine whether to charge the Indiana man, whom Brown declined to identify. "They have the say-so whether it falls under the self-defense category or not. I'm basically the collector of facts," Brown said....
Judge upholds firing of Park Police’s Chambers An administration judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board has upheld the firing of former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers. In an Oct. 6 ruling, MSPB Judge Elizabeth Bogle said the Park Service had a legitimate reason for disciplining Chambers for making statements to the media and Congress about her agency’s budget and staffing problems. The Park Service placed Chambers on administrative leave in December and fired her in July....
Ranchland goes public Almost 1,900 acres of the McMaster Ranch between Keir Lane and Eagle Bay Drive is now open to the public. The Bureau of Land Management finalized the sale last week, which means that the public now is welcome to hike, bike, hunt and horseback ride on what previously was private property. Steve Hartmann, BLM assistant field manager, is thrilled with the acquisition, which is the first of a two-part sale announced earlier this year. But he also wants people to be aware that some restrictions on access remain, and that the second part of the 5,636-acre deal probably won't be completed until the first part of 2005....
Mine threat just a stunt to criticize land laws An environmental group has staked a claim to mine 20 acres of land next to a posh subdivision near Hayden Lake, Idaho, to illustrate how antiquated the nation's mining laws have become. Members of The Lands Council drove a stake into some public land near the Canfield Mountain subdivision on Thursday, and said they could mine the surrounding land under the Mining Law of 1872. "Hard-rock mining trumps all other uses and values associated with America's public lands," said Mike Petersen of The Lands Council....
Democrats ask for probe of reported changes to salmon study Leading Democrats called for an investigation Friday into a report that federal biologists rewrote an analysis that said a water transfer plan could hurt endangered salmon in northern California. In a letter to the inspectors general of the Interior Department and the Commerce Department, the House members said the report suggested a "catastrophic failure of oversight." At issue is a recent report in The Sacramento Bee that said federal biologists evaluating the effects of shifting millions of gallons of water to Southern California from rivers in the north were ordered by their superiors to revise a conclusion that the plan would hurt endangered salmon....
Congress Sends Indian Land Consolidation Act to President Last night, the House of Representatives passed S. 1721, the Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments of 2004, by unanimous consent. S. 1721 will tackle fractionation by providing a new federal probate code that will limit fractionation and promote estate planning. In particular, the "single heir" rule for small intestate interests will put a cap on the growth of fractionation. The bill will also allow tribes and individual owners to acquire and consolidate highly fractionated interests, and it expands and makes permanent the federal land acquisition program. Hall said it is important to know that the probate provisions in the law will not take effect for at least 18 to 24 months....
Environmental Group Cites Partisanship in the Judiciary Federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents are several times as likely as Republican appointees to rule in favor of plaintiffs who sue the government claiming violations of environmental law, according to a report issued yesterday by the nonpartisan Environmental Law Institute. The authors of the study -- which examined 325 judicial rulings between Jan. 21, 2001, and June 30, 2003 -- said the results show the degree to which ideological polarization over the environment has influenced the federal judiciary. The nonprofit institute, which researches environmental law but does not litigate or lobby, focused on cases brought under the National Environmental Policy Act, a 35-year-old law requiring agencies to assess how proposed federal policies and programs affect the environment....
Congress allows nuclear sludge remain in Idaho, South Carolina waste tanks Lawmakers agreed Friday to allow tons of radioactive sludge from Cold War bomb-making to be left in underground tanks at federal facilities in South Carolina and Idaho instead of being shipped to a central repository. The measure reclassifies the sludge from high level to incidental, a category that means it can be left in the tanks and combined with concrete grout. The sludge accounts for about 1 percent of the tank waste, and the rest still will have to be removed....
New Research Questions Uniqueness of Recent Warming A new analysis has challenged the accuracy of a climate timeline showing that recent global warming is unmatched for a thousand years. That timeline, generated by stitching together hints of past temperatures embedded in tree rings, corals, ice layers and other sources, is one strut supporting the widely accepted view that the current warm spell is being caused mainly by accumulating heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions. The authors of the study, published in the current issue of the online journal ScienceExpress, said they did not dispute that a sharp warming was under way and that its pace could signal a human influence. But they said their test of the methods used to mesh recent temperature records with centuries-old evidence showed that past natural climate shifts were most likely sharply underestimated. Many climate scientists credited the new study with pointing out how much uncertainty still surrounds efforts to turn nature's spotty, unwritten temperature records into a climate chronology....
Lawyers Oppose Delay In SUV Vandalism Trial Lawyers for a Caltech graduate student accused of firebombing sport utility vehicles oppose a bid to delay his trial. Attorneys for Billy Cottrell filed a motion this week objecting to a delay sought by prosecutors. Authorities said they need more time to research defense claims that Cottrell suffers from a form of autism. The 24-year-old physics student is accused of damaging or destroying 125 SUVs in the San Gabriel Valley last August. He has been held without bond in federal custody and could face 35 years to life in prison if convicted. Authorities believe the vandalism -- in which more than $3 million in property was damaged or destroyed -- was carried out by radical environmentalists....
Lawmakers move toward deal on hurricane, drought aid House-Senate bargainers neared agreement Friday on an election-season $14.7 billion package of aid for East Coast hurricane victims and drought-stricken farmers, participants said. Though eleventh-hour changes remained possible, lawmakers were hoping the House would approve the legislation late Friday and recess for the last weeks of the presidential and congressional campaigns. The Senate, which was juggling several major bills, was unlikely to consider the measure until Saturday or later....
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Conservation Groups Pleased Idaho Wilderness Bill Introduced Today, in the final hours of the 108th Congress, Representative Mike Simpson introduced the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act. The bill would protect nearly 300,000 acres of the Boulder-White Clouds as wilderness and take other steps to advance rural economic development and protection of recreation opportunities. Conservationists have sought wilderness protection for the Boulder-White Clouds for over 20 years. The bill contains compromises that have concerned the conservation community since Rep. Simpson first announced them, at the beginning of the summer....
Group files lawsuit against USDA over gorge plan A Columbia Gorge group has filed a federal lawsuit charging that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent approval of new rules regulating the national scenic area does not adequately protect the gorge's landscapes. The lawsuit contends that the revised rules fail to protect forests, clean water, salmon habitat and farmland. They also say the plan exposes protected areas to excessive logging in the 80-mile section of the Columbia River Gorge....
Sheep grazing to continue in SNRA Sheep grazing will continue in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area and Ketchum Ranger District, the Forest Service announced on Thursday. However, modifications will be made. "Grazing is considered an appropriate activity on the SNRA as long as the values for which the SNRA was created back in 1972 are not substantially impaired," said Sara Baldwin, an SNRA ranger. "I have determined that with the mitigation and management requirements we have identified, my decision for these allotments will not cause substantial impairment to SNRA values."....
Saving Salamander to cost between $106 and $408 million Saving the California tiger salamander in Santa Barbara County over the next 25 years will cost between $106 million and $418 million, a price tag to be borne mostly by "the real estate sector," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. In releasing a draft analysis, which is open to public comment until Nov. 8, the federal agency also estimated that $1 million has been spent for economic impacts since early 2000 when the salamander was listed as an endangered species in Santa Barbara County. Some local officials scoffed at the numbers and ridiculed the report's conclusion that the real estate industry would bear the cost....
Judge delays environmentalists' bid to halt Trinity County mine A federal judge on Friday delayed an emergency bid by environmental groups to block mining along a popular creek west of Weaverville in Trinity County. The groups filed two lawsuits against an exploratory mining pit in Shasta-Trinity National Forest after logging of the one-acre site had already begun Thursday. Critics say the acre contains nine old-growth trees suitable as spotted owl habitat. Nearly two-dozen members of the Canyon Creek Coalition who went to the site Friday intending to chain themselves to the remaining trees won a promise of no more logging until a meeting Monday. They may then discuss forming a conservation conservancy to buy the mining claim, said Jimmy Curran, whose family helped organize the opposition....
Gabriel blasts prairie dog settlement South Dakota Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel on Friday criticized a federal court settlement that changed some terms of a federal-state plan to poison prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota. Gabriel said the best part of the settlement, reached Wednesday in Denver, is that it allows poisoning to go forward this month on Buffalo Gap National Grassland in Fall River County and in Conata Basin south of Badlands National Park. But Gabriel said the court settlement falls short of the federal-state agreement reached in August to poison prairie dogs on federal land....
Rare Ferrets Released In Northwest Colorado Nearly two-dozen black-footed ferrets have been released near Dinosaur National Monument as part of a government effort to re-establish the rare animal in parts of the West. By this weekend, 11 more ferrets will join the 23 animals in the Wolf Creek Management Area of northwest Colorado. In all, 149 black-footed ferrets have been released to date in Colorado, Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton said Thursday....
Officials look into killing of grizzly A federal investigation into the fatal shooting of a grizzly bear that attacked a Gillette hunter Sunday in Teton County is expected to be concluded next week, an official said this morning. Roy Brown, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent in Lander, had launched a probe into the shooting earlier this week because the bears are protected by federal law. Although the man responsible for killing the bear that attacked Weston Scott has not been charged with any crime, Brown will submit his report to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cheyenne. Federal prosecutors will determine whether to charge the Indiana man, whom Brown declined to identify. "They have the say-so whether it falls under the self-defense category or not. I'm basically the collector of facts," Brown said....
Judge upholds firing of Park Police’s Chambers An administration judge at the Merit Systems Protection Board has upheld the firing of former U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers. In an Oct. 6 ruling, MSPB Judge Elizabeth Bogle said the Park Service had a legitimate reason for disciplining Chambers for making statements to the media and Congress about her agency’s budget and staffing problems. The Park Service placed Chambers on administrative leave in December and fired her in July....
Ranchland goes public Almost 1,900 acres of the McMaster Ranch between Keir Lane and Eagle Bay Drive is now open to the public. The Bureau of Land Management finalized the sale last week, which means that the public now is welcome to hike, bike, hunt and horseback ride on what previously was private property. Steve Hartmann, BLM assistant field manager, is thrilled with the acquisition, which is the first of a two-part sale announced earlier this year. But he also wants people to be aware that some restrictions on access remain, and that the second part of the 5,636-acre deal probably won't be completed until the first part of 2005....
Mine threat just a stunt to criticize land laws An environmental group has staked a claim to mine 20 acres of land next to a posh subdivision near Hayden Lake, Idaho, to illustrate how antiquated the nation's mining laws have become. Members of The Lands Council drove a stake into some public land near the Canfield Mountain subdivision on Thursday, and said they could mine the surrounding land under the Mining Law of 1872. "Hard-rock mining trumps all other uses and values associated with America's public lands," said Mike Petersen of The Lands Council....
Democrats ask for probe of reported changes to salmon study Leading Democrats called for an investigation Friday into a report that federal biologists rewrote an analysis that said a water transfer plan could hurt endangered salmon in northern California. In a letter to the inspectors general of the Interior Department and the Commerce Department, the House members said the report suggested a "catastrophic failure of oversight." At issue is a recent report in The Sacramento Bee that said federal biologists evaluating the effects of shifting millions of gallons of water to Southern California from rivers in the north were ordered by their superiors to revise a conclusion that the plan would hurt endangered salmon....
Congress Sends Indian Land Consolidation Act to President Last night, the House of Representatives passed S. 1721, the Indian Land Consolidation Act Amendments of 2004, by unanimous consent. S. 1721 will tackle fractionation by providing a new federal probate code that will limit fractionation and promote estate planning. In particular, the "single heir" rule for small intestate interests will put a cap on the growth of fractionation. The bill will also allow tribes and individual owners to acquire and consolidate highly fractionated interests, and it expands and makes permanent the federal land acquisition program. Hall said it is important to know that the probate provisions in the law will not take effect for at least 18 to 24 months....
Environmental Group Cites Partisanship in the Judiciary Federal judges appointed by Democratic presidents are several times as likely as Republican appointees to rule in favor of plaintiffs who sue the government claiming violations of environmental law, according to a report issued yesterday by the nonpartisan Environmental Law Institute. The authors of the study -- which examined 325 judicial rulings between Jan. 21, 2001, and June 30, 2003 -- said the results show the degree to which ideological polarization over the environment has influenced the federal judiciary. The nonprofit institute, which researches environmental law but does not litigate or lobby, focused on cases brought under the National Environmental Policy Act, a 35-year-old law requiring agencies to assess how proposed federal policies and programs affect the environment....
Congress allows nuclear sludge remain in Idaho, South Carolina waste tanks Lawmakers agreed Friday to allow tons of radioactive sludge from Cold War bomb-making to be left in underground tanks at federal facilities in South Carolina and Idaho instead of being shipped to a central repository. The measure reclassifies the sludge from high level to incidental, a category that means it can be left in the tanks and combined with concrete grout. The sludge accounts for about 1 percent of the tank waste, and the rest still will have to be removed....
New Research Questions Uniqueness of Recent Warming A new analysis has challenged the accuracy of a climate timeline showing that recent global warming is unmatched for a thousand years. That timeline, generated by stitching together hints of past temperatures embedded in tree rings, corals, ice layers and other sources, is one strut supporting the widely accepted view that the current warm spell is being caused mainly by accumulating heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions. The authors of the study, published in the current issue of the online journal ScienceExpress, said they did not dispute that a sharp warming was under way and that its pace could signal a human influence. But they said their test of the methods used to mesh recent temperature records with centuries-old evidence showed that past natural climate shifts were most likely sharply underestimated. Many climate scientists credited the new study with pointing out how much uncertainty still surrounds efforts to turn nature's spotty, unwritten temperature records into a climate chronology....
Lawyers Oppose Delay In SUV Vandalism Trial Lawyers for a Caltech graduate student accused of firebombing sport utility vehicles oppose a bid to delay his trial. Attorneys for Billy Cottrell filed a motion this week objecting to a delay sought by prosecutors. Authorities said they need more time to research defense claims that Cottrell suffers from a form of autism. The 24-year-old physics student is accused of damaging or destroying 125 SUVs in the San Gabriel Valley last August. He has been held without bond in federal custody and could face 35 years to life in prison if convicted. Authorities believe the vandalism -- in which more than $3 million in property was damaged or destroyed -- was carried out by radical environmentalists....
Lawmakers move toward deal on hurricane, drought aid House-Senate bargainers neared agreement Friday on an election-season $14.7 billion package of aid for East Coast hurricane victims and drought-stricken farmers, participants said. Though eleventh-hour changes remained possible, lawmakers were hoping the House would approve the legislation late Friday and recess for the last weeks of the presidential and congressional campaigns. The Senate, which was juggling several major bills, was unlikely to consider the measure until Saturday or later....
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Friday, October 08, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Company facing new restrictions will explore gas-lease options A company that wanted to explore for natural gas on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front said Thursday it is weighing alternatives, given the Interior Department will no longer consider gas development there. The president of Thunder Energy Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, released the company's first statement on the gas issue since announcement of the Interior Department's decision last week. The department said the Front's federal lands will be off limits to oil and gas development for at least the next four years, and the lands will be studied....
Many elk staying private Human activity on public lands appears to be moving elk onto private property, according to Brian Ferry, a Prineville-based biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Hunters must receive permission from property owners before hunting on private lands, but that's where most of the elk seem to be. Ferry said that hikers and mountain bikers, as well as Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management workers, are causing elk to seek more peaceful habitat....
Shifting ice, rocks part of the job for glacier explorer An ice cave explorer who has been mapping and measuring the tunnels in Mount St. Helens' glacier since it began forming in the 1980s is watching carefully to see whether his life's work is about to collapse. Charlie Anderson is famous -- or infamous -- among geologists and the U.S. Forest Service for his passion for spelunking in the unstable glacial caves of this volcano and several others....
Column: Bush administration gives wild places the shaft After almost four years of an unprecedented assault on the wildest places in America, the Bush administration is pulling out the greenwashing brushes so that it can paint a more palatable picture of its environmental policies. But you cannot simply gloss over the scope and magnitude of the Bush administration's assault on America's wild heritage. It's time for a reality check....
Man gored by bison, another mauled by bear A bison gored a man in the backside in Yellowstone National Park Wednesday, but keeping a cool head in a tense situation kept a Livingston man from serious injuries during a recent encounter with a grizzly bear. A 24-year-old male employee of a park concessioner suffered a 2.5-inch-deep puncture wound to his hind end Wednesday night, the National Park Service announced Thursday. The man was walking through a dark area, enroute to his dormitory at Old Faithful, "when he was surprised from behind by the animal," according to a press release....
Bear shot after attack had been moved before A grizzly bear that attacked a hunter from Gillette had been captured and relocated after killing sheep two years ago, according to wildlife investigators. The animal was killed by another hunter shortly after Sunday's mauling incident. Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said the bear had been captured in the Upper Green River area above Pinedale in 2002 after preying on sheep. The bear was relocated to the Cody area and radio-collared, officials said....
Bear contraception to be tested at Six Flags Black bears at the Six Flags Wild Safari in Jackson will become guinea pigs for two birth control experiments this fall as New Jersey authorities explore other methods beyond hunting to reduce the state's booming bruin population. The first experiment will be conducted as state officials continue sparring over whether to launch another bear hunt this year following last year's in which 328 bruins were shot....
New critical habitat proposed for small fish The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to designate 1,244 miles of rivers in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas as critical habitat for a pinky-size threatened fish, the Arkansas River shiner. However, the agency also proposes to establish a "nonessential experimental population" of the fish, reducing the size of the critical habitat to 826 miles by removing the range for the experimental population from the designation, said Ken Collins of the agency's ecological services office in Oklahoma. A year ago, a federal judge in New Mexico dismissed a 2002 lawsuit by a coalition of agricultural and ranching groups from the four states after the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to scrap its critical habitat proposal and come up with a better plan....
Column: The Endangered Species Act on Trial? Resolution of one of the most controversial legal battles in the 30-year history of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was put on hold earlier this year when the United States Supreme Court refused to consider a constitutional challenge to the Act’s authority. But just as the High Court was declining to consider whether federal officials could regulate Arroyo toads in southern California, a court decision out of Texas guaranteed that the debate over the ESA’s constitutionality is not going away. In a ruling appealed to the Supreme Court last May, and up for consideration next week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals split over whether federal officials have the authority to protect certain cave-dwelling insects in a small part of the big State of Texas....
Kempthorne: Endangered Species Act inefficient The Endangered Species Act has benefited more lawyers than actual endangered species, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said at a workshop on Wednesday. "It's useful at these moments to pause and ponder the significance of the Endangered Species Act over the last 30 years," the governor said. "It has failed to recover but a handful of species in 30 years," he continued....
Nation's Most Endangered Wildlife Refuges of 2004 Announced by Defenders of Wildlife In a report released today, Defenders of Wildlife provides one of the first in-depth looks at how development, air and water toxins, oil and gas waste, farming, invasive species and other threats are eroding the largest system of protected lands in the world dedicated to wildlife conservation. Entitled, "Refuges at Risk," the report names the nation's ten most endangered wildlife refuges for 2004. Click here(pdf) to read the report....
Cabeza Prieta refuge on list of 10 in danger Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge has landed on a dubious top 10 list due to rampant smuggling and mounting Border Patrol operations in its otherwise lonely wilderness. Today, the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife is naming the 860,010-acre preserve in Southwest Arizona to its first-ever list of most endangered national wildlife refuges....
Legislative bid to bar N-waste in Utah fails A bid to block nuclear waste from being stored on the Skull Valley Indian Reservation failed late Thursday as senators objected to its inclusion in a sweeping defense bill. The provision, backed by the entire Utah delegation, would have created the 100,000-acre Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area, preventing the Bureau of Land Management from approving a rail line needed to ship the highly radioactive material from nuclear reactors to the proposed facility in Utah's west desert. Rep. Rob Bishop was not conceding defeat, saying, “Until the session ends, I'm not giving up.” House members agreed to include the provision in the defense bill, but it was not part of the version that the Senate approved in July....
Employees at BLM bid on, get contract Employees of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will continue to maintain the agency's roads and buildings in Clackamas County and throughout Oregon for the next five years. But the November elections might determine whether engineering and other work is offered to private contractors. BLM employees assigned to road, recreation and buildings maintenance went through a "very traumatic" experience, said John Keith, an associate deputy state director based in Portland. For the first time, they were required to bid against private contractors to keep their jobs....
Rough Seas Hold Up Oil Pipeline Repairs Rough seas forced pipeline and oil rig repair crews out of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, delaying efforts to get the nation's oil and natural gas infrastructure on track and stem the rise in oil prices. Hurricane Ivan ripped rigs off their bases and cracked sections in the extensive pipeline system that feeds the country much of its fuel. Broken pipelines caused at least four oil spills off the Louisiana coast and others further out in the gulf. Slow progress in repairing Ivan's damage and world turmoil helped push crude oil prices briefly to $53 a barrel for the first time in Thursday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange....
CalFed bill hailed by water users, criticized by environmentalists A joint federal and state water program intended to unite farmers, city folk and nature lovers was hailed by water users, but criticized by environmentalists who said a congressional reauthorization bill did not do enough to improve habitat. President Bush is expected to sign the $395 million California Federal Bay-Delta Program bill passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives that aims to restore the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The system feeds the nation's most productive farm land while providing drinking water to 22 million Californians....
Lake Mead quakes blamed on drought, water drop Recent low-magnitude earthquakes at Lake Mead can be blamed on a drop in the water level due to ongoing drought, geologists said. Since January 2002, 78 temblors have been measured around the vast Colorado River reservoir, including 20 this year, said Charles Watson, president and chief geologist at Reno-based Seismo-Watch Inc. Six quakes between Sept. 20 and 29 were caused by a decline in water level resulting from five years of drought in the West, Watson told the Las Vegas Sun for a Thursday report....
Annual bison roundup has become a widely anticipated spectacle Set up in 1908 to help increase the size of bison herds, which were on the brink of extinction, The National Bison Range has, over almost 100 years, grown public herds to between 20,000 and 25,000 head. Monday's goal was to whittle the bison population down to a manageable 380 for the winter. Reducing the herd's size is necessary to protect grassland forage upon which the bison and the other wildlife in the range depend. With flying dust and thundering hooves, an experienced staff of horseback riders from the Bison Range began cutting 20 to 30 of the adult bison from the herd. Working bison is nothing like working cattle, and only the best of the best qualify for the job. These animals are known to be strong, temperamental and oftentimes dangerous....
Area goats combatting salt cedar About 1,000 goats have been feasting on salt cedar along Ute Creek for the past five months. Like a swarm of locusts, they devour up to 10 acres of invasive trees everyday. “They’re ravenous eaters,” said Kelly Boney, a rancher and goat herder from San Jon. “We expect them to raze about 2,500 acres of salt cedar before the end of the year.” The goats are helping restore the watershed as part of a five-year state-funded project to control salt cedar along Ute Creek....
Watch your step Cattle-killers, be warned: DNA testing isn’t just for humans anymore. When Blaine County Sheriff’s Deputy Pay Pyette investigated the shooting of four cows on Ken and Dawn Overcast’s property in Chinook in February 2003, he had a brainstorm that led to Chinook resident Wesley Anderson’s conviction, and his sentencing on July 13. “We found cow DNA on his boots,” recalls Pyette. “Well, this is Chinook, Montana. Everyone’s got cow DNA on their boots.” But when the lab tested the DNA on Anderson’s boot, it came back an exact match with the killed cows. The UC Davis lab was surprised and excited, says Pyette, to play a part in solving the case. No such DNA testing has been done in Montana before, he says, nor at the UC Davis lab....
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Company facing new restrictions will explore gas-lease options A company that wanted to explore for natural gas on Montana's Rocky Mountain Front said Thursday it is weighing alternatives, given the Interior Department will no longer consider gas development there. The president of Thunder Energy Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, released the company's first statement on the gas issue since announcement of the Interior Department's decision last week. The department said the Front's federal lands will be off limits to oil and gas development for at least the next four years, and the lands will be studied....
Many elk staying private Human activity on public lands appears to be moving elk onto private property, according to Brian Ferry, a Prineville-based biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Hunters must receive permission from property owners before hunting on private lands, but that's where most of the elk seem to be. Ferry said that hikers and mountain bikers, as well as Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management workers, are causing elk to seek more peaceful habitat....
Shifting ice, rocks part of the job for glacier explorer An ice cave explorer who has been mapping and measuring the tunnels in Mount St. Helens' glacier since it began forming in the 1980s is watching carefully to see whether his life's work is about to collapse. Charlie Anderson is famous -- or infamous -- among geologists and the U.S. Forest Service for his passion for spelunking in the unstable glacial caves of this volcano and several others....
Column: Bush administration gives wild places the shaft After almost four years of an unprecedented assault on the wildest places in America, the Bush administration is pulling out the greenwashing brushes so that it can paint a more palatable picture of its environmental policies. But you cannot simply gloss over the scope and magnitude of the Bush administration's assault on America's wild heritage. It's time for a reality check....
Man gored by bison, another mauled by bear A bison gored a man in the backside in Yellowstone National Park Wednesday, but keeping a cool head in a tense situation kept a Livingston man from serious injuries during a recent encounter with a grizzly bear. A 24-year-old male employee of a park concessioner suffered a 2.5-inch-deep puncture wound to his hind end Wednesday night, the National Park Service announced Thursday. The man was walking through a dark area, enroute to his dormitory at Old Faithful, "when he was surprised from behind by the animal," according to a press release....
Bear shot after attack had been moved before A grizzly bear that attacked a hunter from Gillette had been captured and relocated after killing sheep two years ago, according to wildlife investigators. The animal was killed by another hunter shortly after Sunday's mauling incident. Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials said the bear had been captured in the Upper Green River area above Pinedale in 2002 after preying on sheep. The bear was relocated to the Cody area and radio-collared, officials said....
Bear contraception to be tested at Six Flags Black bears at the Six Flags Wild Safari in Jackson will become guinea pigs for two birth control experiments this fall as New Jersey authorities explore other methods beyond hunting to reduce the state's booming bruin population. The first experiment will be conducted as state officials continue sparring over whether to launch another bear hunt this year following last year's in which 328 bruins were shot....
New critical habitat proposed for small fish The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to designate 1,244 miles of rivers in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas as critical habitat for a pinky-size threatened fish, the Arkansas River shiner. However, the agency also proposes to establish a "nonessential experimental population" of the fish, reducing the size of the critical habitat to 826 miles by removing the range for the experimental population from the designation, said Ken Collins of the agency's ecological services office in Oklahoma. A year ago, a federal judge in New Mexico dismissed a 2002 lawsuit by a coalition of agricultural and ranching groups from the four states after the Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to scrap its critical habitat proposal and come up with a better plan....
Column: The Endangered Species Act on Trial? Resolution of one of the most controversial legal battles in the 30-year history of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was put on hold earlier this year when the United States Supreme Court refused to consider a constitutional challenge to the Act’s authority. But just as the High Court was declining to consider whether federal officials could regulate Arroyo toads in southern California, a court decision out of Texas guaranteed that the debate over the ESA’s constitutionality is not going away. In a ruling appealed to the Supreme Court last May, and up for consideration next week, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals split over whether federal officials have the authority to protect certain cave-dwelling insects in a small part of the big State of Texas....
Kempthorne: Endangered Species Act inefficient The Endangered Species Act has benefited more lawyers than actual endangered species, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said at a workshop on Wednesday. "It's useful at these moments to pause and ponder the significance of the Endangered Species Act over the last 30 years," the governor said. "It has failed to recover but a handful of species in 30 years," he continued....
Nation's Most Endangered Wildlife Refuges of 2004 Announced by Defenders of Wildlife In a report released today, Defenders of Wildlife provides one of the first in-depth looks at how development, air and water toxins, oil and gas waste, farming, invasive species and other threats are eroding the largest system of protected lands in the world dedicated to wildlife conservation. Entitled, "Refuges at Risk," the report names the nation's ten most endangered wildlife refuges for 2004. Click here(pdf) to read the report....
Cabeza Prieta refuge on list of 10 in danger Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge has landed on a dubious top 10 list due to rampant smuggling and mounting Border Patrol operations in its otherwise lonely wilderness. Today, the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife is naming the 860,010-acre preserve in Southwest Arizona to its first-ever list of most endangered national wildlife refuges....
Legislative bid to bar N-waste in Utah fails A bid to block nuclear waste from being stored on the Skull Valley Indian Reservation failed late Thursday as senators objected to its inclusion in a sweeping defense bill. The provision, backed by the entire Utah delegation, would have created the 100,000-acre Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area, preventing the Bureau of Land Management from approving a rail line needed to ship the highly radioactive material from nuclear reactors to the proposed facility in Utah's west desert. Rep. Rob Bishop was not conceding defeat, saying, “Until the session ends, I'm not giving up.” House members agreed to include the provision in the defense bill, but it was not part of the version that the Senate approved in July....
Employees at BLM bid on, get contract Employees of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will continue to maintain the agency's roads and buildings in Clackamas County and throughout Oregon for the next five years. But the November elections might determine whether engineering and other work is offered to private contractors. BLM employees assigned to road, recreation and buildings maintenance went through a "very traumatic" experience, said John Keith, an associate deputy state director based in Portland. For the first time, they were required to bid against private contractors to keep their jobs....
Rough Seas Hold Up Oil Pipeline Repairs Rough seas forced pipeline and oil rig repair crews out of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, delaying efforts to get the nation's oil and natural gas infrastructure on track and stem the rise in oil prices. Hurricane Ivan ripped rigs off their bases and cracked sections in the extensive pipeline system that feeds the country much of its fuel. Broken pipelines caused at least four oil spills off the Louisiana coast and others further out in the gulf. Slow progress in repairing Ivan's damage and world turmoil helped push crude oil prices briefly to $53 a barrel for the first time in Thursday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange....
CalFed bill hailed by water users, criticized by environmentalists A joint federal and state water program intended to unite farmers, city folk and nature lovers was hailed by water users, but criticized by environmentalists who said a congressional reauthorization bill did not do enough to improve habitat. President Bush is expected to sign the $395 million California Federal Bay-Delta Program bill passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives that aims to restore the fragile Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The system feeds the nation's most productive farm land while providing drinking water to 22 million Californians....
Lake Mead quakes blamed on drought, water drop Recent low-magnitude earthquakes at Lake Mead can be blamed on a drop in the water level due to ongoing drought, geologists said. Since January 2002, 78 temblors have been measured around the vast Colorado River reservoir, including 20 this year, said Charles Watson, president and chief geologist at Reno-based Seismo-Watch Inc. Six quakes between Sept. 20 and 29 were caused by a decline in water level resulting from five years of drought in the West, Watson told the Las Vegas Sun for a Thursday report....
Annual bison roundup has become a widely anticipated spectacle Set up in 1908 to help increase the size of bison herds, which were on the brink of extinction, The National Bison Range has, over almost 100 years, grown public herds to between 20,000 and 25,000 head. Monday's goal was to whittle the bison population down to a manageable 380 for the winter. Reducing the herd's size is necessary to protect grassland forage upon which the bison and the other wildlife in the range depend. With flying dust and thundering hooves, an experienced staff of horseback riders from the Bison Range began cutting 20 to 30 of the adult bison from the herd. Working bison is nothing like working cattle, and only the best of the best qualify for the job. These animals are known to be strong, temperamental and oftentimes dangerous....
Area goats combatting salt cedar About 1,000 goats have been feasting on salt cedar along Ute Creek for the past five months. Like a swarm of locusts, they devour up to 10 acres of invasive trees everyday. “They’re ravenous eaters,” said Kelly Boney, a rancher and goat herder from San Jon. “We expect them to raze about 2,500 acres of salt cedar before the end of the year.” The goats are helping restore the watershed as part of a five-year state-funded project to control salt cedar along Ute Creek....
Watch your step Cattle-killers, be warned: DNA testing isn’t just for humans anymore. When Blaine County Sheriff’s Deputy Pay Pyette investigated the shooting of four cows on Ken and Dawn Overcast’s property in Chinook in February 2003, he had a brainstorm that led to Chinook resident Wesley Anderson’s conviction, and his sentencing on July 13. “We found cow DNA on his boots,” recalls Pyette. “Well, this is Chinook, Montana. Everyone’s got cow DNA on their boots.” But when the lab tested the DNA on Anderson’s boot, it came back an exact match with the killed cows. The UC Davis lab was surprised and excited, says Pyette, to play a part in solving the case. No such DNA testing has been done in Montana before, he says, nor at the UC Davis lab....
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Thursday, October 07, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
U.S. to pay $33,000 fine for fire The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to pay $33,000 in fines for causing a blaze in American Fork Canyon that burned nearly 8,000 acres. Utah Division of Air Quality officials say the settlement is intended to prevent a repeat of the Cascade Springs II fire in 2003 that filled the skies in three counties with dense smoke and burned nearly 8,000 acres instead of the intended 600. The settlement reached this month between the division and the Forest Service requires forest officials to buy two remote air-monitoring machines and provide additional training for its employees both on how to use the devices and on new, more intensive fire-setting procedures....
Conservationists, government reach deal in prairie dog poisoning The federal government will be able to poison prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota next week after reaching a deal with conservationists Wednesday that they say helps protect the endangered black-footed ferret. A branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to distribute poison on only 5,000 acres instead of about 8,000 acres in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. It includes the Conata Basin - an area where more than half of the 400 wild ferrets left in the country live....
Grand Jury Indicts Hunter in Calif. Fire A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted a hunter who allegedly started the largest wildfire in California history. Sergio Martinez, 34, was indicted on one count each of setting timber on fire and making a false statement to a federal officer. Each charge carries a maximum five years in prison. The 2003 blaze, called the Cedar fire, killed 15 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and charred 273,000 acres from the mountains east of San Diego into the nation's seventh-largest city....
Plane Crash Survivor Talks About Ordeal Jodee Hogg had survived the plane crash and a cold night on top of a mountain. She feared if she and her injured companion didn't start hiking, neither of them would survive a second night. Hogg, 23, and Matthew Ramige, 30, had been presumed dead when the small plane carrying them and two other U.S. Forest Service workers crashed Sept. 20 in the Great Bear-Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. With her twin sister and parents beside her, Hogg recalled how she and Ramige struggled to make their way off the mountain, convinced they could not wait to be rescued if they wanted to survive. Hogg, with a sprained foot and back, and Ramige, suffering a broken back and severe burns, hobbled to a highway where they eventually flagged down motorists. The distance was probably only three to five miles, but their travel time was 29 hours....
City a Forest Service hub The U.S. Forest Service plans to move up to 400 human resources jobs to Albuquerque as part of a push to centralize operations, agency officials said. The move, announced Tuesday, comes after the agency's decision in June to centralize 370 budget and accounting jobs in the city. The Forest Service will lease two buildings in the Journal Center for a budget and accounting center, officials said....
Enviro groups plan to appeal decision to allow gas drilling A decision by the Bureau of Land Management to uphold possible natural-gas drilling in the Thompson Creek area west of Carbondale has been appealed by a coalition of environmental groups, the town of Carbondale and Pitkin County. The environmental groups claim drilling would violate protections of roadless areas that are now in legal dispute. The Aspen-based Wilderness Workshop led the appeal of a protest denied by the BLM. The agency sold leases on three area parcels in May. The sale of those and many other leases were protested, but the BLM rejected the protests last month. That decision has been appealed to the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington, D.C., part of the Interior Department....
Editorial: Decision saves the Front - for now If the Rocky Mountain Front is worth saving today - and we believe it is - its value as a natural area will only increase over the years. This week's Interior Department decision reflects strong public support for preserving this 100-mile stretch of spectacular landscape and rich wildlife habitat south of Glacier National Park. There are places where it's economically feasible and environmentally responsible to drill for oil and gas. The Front isn't one of them....
Decision to pull protection for bull trout brings lawsuit threat Environmental groups say they will sue the federal government over its decision yesterday to remove critical habitat designation for the threatened bull trout in 90 percent of the Columbia and Klamath river basins. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Wild Swan contend the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bowed to political pressures in making the decision, which covers areas of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana....
Editorial: Not 780. Not Even One The Bush administration should give up its crusade to keep noisy, smelly snowmobiles running around Yellowstone National Park each winter's day. They don't belong, period. Not the 493 once proposed in the park. Not the 780 allowed by a federal judge in Wyoming. Not the 720 the National Park Service now proposes for the coming winter. Not one....
Editorial: Prehistoric wonders You could call it Triassic Park. Northeastern Arizona has spectacular fossils from the very dawn of the dinosaur age, a time 220 million years ago when the high desert was swampland. When 200-pound ancestors of frogs and salamanders lumbered along. And that's not all. The same area has pueblo ruins, tantalizing rock art, rainbow-colored badlands and critical wildlife area. But these archeological and natural wonders lie just outside of Petrified Forest National Park. They won't be protected unless we expand the park boundaries. Congress is finally poised to do it. On Monday, with overwhelming bipartisan agreement, the House of Representatives approved HR1630, a plan that would more than double the size of the national park, adding about 125,000 acres....
Winmill rules in favor of Western Watersheds Winmill disagreed with the BLM’s assertion that WWP hadn’t raised the right arguments during the assessment and that the case shouldn’t be in court. He said the group had asked for a total ban on grazing and BLM refused to consider it. He said an agency doesn’t have to consider all possible alternatives, but can’t define objectives in such narrow terms that only one alternative would accomplish agency goals. Without considering a range of options, Winmill said, the preferred alternative becomes a “foreordained formality.”....
Rec fees surpass grazing for first time in BLM history Recreation receipts brought in more money than grazing this year for the first time in the history of the Bureau of Land Management. For fiscal year 2004, the BLM collected $13.5 million in recreation receipts compared to $10 million for grazing. What's more, the agency estimates that 93 percent of its contacts with the pubic are now related to recreation. "We used to do recreation on the side," said Bob Ratcliffe, deputy manager of recreation and visitor services for the agency. In fact, the public would sometimes derisively refer to the BLM as the Bureau of Livestock and Mining. That's changing. With recreation gaining a higher profile, the agency has earned a new nickname - the Bureau of Leisure and Motorhomes. "Recreation is now on the same playing field as grazing and forestry," Ratcliffe said....
Wild horses won't be coming back The feral horses of Coyote Canyon, which captivated park visitors and horse lovers before being removed last year, will not be returning, a federal agency has decided. The Bureau of Land Management, responding to requests from equestrian groups and two state senators that the horses be taken back to the canyon, has determined the animals would be better off adopted....
Ballot measure ensures right to hunt Legislative wrangling turned the original language of House Bill 306, now known as ballot measure C-41, or the Montana Hunting & Fishing Heritage Amendment, into a simplified sentence that garnered majority support in both the Senate and House of Representatives. If passed, the Montana Constitution will add a new section that reads "Preservation of harvest heritage. The opportunity to harvest wild fish and wild game animals is a heritage that shall forever be preserved to the individual citizens of the state and does not create a right to trespass on private property or diminution of other private rights."....
Column: Candidates in Blaze Orange Ernest Hemingway said every writer needs a "shockproof B.S.-detector." My B.S.-detector has been getting a workout, as the presidential candidates have been hunting for votes this autumn. In particular, they are seeking the votes of the 47 million Americans who hunt and fish. In a race this tight, politicians see this as a bloc as valuable as soccer moms and NASCAR dads. George W. Bush shakes hands at Cabela's sporting goods store; John Kerry flaunts his wing-shooting skills at local skeet clubs. You would think each had that Looney Tune hunter Elmer Fudd as a running mate....
Conservationists, Stillwater make deal to preserve land The Stillwater Mining Co. has donated conservation easements on two ranch properties as part of a Good Neighbor Agreement between the mine and conservation groups, the parties announced Tuesday. Through the agreement, the mine has now donated conservation easements on six ranches totaling 2,990 acres in Stillwater and Sweet Grass counties. Francis R. McAllister, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Stillwater Mining Co. is pleased to contribute these two additional conservation easements as we continue to fulfill commitments made at a time when the mine was expanding its operations. The conservation easements ensure that these properties will continue to have the rural qualities and beauty we all enjoy.''....
No water, no ducks Add another threatened crop to the list of woes piling up in the San Luis Valley. This time it's the duck population that has withered in the midst of the greatest drought in recorded history. Hunters who turned out last weekend for what once was Colorado's premier waterfowl event instead found a nearly silent autumn. Consider this: Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, once the poster child for North American duck production, now holds, in the estimation of manager Mike Blenden, barely 15 percent of the population of four years ago....
Congress passes historic water deal for California President Bush is expected to sign a landmark $395 million measure that could accelerate water storage projects in California and rejuvenate a joint state-federal campaign to preserve the Sacramento Delta, an environmental treasure and irreplaceable drinking water source. The House gave final approval to the sweeping, six-year bill Wednesday, overcoming years of mistrust and feuding between agribusiness, environmentalists and cities over how to share California's scarce water supplies....
Eagle County Highland vs. flatland Today, officials in Vail's home county are negotiating what could become a landmark water project to benefit Eagle and metro residents while preserving the environment. They are working toward a landmark agreement to build what would become the largest cooperative water project in Colorado - Wolcott Reservoir. The project would transform a radical not-one-more-drop Western Slope county into a sort of demilitarized water zone. It could help keep a thriving resort county lush and moist, its wilderness areas intact, its future water supplies guaranteed. At the same time, Wolcott would bring some - not a lot, but some - new water to Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, among others....
Another watering hole on tap? As Colorado struggles through a fifth year of drought, utilities on both sides of the Continental Divide are zeroing in on the proposed Wolcott Reservoir in Eagle County. The Western Slope and the Front Range both need more stored water, utilities say, not just for people but for fish. Given the water battles that traditionally have pitted rural western Colorado against the urban metro area, water providers say their biggest challenges on Wolcott are building broad support and answering critical questions about how the reservoir would affect other headwater counties and water quality downstream....
Bridging our troubled waters Pick any Saturday, winter or summer, and 25,000 to 40,000 cars will head west on Interstate 70, ascending to holy ground - the Colorado River headwater counties. Locals in Eagle, Summit, Grand and Pitkin counties are counting on support from these urban pilgrims to help them avert looming water shortages. As powerful Front Range utilities reach for more mountain water to handle growth, the cash-strapped counties hope metro residents will balance the scales, making clear they value high-country streams as much as green lawns at home....
Cloud seeding to continue above Vail Mountain Cloud seeding will continue for the 28th year at Vail, where top resort execs have consistently said they believe the operations boost their precious powder totals. Seeding operations will also continue in other parts of the state, including the San Juans, said Larry Hjermstad of Durango-based Western Weather Consultants. But after spending $1.1 million on cloud seeding the last two years, Denver Water will hold off on the program this year, at least initially, Hjermstad said....
House OKs Aid for Farmers Hit by Drought After weeks of opposing a $3 billion drought package approved by the GOP-run Senate as too costly, House Republicans finally advanced their own $2.9 billion proposal and added it to the hurricane measure by voice vote. Though President Bush has not requested drought aid, the White House may prove reluctant to scuttle a package this close to the election that could help producers in Wisconsin and other Midwestern tossup states. Unlike the Senate measure - which would be financed by borrowing and making deficits higher - the House aid would be paid for by cutting a program that pays farmers to conserve their land....
Rancher has Wild West at hand He bumps along on his wagon across pristine desert, just a short mile from the Peralta Trails subdivision, the end of suburbia and the beginning of the washboard road that leads to Richardson's D-Spur Ranch. Richardson refuses to be hemmed in by urbanization. Instead, he's determined to create an Old West fantasy here. He offers daily horseback rides into the Superstition Mountains, chuck wagon cookouts, wilderness campouts and cattle drives with his Texas longhorns. Prices for a taste of the cowboy life range from $15.95 to $189.95....
Snakebite survivor recalls night encounter On the night of Aug. 4, Karen Gilligan, 50, was bitten by a rattlesnake while taking her dog for a walk around her house on 10 acres in Amargosa Valley. It was the beginning of a four-day ordeal that she said has been the most memorable of her life. It had been a typical day for Gilligan, who works as a cook at Sheri's Ranch brothel in southern Pahrump. She had returned home after work at 6 p.m., spent time with her dog, Holly, and worked at her computer. Around 8:20 p.m. she took Holly out for a walk. It would be the last walk of the evening for the dog and was just around her property, so Gilligan didn't think to change from her house flip-flops into hiking boots or anything sturdier. "That was a big mistake," she said looking back on the incident. She also failed to carry a flashlight. Another mistake, for it was past dark. "I didn't even see it," she said. "I have a feeling I might have stepped on it. It stuck to my foot. It got me in the left heel."....
Cutters follow cowboys' lead The National Cutting Horse Association, like the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, wants to showcase its stars. Both organizations want to put contestants on a stage where fans can more easily follow them. Last year, the NCHA launched the Western Horseman Cup, hoping to expand the exposure of its sport. The Cup champion will be determined at a final that will be fed from a three-tour system that includes specific aged events across the United States and Canada. Each show on the tour must have a minimum of $10,000 in added money....
Hooked on barbed wire? It is a simple reproduction of nature, yet considered to be an invention of genius requiring numerous patents. It connected points while disorienting people and animals. It is treacherous, yet considered a thing of beauty and is housed in museums. If you have not guessed what it is, these questions might give it away: What was rumored to be a northern plot to wipe out cattle, and was thought to be the work of the devil?....
Sheep were way of life in Pine River Valley Allison area rancher Richard Engler spent more time in a sheep camp tent than he did at home when he was growing up. He and wife Shirley described the old days (1930s to the 1950s) of sheep ranching in the Pine River Valley. “Everybody had sheep back in those days,” Richard said. “The Indians had thousands of sheep.” Richard’s dad, Paris Engler, raised sheep. “I started herding when I was eight years old,” Richard said. That meant spending spring, summer and fall with a Mexican herder in the sheep camp. “I was just home in the winter,” he said....
New Mexico hotel echoes with legends The door to room No. 18 at the St. James Hotel is padlocked and never rented out. T.J. Wright, a 19th century gunslinger, crawled inside the room and died after winning the hotel in a poker game and getting shot in the back as he left the table. But the tale of Wright's demise is just one of many colorful stories in the 132-year-old hotel's past....
Wimpy Chupacabras not good for creature's legend Some things are better off left as legend. Take for example this alleged Chupacabras thing that was gunned down on a ranch in Elmendorf, Texas recently. A farmer shot a small, still species-undefined creature, there because is was suspected of eating his chickens. If you're not familiar with the legend of the Chupacabra, it is a vampire-like creature that supposedly was going around sucking the blood out of goats and other livestock. It supposedly was a wicked-looking creature with red eyes, a sucking tongue, webbed wings and a bad disposition. Remarkably elusive and blood thirsty, it supposedly has pilfered the countryside of Texas and Mexico for many years. If you saw the photo of the gunned down chupacabras that was in daily papers recently, you know it was a disappointment....
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U.S. to pay $33,000 fine for fire The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to pay $33,000 in fines for causing a blaze in American Fork Canyon that burned nearly 8,000 acres. Utah Division of Air Quality officials say the settlement is intended to prevent a repeat of the Cascade Springs II fire in 2003 that filled the skies in three counties with dense smoke and burned nearly 8,000 acres instead of the intended 600. The settlement reached this month between the division and the Forest Service requires forest officials to buy two remote air-monitoring machines and provide additional training for its employees both on how to use the devices and on new, more intensive fire-setting procedures....
Conservationists, government reach deal in prairie dog poisoning The federal government will be able to poison prairie dogs in southwestern South Dakota next week after reaching a deal with conservationists Wednesday that they say helps protect the endangered black-footed ferret. A branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture agreed to distribute poison on only 5,000 acres instead of about 8,000 acres in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. It includes the Conata Basin - an area where more than half of the 400 wild ferrets left in the country live....
Grand Jury Indicts Hunter in Calif. Fire A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted a hunter who allegedly started the largest wildfire in California history. Sergio Martinez, 34, was indicted on one count each of setting timber on fire and making a false statement to a federal officer. Each charge carries a maximum five years in prison. The 2003 blaze, called the Cedar fire, killed 15 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and charred 273,000 acres from the mountains east of San Diego into the nation's seventh-largest city....
Plane Crash Survivor Talks About Ordeal Jodee Hogg had survived the plane crash and a cold night on top of a mountain. She feared if she and her injured companion didn't start hiking, neither of them would survive a second night. Hogg, 23, and Matthew Ramige, 30, had been presumed dead when the small plane carrying them and two other U.S. Forest Service workers crashed Sept. 20 in the Great Bear-Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. With her twin sister and parents beside her, Hogg recalled how she and Ramige struggled to make their way off the mountain, convinced they could not wait to be rescued if they wanted to survive. Hogg, with a sprained foot and back, and Ramige, suffering a broken back and severe burns, hobbled to a highway where they eventually flagged down motorists. The distance was probably only three to five miles, but their travel time was 29 hours....
City a Forest Service hub The U.S. Forest Service plans to move up to 400 human resources jobs to Albuquerque as part of a push to centralize operations, agency officials said. The move, announced Tuesday, comes after the agency's decision in June to centralize 370 budget and accounting jobs in the city. The Forest Service will lease two buildings in the Journal Center for a budget and accounting center, officials said....
Enviro groups plan to appeal decision to allow gas drilling A decision by the Bureau of Land Management to uphold possible natural-gas drilling in the Thompson Creek area west of Carbondale has been appealed by a coalition of environmental groups, the town of Carbondale and Pitkin County. The environmental groups claim drilling would violate protections of roadless areas that are now in legal dispute. The Aspen-based Wilderness Workshop led the appeal of a protest denied by the BLM. The agency sold leases on three area parcels in May. The sale of those and many other leases were protested, but the BLM rejected the protests last month. That decision has been appealed to the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington, D.C., part of the Interior Department....
Editorial: Decision saves the Front - for now If the Rocky Mountain Front is worth saving today - and we believe it is - its value as a natural area will only increase over the years. This week's Interior Department decision reflects strong public support for preserving this 100-mile stretch of spectacular landscape and rich wildlife habitat south of Glacier National Park. There are places where it's economically feasible and environmentally responsible to drill for oil and gas. The Front isn't one of them....
Decision to pull protection for bull trout brings lawsuit threat Environmental groups say they will sue the federal government over its decision yesterday to remove critical habitat designation for the threatened bull trout in 90 percent of the Columbia and Klamath river basins. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Friends of the Wild Swan contend the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bowed to political pressures in making the decision, which covers areas of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana....
Editorial: Not 780. Not Even One The Bush administration should give up its crusade to keep noisy, smelly snowmobiles running around Yellowstone National Park each winter's day. They don't belong, period. Not the 493 once proposed in the park. Not the 780 allowed by a federal judge in Wyoming. Not the 720 the National Park Service now proposes for the coming winter. Not one....
Editorial: Prehistoric wonders You could call it Triassic Park. Northeastern Arizona has spectacular fossils from the very dawn of the dinosaur age, a time 220 million years ago when the high desert was swampland. When 200-pound ancestors of frogs and salamanders lumbered along. And that's not all. The same area has pueblo ruins, tantalizing rock art, rainbow-colored badlands and critical wildlife area. But these archeological and natural wonders lie just outside of Petrified Forest National Park. They won't be protected unless we expand the park boundaries. Congress is finally poised to do it. On Monday, with overwhelming bipartisan agreement, the House of Representatives approved HR1630, a plan that would more than double the size of the national park, adding about 125,000 acres....
Winmill rules in favor of Western Watersheds Winmill disagreed with the BLM’s assertion that WWP hadn’t raised the right arguments during the assessment and that the case shouldn’t be in court. He said the group had asked for a total ban on grazing and BLM refused to consider it. He said an agency doesn’t have to consider all possible alternatives, but can’t define objectives in such narrow terms that only one alternative would accomplish agency goals. Without considering a range of options, Winmill said, the preferred alternative becomes a “foreordained formality.”....
Rec fees surpass grazing for first time in BLM history Recreation receipts brought in more money than grazing this year for the first time in the history of the Bureau of Land Management. For fiscal year 2004, the BLM collected $13.5 million in recreation receipts compared to $10 million for grazing. What's more, the agency estimates that 93 percent of its contacts with the pubic are now related to recreation. "We used to do recreation on the side," said Bob Ratcliffe, deputy manager of recreation and visitor services for the agency. In fact, the public would sometimes derisively refer to the BLM as the Bureau of Livestock and Mining. That's changing. With recreation gaining a higher profile, the agency has earned a new nickname - the Bureau of Leisure and Motorhomes. "Recreation is now on the same playing field as grazing and forestry," Ratcliffe said....
Wild horses won't be coming back The feral horses of Coyote Canyon, which captivated park visitors and horse lovers before being removed last year, will not be returning, a federal agency has decided. The Bureau of Land Management, responding to requests from equestrian groups and two state senators that the horses be taken back to the canyon, has determined the animals would be better off adopted....
Ballot measure ensures right to hunt Legislative wrangling turned the original language of House Bill 306, now known as ballot measure C-41, or the Montana Hunting & Fishing Heritage Amendment, into a simplified sentence that garnered majority support in both the Senate and House of Representatives. If passed, the Montana Constitution will add a new section that reads "Preservation of harvest heritage. The opportunity to harvest wild fish and wild game animals is a heritage that shall forever be preserved to the individual citizens of the state and does not create a right to trespass on private property or diminution of other private rights."....
Column: Candidates in Blaze Orange Ernest Hemingway said every writer needs a "shockproof B.S.-detector." My B.S.-detector has been getting a workout, as the presidential candidates have been hunting for votes this autumn. In particular, they are seeking the votes of the 47 million Americans who hunt and fish. In a race this tight, politicians see this as a bloc as valuable as soccer moms and NASCAR dads. George W. Bush shakes hands at Cabela's sporting goods store; John Kerry flaunts his wing-shooting skills at local skeet clubs. You would think each had that Looney Tune hunter Elmer Fudd as a running mate....
Conservationists, Stillwater make deal to preserve land The Stillwater Mining Co. has donated conservation easements on two ranch properties as part of a Good Neighbor Agreement between the mine and conservation groups, the parties announced Tuesday. Through the agreement, the mine has now donated conservation easements on six ranches totaling 2,990 acres in Stillwater and Sweet Grass counties. Francis R. McAllister, the company's chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Stillwater Mining Co. is pleased to contribute these two additional conservation easements as we continue to fulfill commitments made at a time when the mine was expanding its operations. The conservation easements ensure that these properties will continue to have the rural qualities and beauty we all enjoy.''....
No water, no ducks Add another threatened crop to the list of woes piling up in the San Luis Valley. This time it's the duck population that has withered in the midst of the greatest drought in recorded history. Hunters who turned out last weekend for what once was Colorado's premier waterfowl event instead found a nearly silent autumn. Consider this: Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge, once the poster child for North American duck production, now holds, in the estimation of manager Mike Blenden, barely 15 percent of the population of four years ago....
Congress passes historic water deal for California President Bush is expected to sign a landmark $395 million measure that could accelerate water storage projects in California and rejuvenate a joint state-federal campaign to preserve the Sacramento Delta, an environmental treasure and irreplaceable drinking water source. The House gave final approval to the sweeping, six-year bill Wednesday, overcoming years of mistrust and feuding between agribusiness, environmentalists and cities over how to share California's scarce water supplies....
Eagle County Highland vs. flatland Today, officials in Vail's home county are negotiating what could become a landmark water project to benefit Eagle and metro residents while preserving the environment. They are working toward a landmark agreement to build what would become the largest cooperative water project in Colorado - Wolcott Reservoir. The project would transform a radical not-one-more-drop Western Slope county into a sort of demilitarized water zone. It could help keep a thriving resort county lush and moist, its wilderness areas intact, its future water supplies guaranteed. At the same time, Wolcott would bring some - not a lot, but some - new water to Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, among others....
Another watering hole on tap? As Colorado struggles through a fifth year of drought, utilities on both sides of the Continental Divide are zeroing in on the proposed Wolcott Reservoir in Eagle County. The Western Slope and the Front Range both need more stored water, utilities say, not just for people but for fish. Given the water battles that traditionally have pitted rural western Colorado against the urban metro area, water providers say their biggest challenges on Wolcott are building broad support and answering critical questions about how the reservoir would affect other headwater counties and water quality downstream....
Bridging our troubled waters Pick any Saturday, winter or summer, and 25,000 to 40,000 cars will head west on Interstate 70, ascending to holy ground - the Colorado River headwater counties. Locals in Eagle, Summit, Grand and Pitkin counties are counting on support from these urban pilgrims to help them avert looming water shortages. As powerful Front Range utilities reach for more mountain water to handle growth, the cash-strapped counties hope metro residents will balance the scales, making clear they value high-country streams as much as green lawns at home....
Cloud seeding to continue above Vail Mountain Cloud seeding will continue for the 28th year at Vail, where top resort execs have consistently said they believe the operations boost their precious powder totals. Seeding operations will also continue in other parts of the state, including the San Juans, said Larry Hjermstad of Durango-based Western Weather Consultants. But after spending $1.1 million on cloud seeding the last two years, Denver Water will hold off on the program this year, at least initially, Hjermstad said....
House OKs Aid for Farmers Hit by Drought After weeks of opposing a $3 billion drought package approved by the GOP-run Senate as too costly, House Republicans finally advanced their own $2.9 billion proposal and added it to the hurricane measure by voice vote. Though President Bush has not requested drought aid, the White House may prove reluctant to scuttle a package this close to the election that could help producers in Wisconsin and other Midwestern tossup states. Unlike the Senate measure - which would be financed by borrowing and making deficits higher - the House aid would be paid for by cutting a program that pays farmers to conserve their land....
Rancher has Wild West at hand He bumps along on his wagon across pristine desert, just a short mile from the Peralta Trails subdivision, the end of suburbia and the beginning of the washboard road that leads to Richardson's D-Spur Ranch. Richardson refuses to be hemmed in by urbanization. Instead, he's determined to create an Old West fantasy here. He offers daily horseback rides into the Superstition Mountains, chuck wagon cookouts, wilderness campouts and cattle drives with his Texas longhorns. Prices for a taste of the cowboy life range from $15.95 to $189.95....
Snakebite survivor recalls night encounter On the night of Aug. 4, Karen Gilligan, 50, was bitten by a rattlesnake while taking her dog for a walk around her house on 10 acres in Amargosa Valley. It was the beginning of a four-day ordeal that she said has been the most memorable of her life. It had been a typical day for Gilligan, who works as a cook at Sheri's Ranch brothel in southern Pahrump. She had returned home after work at 6 p.m., spent time with her dog, Holly, and worked at her computer. Around 8:20 p.m. she took Holly out for a walk. It would be the last walk of the evening for the dog and was just around her property, so Gilligan didn't think to change from her house flip-flops into hiking boots or anything sturdier. "That was a big mistake," she said looking back on the incident. She also failed to carry a flashlight. Another mistake, for it was past dark. "I didn't even see it," she said. "I have a feeling I might have stepped on it. It stuck to my foot. It got me in the left heel."....
Cutters follow cowboys' lead The National Cutting Horse Association, like the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, wants to showcase its stars. Both organizations want to put contestants on a stage where fans can more easily follow them. Last year, the NCHA launched the Western Horseman Cup, hoping to expand the exposure of its sport. The Cup champion will be determined at a final that will be fed from a three-tour system that includes specific aged events across the United States and Canada. Each show on the tour must have a minimum of $10,000 in added money....
Hooked on barbed wire? It is a simple reproduction of nature, yet considered to be an invention of genius requiring numerous patents. It connected points while disorienting people and animals. It is treacherous, yet considered a thing of beauty and is housed in museums. If you have not guessed what it is, these questions might give it away: What was rumored to be a northern plot to wipe out cattle, and was thought to be the work of the devil?....
Sheep were way of life in Pine River Valley Allison area rancher Richard Engler spent more time in a sheep camp tent than he did at home when he was growing up. He and wife Shirley described the old days (1930s to the 1950s) of sheep ranching in the Pine River Valley. “Everybody had sheep back in those days,” Richard said. “The Indians had thousands of sheep.” Richard’s dad, Paris Engler, raised sheep. “I started herding when I was eight years old,” Richard said. That meant spending spring, summer and fall with a Mexican herder in the sheep camp. “I was just home in the winter,” he said....
New Mexico hotel echoes with legends The door to room No. 18 at the St. James Hotel is padlocked and never rented out. T.J. Wright, a 19th century gunslinger, crawled inside the room and died after winning the hotel in a poker game and getting shot in the back as he left the table. But the tale of Wright's demise is just one of many colorful stories in the 132-year-old hotel's past....
Wimpy Chupacabras not good for creature's legend Some things are better off left as legend. Take for example this alleged Chupacabras thing that was gunned down on a ranch in Elmendorf, Texas recently. A farmer shot a small, still species-undefined creature, there because is was suspected of eating his chickens. If you're not familiar with the legend of the Chupacabra, it is a vampire-like creature that supposedly was going around sucking the blood out of goats and other livestock. It supposedly was a wicked-looking creature with red eyes, a sucking tongue, webbed wings and a bad disposition. Remarkably elusive and blood thirsty, it supposedly has pilfered the countryside of Texas and Mexico for many years. If you saw the photo of the gunned down chupacabras that was in daily papers recently, you know it was a disappointment....
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Wednesday, October 06, 2004
INHOFE RELEASES DETAILED REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP POLITICAL FUNDRAISING
Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW), in a floor speech yesterday evening outlined the intricate web of political fundraising and spending by environmental groups which is detailed in a fifteen page Report to the Chairman titled, “Political Activity of Environmental Groups and Their Supporting Foundations.” Inhofe also released an additional thirty page report outlining a ten year history of numerous problems with the management of grant dollars at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) titled, “Grants Management at the Environmental Protection Agency - A New Culture Required to Cure a History of Problems.”
“Environmental organizations have become experts at deceptive activity, skirting laws up to the edge of illegality, and burying their political activities under the guise of non-profit environmental improvement. These reports demonstrate this interconnected ‘environmental family affair’ of non-profits and their benefactors,” Senator Inhofe said.
In examining how the environmental groups receive and spend their federal funds, it became apparent that these groups receive funding from numerous sources including large foundations. With these organizations’ political and grass-roots efforts it became difficult differentiating the sources of their funds and how they spend them. EPW Committee staff has examined the funding and expenditures records of these organizations. This information has been compiled into a fifteen page Report for the Chairman to provide some preliminary examples describing five of the most widely politically active environmental groups including: the League of Conservation Voters, The Sierra Club, and the National Resources Defense Council, a description of their activity, and the interconnected web among all those organizations.
The report also contains examples of the foundations that provide the financial support for those groups – including the Heinz foundations which are a few of the largest contributors to these non-profit environmental organizations – which has Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry as either chairperson of the board of trustees or member of the board of trustees on each foundation.
“Interestingly, these environmental groups are all tax-exempt IRS registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations meaning that contributions to these groups are tax deductible yet all these non-profit groups are also closely associated and fund their affiliated 501(c)(4) lobbying organizations and 527 political groups,” Senator Inhofe said. “These groups profess to be the greatest stewards of the environment and solicit contributions from a variety of sources by that claim. But they demonstrate more interest in hyping apocalyptic environmental scenarios to raise money for raw Democrat political purposes, rather than working together to improve our environment for the benefit of all Americans.”
The Committee has also released a thirty page Report to the Chairman based on an EPW Committee oversight hearing held earlier this year where the Committee heard testimony from the General Accounting Office and the EPA Inspector General regarding a ten year history of numerous problems with the management of grant dollars a EPA Some of the problems included EPA not requiring grant recipients to demonstrate real environmental benefits from grants, EPA not requiring competition in its grant awards, and a general lack of oversight of EPA grant officers and recipients.
Both reports can be accessed below:
Political Report: Click here for link: (.pdf)
Grants: Click here for link: (.pdf)
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Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW), in a floor speech yesterday evening outlined the intricate web of political fundraising and spending by environmental groups which is detailed in a fifteen page Report to the Chairman titled, “Political Activity of Environmental Groups and Their Supporting Foundations.” Inhofe also released an additional thirty page report outlining a ten year history of numerous problems with the management of grant dollars at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) titled, “Grants Management at the Environmental Protection Agency - A New Culture Required to Cure a History of Problems.”
“Environmental organizations have become experts at deceptive activity, skirting laws up to the edge of illegality, and burying their political activities under the guise of non-profit environmental improvement. These reports demonstrate this interconnected ‘environmental family affair’ of non-profits and their benefactors,” Senator Inhofe said.
In examining how the environmental groups receive and spend their federal funds, it became apparent that these groups receive funding from numerous sources including large foundations. With these organizations’ political and grass-roots efforts it became difficult differentiating the sources of their funds and how they spend them. EPW Committee staff has examined the funding and expenditures records of these organizations. This information has been compiled into a fifteen page Report for the Chairman to provide some preliminary examples describing five of the most widely politically active environmental groups including: the League of Conservation Voters, The Sierra Club, and the National Resources Defense Council, a description of their activity, and the interconnected web among all those organizations.
The report also contains examples of the foundations that provide the financial support for those groups – including the Heinz foundations which are a few of the largest contributors to these non-profit environmental organizations – which has Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry as either chairperson of the board of trustees or member of the board of trustees on each foundation.
“Interestingly, these environmental groups are all tax-exempt IRS registered 501(c)(3) charitable organizations meaning that contributions to these groups are tax deductible yet all these non-profit groups are also closely associated and fund their affiliated 501(c)(4) lobbying organizations and 527 political groups,” Senator Inhofe said. “These groups profess to be the greatest stewards of the environment and solicit contributions from a variety of sources by that claim. But they demonstrate more interest in hyping apocalyptic environmental scenarios to raise money for raw Democrat political purposes, rather than working together to improve our environment for the benefit of all Americans.”
The Committee has also released a thirty page Report to the Chairman based on an EPW Committee oversight hearing held earlier this year where the Committee heard testimony from the General Accounting Office and the EPA Inspector General regarding a ten year history of numerous problems with the management of grant dollars a EPA Some of the problems included EPA not requiring grant recipients to demonstrate real environmental benefits from grants, EPA not requiring competition in its grant awards, and a general lack of oversight of EPA grant officers and recipients.
Both reports can be accessed below:
Political Report: Click here for link: (.pdf)
Grants: Click here for link: (.pdf)
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NEWS ROUNDUP
Undaunted, they fight for the Montana way of life Doug Ensign is a Montana rancher who could make a mint in a New York minute by creating a neighborhood on his land or selling his 4,500 acres to somebody rich and famous. Instead, in the seventh year of drought, Ensign is cutting down on the number of cows he grazes and inviting two-legged visitors to fish for trout across the river from a campsite used by Capt. William Clark on July 15, 1806. Undaunted Stewardship -- its name chosen to mirror Thomas Jefferson's praise for the "courage undaunted" of Lewis and Clark -- is the Big Sky State's latest initiative to hang on to its way of life. Ranchers are getting help at improving their land stewardship -- curbing such problems as overgrazing and pollution -- and setting up exhibits along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail....
Interior wants Front gas/oil drilling EIS A much larger "landscape level analysis" covering a narrow 100-mile-long strip along the entire Rocky Mountain Front is replacing the smaller study on the impacts created by one company that wants to explore for gas and oil on four acres in the Blackleaf Wildlife Management Area. Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson — a former Helena attorney — announced plans on Tuesday for the "North Headwaters Planning Unit" landscape level analysis, which will take at least two years to complete. This analysis replaces the Environmental Impact Statement on the proposal by Startech Energy to drill three exploratory wells along the Front....
Wolf rules expected by early next year Rules to give Montana and Idaho more power to control wolves were supposed to become official last summer but lawsuits have delayed them until at least early next year, a top federal official said Tuesday. Workers at the Department of Interior have been kept busy with five lawsuits involving the wolf controversy and haven't had enough time to fully develop a new proposal for state management, said Steve Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Williams was in Billings on Tuesday to discuss a proposal for conservation easements in Montana....
Forest Service reviews policy on retrieving downed game The Forest Service has decided to review a decade-old policy allowing retrieval of downed big game by all-terrain vehicles. In three areas on the Grand Mesa National Forest, hunters have been allowed to retrieve downed game during big game hunting season between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Hunters are allowed to take their all-terrain vehicles in off-route areas of the forest. “We’ve been doing some monitoring of the area during hunting season to see if people are complying with retrieving game during designated hours,” said Loren Paulson, district recreation manager for the Grand Valley Ranger District....
Oakland reports cougar sightings: Schools locked down near spots in Orion, Sumpter townships A cougar hasn't been captured -- dead or alive -- in Michigan for nearly a century, but evidence is mounting that at least one might be on the prowl in the Detroit area, and experts said Tuesday it may be an exotic pet on the loose. Cougars reportedly have been spotted this summer in Monroe and Macomb counties. Now, there are reports of big cat sightings in western Wayne and northern Oakland counties. On Thursday, a Sumpter Township resident reported he came face-to-face with a cougar near his Harris Road home, Sumpter Township police said. Police officers didn't see the animal but photographed nearly a dozen paw prints left behind....
Bald Eagles Rebound, Other Birds of Prey in Trouble The bald eagle is out of the woods but other birds of prey are in trouble. An icon of conservationists, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction in America's lower 48 states four decades ago, when its numbers stood at just 417 nesting pairs. At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference which began in Bangkok on Saturday, Washington is proposing that the bird's global status be shifted from a list of critically-endangered animals to one that would allow some commercial trade in the species....
Re-examination of delta smelt listing is ordered Potential irregularities and misrepresentations in the court-ordered scientific review of the status of the delta smelt population have convinced a U.S. District Court judge to reopen the matter. At the request of the California Farm Bureau Federation, a status conference has been scheduled for Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C. At issue is the quality of data and research that initially led to the 1993 listing of the fish population under the Endangered Species Act-and the procedures followed afterward to determine the species' status and progress toward recovery as required by federal law....
Officials start snake de-listing process Since the late 1970s, the Concho water snake has kept the Colorado Municipal Water District from distributing all the water it could from the O.H. Ivie and E.V. Spence reservoirs. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it could remove the Concho water snake from the threatened species list within the next two years. Getting the snakes off the list would mean the district could provide an extra 8,000 to 10,000 acre feet of water annually to its customers, CRMWD General Manager John Grant said....
Bush signs bill to expand Mount Rainier National Park President Bush on Tuesday signed a bill to expand the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park by roughly 800 acres, the largest expansion in more than 70 years. The boundary adjustment will authorize purchase of about 800 acres of private land just outside the park, allowing officials to move the Ipsut Creek campground to a more secure area with easier access to the site. The adjustment also will allow the Park Service to use some of the land for a permanent visitor's center....
Landslide reveals possible ancient skeleton A landslide last January near Bell Rapids may lead to a major fossil discovery in south-central Idaho: the complete skeleton of a mastodon. The Nelson Slide in the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument uncovered a mastodon tusk. National Park Service hydrogeologist Neal Farmer hopes further excavation will uncover the rest of the ancient mammal, similar to Ice Age mammoths....
BLM misses 3,000-well mark The Bureau of Land Management's Buffalo Field Office worked furiously in recent weeks trying to permit 3,000 coalbed methane gas wells before the end of the agency's fiscal year last week. Despite coming within 280 wells of that Bush administration mandate, gas producers here complain the effort still hasn't helped them maintain a steady flow of gas from the Powder River Basin....
Three groups say current rules put the Mexican Spotted Owl in danger Grazing on four allotments near Zion National Park could have bad effects on Mexican Spotted Owls looking for forage and new nesting areas, environmentalist groups claim. And though a Utah judge has ruled otherwise, they believe the Bureau of Land Management should redo its analysis of the grazing permits. The BLM in February 2003 renewed the 10-year grazing permits for 54 head of cattle on 3,870 acres on allotments known as Cave Creek, Coop Creek, Gordan Point and Neuts Canyon. The permit holders previously had grazed sheep. Four environmental groups are planning to appeal the BLM's environmental assessment of the permits to the Department of Interior. The allotments abut the northeastern corner of the national park and lie within one of the five designated Mexican Spotted Owl habitat units in Utah....
Editorial: Legislation a model for resolving land use issues The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Monday that sets the stage for other Nevada counties to resolve public land issues, such as the impasse over wilderness areas, while also bolstering the tax revenue of local governments, funding education and promoting conservation. More than 100,000 acres of federal land in Lincoln County would be sold to private interests through the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act. The proceeds would be distributed to various entities, with 5 percent to the state education fund, 45 percent to Lincoln County for economic development and 50 percent to the Department of the Interior for management and protection of archaeological resources....
ATV rider pleads guilty to striking BLM officer A Twin Falls-area man pleaded guilty Tuesday to using his all-terrain vehicle to injure a U-S Bureau of Land Management officer. Tom Lyn Callen was charged with assault on a federal officer. Callen was riding his ATV at Salmon Creek Reservoir on July third. A BLM ranger approached Callen on foot because he was riding in an area off-limits to motorized vehicles. Callen raced down the hill and struck the officer in the knee....
Oil industry calling for fight against environmentalists Oil and gas industry executives are calling for a battle against environmentalists they see as anti-development. Steve Hinchman, senior vice president of worldwide production for Marathon Oil Co., said it's vital to gain access to drilling in new areas and to ease restrictive regulations to increase supplies in the short term. The "anti-development movement" is increasing costs of oil and gas development, denying access to resources and hurting the industry's image, and eventually could harm the U.S. economy, Hinchman said at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association's annual meeting here Monday....
House Votes to Gerrymander the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The House narrowly approved an amendment unveiled just last night by Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID), seeking to split the U. S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals into three separate appellate courts: a Ninth Circuit overseeing only California, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam; a new 12th Circuit serving Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana; and a new 13th Circuit serving Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. This controversial amendment bypassed the House Judiciary Committee and now threatens the viability of an underlying bill to create more federal judgeships, S. 878....
Summit County Siphoning the Summit Many who use Dillon each weekend don't yet realize that Denver Water will begin taking much larger gulps from its largest storage pond, raising and lowering its levels dramatically. Nor do many know that the utility plans to increase by 77 percent the amount of water it diverts from the Blue River, the lifeline for the reservoir and Summit County. That means about half of the Blue River's crisp, clear native flows will come to the Front Range in the next 25 years, up from about 25 percent now, according to the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments....
Water, ranching in family's blood Denver Water bought Byers' property and buried it under water by building Dillon Reservoir. He used the money to purchase a ranch just below what is now the Eisenhower Tunnel. That land, too, was condemned, this time to build Interstate 70. Eventually Gail Culbreath's parents moved to New Mexico, ranching there until they were in their mid-80s. When Grady and Gail Culbreath hear about Denver's plans to take even more water from Summit County, their thoughts turn immediately to the Blue River: How much more water can it give up and still maintain its own cool, clear essence?....
Summit County Trouble looms in Glamour Gulch The Roaring Fork is just a phantom version of the once-noisy beast that gave the waterway its evocative name. In decades past, the river has been divided, diverted and drained. It has been steered toward ski areas and hayfields and even through mountains to irrigate the emerald corn and melon fields of southeastern Colorado's Arkansas River Valley and the pop-up suburbs of Colorado Springs. Front Range diversions alone have cost the Roaring Fork above Aspen nearly 40 percent of its flow. Another 10 percent leaves the river above town at the Salvation Ditch, which waters hayfields and ranches down valley....
Fishing in troubled waters In the headwaters of the Roaring Fork River, they see the Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Co. taking nearly 40 percent of the river's flow above Aspen to the Front Range. And Twin Lakes wants to take more - up to an additional 14 percent of the river's average flow above Aspen. But the second barrel aimed at Pitkin County could present an even bigger threat. A massive federal waterworks dubbed the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project already moves nearly 54,000 acre-feet of water from various creeks in the Roaring Fork basin to cities and farmers in southeastern Colorado. That's enough to supply up to 108,000 households for a year....
Denver Water holds off on cloud seeding After spending $1.1 million on cloud seeding the last two years, Denver Water will hold off on the program this year, at least initially, according to Larry Hjermstad of Durango-based Western Weather Consultants. "We won't be doing anything immediately," Hjermstad said. "But we'll keep the equipment in place and look at conditions as the snowfall season progresses," he added, explaining that he has the capability to start operating the cloud seeding equipment on short notice....
Tribes to recommend new names for creek Squaw Creek may get a new, more politically correct name. The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs have wanted the name changed since the mid-'90s, but never recommended a replacement to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, which regulates place names. After years of internal debate, the tribes' Cultural Heritage Committee will ask tribal elders about possible replacements at a meeting this Thursday, said Mike Clements, the tribes' economic development manager. The current name has been illegal since 2001, when the Oregon Legislature passed a law banning "squaw" place names on public lands....
Column: Dear CowQueen Pick up a “Dear Abby” column and you’ll find that all those requests for advice are written by city women. You can tell because there’s never any mention of weather conditions, night calving or going to town for parts. My totally scientific, fact-based analysis tells me that alas, country folk seem to be short-sheeted in both the advice and in the lovelorn department. But not for long. A fresh eye has appeared on the scene. She writes a country advice column called, “Dear CowQueen.”....
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Undaunted, they fight for the Montana way of life Doug Ensign is a Montana rancher who could make a mint in a New York minute by creating a neighborhood on his land or selling his 4,500 acres to somebody rich and famous. Instead, in the seventh year of drought, Ensign is cutting down on the number of cows he grazes and inviting two-legged visitors to fish for trout across the river from a campsite used by Capt. William Clark on July 15, 1806. Undaunted Stewardship -- its name chosen to mirror Thomas Jefferson's praise for the "courage undaunted" of Lewis and Clark -- is the Big Sky State's latest initiative to hang on to its way of life. Ranchers are getting help at improving their land stewardship -- curbing such problems as overgrazing and pollution -- and setting up exhibits along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail....
Interior wants Front gas/oil drilling EIS A much larger "landscape level analysis" covering a narrow 100-mile-long strip along the entire Rocky Mountain Front is replacing the smaller study on the impacts created by one company that wants to explore for gas and oil on four acres in the Blackleaf Wildlife Management Area. Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson — a former Helena attorney — announced plans on Tuesday for the "North Headwaters Planning Unit" landscape level analysis, which will take at least two years to complete. This analysis replaces the Environmental Impact Statement on the proposal by Startech Energy to drill three exploratory wells along the Front....
Wolf rules expected by early next year Rules to give Montana and Idaho more power to control wolves were supposed to become official last summer but lawsuits have delayed them until at least early next year, a top federal official said Tuesday. Workers at the Department of Interior have been kept busy with five lawsuits involving the wolf controversy and haven't had enough time to fully develop a new proposal for state management, said Steve Williams, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Williams was in Billings on Tuesday to discuss a proposal for conservation easements in Montana....
Forest Service reviews policy on retrieving downed game The Forest Service has decided to review a decade-old policy allowing retrieval of downed big game by all-terrain vehicles. In three areas on the Grand Mesa National Forest, hunters have been allowed to retrieve downed game during big game hunting season between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Hunters are allowed to take their all-terrain vehicles in off-route areas of the forest. “We’ve been doing some monitoring of the area during hunting season to see if people are complying with retrieving game during designated hours,” said Loren Paulson, district recreation manager for the Grand Valley Ranger District....
Oakland reports cougar sightings: Schools locked down near spots in Orion, Sumpter townships A cougar hasn't been captured -- dead or alive -- in Michigan for nearly a century, but evidence is mounting that at least one might be on the prowl in the Detroit area, and experts said Tuesday it may be an exotic pet on the loose. Cougars reportedly have been spotted this summer in Monroe and Macomb counties. Now, there are reports of big cat sightings in western Wayne and northern Oakland counties. On Thursday, a Sumpter Township resident reported he came face-to-face with a cougar near his Harris Road home, Sumpter Township police said. Police officers didn't see the animal but photographed nearly a dozen paw prints left behind....
Bald Eagles Rebound, Other Birds of Prey in Trouble The bald eagle is out of the woods but other birds of prey are in trouble. An icon of conservationists, the bald eagle was on the brink of extinction in America's lower 48 states four decades ago, when its numbers stood at just 417 nesting pairs. At the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference which began in Bangkok on Saturday, Washington is proposing that the bird's global status be shifted from a list of critically-endangered animals to one that would allow some commercial trade in the species....
Re-examination of delta smelt listing is ordered Potential irregularities and misrepresentations in the court-ordered scientific review of the status of the delta smelt population have convinced a U.S. District Court judge to reopen the matter. At the request of the California Farm Bureau Federation, a status conference has been scheduled for Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C. At issue is the quality of data and research that initially led to the 1993 listing of the fish population under the Endangered Species Act-and the procedures followed afterward to determine the species' status and progress toward recovery as required by federal law....
Officials start snake de-listing process Since the late 1970s, the Concho water snake has kept the Colorado Municipal Water District from distributing all the water it could from the O.H. Ivie and E.V. Spence reservoirs. Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it could remove the Concho water snake from the threatened species list within the next two years. Getting the snakes off the list would mean the district could provide an extra 8,000 to 10,000 acre feet of water annually to its customers, CRMWD General Manager John Grant said....
Bush signs bill to expand Mount Rainier National Park President Bush on Tuesday signed a bill to expand the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park by roughly 800 acres, the largest expansion in more than 70 years. The boundary adjustment will authorize purchase of about 800 acres of private land just outside the park, allowing officials to move the Ipsut Creek campground to a more secure area with easier access to the site. The adjustment also will allow the Park Service to use some of the land for a permanent visitor's center....
Landslide reveals possible ancient skeleton A landslide last January near Bell Rapids may lead to a major fossil discovery in south-central Idaho: the complete skeleton of a mastodon. The Nelson Slide in the Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument uncovered a mastodon tusk. National Park Service hydrogeologist Neal Farmer hopes further excavation will uncover the rest of the ancient mammal, similar to Ice Age mammoths....
BLM misses 3,000-well mark The Bureau of Land Management's Buffalo Field Office worked furiously in recent weeks trying to permit 3,000 coalbed methane gas wells before the end of the agency's fiscal year last week. Despite coming within 280 wells of that Bush administration mandate, gas producers here complain the effort still hasn't helped them maintain a steady flow of gas from the Powder River Basin....
Three groups say current rules put the Mexican Spotted Owl in danger Grazing on four allotments near Zion National Park could have bad effects on Mexican Spotted Owls looking for forage and new nesting areas, environmentalist groups claim. And though a Utah judge has ruled otherwise, they believe the Bureau of Land Management should redo its analysis of the grazing permits. The BLM in February 2003 renewed the 10-year grazing permits for 54 head of cattle on 3,870 acres on allotments known as Cave Creek, Coop Creek, Gordan Point and Neuts Canyon. The permit holders previously had grazed sheep. Four environmental groups are planning to appeal the BLM's environmental assessment of the permits to the Department of Interior. The allotments abut the northeastern corner of the national park and lie within one of the five designated Mexican Spotted Owl habitat units in Utah....
Editorial: Legislation a model for resolving land use issues The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Monday that sets the stage for other Nevada counties to resolve public land issues, such as the impasse over wilderness areas, while also bolstering the tax revenue of local governments, funding education and promoting conservation. More than 100,000 acres of federal land in Lincoln County would be sold to private interests through the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation and Development Act. The proceeds would be distributed to various entities, with 5 percent to the state education fund, 45 percent to Lincoln County for economic development and 50 percent to the Department of the Interior for management and protection of archaeological resources....
ATV rider pleads guilty to striking BLM officer A Twin Falls-area man pleaded guilty Tuesday to using his all-terrain vehicle to injure a U-S Bureau of Land Management officer. Tom Lyn Callen was charged with assault on a federal officer. Callen was riding his ATV at Salmon Creek Reservoir on July third. A BLM ranger approached Callen on foot because he was riding in an area off-limits to motorized vehicles. Callen raced down the hill and struck the officer in the knee....
Oil industry calling for fight against environmentalists Oil and gas industry executives are calling for a battle against environmentalists they see as anti-development. Steve Hinchman, senior vice president of worldwide production for Marathon Oil Co., said it's vital to gain access to drilling in new areas and to ease restrictive regulations to increase supplies in the short term. The "anti-development movement" is increasing costs of oil and gas development, denying access to resources and hurting the industry's image, and eventually could harm the U.S. economy, Hinchman said at the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association's annual meeting here Monday....
House Votes to Gerrymander the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals The House narrowly approved an amendment unveiled just last night by Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID), seeking to split the U. S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals into three separate appellate courts: a Ninth Circuit overseeing only California, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam; a new 12th Circuit serving Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana; and a new 13th Circuit serving Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. This controversial amendment bypassed the House Judiciary Committee and now threatens the viability of an underlying bill to create more federal judgeships, S. 878....
Summit County Siphoning the Summit Many who use Dillon each weekend don't yet realize that Denver Water will begin taking much larger gulps from its largest storage pond, raising and lowering its levels dramatically. Nor do many know that the utility plans to increase by 77 percent the amount of water it diverts from the Blue River, the lifeline for the reservoir and Summit County. That means about half of the Blue River's crisp, clear native flows will come to the Front Range in the next 25 years, up from about 25 percent now, according to the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments....
Water, ranching in family's blood Denver Water bought Byers' property and buried it under water by building Dillon Reservoir. He used the money to purchase a ranch just below what is now the Eisenhower Tunnel. That land, too, was condemned, this time to build Interstate 70. Eventually Gail Culbreath's parents moved to New Mexico, ranching there until they were in their mid-80s. When Grady and Gail Culbreath hear about Denver's plans to take even more water from Summit County, their thoughts turn immediately to the Blue River: How much more water can it give up and still maintain its own cool, clear essence?....
Summit County Trouble looms in Glamour Gulch The Roaring Fork is just a phantom version of the once-noisy beast that gave the waterway its evocative name. In decades past, the river has been divided, diverted and drained. It has been steered toward ski areas and hayfields and even through mountains to irrigate the emerald corn and melon fields of southeastern Colorado's Arkansas River Valley and the pop-up suburbs of Colorado Springs. Front Range diversions alone have cost the Roaring Fork above Aspen nearly 40 percent of its flow. Another 10 percent leaves the river above town at the Salvation Ditch, which waters hayfields and ranches down valley....
Fishing in troubled waters In the headwaters of the Roaring Fork River, they see the Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Co. taking nearly 40 percent of the river's flow above Aspen to the Front Range. And Twin Lakes wants to take more - up to an additional 14 percent of the river's average flow above Aspen. But the second barrel aimed at Pitkin County could present an even bigger threat. A massive federal waterworks dubbed the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project already moves nearly 54,000 acre-feet of water from various creeks in the Roaring Fork basin to cities and farmers in southeastern Colorado. That's enough to supply up to 108,000 households for a year....
Denver Water holds off on cloud seeding After spending $1.1 million on cloud seeding the last two years, Denver Water will hold off on the program this year, at least initially, according to Larry Hjermstad of Durango-based Western Weather Consultants. "We won't be doing anything immediately," Hjermstad said. "But we'll keep the equipment in place and look at conditions as the snowfall season progresses," he added, explaining that he has the capability to start operating the cloud seeding equipment on short notice....
Tribes to recommend new names for creek Squaw Creek may get a new, more politically correct name. The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs have wanted the name changed since the mid-'90s, but never recommended a replacement to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, which regulates place names. After years of internal debate, the tribes' Cultural Heritage Committee will ask tribal elders about possible replacements at a meeting this Thursday, said Mike Clements, the tribes' economic development manager. The current name has been illegal since 2001, when the Oregon Legislature passed a law banning "squaw" place names on public lands....
Column: Dear CowQueen Pick up a “Dear Abby” column and you’ll find that all those requests for advice are written by city women. You can tell because there’s never any mention of weather conditions, night calving or going to town for parts. My totally scientific, fact-based analysis tells me that alas, country folk seem to be short-sheeted in both the advice and in the lovelorn department. But not for long. A fresh eye has appeared on the scene. She writes a country advice column called, “Dear CowQueen.”....
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Tuesday, October 05, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Biscuit salvage protest shows split among environmentalists Protesters in Southern Oregon tried to block the harvest of the first trees burned in the 2002 Biscuit fire, opposing other environmentalists, who have said the battle over salvage logging is better fought in court. Curry County sheriff's deputies cleared a roadblock of about five vehicles and a teepee-shaped pile of sticks from a logging road near Agness on Monday....
Clock is Ticking, But Wilderness Momentum Continues at End of 108th Congress As the 108th Congress winds to a close, there is an opportunity for Members to continue in the bipartisan legacy of the Wilderness Act and pass legislation to truly honor 40 years of conservation history. Currently, there are five public lands bills pending before Congress that, combined, would designate more than one million acres of wilderness. Legislation poised to pass U.S. Congress this session includes:....
Bush's gatekeeper weighs costs, benefits of new regulations Chances are you've never heard of John D. Graham, but his decisions affect the cars you buy, food you eat and air you breathe. Graham heads an obscure agency in the White House called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which reviews hundreds of federal rules covering everything from the care of monkeys in medical research to smokestack emissions. Tallying the costs and benefits of proposed regulations, Graham also makes certain that new rules about clean air, habitat protection and watershed restoration reflect the values of President George W. Bush, who nominated him in 2001....
9th Circuit upholds dam operations on Snake River A federal appeals court today upheld the federal government's operation of four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River, saying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keeps water temperatures as low as it can to protect endangered salmon. The split decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Army Corps against environmental groups, and concluded the agency is complying with state water quality standards as required by the Clean Water Act. It was a victory for forces that want to keep the dams over those calling for removal of the structures....
Group hopes to maintain national prairie preserve A group of high-profile Kansans is working to raise $4 million in private donations to keep the state from losing its premier national park. In a deal unique in the nation, a private charity bought 11,000 acres of tallgrass prairie in 1994, to be operated as part of the National Park System. That group -- the National Park Trust -- essentially mortgaged its future on a bet that Kansans would help raise $6 million to help pay for the land. That never happened....
DEPUTY PARK POLICE CHIEF FORCED TO RESIGN A Deputy Chief of the U.S. Park Police was forced to resign this past Friday, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The abrupt departure of Deputy Chief Barry Beam caps a tumultuous year of leadership turnover at the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement organization. Beam was given a proposed termination this past Wednesday following an investigation concerning an incident involving a Park Police marine escort in New York Harbor for a cruise ship carrying Beam and his wife on a vacation trip. Beam was charged with misuse of government resources in the incident and lack of candor in the investigation. He was placed on administrative leave, stripped of his badge and gun and driven home. Rather than contest the charges, Beam resigned this Friday....
Editorial: Front dispute not about to end The decision by the federal Bureau of Land Management against drilling for natural gas on the Rocky Mountain Front will be welcomed by many, but certainly not all, Montanans. It won't, however, be the last word on the subject. Just as the 100-mile stretch of mountains meeting the plains will remain a powerful symbol of differing ideologies, so will the question of the Front's future remain open over the long haul. The move would seem to boost other options for the Front, such as having the government buy out the leases, or issue some form of credit to the company for use in other, less sensitive areas....
Landowner says Congress ignores property lines in its expansion of Black Canyon park boundaries The rancher who owns land adjoining the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park says he began advertising the property for sale again after Congress passed a bill last year expanding the park boundaries and ignoring his property lines. In an almost full-page paid letter published in Wednesday’s Montrose Daily Press, landowner Louis Allison complained that Congress and the National Park Service have muddied his property lines and title by expanding the national park boundaries to include 2,500 acres of his land — before any land sale, exchange or granting of an easement....
Man Fined Over Illegal Removal Of Rocks Randy Cole was fined and ordered to perform $15,000 in reclamation work for illegally removing rocks from the White River National Forest near Camp Hale. Cole, owner of Vail Rock and Stone, was fined $100 and also ordered to pay $1,000 in costs to the U.S Forest Service for blasting and removing rocks in 1998. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in a plea bargain....
Geologists bury carbon dioxide in test Geologists are burying compressed carbon dioxide beneath an old oil field to try to determine if the sandstone layer beneath the coasts of Texas and Louisiana would make a good reservoir for the greenhouse gas. If the plan works, then carbon dioxide produced from burning fossil fuels could be captured from smokestacks and stored underground....
Editorial: 17 years of noise Seventeen years is a long time. But that's how long the public has been waiting, and hoping, for natural quiet to return to Grand Canyon National Park. During that time, the chasm between the two federal agencies charged with muting aircraft noise at the Canyon has seemed as wide as the Big Ditch itself. Now, after 17 years of impasse and confrontation, the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service have pledged to work together to put a noise management plan in place at the Grand Canyon....
National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Honors Five New Inductees The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame will add five new honorees to its Hall of Fame during the 29th annual Induction Luncheon on Thursday, October 28, 2004. Inductees this year include: Gail Davis (deceased), an actress best know as television's "Annie Oakley;" Wantha Davis, one of the most successful female jockeys of the 1930s through 1950s; Connie Griffith (deceased), one of the world's greatest trick riders; Shelli Mell, an expert calf roper dedicated to making horseback riding accessible to persons with disabilities; and Mary Jo Milner, a cutting horse breeder with an unprecedented six National Cutting Horse Association Non-Pro World Championships....
Legend of pioneer Pete Kitchen a classic of 1850s "Pete" Kitchen was a southern Arizona legend in his own time for a number of reasons - perhaps not the least of which was his penchant for buying a round of drinks for whoever happened to be in his vicinity. By all accounts, the pioneer rancher, farmer and American Indian fighter was generous to a fault, and, ultimately, to his own detriment. He was also a crack rifle shot and a fearless and a hard-headed individual who was not easily deterred from his course....
It's All Trew: Home remedies would cure or kill you I'll bet money that every family has a few home remedies handed down from the past. The most logical reason for home remedy use is, in the old days few doctors and hospitals existed. Even if they were near and available, few could afford the services except in life-threatening illnesses. To treat a wasp sting, my grandparents placed the ever-present chaw of tobacco over the bite and immediately the pain stopped. My mother used a paste made from baking soda. A friend says dig out some ear wax and rub it on the bite. All seem to work equally well. To cure ringworm, make a paste of water and snuff then tape a cloth patch containing the paste over the ringworm spot. They say it never fails....
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Biscuit salvage protest shows split among environmentalists Protesters in Southern Oregon tried to block the harvest of the first trees burned in the 2002 Biscuit fire, opposing other environmentalists, who have said the battle over salvage logging is better fought in court. Curry County sheriff's deputies cleared a roadblock of about five vehicles and a teepee-shaped pile of sticks from a logging road near Agness on Monday....
Clock is Ticking, But Wilderness Momentum Continues at End of 108th Congress As the 108th Congress winds to a close, there is an opportunity for Members to continue in the bipartisan legacy of the Wilderness Act and pass legislation to truly honor 40 years of conservation history. Currently, there are five public lands bills pending before Congress that, combined, would designate more than one million acres of wilderness. Legislation poised to pass U.S. Congress this session includes:....
Bush's gatekeeper weighs costs, benefits of new regulations Chances are you've never heard of John D. Graham, but his decisions affect the cars you buy, food you eat and air you breathe. Graham heads an obscure agency in the White House called the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which reviews hundreds of federal rules covering everything from the care of monkeys in medical research to smokestack emissions. Tallying the costs and benefits of proposed regulations, Graham also makes certain that new rules about clean air, habitat protection and watershed restoration reflect the values of President George W. Bush, who nominated him in 2001....
9th Circuit upholds dam operations on Snake River A federal appeals court today upheld the federal government's operation of four hydroelectric dams on the Snake River, saying the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keeps water temperatures as low as it can to protect endangered salmon. The split decision of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Army Corps against environmental groups, and concluded the agency is complying with state water quality standards as required by the Clean Water Act. It was a victory for forces that want to keep the dams over those calling for removal of the structures....
Group hopes to maintain national prairie preserve A group of high-profile Kansans is working to raise $4 million in private donations to keep the state from losing its premier national park. In a deal unique in the nation, a private charity bought 11,000 acres of tallgrass prairie in 1994, to be operated as part of the National Park System. That group -- the National Park Trust -- essentially mortgaged its future on a bet that Kansans would help raise $6 million to help pay for the land. That never happened....
DEPUTY PARK POLICE CHIEF FORCED TO RESIGN A Deputy Chief of the U.S. Park Police was forced to resign this past Friday, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The abrupt departure of Deputy Chief Barry Beam caps a tumultuous year of leadership turnover at the oldest uniformed federal law enforcement organization. Beam was given a proposed termination this past Wednesday following an investigation concerning an incident involving a Park Police marine escort in New York Harbor for a cruise ship carrying Beam and his wife on a vacation trip. Beam was charged with misuse of government resources in the incident and lack of candor in the investigation. He was placed on administrative leave, stripped of his badge and gun and driven home. Rather than contest the charges, Beam resigned this Friday....
Editorial: Front dispute not about to end The decision by the federal Bureau of Land Management against drilling for natural gas on the Rocky Mountain Front will be welcomed by many, but certainly not all, Montanans. It won't, however, be the last word on the subject. Just as the 100-mile stretch of mountains meeting the plains will remain a powerful symbol of differing ideologies, so will the question of the Front's future remain open over the long haul. The move would seem to boost other options for the Front, such as having the government buy out the leases, or issue some form of credit to the company for use in other, less sensitive areas....
Landowner says Congress ignores property lines in its expansion of Black Canyon park boundaries The rancher who owns land adjoining the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park says he began advertising the property for sale again after Congress passed a bill last year expanding the park boundaries and ignoring his property lines. In an almost full-page paid letter published in Wednesday’s Montrose Daily Press, landowner Louis Allison complained that Congress and the National Park Service have muddied his property lines and title by expanding the national park boundaries to include 2,500 acres of his land — before any land sale, exchange or granting of an easement....
Man Fined Over Illegal Removal Of Rocks Randy Cole was fined and ordered to perform $15,000 in reclamation work for illegally removing rocks from the White River National Forest near Camp Hale. Cole, owner of Vail Rock and Stone, was fined $100 and also ordered to pay $1,000 in costs to the U.S Forest Service for blasting and removing rocks in 1998. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in a plea bargain....
Geologists bury carbon dioxide in test Geologists are burying compressed carbon dioxide beneath an old oil field to try to determine if the sandstone layer beneath the coasts of Texas and Louisiana would make a good reservoir for the greenhouse gas. If the plan works, then carbon dioxide produced from burning fossil fuels could be captured from smokestacks and stored underground....
Editorial: 17 years of noise Seventeen years is a long time. But that's how long the public has been waiting, and hoping, for natural quiet to return to Grand Canyon National Park. During that time, the chasm between the two federal agencies charged with muting aircraft noise at the Canyon has seemed as wide as the Big Ditch itself. Now, after 17 years of impasse and confrontation, the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service have pledged to work together to put a noise management plan in place at the Grand Canyon....
National Cowgirl Hall of Fame Honors Five New Inductees The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame will add five new honorees to its Hall of Fame during the 29th annual Induction Luncheon on Thursday, October 28, 2004. Inductees this year include: Gail Davis (deceased), an actress best know as television's "Annie Oakley;" Wantha Davis, one of the most successful female jockeys of the 1930s through 1950s; Connie Griffith (deceased), one of the world's greatest trick riders; Shelli Mell, an expert calf roper dedicated to making horseback riding accessible to persons with disabilities; and Mary Jo Milner, a cutting horse breeder with an unprecedented six National Cutting Horse Association Non-Pro World Championships....
Legend of pioneer Pete Kitchen a classic of 1850s "Pete" Kitchen was a southern Arizona legend in his own time for a number of reasons - perhaps not the least of which was his penchant for buying a round of drinks for whoever happened to be in his vicinity. By all accounts, the pioneer rancher, farmer and American Indian fighter was generous to a fault, and, ultimately, to his own detriment. He was also a crack rifle shot and a fearless and a hard-headed individual who was not easily deterred from his course....
It's All Trew: Home remedies would cure or kill you I'll bet money that every family has a few home remedies handed down from the past. The most logical reason for home remedy use is, in the old days few doctors and hospitals existed. Even if they were near and available, few could afford the services except in life-threatening illnesses. To treat a wasp sting, my grandparents placed the ever-present chaw of tobacco over the bite and immediately the pain stopped. My mother used a paste made from baking soda. A friend says dig out some ear wax and rub it on the bite. All seem to work equally well. To cure ringworm, make a paste of water and snuff then tape a cloth patch containing the paste over the ringworm spot. They say it never fails....
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Monday, October 04, 2004
NEWS ROUNDUP
Evacuation of L.A.-Area Forest Demanded Trish De Somma considers herself the eyes and ears of the patch of national forest near Los Angeles where her family leases a cabin. Forest fire officials see De Somma and others like her as a liability living amid hills and canyons of kindling-dry pines and brush. In an extreme effort to prevent October wildfires as catastrophic and deadly as those last year, all but a fraction of the sprawling Angeles National Forest has been closed. No hunting, no hiking, no camping. And for scores - possibly hundreds - of residents such as De Somma, an unprecedented order: No staying put. De Somma is unmoved....
Small-time prospectors may face restrictions There's gold in them thar hills, but local prospectors may soon find it harder to hunt for the shiny flecks and tiny nuggets in the Coronado National Forest. By next summer, the U.S. Forest Service plans to release new rules for so-called placer mining in the mountains east of Green Valley and northwest of Nogales. Mining with dynamite, gaping open pits and dump trucks the size of houses aren't at stake. It's old-school, small-scale prospecting with shovels, sifters and sluice boxes - something that's done today for fun rather than fortune....
Appeals court temporarily halts Gallatin timber sale A federal appeals court has temporarily halted a timber sale in the Gallatin National Forest that environmentalists claim would damage wildlife habitat near Yellowstone National Park, an attorney said Sunday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction late Friday, said Tim Bechtold, who represents the three conservation groups that filed the lawsuit in July. The stay halts all logging and road building until the court decides whether to issue a permanent injunction, he said....
Watching, waiting at Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens stewed in volcanic gases amid low-level earthquakes yesterday, with crowds of eager tourists hoping to glimpse an eruption that scientists said could occur immediately or within a few weeks. A second long tremor early yesterday and an increase in volcanic gases strongly suggest that magma is moving inside, researchers from the US Geological Survey said. The mountain's alert was raised to Level 3, the highest possible, after a volcanic tremor was detected Saturday for the first time since before the mountain's 1980 eruption....
Preserving Blackfoot for future generations Jim Stone works hard on his Rolling Stone Ranch every day. But while tending to the day-to-day details of maintaining a 2,800-acre spread and 200 head of cattle, the 43-year-old Ovando rancher takes a long-term view of the future, both of his ranch and of the entire Blackfoot Valley. "I'm thinking 80 years, to where maybe my son can have something better," he said. After getting more and more interested in conservation efforts throughout the 1980s, Stone and several other Blackfoot-area landowners in 1993 formed the Blackfoot Challenge, a group dedicated to protecting the natural resources and rural lifestyle of the 1.5 million-acre Blackfoot Watershed through education and land management programs....
Column: Why the greens won't vote for Bush During his term in office, Bill Clinton listed 527 "endangered species," 40.9 percent of all listed species. George Bush, by contrast, has listed only 26 species - .02 percent - during his first term in office. This is only one of the measures cited by environmental organizations who claim that George Bush is the worst environmental president in history. More than 50 of Bill Clinton's top appointees came directly from the staffs of environmental organizations, who, for eight years, used the government to advance their green agenda. President Bush sent most of these people packing, and replaced them with people the greens call anti-environmentalists, or corporate special-interests....
First prairie chicken hunt in 60 years a success story North Dakota is holding its first prairie chicken season in almost 60 years beginning Saturday. This is remarkable, first because prairie chickens didn't occur in the state at the time of European settlement, then because they became almost unbelievably common, then because they disappeared and finally because they are back. The chicken's original range is south and east of here, in the tall grass prairie of Illinois and Iowa. The northern Plains did not become attractive to chickens until Europeans began farming here on a large scale. The chickens found that grain fields offered abundant food, and that remaining tracts of prairie offered sufficient shelter against the winter weather....
Should gas-powered boats be banned on Waldo Lake? "Anything that goes on at Waldo Lake becomes an issue simply because the users are very emotionally attached,'' said Brian McGinley, a recreation planner for the U.S. Forest Service. So a proposal to ban all gas-motor-powered boats from the lake will come as a dagger to the heart of many longtime users, while being hailed as an environmental salvation by some who paddle or row. The forest service implemented a similar ban on motors in 2002, then withdrew it to collect more information. "There was quite a bit of emotional flack about the options we were looking at,'' McGinley said....(Oh, I see. Any opposition to Forest Service policy is because folks are "emotionally attached" and spew "emotional flack". FS policy is, of course, based on pure reason and sound science.)
Horse power Mules and horses loaded with lumber, crosscut saws, axes and more pack a semi-truck load of materials needed to build a new bridge. They haul firefighters, equipment, food and supplies deep into the forest, where even helicopters cannot fight fires. And they are the most important tool for the handful of rangers who construct, maintain and repair the 1,000 miles of trails that were once cared for by 600 people in the Shoshone National Forest....
Wolverine's epic trek astonishes biologists A wolverine equipped with a Global Positioning System collar wandered from Pocatello, Idaho, to the northern reaches of Yellowstone National Park - covering nearly 550 miles in seven weeks - in one of the longest recorded treks by a species known to be wily and elusive. The walkabout was tracked by scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society, who published the results of their study in the latest issue of Northwest Science....
Battle to save global wildlife running out of funds: official Conservationists are preparing for key battles at a global wildlife summit in Bangkok as officials warn that the battle to save endangered species is being hampered by lumbering bureaucracy, unwilling governments and a cash crisis. Some 1,500 delegates gathered for the 13th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are set to debate 50 changes to the global treaty, including limits on trade in species such as the great white shark and Irawaddy dolphin....
Gibbons joins in sage grouse fight U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has joined with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in spearheading a congressional effort to keep the sage grouse off the endangered species list. Gibbons, who is vice chairman of the House Resources Committee, and Matheson are encouraging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow Western states to continue with their locally led conservation efforts, rather than list the sage grouse....
Dealing with the neighborhood bear Theresa Lineberger can still remember the young male grizzly bear that crawled onto her family's deck, perched himself on the railing and munched on all of the crab apples he could swipe from a nearby tree. ''I nailed him with a full can of (pepper) spray,'' said Lineberger, an emergency room nurse who lives on a ranch near Wapiti with her husband, Ron. ''I don't dislike (bears), but when I'm home, where I'm supposed to feel safe, I don't want to have encounters.'' Bears, black and grizzly, are common at the Linebergers' place. One summer and fall, 11 had to be trapped and relocated....
Panther groups hope for swing to more protection For years environmental groups fighting to protect Florida panther habitat watched as development after development, road after road was built on lands considered to be big cat habitat by the federal government. The Florida Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation and others charged that local, state and federal permitting agencies weren't doing their job to enforce protection measures such as the Endangered Species Act....
Column: Snake Bitten by Salmon Subsidies For more than two decades, Uncle Sam has dropped the ball on salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake River basin in the Pacific Northwest. Attempts to save these endangered species have shred billions of federal dollars like fish through a turbine. All the while, the federal government has turned a blind eye to the most cost-effective solution to the problem: Dam Removal. A new decision ignores the scientific consensus that removing four dams on the Lower Snake River in eastern Washington is the best option for salmon recovery. Northwest ratepayers and federal taxpayers have already spent more than $4.5 billion on salmon recovery efforts. Yet, several stocks of lower Snake River salmon and steelhead are already extinct and the remainder could be pushed into extinction as early as 2016....
Rewrite softens report on risks to fish Officials at a federal fisheries agency ordered their biologists to revise a report on salmon and other endangered fish so that more water can be shipped to Southern California from the Delta, according to interviews and internal agency documents obtained by The Bee. Biologists with NOAA Fisheries, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, concluded in August that a plan to pump more water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could jeopardize endangered salmon and other fish. NOAA administrators in Long Beach, however, overruled the biologists and supervised a rewriting of their analysis. That, in turn, removed the last major obstacle to a plan that could send more water south, affecting how much is reserved in Northern California, including for salmon in the American River....
Wolves change hunting behavior for fall This time of year, hunters are a wolf's best friend. It's an unusual relationship, of course. Hunter cries have been among the loudest against Canis lupus, as both are often hunting the same prey. But this time of year, hunters perhaps unknowingly help wolves by leaving gut piles and other offal in the woods -- a tasty treat for a hungry wolf....
Part of falling tree kills Washington firefighter, 26 A 26-year-old firefighter from Washington state was killed when he was struck by part of a falling tree, park officials said yesterday. Daniel Holmes, of Bellingham, died Saturday after the top of a 100-foot white fir unexpectedly fell where his firefighting crew had intentionally set a fire in the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park, east of Fresno, according to park officials. About 20 firefighters witnessed the accident, which occurred about 11 a.m. after four acres had been ignited....
Editorial: Snowmobile plan needs more tweaks Over the summer, the National Park Service hustled to draw up new rules for snowmobiling in Yellowstone this winter. Before the winter starts, we'd urge them to tinker a little more. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the Park Service urging them, among other things, to make sure the new temporary plan doesn't allow pollution levels to exceed targets set out in a 2003 plan....
Land exchange would limit access to Desolation Canyon High up on the Tavaputs Plateau, golden aspens flutter in the breeze and elk bugle mating calls across the meadows, as if part of a vast mountain symphony. A good 25 miles from the nearest paved road, the area is one of the most beautiful - and remote - tracts of wilderness in the state. It could soon become even more remote. A proposed land trade between the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and Hunt Consolidated, a Dallas-based oil company, would, when completed, effectively form a privately held barrier to about 80,000 acres of federal land on the west rim of Desolation Canyon - at least via the most direct route, by hiking or horseback, from Range Creek in the Roan Cliffs of eastern Carbon County....
As Reservoirs Recede, Fears of a Water Shortage Rise Five years of record-breaking drought in the Colorado River basin have drained Lake Powell of more than 60% of its water. Flows on the Colorado are among the lowest in 500 years. Downriver, Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in North America and supplier of water to Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, is little more than half full. At Mead's northern end, the foundations of St. Thomas, a little town demolished in the 1930s to make way for the reservoir, have reemerged. The 1,450-mile-long river that greens 3.5 million acres of farm and range land and helps feed the faucets of 25 million people may within a few years lack the water to quench the West's great thirst. For the first time ever, the seven states that rely on the Colorado are confronting the possibility of a shortage....
Southern Ute lawyer: Lawsuit isn't new An environmental group's lawsuit filed Monday to stop construction on the Animas-La Plata Project is more of the same old story that's already been shot down, said Scott McElroy, a lawyer for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. The A-LP Project is largely a settlement of water claims by the Southern Utes and the Ute Mountain Utes. "The issues that the Citizens Progressive Alliance raises aren't new," McElroy said on Friday. "To date the court has upheld the validity of the 1991 consent decrees as having been entered into in proper fashion, and they are binding on all parties."....
Editorial: A healthier river At first glance it appears to be one of those all too rare situations where we decide to manage a natural resource solely for its own sake. The idea of modifying water flows and temperatures at Flaming Gorge Dam for the sake of four endangered downstream fish species is that kind of stewardship and the right approach for the Green River. Creating aquatic habitat that better suits razorback suckers, humpback and bonytail chubs and Colorado pike minnows probably won't make Green River fly fishing guides, or anyone else, a dime. But it could bring operation of the dam into compliance with the Endangered Species Act, and that's why the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is contemplating the modifications....
Water deal has its skeptics Treasure Valley lawmakers are skeptical of a costly plan aimed at keeping state officials from shutting off pumps for thousands of Magic Valley farmers and businesses. They worry their mostly urban constituents will be asked to pick up an unfair portion of the burden to buy out struggling farmers to stop the depletion of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, which underlies 10,000 square miles. The plan aims to increase the flows out of Thousand Springs near Hagerman that replenish the Snake River as it runs past Boise. The deal would cost $80 to $100 million in state-backed bonds, mostly covered by the farmers and businesses who pump water out of the aquifer....
Part one: The last drop But the very ingredient that makes their mountain retreat so magical - the cold clear water that purrs through rock-and-log-strewn streams - is under siege, threatening the high country that is Colorado's postcard to the world. Already, the Front Range takes vast amounts of water from the counties that are home to Winter Park, Keystone, Vail and Aspen. But now Front Range utilities are reaching for the last of the extensive water claims staked out decades ago in Grand, Summit, Eagle and Pitkin counties. The utilities, including Denver Water, need more to satisfy the demands of ever-growing cities stretching from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs....
Part two: Grand's last stand The mighty Colorado River is born here, delivered by the icy tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park and the wind-hammered peaks overlooking the Fraser Valley. It nearly dies here, too. Dozens of the river's tributaries abruptly stop cascading down the mountainsides, captured by simple dirt or concrete ditches gouged into the steep terrain. These remote structures send the water far away, through dark tunnels and open canals heading east, leaving the Colorado's main stem to wait in vain for a bounty that never comes....
Governor opposes pay for wildlife damage Conservation easements, not direct landowner compensation, is the best way to address ranchers' loss of rangeland grass and forage to wildlife, Gov. Dave Freudenthal told landowners. In March, Freudenthal vetoed a bill that would have studied ways to reimburse landowners for pasture lost to wildlife, saying it would represent a significant policy shift in how the state handles wildlife damages....
Olmito man sues rancher for loose cattle A 40-year-old Olmito man, who was involved in an auto accident with a cow crossing Highway 100, has sued a ranch owner and the Rubmar Land Company. In his lawsuit, Juan Hurtado claims that ranch owner Ruben Barrera and Rubmar are responsible for his Jan. 9 accident through negligence. The lawsuit alleges that Barrera and the land company failed to prevent cattle from roaming on the highway....
Drought aid splits GOP, colors Senate race in South Dakota How political can it be for Congress to help farmers and ranchers suffering from a drought? Judge by the television viewing habits of Sen. George Allen of Virginia, who heads the Senate's Republican campaign operation. "I've been watching the Weather Channel this whole year," Allen said last week. "I love seeing those green spots for South Dakota." Green spots mean rain, which could diminish South Dakota's thirst for federal drought assistance. But there were not enough of those spots this election year to keep the Senate from approving a bipartisan $3 billion package of drought aid. Much of that money is for farmers in Midwestern states that are so important in voting on Nov. 2 for president and the Senate. No such aid has won approval in the House, whose leaders and conservatives say the plan is too expensive....
On 'McLeod,' lady ranchers can't be cowed Imagine, if you will, women riding the range, rounding up cattle, shearing sheep, mending fences and performing in rodeos. Got the picture? Then you've got "McLeod's Daughters," the first prime-time series for cable's "WE: Women's Entertainment." This entertaining series, starting tonight at 10, is an Australian import, filmed on a ranch near Adelaide....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: When the buck stops, pain starts 'Carpal tunnel?" I asked the handsome, strapping Utah cowboy who had both wrists in a cast. "Rodeo," he said, "I bucked off." "Broncs? Bulls?" "No, I rode my saddlebronc." "Did ya win?" I asked. "Placed third," he said, "They paid two places." "Oww!" I said, "What happened to your arms?" "Team roping," he said with a trace of humiliation....
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Evacuation of L.A.-Area Forest Demanded Trish De Somma considers herself the eyes and ears of the patch of national forest near Los Angeles where her family leases a cabin. Forest fire officials see De Somma and others like her as a liability living amid hills and canyons of kindling-dry pines and brush. In an extreme effort to prevent October wildfires as catastrophic and deadly as those last year, all but a fraction of the sprawling Angeles National Forest has been closed. No hunting, no hiking, no camping. And for scores - possibly hundreds - of residents such as De Somma, an unprecedented order: No staying put. De Somma is unmoved....
Small-time prospectors may face restrictions There's gold in them thar hills, but local prospectors may soon find it harder to hunt for the shiny flecks and tiny nuggets in the Coronado National Forest. By next summer, the U.S. Forest Service plans to release new rules for so-called placer mining in the mountains east of Green Valley and northwest of Nogales. Mining with dynamite, gaping open pits and dump trucks the size of houses aren't at stake. It's old-school, small-scale prospecting with shovels, sifters and sluice boxes - something that's done today for fun rather than fortune....
Appeals court temporarily halts Gallatin timber sale A federal appeals court has temporarily halted a timber sale in the Gallatin National Forest that environmentalists claim would damage wildlife habitat near Yellowstone National Park, an attorney said Sunday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an emergency injunction late Friday, said Tim Bechtold, who represents the three conservation groups that filed the lawsuit in July. The stay halts all logging and road building until the court decides whether to issue a permanent injunction, he said....
Watching, waiting at Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens stewed in volcanic gases amid low-level earthquakes yesterday, with crowds of eager tourists hoping to glimpse an eruption that scientists said could occur immediately or within a few weeks. A second long tremor early yesterday and an increase in volcanic gases strongly suggest that magma is moving inside, researchers from the US Geological Survey said. The mountain's alert was raised to Level 3, the highest possible, after a volcanic tremor was detected Saturday for the first time since before the mountain's 1980 eruption....
Preserving Blackfoot for future generations Jim Stone works hard on his Rolling Stone Ranch every day. But while tending to the day-to-day details of maintaining a 2,800-acre spread and 200 head of cattle, the 43-year-old Ovando rancher takes a long-term view of the future, both of his ranch and of the entire Blackfoot Valley. "I'm thinking 80 years, to where maybe my son can have something better," he said. After getting more and more interested in conservation efforts throughout the 1980s, Stone and several other Blackfoot-area landowners in 1993 formed the Blackfoot Challenge, a group dedicated to protecting the natural resources and rural lifestyle of the 1.5 million-acre Blackfoot Watershed through education and land management programs....
Column: Why the greens won't vote for Bush During his term in office, Bill Clinton listed 527 "endangered species," 40.9 percent of all listed species. George Bush, by contrast, has listed only 26 species - .02 percent - during his first term in office. This is only one of the measures cited by environmental organizations who claim that George Bush is the worst environmental president in history. More than 50 of Bill Clinton's top appointees came directly from the staffs of environmental organizations, who, for eight years, used the government to advance their green agenda. President Bush sent most of these people packing, and replaced them with people the greens call anti-environmentalists, or corporate special-interests....
First prairie chicken hunt in 60 years a success story North Dakota is holding its first prairie chicken season in almost 60 years beginning Saturday. This is remarkable, first because prairie chickens didn't occur in the state at the time of European settlement, then because they became almost unbelievably common, then because they disappeared and finally because they are back. The chicken's original range is south and east of here, in the tall grass prairie of Illinois and Iowa. The northern Plains did not become attractive to chickens until Europeans began farming here on a large scale. The chickens found that grain fields offered abundant food, and that remaining tracts of prairie offered sufficient shelter against the winter weather....
Should gas-powered boats be banned on Waldo Lake? "Anything that goes on at Waldo Lake becomes an issue simply because the users are very emotionally attached,'' said Brian McGinley, a recreation planner for the U.S. Forest Service. So a proposal to ban all gas-motor-powered boats from the lake will come as a dagger to the heart of many longtime users, while being hailed as an environmental salvation by some who paddle or row. The forest service implemented a similar ban on motors in 2002, then withdrew it to collect more information. "There was quite a bit of emotional flack about the options we were looking at,'' McGinley said....(Oh, I see. Any opposition to Forest Service policy is because folks are "emotionally attached" and spew "emotional flack". FS policy is, of course, based on pure reason and sound science.)
Horse power Mules and horses loaded with lumber, crosscut saws, axes and more pack a semi-truck load of materials needed to build a new bridge. They haul firefighters, equipment, food and supplies deep into the forest, where even helicopters cannot fight fires. And they are the most important tool for the handful of rangers who construct, maintain and repair the 1,000 miles of trails that were once cared for by 600 people in the Shoshone National Forest....
Wolverine's epic trek astonishes biologists A wolverine equipped with a Global Positioning System collar wandered from Pocatello, Idaho, to the northern reaches of Yellowstone National Park - covering nearly 550 miles in seven weeks - in one of the longest recorded treks by a species known to be wily and elusive. The walkabout was tracked by scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society, who published the results of their study in the latest issue of Northwest Science....
Battle to save global wildlife running out of funds: official Conservationists are preparing for key battles at a global wildlife summit in Bangkok as officials warn that the battle to save endangered species is being hampered by lumbering bureaucracy, unwilling governments and a cash crisis. Some 1,500 delegates gathered for the 13th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are set to debate 50 changes to the global treaty, including limits on trade in species such as the great white shark and Irawaddy dolphin....
Gibbons joins in sage grouse fight U.S. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has joined with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, in spearheading a congressional effort to keep the sage grouse off the endangered species list. Gibbons, who is vice chairman of the House Resources Committee, and Matheson are encouraging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to allow Western states to continue with their locally led conservation efforts, rather than list the sage grouse....
Dealing with the neighborhood bear Theresa Lineberger can still remember the young male grizzly bear that crawled onto her family's deck, perched himself on the railing and munched on all of the crab apples he could swipe from a nearby tree. ''I nailed him with a full can of (pepper) spray,'' said Lineberger, an emergency room nurse who lives on a ranch near Wapiti with her husband, Ron. ''I don't dislike (bears), but when I'm home, where I'm supposed to feel safe, I don't want to have encounters.'' Bears, black and grizzly, are common at the Linebergers' place. One summer and fall, 11 had to be trapped and relocated....
Panther groups hope for swing to more protection For years environmental groups fighting to protect Florida panther habitat watched as development after development, road after road was built on lands considered to be big cat habitat by the federal government. The Florida Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation and others charged that local, state and federal permitting agencies weren't doing their job to enforce protection measures such as the Endangered Species Act....
Column: Snake Bitten by Salmon Subsidies For more than two decades, Uncle Sam has dropped the ball on salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake River basin in the Pacific Northwest. Attempts to save these endangered species have shred billions of federal dollars like fish through a turbine. All the while, the federal government has turned a blind eye to the most cost-effective solution to the problem: Dam Removal. A new decision ignores the scientific consensus that removing four dams on the Lower Snake River in eastern Washington is the best option for salmon recovery. Northwest ratepayers and federal taxpayers have already spent more than $4.5 billion on salmon recovery efforts. Yet, several stocks of lower Snake River salmon and steelhead are already extinct and the remainder could be pushed into extinction as early as 2016....
Rewrite softens report on risks to fish Officials at a federal fisheries agency ordered their biologists to revise a report on salmon and other endangered fish so that more water can be shipped to Southern California from the Delta, according to interviews and internal agency documents obtained by The Bee. Biologists with NOAA Fisheries, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, concluded in August that a plan to pump more water through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could jeopardize endangered salmon and other fish. NOAA administrators in Long Beach, however, overruled the biologists and supervised a rewriting of their analysis. That, in turn, removed the last major obstacle to a plan that could send more water south, affecting how much is reserved in Northern California, including for salmon in the American River....
Wolves change hunting behavior for fall This time of year, hunters are a wolf's best friend. It's an unusual relationship, of course. Hunter cries have been among the loudest against Canis lupus, as both are often hunting the same prey. But this time of year, hunters perhaps unknowingly help wolves by leaving gut piles and other offal in the woods -- a tasty treat for a hungry wolf....
Part of falling tree kills Washington firefighter, 26 A 26-year-old firefighter from Washington state was killed when he was struck by part of a falling tree, park officials said yesterday. Daniel Holmes, of Bellingham, died Saturday after the top of a 100-foot white fir unexpectedly fell where his firefighting crew had intentionally set a fire in the Grant Grove area of Kings Canyon National Park, east of Fresno, according to park officials. About 20 firefighters witnessed the accident, which occurred about 11 a.m. after four acres had been ignited....
Editorial: Snowmobile plan needs more tweaks Over the summer, the National Park Service hustled to draw up new rules for snowmobiling in Yellowstone this winter. Before the winter starts, we'd urge them to tinker a little more. Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to the Park Service urging them, among other things, to make sure the new temporary plan doesn't allow pollution levels to exceed targets set out in a 2003 plan....
Land exchange would limit access to Desolation Canyon High up on the Tavaputs Plateau, golden aspens flutter in the breeze and elk bugle mating calls across the meadows, as if part of a vast mountain symphony. A good 25 miles from the nearest paved road, the area is one of the most beautiful - and remote - tracts of wilderness in the state. It could soon become even more remote. A proposed land trade between the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and Hunt Consolidated, a Dallas-based oil company, would, when completed, effectively form a privately held barrier to about 80,000 acres of federal land on the west rim of Desolation Canyon - at least via the most direct route, by hiking or horseback, from Range Creek in the Roan Cliffs of eastern Carbon County....
As Reservoirs Recede, Fears of a Water Shortage Rise Five years of record-breaking drought in the Colorado River basin have drained Lake Powell of more than 60% of its water. Flows on the Colorado are among the lowest in 500 years. Downriver, Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir in North America and supplier of water to Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, is little more than half full. At Mead's northern end, the foundations of St. Thomas, a little town demolished in the 1930s to make way for the reservoir, have reemerged. The 1,450-mile-long river that greens 3.5 million acres of farm and range land and helps feed the faucets of 25 million people may within a few years lack the water to quench the West's great thirst. For the first time ever, the seven states that rely on the Colorado are confronting the possibility of a shortage....
Southern Ute lawyer: Lawsuit isn't new An environmental group's lawsuit filed Monday to stop construction on the Animas-La Plata Project is more of the same old story that's already been shot down, said Scott McElroy, a lawyer for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. The A-LP Project is largely a settlement of water claims by the Southern Utes and the Ute Mountain Utes. "The issues that the Citizens Progressive Alliance raises aren't new," McElroy said on Friday. "To date the court has upheld the validity of the 1991 consent decrees as having been entered into in proper fashion, and they are binding on all parties."....
Editorial: A healthier river At first glance it appears to be one of those all too rare situations where we decide to manage a natural resource solely for its own sake. The idea of modifying water flows and temperatures at Flaming Gorge Dam for the sake of four endangered downstream fish species is that kind of stewardship and the right approach for the Green River. Creating aquatic habitat that better suits razorback suckers, humpback and bonytail chubs and Colorado pike minnows probably won't make Green River fly fishing guides, or anyone else, a dime. But it could bring operation of the dam into compliance with the Endangered Species Act, and that's why the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is contemplating the modifications....
Water deal has its skeptics Treasure Valley lawmakers are skeptical of a costly plan aimed at keeping state officials from shutting off pumps for thousands of Magic Valley farmers and businesses. They worry their mostly urban constituents will be asked to pick up an unfair portion of the burden to buy out struggling farmers to stop the depletion of the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, which underlies 10,000 square miles. The plan aims to increase the flows out of Thousand Springs near Hagerman that replenish the Snake River as it runs past Boise. The deal would cost $80 to $100 million in state-backed bonds, mostly covered by the farmers and businesses who pump water out of the aquifer....
Part one: The last drop But the very ingredient that makes their mountain retreat so magical - the cold clear water that purrs through rock-and-log-strewn streams - is under siege, threatening the high country that is Colorado's postcard to the world. Already, the Front Range takes vast amounts of water from the counties that are home to Winter Park, Keystone, Vail and Aspen. But now Front Range utilities are reaching for the last of the extensive water claims staked out decades ago in Grand, Summit, Eagle and Pitkin counties. The utilities, including Denver Water, need more to satisfy the demands of ever-growing cities stretching from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs....
Part two: Grand's last stand The mighty Colorado River is born here, delivered by the icy tundra of Rocky Mountain National Park and the wind-hammered peaks overlooking the Fraser Valley. It nearly dies here, too. Dozens of the river's tributaries abruptly stop cascading down the mountainsides, captured by simple dirt or concrete ditches gouged into the steep terrain. These remote structures send the water far away, through dark tunnels and open canals heading east, leaving the Colorado's main stem to wait in vain for a bounty that never comes....
Governor opposes pay for wildlife damage Conservation easements, not direct landowner compensation, is the best way to address ranchers' loss of rangeland grass and forage to wildlife, Gov. Dave Freudenthal told landowners. In March, Freudenthal vetoed a bill that would have studied ways to reimburse landowners for pasture lost to wildlife, saying it would represent a significant policy shift in how the state handles wildlife damages....
Olmito man sues rancher for loose cattle A 40-year-old Olmito man, who was involved in an auto accident with a cow crossing Highway 100, has sued a ranch owner and the Rubmar Land Company. In his lawsuit, Juan Hurtado claims that ranch owner Ruben Barrera and Rubmar are responsible for his Jan. 9 accident through negligence. The lawsuit alleges that Barrera and the land company failed to prevent cattle from roaming on the highway....
Drought aid splits GOP, colors Senate race in South Dakota How political can it be for Congress to help farmers and ranchers suffering from a drought? Judge by the television viewing habits of Sen. George Allen of Virginia, who heads the Senate's Republican campaign operation. "I've been watching the Weather Channel this whole year," Allen said last week. "I love seeing those green spots for South Dakota." Green spots mean rain, which could diminish South Dakota's thirst for federal drought assistance. But there were not enough of those spots this election year to keep the Senate from approving a bipartisan $3 billion package of drought aid. Much of that money is for farmers in Midwestern states that are so important in voting on Nov. 2 for president and the Senate. No such aid has won approval in the House, whose leaders and conservatives say the plan is too expensive....
On 'McLeod,' lady ranchers can't be cowed Imagine, if you will, women riding the range, rounding up cattle, shearing sheep, mending fences and performing in rodeos. Got the picture? Then you've got "McLeod's Daughters," the first prime-time series for cable's "WE: Women's Entertainment." This entertaining series, starting tonight at 10, is an Australian import, filmed on a ranch near Adelaide....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: When the buck stops, pain starts 'Carpal tunnel?" I asked the handsome, strapping Utah cowboy who had both wrists in a cast. "Rodeo," he said, "I bucked off." "Broncs? Bulls?" "No, I rode my saddlebronc." "Did ya win?" I asked. "Placed third," he said, "They paid two places." "Oww!" I said, "What happened to your arms?" "Team roping," he said with a trace of humiliation....
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Sunday, October 03, 2004
U.S. Nixes Rocky Mountain Front Drilling
The federal government will no longer consider letting companies drill for natural gas along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, the Bureau of Land Management confirmed Saturday, quieting for now one of the state's hottest environmental debates. The Front, which stretches about 100 miles along the eastern crags of the Rockies south of Glacier National Park, is home to grizzly bears, elk, bighorn sheep and other wildlife. "We feel that given the complexity of the issue and the enormous public interest in the Rocky Mountain Front, it would be better to take a step back and thoroughly evaluate all options," said Celia Boddington, a BLM spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. BLM suspended work on an environmental impact study for the Front's Blackleaf area, where a Canadian company wanted to drill for gas. The decision to shelve drilling came at the "highest levels" of the Interior Department, said Marty Ott, state BLM director....
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The federal government will no longer consider letting companies drill for natural gas along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front, the Bureau of Land Management confirmed Saturday, quieting for now one of the state's hottest environmental debates. The Front, which stretches about 100 miles along the eastern crags of the Rockies south of Glacier National Park, is home to grizzly bears, elk, bighorn sheep and other wildlife. "We feel that given the complexity of the issue and the enormous public interest in the Rocky Mountain Front, it would be better to take a step back and thoroughly evaluate all options," said Celia Boddington, a BLM spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. BLM suspended work on an environmental impact study for the Front's Blackleaf area, where a Canadian company wanted to drill for gas. The decision to shelve drilling came at the "highest levels" of the Interior Department, said Marty Ott, state BLM director....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
The Never Ending Story
Late this week -- for the fourth time in recent memory -- major press outlets trumpeted that, as Bloomberg News put it, "Russia Approves Kyoto Protocol". The stories claimed Russia would be ratifying the global treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thus ensuring enough participant countries for the treaty to enter into effect. None of the major outlets explicitly noted the irony of having reported this purported breakthrough on several prior occasions -- although one curious Reuters headline hinted at the media's earlier errors: "Kyoto Saved Again".
What's behind the latest outburst of "news"? Russian officials cleverly continue to engineer a campaign to obtain from the European Union certain concessions and understandings. Russia appears driven to tell the EU what it wants to hear on Kyoto, in order to avert problems with Brussels over other matters, including Russia's response to Beslan and other terrorist attacks. Until recently, trade-off negotiations with the EU centered on Russia's desire for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)....
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The Never Ending Story
Late this week -- for the fourth time in recent memory -- major press outlets trumpeted that, as Bloomberg News put it, "Russia Approves Kyoto Protocol". The stories claimed Russia would be ratifying the global treaty designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, thus ensuring enough participant countries for the treaty to enter into effect. None of the major outlets explicitly noted the irony of having reported this purported breakthrough on several prior occasions -- although one curious Reuters headline hinted at the media's earlier errors: "Kyoto Saved Again".
What's behind the latest outburst of "news"? Russian officials cleverly continue to engineer a campaign to obtain from the European Union certain concessions and understandings. Russia appears driven to tell the EU what it wants to hear on Kyoto, in order to avert problems with Brussels over other matters, including Russia's response to Beslan and other terrorist attacks. Until recently, trade-off negotiations with the EU centered on Russia's desire for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
COLD, HARD FACTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
Are glaciers, ice caps and sea ice melting worldwide because human industrial activity is causing global warming? Geologic history says otherwise.
Researchers from Montana State University found the fluctuation of glaciers at the Glacial National Park in Montana is the result of unique interactions between summer draught and winter snow concentrations rather than rising CO2 concentrations.
Using tree-rings and National Park Service observations, the researchers found numerous links between the variability of drought (also reconstructed through tree-rings) to glacier positions. Furthermore:
---During the late 19th century, a shift from cool and rainy conditions to drought coincides with the onset of glacial retreat from the previous ice age.
---Similarly, extreme drought between 1917 and 1941 coincided with rapid glacial recession in the park.
---Montana’s glaciers began to retreat long before the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases began to change significantly.
Combining data on drought variability and winter snow-pack accumulation, the researchers were able to derive a 300-year index that provides a precise history of glacial dynamics. In other words, these two natural quantities account for the observed glacial variability over the last three centuries.
Though it is yet to be determined what potential effect CO2 concentrations may have on these drought and snow interactions, these findings show how natural phenomena can result in glacial retreat and advance for hundreds of years in the absence of greenhouse gases.
Source: “Cold, Hard Facts,” Greening Earth Society, July 29, 2004.
For text http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/wca/2004/wca_21a.html
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COLD, HARD FACTS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
Are glaciers, ice caps and sea ice melting worldwide because human industrial activity is causing global warming? Geologic history says otherwise.
Researchers from Montana State University found the fluctuation of glaciers at the Glacial National Park in Montana is the result of unique interactions between summer draught and winter snow concentrations rather than rising CO2 concentrations.
Using tree-rings and National Park Service observations, the researchers found numerous links between the variability of drought (also reconstructed through tree-rings) to glacier positions. Furthermore:
---During the late 19th century, a shift from cool and rainy conditions to drought coincides with the onset of glacial retreat from the previous ice age.
---Similarly, extreme drought between 1917 and 1941 coincided with rapid glacial recession in the park.
---Montana’s glaciers began to retreat long before the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases began to change significantly.
Combining data on drought variability and winter snow-pack accumulation, the researchers were able to derive a 300-year index that provides a precise history of glacial dynamics. In other words, these two natural quantities account for the observed glacial variability over the last three centuries.
Though it is yet to be determined what potential effect CO2 concentrations may have on these drought and snow interactions, these findings show how natural phenomena can result in glacial retreat and advance for hundreds of years in the absence of greenhouse gases.
Source: “Cold, Hard Facts,” Greening Earth Society, July 29, 2004.
For text http://www.greeningearthsociety.org/wca/2004/wca_21a.html
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Back to School for Pests
As students return to school this fall, parents will again worry about new illnesses as kids come in contact with more cold and flu germs. But there are other risks they should worry about--illnesses caused by the common bugs and rodents found in school buildings.
But perhaps the even more dangerous pests are those individuals who prevent school administrators from swiftly addressing these problems.
Anti-chemical activists have pushed, and nearly 20 states and local government have passed, laws to eliminate or drastically reduce the use of pesticides in schools. Yet pesticides are used to control roaches, molds, mice, rats, wasps, lice, fleas, mosquitoes, spiders, fire ants, poison ivy, and other pests. The public health implications of allowing these things to get out of control should be obvious: increased allergies and illnesses related to insect and rodent bites, as well as reactions to plants like poison ivy....
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Back to School for Pests
As students return to school this fall, parents will again worry about new illnesses as kids come in contact with more cold and flu germs. But there are other risks they should worry about--illnesses caused by the common bugs and rodents found in school buildings.
But perhaps the even more dangerous pests are those individuals who prevent school administrators from swiftly addressing these problems.
Anti-chemical activists have pushed, and nearly 20 states and local government have passed, laws to eliminate or drastically reduce the use of pesticides in schools. Yet pesticides are used to control roaches, molds, mice, rats, wasps, lice, fleas, mosquitoes, spiders, fire ants, poison ivy, and other pests. The public health implications of allowing these things to get out of control should be obvious: increased allergies and illnesses related to insect and rodent bites, as well as reactions to plants like poison ivy....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
ENVIRONMENT IMPROVES UNDER BUSH
Environmental activists have accused President Bush of being America’s “worst environmental president,” yet the empirical evidence suggests the environment is getting cleaner, says Steven F. Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute.
Each year, the AEI and the Pacific Research Institute compile an annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators. The 2004 Report shows that the environment has consistently improved since the 1980s.
---Between 1976 and 2002, ambient air pollution decreased significantly; ozone levels declined by 31 percent, sulfur dioxides by 71 percent, carbon monoxide by 75 percent, and nitrogen dioxide by 41 percent.
---When measuring emissions on a per capita or per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP), the United States experienced emission declines on par with Europe between 1982 and 1998.
---The percentage of the population served by water supplies with no reported violations of health-based standards increased from 79 percent in 1993 to 94 percent in 2002.
---Since 1988, so-called toxic releases have declined 60 percent cumulatively, with a 90-percent decline in dioxin since 1970.
Furthermore, the number of new species listed under the Endangered Species Act has declined substantially between 1996 and 2003, likely due to private efforts in species conservation.
The only environmental trend that has not been positive is the management of public lands. Between 90 and 200 million acres of public land are at risk for catastrophic fires. Public parks are experiencing billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs. Yellowstone Park, for example, is contaminated with sewage. Holly Lipke Fretwell of the Property and Environment Research Center recommends allowing states to manage land and the public to lease land and resources.
Source: Steven F. Hayward, et al., “2004 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, Ninth Edition,” American Enterprise Institute, July 2004.
For text: http://www.aei.org/docLib/20040414_book764text.pdf
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ENVIRONMENT IMPROVES UNDER BUSH
Environmental activists have accused President Bush of being America’s “worst environmental president,” yet the empirical evidence suggests the environment is getting cleaner, says Steven F. Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute.
Each year, the AEI and the Pacific Research Institute compile an annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators. The 2004 Report shows that the environment has consistently improved since the 1980s.
---Between 1976 and 2002, ambient air pollution decreased significantly; ozone levels declined by 31 percent, sulfur dioxides by 71 percent, carbon monoxide by 75 percent, and nitrogen dioxide by 41 percent.
---When measuring emissions on a per capita or per dollar of gross domestic product (GDP), the United States experienced emission declines on par with Europe between 1982 and 1998.
---The percentage of the population served by water supplies with no reported violations of health-based standards increased from 79 percent in 1993 to 94 percent in 2002.
---Since 1988, so-called toxic releases have declined 60 percent cumulatively, with a 90-percent decline in dioxin since 1970.
Furthermore, the number of new species listed under the Endangered Species Act has declined substantially between 1996 and 2003, likely due to private efforts in species conservation.
The only environmental trend that has not been positive is the management of public lands. Between 90 and 200 million acres of public land are at risk for catastrophic fires. Public parks are experiencing billions of dollars in maintenance backlogs. Yellowstone Park, for example, is contaminated with sewage. Holly Lipke Fretwell of the Property and Environment Research Center recommends allowing states to manage land and the public to lease land and resources.
Source: Steven F. Hayward, et al., “2004 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, Ninth Edition,” American Enterprise Institute, July 2004.
For text: http://www.aei.org/docLib/20040414_book764text.pdf
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
Economics for ecologists
In 1968 I had the immense good fortune to work with Garrett Hardin, a distinguished ecologist. His Science article, "The Tragedy of the Commons," is the most reprinted article in the magazine's history. Together, Garrett and I produced a book in print for nearly 20 years, Managing the Commons. (A second edition is published by Indiana University Press.)
Hardin noted when a resource is owned in common, there is little incentive for any individual to protect it. Garrett used this as a heuristic example we all intuitively understand. However, as Elinor Ostrom and other political economists have documented, traditional societies devise systems to resolve the problem. Systems evolve to generate information, coordinate and monitor use, and assign rights to a valued resource....
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Economics for ecologists
In 1968 I had the immense good fortune to work with Garrett Hardin, a distinguished ecologist. His Science article, "The Tragedy of the Commons," is the most reprinted article in the magazine's history. Together, Garrett and I produced a book in print for nearly 20 years, Managing the Commons. (A second edition is published by Indiana University Press.)
Hardin noted when a resource is owned in common, there is little incentive for any individual to protect it. Garrett used this as a heuristic example we all intuitively understand. However, as Elinor Ostrom and other political economists have documented, traditional societies devise systems to resolve the problem. Systems evolve to generate information, coordinate and monitor use, and assign rights to a valued resource....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS ENVIROS APPEAL OF FOREST HEALTH CASE
An attempt by an environmental group to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from harvesting timber in an area burned by the devastating forest fires that swept through Arizona in 2002 was rejected today by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Forest Conservation Council had asked the appellate court to reverse a July 2003 ruling by an Arizona federal district court holding that the U.S. Forest Service had complied with federal environmental study rules as to two of the salvage sale categories and that, as to a third category, the Forest Service could perform required additional environmental studies as it conducted the harvest activity. A nonprofit, public interest law firm joined the Forest Service in asking the Ninth Circuit to uphold the lower court.
“We are delighted that the demand by environmental groups for more ‘paralysis by analysis’ was rejected in light of the unprecedented drought conditions in almost every western county,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which filed the friend of the court brief in support of the Forest Service. “The Ninth Circuit was wise to uphold the ruling of the district court to ensure that the Forest Service has the flexibility to act in an expeditious manner to preserve forest health. Because the area that was so badly burned over in 2002 is still at risk for fire, it is absolutely critical that the Forest Service move as quickly as it did in this case.”....
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NINTH CIRCUIT REJECTS ENVIROS APPEAL OF FOREST HEALTH CASE
An attempt by an environmental group to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from harvesting timber in an area burned by the devastating forest fires that swept through Arizona in 2002 was rejected today by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The Forest Conservation Council had asked the appellate court to reverse a July 2003 ruling by an Arizona federal district court holding that the U.S. Forest Service had complied with federal environmental study rules as to two of the salvage sale categories and that, as to a third category, the Forest Service could perform required additional environmental studies as it conducted the harvest activity. A nonprofit, public interest law firm joined the Forest Service in asking the Ninth Circuit to uphold the lower court.
“We are delighted that the demand by environmental groups for more ‘paralysis by analysis’ was rejected in light of the unprecedented drought conditions in almost every western county,” said William Perry Pendley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, which filed the friend of the court brief in support of the Forest Service. “The Ninth Circuit was wise to uphold the ruling of the district court to ensure that the Forest Service has the flexibility to act in an expeditious manner to preserve forest health. Because the area that was so badly burned over in 2002 is still at risk for fire, it is absolutely critical that the Forest Service move as quickly as it did in this case.”....
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OPINION/COMMENTARY
SMART-GROWTH REPORT IS FLAWED
An Environmental Protection Agency report offers evidence of the benefits of “smart growth” communities -- less congestion and pollution. However, complaints from another government agency over the accuracy of the report forced the EPA to retract its findings.
According to researchers Wendell Cox and Ronald D. Utt, the report compared urban areas that have promoted “smart growth” practices, i.e. high density housing, pedestrian-friendly streets and mass transit, with “control group” cities (those that are auto-oriented and low density).
The report concluded that three smart growth cities – Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Orleans had less traffic congestion and more transit ridership than control group cities such as Houston, St. Louis and Charlotte, however:
---The EPA failed to mention that the three smart growth cities selected have higher unemployment rates than the control group cities; for example, Charlotte has 20 percent more employment per 1,000 people than New Orleans.
---Furthermore, the smart growth cities have seen significant population declines since the 1990s: Philadelphia, 4.3 percent, Pittsburgh, 9.5 percent and New Orleans, 2.5 percent.
---Finally, the EPA report left out one of the most controversial smart growth cities -- Portland, Oregon -- which has the worst traffic congestion of any metropolitan city its size.
The report selected smart-growth cities with generally stagnant economies and population declines. Such characteristics obviously have an impact on reducing congestion, as fewer people travel to and from jobs, say Cox and Utt.
Source: Wendell Cox and Ronald D. Utt, “The EPA Withdraws Inaccurate Smart Growth – Traffic Congestion Report,” Backgrounder 1782, July 28, 2004, Heritage Foundation.
For text: http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=66995
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SMART-GROWTH REPORT IS FLAWED
An Environmental Protection Agency report offers evidence of the benefits of “smart growth” communities -- less congestion and pollution. However, complaints from another government agency over the accuracy of the report forced the EPA to retract its findings.
According to researchers Wendell Cox and Ronald D. Utt, the report compared urban areas that have promoted “smart growth” practices, i.e. high density housing, pedestrian-friendly streets and mass transit, with “control group” cities (those that are auto-oriented and low density).
The report concluded that three smart growth cities – Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Orleans had less traffic congestion and more transit ridership than control group cities such as Houston, St. Louis and Charlotte, however:
---The EPA failed to mention that the three smart growth cities selected have higher unemployment rates than the control group cities; for example, Charlotte has 20 percent more employment per 1,000 people than New Orleans.
---Furthermore, the smart growth cities have seen significant population declines since the 1990s: Philadelphia, 4.3 percent, Pittsburgh, 9.5 percent and New Orleans, 2.5 percent.
---Finally, the EPA report left out one of the most controversial smart growth cities -- Portland, Oregon -- which has the worst traffic congestion of any metropolitan city its size.
The report selected smart-growth cities with generally stagnant economies and population declines. Such characteristics obviously have an impact on reducing congestion, as fewer people travel to and from jobs, say Cox and Utt.
Source: Wendell Cox and Ronald D. Utt, “The EPA Withdraws Inaccurate Smart Growth – Traffic Congestion Report,” Backgrounder 1782, July 28, 2004, Heritage Foundation.
For text: http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=66995
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