NEWS ROUNDUP
Proposal to expand management of wolves opposed A proposed "memorandum of understanding" drafted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes involving other agencies in the management of Mexican gray wolves. Such a move would "lower the service's leadership in wolf recovery, and give more life-and-death power over the wolves to interests more directly responsive to the livestock industry," according to Michael Robinson, a Silver City staffer with the Center for Biological Diversity...Utah, Feds Continue To Stonewall Public On Phantom Highways Controversy The state of Utah and the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) continue to withhold documents from the public concerning their supposedly "open process" for resolving claims to disputed dirt tracks across Utah, conservationist groups charged today. The charge came as two of the groups, the Southern Utah Wilderness Society (SUWA) and The Wilderness Society, lodged a formal appeal last week with the Interior Department over a decision by BLM's Utah office to withhold information concerning jeep tracks and cattle paths claimed as constructed highways by Utah under the repealed, Civil War-era law known as R.S. 2477...11 dams on Emigrant fix-up list Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor Tom Quinn, taking his turn in one of his forest's longest-running controversies, has decided to permit maintenance of 11 Emigrant Wilderness check dams while letting seven others deteriorate over time. Letting those seven go "moves the Emigrant Wilderness, as a whole, towards a more pristine condition," Quinn wrote in his Record of Decision, which the Forest Service published Tuesday...'Healthy Forests Act' needs careful watch, enviros say The Healthy Forest Restoration Act ought to be given a chance to work "under careful scrutiny" Western Colorado Congress and Colorado photographer John Fielder said. President Bush this month signed the measure that significantly changes the way some of the nation's most fire- threatened forests will be managed. The new law, which was carried by U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis, whose 3rd Congressional District is among the most forested in the nation, isn't what environmental organizations most wanted...Susanville timber mill closing This city is losing a major employer and its last timber mill. Sierra Pacific Industries announced Tuesday that it will close its 39-year-old sawmill by the end of the first quarter of 2004. The company cited the loss of government timber supplies and competition from foreign imports as reasons for the closure. The move will affect about 150 workers, SPI spokesman Ed Bond said. Workers at the mill make an average hourly wage of $18.30...Beetles threaten thousands of acres of pinyon trees Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley is vulnerable to a beetle infestation that could wipe out pinyon trees covering thousands of acres, according to a forestry expert. John Denison, district forester for the Colorado State Forest Service, said that conditions in the scenic valley make the pinyon susceptible to the Ips beetle. He estimated that 80 percent of the trees could die...Judge rules for listing orcas as endangered A federal judge yesterday struck down the Bush administration's decision not to protect Puget Sound orcas under the Endangered Species Act, chastising federal officials for failing to consider the "best available science." The U.S. District Court ruling was a major victory for environmentalists. The National Marine Fisheries Service had justified its June 2002 decision by saying that even if orcas that reside in the Sound and nearby waters disappeared, their place could be taken by far-ranging transient orcas that sometimes visit...Column: The Cartoonist Who Fought Dams Hard In George Fisher's world, the dam-building, river-straightening, concrete-addicted nature destroyers of the Army Corps of Engineers wore dark sunglasses, knee boots, impossibly tight pants and dorky pith helmets emblazoned with his unofficial motto for the agency: "Keep Busy." They carried rolled-up blueprints, drove menacing dredges with ferociously pointy teeth and drooled over free-flowing streams like dirty old men ogling young virgins. When they died, they arrived at the Pearly Gates armed with channelization plans for the Kingdom of Heaven and recoiled at the picturesque river valleys God had let fester there...Column: Global Warming is Likely to Cause Huge Climatic Changes -- and Possibly a New Ice Age What killed the saber-toothed tiger, the mastodon and the mammoth, formidable animals that were on top of the food chain in North America 20,000 years ago? Was it fierce Stone Age hunters as has commonly been assumed, or the little-studied but very real phenomenon of abrupt climate change? This question is not just of academic interest, to be debated by pipe-smoking professors at conferences. The rapid natural climate changes at the end of the Ice Age could be mirrored by man-made global warming in the 21st century, leading to devastating consequences for the planet's biodiversity and the human race itself...Baby condor makes historic flight in Grand Canyon Arizona's first baby condor in recorded history made its first flight November 5 when it glided 500 feet to the ground from its nest on a cliff located in a remote area of the Grand Canyon. "The significance of the first wild-hatched California condor in Arizona is tremendous. While captive-bred condors have exceeded our expectations, it is this chick and others like it in the future that will ensure condor recovery in Arizona," Arizona Game and Fish director Duane Shroufe said...City Officials Angry Over Fire Prevention Delays City officials in San Bernardino, Calif., say the U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency's concerns about endangered species delayed a federally funded fire prevention program for seven years and led directly to the disastrous fires there in October. According to city officials, philosophical problems among some biologists, environmentalists and other agencies delayed approved measures to prevent fires from being enacted. City officials also claim that they set aside $500,000 for a program meant to thin a number of trees in problem areas identified in a 1995 survey, but not one square foot of forestry was thinned. According to a congressional investigation, more than half of all federal projects proposed to reduce the literal fuel to the fires never get implemented, including several projects that may have limited the scope of this fall's California wildfires. Those fires burnt 750,000 acres, destroyed 3,640 homes, killed 22 people and countless wildlife and are estimated to have cost $10 billion in damage...Lawmaker calls for investigation of Wildlife Service over fires Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, wants Congress to investigate why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Carlsbad office reportedly delayed prescribed burns in San Bernardino County forest areas scorched in the October wildfires. California Department of Forestry Chief Tom O'Keefe told the Riverside Press-Enterprise for a story published Tuesday that the Fish and Wildlife Service opposed prescribed fires that might have helped save plant and animal habitats. "The U.S Fish and Wildlife policy of obstructionism contributed to the most devastating wildfires the state of California has ever seen," Calvert said in a statement Wednesday. "I have every intention of investigating their role in delaying and preventing prescribed fires that could have saved businesses, homes and lives."...Duck slaughter found Federal wildlife officials want to know who killed 35 wild ducks and dumped them, without cleaning them or saving any of the meat, beside Deer Creek Road near East Missoula. Rick Branzell, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, discovered the ducks tossed in a snowbank beside the road Wednesday afternoon after receiving a tip from a Missoula County snowplow driver. The discarded ducks could represent several possible violations of state and federal wildlife laws, according to Branzell...Bald eagle closures begin in December Recreational activities are being temporarily limited at 13 locations near Arizona waterways beginning in December in an effort to protect nesting bald eagles. Arizona Game and Fish Department biologists say bald eagles start rebuilding nests in December in preparation for laying eggs. Land and wildlife management agencies enact the seasonal breeding area closures from December through June at locations on Tonto Creek, the Salt and Verde rivers, as well as Alamo, Pleasant, Becker, Lynx and Luna lakes...Crowing, howling greet return of wolves to West The sound of success pierces the cold, still air. Howling gray wolves announce their dominance over the food chain stretching from Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley to Montana less than a decade after wildlife biologists returned them to their traditional habitat. Bringing wolves back from the brink of extinction is being hailed as an ecological triumph, so much so that the federal government reclassified the animal this year from "endangered" to "threatened." The next step toward removal from the protected species list is for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to transfer responsibility for wolf management to game officials in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, possibly late next year. The livestock industry and hunters, who have simmered as the wolf population soared from 31 in the mid-1990s to 750, say they can't wait for return of local control. On the other side, environmental groups fear that a lack of federal oversight will mean a return to the "shoot, shovel and shut up" mindset that nearly caused the wolf's demise...Park Service board concludes probe of fatal bear attack on California couple A panel that investigated the deadly bear attack on a California couple in Katmai National Park and Preserve last October is recommending a review of the park's camping and bear management policies, federal officials said Wednesday. The Technical Board of Investigation has completed its inquiry in the deaths of Malibu, Calif., bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard and plans to submit its final report to National Park Service officials within a week. The four-page report also sums up likely contributing factors in the deaths of Treadwell, 46, a wildlife author who spent the past 13 summers tracking brown bears at the Alaska Peninsula park, and Huguenard, 37, who joined him in recent years. Treadwell was known and sometimes criticized for getting too chummy with brown bears - as coastal grizzlies are called in Alaska - without any kind of protection such as bear spray...Last-minute ruling prompts scramble on Yellowstone's opening day Carol Steinhauer was sputtering mad Wednesday morning. The Indiana woman's long-awaited two-week vacation in Yellowstone National Park had been disrupted, and she wanted somebody to pay. "This is a $5,000 vacation," she said as she pulled off her snowmobile helmet and began looking for a way to enter the park, a place that had been closed to unescorted snowmobilers like herself and her husband, Paul, just 12 hours earlier. "I'd like to send the bill to the senator who came up with this," she said. "Or the judge. Or the tree huggers."...Park ruling sparks dismay Norm Brunel of Manitoba, Canada, waited patiently in the cold morning darkness for the park to officially open. When it did, he presented a permit and fee receipt he'd purchased a month earlier, which were to have gained him admittance. Instead, he was told they were no longer valid. "No matter what I have," he said in frustration, "I can't go into the park, not without going out and hiring a guide. I drove 1,200 miles for this."...NYT Editorial: Banishing Snowmobiles n a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Judge Emmet Sullivan declared a halt to the Bush administration's plan to continue and indeed expand snowmobiling in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. His ruling, which reinstates a Clinton-administration plan to phase out the snowmobiles, is a victory for the parks, their wildlife and the visitors who come to enjoy both. Beyond that, it is a resounding rebuke to the Bush administration, whose eagerness to satisfy a narrow political constituency caused it to violate its statutory obligation to protect the parks from degradation and to leave them, as the law commands, "unimpaired" for future generations. That snowmobiles impaired the parks was never much in doubt -- not to the Park Service employees who hated President Bush's plan; not to the public, whose comments reflected overwhelming disapproval for the plan; and not to the government's own scientists, who concluded that even the newer, quieter snowmobiles the administration had promoted as the ultimate compromise would foul the air and disrupt animal life...Snowmobile Community Appeals District of Columbia Court Opinion on Yellowstone The Snowmobile Community will immediately appeal an opinion issued by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Judge Emmet Sullivan, blocking the 2003 Yellowstone National Park Winter Use Plan. The State of Wyoming and the National Park Service (NPS) are expected to join the appeal. The Snowmobile Community, including individuals and small business owners in the Yellowstone gateway communities, snowmobile enthusiast organizations, and snowmobile manufacturers through the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association (ISMA), will seek an emergency stay of the Judge's ruling. The stay requests that the opinion not be implemented while the case is being appealed...Sled ruling hits home to outfitters Early Wednesday morning Jackson Hole Snowmobile Tours office manager Stacey Chapman called two people and told them that because of a judge's ruling Tuesday night they would not be able to rent snowmobiles. "They were irate," said Chapman, who is the office manager. "They did not understand. That's how it's going to be. We are going to have a lot of angry people." Wyoming officials and snowmobile industry attorneys are trying to keep Chapman from having to speak with more angry customers. Both are working to overturn U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan's ruling that cuts in half the number of snowmobiles allowed in Yellowstone and Grand Teton this winter and would eliminate snowmobiles from the park next winter...Waiting List For Grand Canyon Raft Trips Frozen The National Park Service has imposed a freeze on adding new names to the waiting list for permits to raft through the Grand Canyon. There are now more than 8,000 people on the list for self-guided rafting trips through the park. Those at the end of the list will have to wait 20 years to make the trip down the Colorado River...Report stresses animal safety: Vehicles must be prevented from running over imperiled species during a desert race The U.S. Defense Department will have to take steps to prevent robotic vehicles from running over desert tortoises and other imperiled species when it hosts a race from Barstow to Las Vegas, a report issued Wednesday said. While it is anticipated that few, if any, desert tortoises would be killed or injured, tortoise monitors will be required to sweep the route before the race and move any reptiles 100 feet off the course, the Bureau of Land Management report said...Lawns and life could get ugly if lake keeps falling Daily life in the Las Vegas Valley could become increasingly challenging if Lake Mead continues its decline, dipping below 1,125 feet above sea level in 2005 and pushing the region into a drought emergency, the most severe of the region's three drought categories. Lawn watering could be banned. Water rates could increase for the second time in 18 months. Golf courses might have to operate with less water...Regulators say protecting Tahoe Basin a priority Preventing a major wildfire from devastating the Lake Tahoe Basin and fouling its sensitive environment for years must be the area’s top priority, land-use regulators decided Wednesday. Governors of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency reviewed a $26.5 million plan to begin thinning trees and taking other precautions in fire-prone forests along the dangerous ribbon of landscape where forests abut populated communities...Editorial: Federal land sales While water officials throughout the West continue to grapple with the implications of our record-setting drought, at least there's some good news from Washington. The Bush administration has said it will neither halt nor slow the pace of public land sales in Southern Nevada. At a meeting Friday in Las Vegas of the agencies that receive water from the Colorado River, Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley said, "The federal government is not going to play a role in where (people) can and should live. That's a local issue, not a federal issue." And that's the appropriate response. Washington bureaucrats have no business meddling in local planning and zoning decisions -- notwithstanding the "Livable Communities Initiative," a scheme hatched by former Vice President Al Gore in 1999 to have the federal government buy up undeveloped land and make it off-limits for future homes or businesses...The Killing Hills Martin didn't find a sympathetic ear in Mike Roach, conservation officer for the Division of Wildlife Resources. Roach investigated the incident, ruled it a legal kill and said Martin had no recourse against the offending hunter. The problem, said Roach, is that landowners made no attempt to distinguish their property lines from the public land that backs up against the Olympus Cove neighborhood. And he can't enforce a trespassing complaint unless fences were erected or signs posted...Bush hears Ducks Unlimited concerns With one third of the waterfowl hunters answering a Ducks Unlimited survey saying success is below average so far this season, DU president John Tomke and others met last week with President Bush. Tomke's concern comes from a 2001 Supreme Court decision that, if broadly interpreted, could eliminate long-standing protection of wetlands and small bodies of water under the Clean Water Act. During the meeting, Tomke also remarked that in recent months more than 20,000 letters have been sent to the White House and other key decision makers in Washington by DU members and supporters on this issue...Cheney-Cornyn pheasant hunt drawing slings and arrows When Dick Cheney and a hunting party that included Sen. John Cornyn and several other Texas Republicans bagged hundreds of pheasants at a private game reserve in Pennsylvania last week, animal-rights activists denounced it as a slaughter. They were especially outraged that the vice president shot more than 70. But Mr. Cornyn said Wednesday that the birds had a sporting chance, even if they were farm-raised and released from nets for the hunters. "It was a good shoot," said Mr. Cornyn, who figures he shot dozens of pheasants himself...Water feud stirs Texas water policy review A heated debate in Texas over a proposal to pump groundwater from state lands for commercial sale is spurring state officials to take another look at a sacred 100-year-old water policy often called "the biggest straw wins." The so-called rule of capture gives a landowner the right to pump an unlimited amount of groundwater by tapping into an underlying aquifer. The owner is not liable for injury to his neighbor because of excessive pumping unless it's intentional. The Texas Supreme Court as recently as four years ago upheld the rule based on an English law that has been modified in most other states because the pumping can exhaust the groundwater supply if it's not naturally recharged...Editorial: Where tradition, law collide On Dec. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a Colorado court's decision upholding traditional rights of land-grant heirs to use southern Colorado's Taylor Ranch for grazing and other uses. That may be the end of the legal road - but unless cool heads prevail, the rancor generated by the long-running dispute may continue to simmer. The four-decade battle highlighted a clash between two very different legal systems: absolutist concepts of property rights rooted in Anglo-Saxon law and communal rights as practiced under Spanish and Mexican colonial land grants that were used to lure settlers to the Southwest...Tempers flare in property dispute It was shaping up as the Upshur County Land War and no one knew what to expect. Seven police, sheriff and highway patrol cars were lined up out front and folks inside were furious at what could happen to them. "You can bet there are guns in there," said Sylvia Mobley, who drove over from Shreveport, La., to see if there was any substance to the threat of the state of Texas confiscating property that had been in her family for 153 years...State Assaults Private Property In his new book, Mugged By The State: Outrageous Government Assaults on Ordinary People and Their Property, published by Regnery, a sister company of HUMAN EVENTS, Randall Fitzgerald describes how common, ordinary American citizens have been subjected to government abuse. Fitzgerald, a veteran journalist, provides many riveting examples of ranchers, homeowners and small businessmen who have encountered the wrath of bureaucrats and regulators, who, in the zeal of enforcing cumbersome government regulations, have seized homes, private property, cars, bank accounts, and closed down businesses in the interest of "public safety" and the "public good." U.S. gets trade-pact deal with four nations The Bush administration reached a free-trade agreement yesterday with four Central American countries. The accord — reached just weeks before the 10th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement — would allow more than 80 percent of U.S. consumer and industrial products into Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras duty-free as soon as it went into force. That figure would rise to 85 percent within five years and 100 percent in a decade. U.S. agricultural products would take considerably longer — up to 18 years — to reach duty-free status, largely because U.S. trade negotiators insisted on protecting the American sugar market from Central American exports...Lawsuit could affect cattle producers A trial in federal court scheduled for Jan. 12 in Montgomery, Ala., could have a huge impact on Nebraska cattle producers, said Steve Cady, executive director of Organization for Competitive Markets, which is based in Lincoln. According to Cady, the trial, know as "Pickett vs. IBP," is the first class action case ever brought by producers against beef packers over the issue of captive supply...Sheriff: Roaming horses causing a problem Open range areas along U.S. Highway 87 south of Havre have been problematic for motorists using the highway, Hill County Sheriff Greg Szudera said. The Sheriff's Office has received numerous complaints about livestock on or near the highway, and two women were hospitalized Saturday after their car collided with a horse. The horse was killed. The accident has prompted local law enforcement and the State Department of Livestock to search for ways to better enforce animal grazing laws. Szudera and state livestock detective Dan Campbell have been meeting to figure out what recourse the Sheriff's Office has under somewhat confusing state laws...Mad cow variant kills blood donor and a recipient The British government announced Wednesday the first reported case of a person dying from the human form of mad cow disease after a blood transfusion from an infected donor. Health Secretary John Reid told Parliament it was not possible to determine whether the transfusion recipient contracted the fatal brain-wasting illness from the donor or whether the two were independently infected. But it was the first report supporting the idea the disease might be transmitted by blood transfusions...Kids’ video gets good response An educational children’s video on the cowboy way of life, which was partially filmed in the Laramie area, has received an overwhelming response nationwide, one of its producers said. “All About Cowboys” was filmed entirely in Wyoming and is designed to educate children on Western history by portraying and comparing the 1800s cowboy culture with today’s ranching techniques and rodeo showmanship. The video touches on the history of cowboy culture, tells what it’s like to be a cowboy today, and features Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo action, trick riders, a world-class trick roper and a 7-year-old cowboy with his pony...The West Under Cover: Haycox wrote off into the sunset Ernest Hemingway once said he bought a copy of the Saturday Evening Post whenever it had a story by Ernest Haycox. For years the Spur award, given annually by the Western Writers of America, was known as the "Erny," in honor of Haycox. His short story, "Stage to Lordsburg," was made into "Stagecoach," the John Ford movie that made John Wayne famous. Some critics (including this one) will tell you his 1943 novel, Bugles in the Afternoon, with its avoidance of mythology and its insistence on psychological correctness, is among the best Western books ever written...
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
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And you thought everything would change when Christie Whitman left EPA. After all, we got a western Governor in the top spot. I'm sure the back-tracking on this key issue had nothing to do with this meeting. Looks like someone will have to sue Bush to get him to implement the Supreme Court decision.
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Bush administration abandons effort to rewrite wetlands regulations
WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush is abandoning a plan that could have further reduced wetlands protections even though his administration has said their occasional use by farmers, migratory birds or endangered species isn't reason enough to stop developers from filling them in.
Mike Leavitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday that Bush personally made the decision ''not to issue a rule that could reduce'' further wetlands protections under the Clean Water Act.
Leavitt said the administration wants to avoid ''a contentious and lengthy rule-making debate'' over disputed environmental benefits or losses by putting into force advisory guidelines issued in January.
The administration recognizes the ecological value of remaining wetlands that function as ''nature's kidneys'' by filtering pollutants, Leavitt said, explaining Bush's decision to drop a formal rule-making process since then.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 in a Chicago-area case that isolated ponds and mudflats should not be afforded Clean Water Act protections if only to provide habitat for migratory birds.
The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued the January guidelines for carrying out the court's decision. Environmentalists said those guidelines went beyond the court ruling by adding ''endangered species'' and ''crop irrigation'' as insufficient grounds for protecting wetlands, isolated streams, ponds and marshes that don't cross state lines.
At the same time, the administration began crafting new regulations specifically to exclude isolated ponds and streams, many of them dry for part of the year, as protected wetlands under the law.
Chandler Morse, a policy analyst for the National Association of Home Builders, said the guidelines have created even more inconsistency and unpredictability on whether developers must get permits from the Corps of Engineers before filling isolated wetlands.
''Not moving ahead with the rule-making is going to leave the problems around,'' he said. ''There just isn't a lot of information on what this all means.''
Last month, 218 House members, including 26 Republicans, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and all but 14 of the House's 205 Democrats, signed a letter to Bush urging him to scrap what they called an attempt ''to remove federal protection from waters ... that have been covered by the Clean Water Act for decades.''
EPA has estimated that as much one-fifth of the current 100 million acres of wetlands in the United States, a full 20 million acres, could be considered isolated. Other Bush administration officials have put that figure at as low as 45,000 acres.
''We're happy that they've decided not to go forward,'' said Malia Hale, a water policy specialist at the National Wildlife Federation. ''However, the guidance still stands out there.''
Tracy Mehan, who oversees the EPA Office of Water, said the Supreme Court's decision and guidelines implementing it have had little impact on wetlands so far.
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And you thought everything would change when Christie Whitman left EPA. After all, we got a western Governor in the top spot. I'm sure the back-tracking on this key issue had nothing to do with this meeting. Looks like someone will have to sue Bush to get him to implement the Supreme Court decision.
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Bush administration abandons effort to rewrite wetlands regulations
WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush is abandoning a plan that could have further reduced wetlands protections even though his administration has said their occasional use by farmers, migratory birds or endangered species isn't reason enough to stop developers from filling them in.
Mike Leavitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said Tuesday that Bush personally made the decision ''not to issue a rule that could reduce'' further wetlands protections under the Clean Water Act.
Leavitt said the administration wants to avoid ''a contentious and lengthy rule-making debate'' over disputed environmental benefits or losses by putting into force advisory guidelines issued in January.
The administration recognizes the ecological value of remaining wetlands that function as ''nature's kidneys'' by filtering pollutants, Leavitt said, explaining Bush's decision to drop a formal rule-making process since then.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 in a Chicago-area case that isolated ponds and mudflats should not be afforded Clean Water Act protections if only to provide habitat for migratory birds.
The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers issued the January guidelines for carrying out the court's decision. Environmentalists said those guidelines went beyond the court ruling by adding ''endangered species'' and ''crop irrigation'' as insufficient grounds for protecting wetlands, isolated streams, ponds and marshes that don't cross state lines.
At the same time, the administration began crafting new regulations specifically to exclude isolated ponds and streams, many of them dry for part of the year, as protected wetlands under the law.
Chandler Morse, a policy analyst for the National Association of Home Builders, said the guidelines have created even more inconsistency and unpredictability on whether developers must get permits from the Corps of Engineers before filling isolated wetlands.
''Not moving ahead with the rule-making is going to leave the problems around,'' he said. ''There just isn't a lot of information on what this all means.''
Last month, 218 House members, including 26 Republicans, independent Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and all but 14 of the House's 205 Democrats, signed a letter to Bush urging him to scrap what they called an attempt ''to remove federal protection from waters ... that have been covered by the Clean Water Act for decades.''
EPA has estimated that as much one-fifth of the current 100 million acres of wetlands in the United States, a full 20 million acres, could be considered isolated. Other Bush administration officials have put that figure at as low as 45,000 acres.
''We're happy that they've decided not to go forward,'' said Malia Hale, a water policy specialist at the National Wildlife Federation. ''However, the guidance still stands out there.''
Tracy Mehan, who oversees the EPA Office of Water, said the Supreme Court's decision and guidelines implementing it have had little impact on wetlands so far.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Fish and Wildlife Service faulted in Southern California wildfires Officials say efforts to battle California wildfires were hampered because the US Fish and Wildlife Service delayed their request for controlled burns. The city of San Bernardino received funding from the federal government in 1995 to burn areas of heavy brush near the San Bernardino National Forest. But it took the Fish and Wildlife Service seven years to conclude the burns would not jeopardize rare animals and plants. That decision came just a few months before the Old Fire destroyed hundreds of homes. The city was preparing public hearings on the burn when the fire started...Forest Service approves food storage order After two years of revisions, the U.S. Forest Service approved an order to keep food away from bears in more parts of the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone national forests, officials said Tuesday. The order spells out how food, pet food, dead game animals, livestock grains and feeds, garbage and hygiene items should be stored by forest users so they don't attract bears. Forest Service officials say the order, which has drawn criticism and threats of litigation from several Wyoming counties, is necessary to address increasing bear and human encounters and ensure visitor safety...Supervisors approve revised Frank Church Wilderness plan Supervisors of four national forests have signed off on a revised management plan for central Idaho's 4.2 million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The wilderness plan, a decade in the making, includes increases in Salmon River jet boat use by allowing the boats to stay longer, changes in float boating on the Salmon's main and middle forks and changes at wilderness airstrips. It also provides broad direction to forest managers...Klamath Tribes release forest restoration plan Pressing a campaign to regain control over 690,000 acres of national forest taken from them in the 1960s and 1970s, the Klamath Tribes have formed a plan to restore elements of the forest the way it was before a century of logging. The plan, produced by two of the Northwest's leading foresters, would represent one of the biggest forest restoration projects in the West...BuzzFlash interview: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. For his entire adult life, Robert F. Kennedy has fought to protect our environment. In a recent lengthy commentary in Rolling Stone Magazine, Kennedy issued a brilliant, impassioned, well-documented indictment of the Bush administration for its assault on the air, water, and land owned by all Americans for our common good. BuzzFlash recently interviewed Kennedy about his case against the Bush administration's ruinous policies toward the environment...Pot guards endanger land users Mexican cartels have taken over much of California's marijuana farming, boosting both the potency of the drug and the propensity for violence from armed guards protecting the crop, the nation's drug czar said Monday. They're planting huge marijuana plots on public lands, creating a growing danger to hikers and hunters stumbling into the line of fire, said John Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, in advance of appearances today in Reno and South Lake Tahoe, Nev...Federal lawsuit filed over climbing ban at Tahoe landmark A rock climbing group filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court challenging a U.S. Forest Service management plan that bans climbing on Cave Rock, a landmark on Lake Tahoe's east shore. The Forest Service has agreed to postpone until May implementation of its Cave Rock management plan, which means it's OK to climb there for the time being...Riders, nature-lovers agree: Give land a rest Tire ruts appearing on San Diego County's newly burned hillsides have prompted an unusual alliance of off-road enthusiasts and environmentalists to carry a single message: Stay off the burned lands while they heal. Don't go off trails, even if the now-cleared countryside looks tempting...Bush Administration to Cut Key Salmon-Protection Measures The Bush administration's attempt to eliminate protections for imperiled salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake River Basin drew concern today from a coalition of businesses, fishermen and conservationists. The coalition sent a letter to the President arguing that a decision to eliminate summer spill would be a "serious blow" to salmon-dependent communities and would jeopardize the long-term survival of salmon throughout the Basin. Similar letters from the State of Alaska and the Alaska Trollers' Association have also been sent...Tiny owl may lose U.S. protection The U.S. agency that put the pygmy owl on the endangered species list now wants it taken off, which would make it easier to develop thousands of acres of prime Northwest Side land. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filed papers last week asking a federal judge to drop the listing of the tiny cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, whose protection transformed the politics of growth in Pima County. Echoing arguments made by home build-ers' groups, the Wildlife Service said a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in August leaves a lower District Court judge no choice but to take the owl off the list...U.S. to Delist Ariz. Agave As Endangered Federal wildlife officials plan to take the Arizona agave off the nation's list of endangered species because scientific studies concluded that the plant is a hybrid. "It hasn't progressed far enough on the evolutionary path to call it a species. Not to say it couldn't, but it hasn't gotten there yet," said Mima Falk, a plant ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Man charged in aerial coyote hunt A man who survived a small plane crash that killed the pilot pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court to a misdemeanor charge of aerial hunting of coyotes on the Crow Indian Reservation without a permit. The criminal complaint charges Paul A. Garrison, who was injured when the Piper PA-22 he was riding in went down Feb. 20 about six miles east of Garryowen. Pilot Jeff Puente was killed...Park snowmobiling dealt blow It was supposed to have been a merry Christmas party for the 200 or so employees of West Yellowstone's Holiday Inn, and for an extra hour it was. Then Clyde Seely, owner of the lodge, stood up and broke the news: "I didn't want to spoil this night, but an hour ago we learned the judge struck down the Bush plan to allow snowmobiling in Yellowstone (National Park). At this point we don't know the full ramifications of the decision," he said. "I'm sorry." U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled late Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that the Bush administration should not have set aside a Clinton administration plan to ban snowmobiles from the national park. Sullivan's ruling effectively reinstated a Clinton phase-out plan. Now, under that plan, 490 snowmobiles per day will be allowed through the four gates to the park this season, and unless the decision is overturned, the park will be closed to the machines next winter. Under the Bush plan, 950 of the cleaner, quieter machines were to have been allowed into the park each day for years to come...Looter gets 37 months in prison in stolen artifact case in Vegas An Oklahoma man who admitted his role in a theft ring that netted thousands of pilfered relics from throughout the West has received one of the longest prison sentences ever in a case involving stolen artifacts, authorities said Tuesday. Bobbie Wilkie, 45, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to 37 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $102,000 in restitution, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said...Pilgrim family member found guilty of doing park business without permit A man living inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park was found guilty of taking an undercover ranger on a paid horseback excursion without a permit. Federal magistrate Harry Branson said Joshua Hale _ who is part of the 17-member Pilgrim family embroiled in a dispute with the government over park access _ knew that Bonanza Mine was part of the national park and that he needed a permit to guide there. But his family accepted $200 from the ranger and Hale took him on a horseback trip to the mine above Kennecott, the magistrate said. In the nonjury trial, Branson found Hale, 23, guilty of the misdemeanor crime of doing business on federal land without a permit...Wild Land or Disneyland? As though do-it-yourself river access weren't already limited at Grand Canyon National Park, Park Service officials in the Bush Administration have announced a "freeze" on accepting applications for river permits for those who don't want a large-sized, commercialized experience on one of the world's most sought-after wilderness rivers. The Administration's Park Service freeze applies only to those seeking a permit to run the river on self-guided and mostly oar-powered trips, while commercial outfitters, who already hold a tight 70% of access to the river, are allowed to continue selling seats for their large motor trips. The current system of permitting has resulted in 20+ year waits for people seeking an authentic wilderness river experience...Scientists say Desert Act limits them Roland Brady used to study geological faults in the Mojave Desert, work that he hoped would lead to a better understanding of earthquakes and help to build structures more resistant to the shaking of the ground. No more. With passage of the Desert Protection Act in 1993 and its implementation the following year, the Cal State Fresno professor says he found himself hamstrung by new regulations and restrictions. The act set aside large areas of Bureau of Land Management territory and regions of Death Valley as wilderness. It also created the Mojave National Preserve, much of it designated as wilderness. Mechanized equipment is banned in wilderness areas. The prohibition applies not only to off-road vehicles - making it impractical for scientists to trek for miles with heavy research supplies or simply access remote areas on foot - but even things such as a tape recorder that might be placed in a study zone to gather data...EPA battles Canadian company over river pollution It's not often the United States serves as a dumping ground for a foreign factory, but that is happening in the remote northeast corner of Washington. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to force a Canadian company to clean up decades of toxic smelter wastes that have flowed down the Columbia River into Lake Roosevelt in the United States...Western Shoshone payments challenged The Western Shoshone have found an ally in U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva to join their near half-century long land battle with the federal government. The Arizona congressman is taking the Department of Interior to task asking some hard-line questions and requesting bundles of documents related to land and treaty rights directly connected with the current distribution bill which considers one-time payments to the tribe. In a four-page letter, dated Nov. 17 and addressed to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Grijalva, D-Ariz. asked the department to cite the law the government used to take title to Western Shoshone land, called for the release of reports justifying the agency's recent treatment of the tribe and demanded information regarding any meetings or communications the agency has had with special interests eyeing the land for potential energy development. Although Grijalva said the letter isn't meant to be accusatory or demanding in nature its tone is quite clear. He wants everything laid out on the table so Congress can make an informed decision on H.R. 884, better known as the "Western Shoshone Distribution Bill." Grijalva said he hopes at least to get some "factual answers" to all the questions he raises in his letter...Theft Hampers Archaeology Site Protection Ranger Jason Caffey was on routine patrol, miles from anywhere, when he saw it: A rockshelter that archaeologists had been excavating for a decade was looted, scooped out in the middle with thousands of stone artifacts and bone fragments cast aside. But since Caffey's discovery in June in rugged, remote north-central Wyoming, no arrests have been made and leads have been limited. The vandalism points out the difficulty that a limited number of federal officials in the field face in protecting remote archaeological sites containing valuable artifacts...Ranching proposal faces criticism Proposed new federal rules would improve grazing management and help continue public lands ranching in the rural West, some say. "This proposed rule will help public lands ranchers stay on the land," Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently told the Joint Stockmen's Convention in Albuquerque. Others say the rules will perpetuate a subsidized industry and make it harder for the public to get involved in decisions that affect public lands...Top Fish and Wildlife Priorities Discussed President George W. Bush along with Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman met with Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Chairman Jim Range and representatives from several of the country's leading hunting and angling organizations Friday at the White House. The meeting was called in part to thank those in the group who had supported the President's Healthy Forest Initiative which he signed into law as the Healthy Forest Restoration Act on November 21. The meeting also provided an opportunity for the President to address issues that the sporting community has recently identified as top priority conservation concerns...Bill would protect landowners from drilling Landowners would have more protections if their property is targeted for oil and gas development under a bill introduced by U.S. Reps. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Tom Udall, D-N.M. The Western Waters and Surface Owners Protection Act was introduced just before Congress recessed for the year, after several efforts to add its provisions to the now-stalled energy bill failed. The bill would require oil and gas operators to replace water supplies lost or damaged due to development, outline steps to protect water resources and negotiate surface-use agreements with private landowners whose property sits over federal minerals. If an agreement cannot be reached, the bill provides for an alternative dispute mechanism to ensure good-faith negotiations...To see the bill, click here and enter H.R. 3698 ...Water plan under fire from rights holders New Mexico's first comprehensive state water plan is scheduled to come before Interstate Stream Commissioners today, but already the Assessment Payers Association of the Middle Rio Grande is complaining that historic water rights holders -- including Indian tribes -- "have every reason to be nervous." In the Assessment Payers November newsletter, "Watermark," put out by association member Lisa Roberts with direction from the board, a cover story states that, "Among the salient criticisms of the draft plan is the short shrift given to the protection of vested rights." Promises made under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo are not addressed in the plan and there is no mention of pre-1907 water rights, the newsletter said...Banks may have to choose between pumpers, trout farms Southern Idaho bankers said they have not had to side with groundwater users or trout producers when it comes to handing out operating loans. But a growing conflict over available water could change that. The dispute revolves around the effect of wells punched into the Snake River Plain Aquifer in eastern Idaho. That ultimately lowers the freshwater springs which supply the trout hatcheries downstream at Hagerman. Those trout farms often have earlier water rights than the groundwater pumpers. The state's dairy industry depends on that pumping...Agreement may put wolf at further risk, some say The recovery of the highly endangered Mexican wolf may be further at risk under a new agreement among federal, state and tribal leaders, conservationists say. They said the so-called memorandum of understanding places too much authority over the wolves with local officials and the livestock industry. The agreement, signed by only a handful of agencies so far, acknowledges the responsibilities of state, county and tribal governments for the welfare and protection of their citizens, and makes them an intricate part of the management process for the wolves...Non-lethal methods can resolve conflicts between bears and humans How do you keep a black bear from taking out the backyard bird feeder or going through your garbage? Play the sound of a helicopter, or flash a strobe light, say scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations, who tested several non-lethal techniques to minimize conflicts between humans and large carnivores. The scientists, who published their results in the December edition of Conservation Biology, compared the effectiveness of non-lethal methods for keeping large carnivores away from human structures, livestock, and other potential conflict areas. They found that motion-activated lights and sounds can keep both large- and medium-sized predators away from food sources, thus preventing a clash that can result in large carnivores being destroyed...Editorial: Labeling law shouldn't be delayed The reasons country-of-origin labeling on food products is good for the United States are so overwhelming that it's appalling that it has been delayed. What is even more despicable is that the labeling law (COOL) has already passed; the debate has already taken place. COOL was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush as part of the 2002 Farm Bill...Court reinstates madcow suit against USDA A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived an animal protection group's lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture aimed at stopping the sale of "downed" animals for human food because of a fear of mad cow disease. In its ruling, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's finding that the Farm Sanctuary, based in upstate New York, and Fordham University professor Michael Baur had no standing to file the suit...Keeping Cows Safe From Terrorism That's the concern of the Department of Homeland Security, which announced Friday a $33 million plan for a pair of academic centers to combat possible terrorist attacks on America's livestock and food supply. The department contends that so-called "agroterrorism" is a "top priority for university research." But outside homeland security and biological defense circles, experts are deeply divided over how realistic the threat actually is...Group aims to market lamb to US Australia has joined forces with the United States and New Zealand to boost consumption of lamb in the United States and to avoid the difficulties faced in the market in the past. Four years ago the US Government increased the tariff on lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand in an attempt to protect local farmers from competition. The World Trade Organisation eventually ruled the tariff increase illegal and the US was forced to back down...East Texans dig in for land battle "Boogie" Feagin thought his little corner of Upshur County was his retirement castle, a scrub-pine slice of East Texas where a working man could run some cows and watch his grandkids play. But trouble arrived in his mailbox three months ago. Now the 69-year-old and his neighbors are worried that an arcane Texas legal maneuver known as a "vacancy claim" could cost them their homes and land...All 31 Brucellosis-infected cattle had been vaccinated for the disease All 31 cattle which tested positive for brucellosis on a ranch in the Boulder area had been vaccinated against the disease, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian. After answering Sublette County residents' questions during a 41/2-hour meeting in Pinedale Monday night, officials were deciding what to do next to contain the outbreak. They were weighing a number of options, including providing booster shots to Sublette County cattle. Bret Combs, a veterinarian with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said Tuesday that seven of the infected cattle had been inoculated with the Strain 19 vaccine and the rest with the newer RB51 vaccine, which began being administered around 1996...Railcar shortage hits U.S. A record 2003 corn crop, high grain prices and rising demand in Europe and Asia for wheat and soybeans are factors contributing to railcar shortages, the Agriculture Marketing Service indicated in its weekly grain and transportation report. As a result, grain is being stored on the ground in many locations...Borders may be open to beef by 2004 As 2003 draws to a close, area beef producers are optimistic that the American border will reopen to Canadian beef early in the new year. A comment period to the American government on a proposal to reopen the border, which was closed on May 20 after one breeder cow in Alberta tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), will end on Jan. 5, 2004. Lyle Vanclief, federal minister of agriculture, reportedly told media recently that he expects the border to reopen to live animals younger than 30 months within a week following the Jan. 5 deadline for comments, but one area farmer thinks that's optimistic...Members of the Senate will work to restore COOL -- Grassley Although supporters of Country of Origin Labeling have expressed hope that the Senate will stop a two-year delay in mandatory country of origin labeling when it votes on a spending bill next January, that's not likely to happen, the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday. "It will not be stopped in the Senate on January 20, but I would not preclude activity in the next appropriations process," said Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)...Time, progress change cowboys' job description Few things in western history have changed as drastically as the job descriptions of the American cowboy. Our long-time vision of a tall, bowlegged, sunburned, weathered, chapped and spurred rugged individual seems to have all but disappeared from the western scene. Perhaps it is because of the ever-changing job descriptions he endures. At one time, the cowboy arose before daylight, topped off his bronc for the day, then rode the wide-open ranges until late evening, tending livestock and enjoying complete freedom. In the 1880s, barbed wire was invented and the chore of fence building and repair was added to his duties...Fans want former rider in hall of fame It's been decades since "Brownie" Smith last settled down on top a saddle bronc, nodded to the men holding the gate latch and exploded into rodeo arenas all around southwest Montana. But her horsemanship skills and ability to make a good ride haven't been forgotten. And now people around Montana are working to see Smith's achievements as a cowgirl be remembered forever as a member of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. "The first I can remember seeing Brownie ride was at a rodeo in Dillon," remembers Jim Eighorn of Melrose in his nomination letter. "She made an exhibition saddle bronc ride that made your hair stand on end...
Fish and Wildlife Service faulted in Southern California wildfires Officials say efforts to battle California wildfires were hampered because the US Fish and Wildlife Service delayed their request for controlled burns. The city of San Bernardino received funding from the federal government in 1995 to burn areas of heavy brush near the San Bernardino National Forest. But it took the Fish and Wildlife Service seven years to conclude the burns would not jeopardize rare animals and plants. That decision came just a few months before the Old Fire destroyed hundreds of homes. The city was preparing public hearings on the burn when the fire started...Forest Service approves food storage order After two years of revisions, the U.S. Forest Service approved an order to keep food away from bears in more parts of the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone national forests, officials said Tuesday. The order spells out how food, pet food, dead game animals, livestock grains and feeds, garbage and hygiene items should be stored by forest users so they don't attract bears. Forest Service officials say the order, which has drawn criticism and threats of litigation from several Wyoming counties, is necessary to address increasing bear and human encounters and ensure visitor safety...Supervisors approve revised Frank Church Wilderness plan Supervisors of four national forests have signed off on a revised management plan for central Idaho's 4.2 million-acre Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. The wilderness plan, a decade in the making, includes increases in Salmon River jet boat use by allowing the boats to stay longer, changes in float boating on the Salmon's main and middle forks and changes at wilderness airstrips. It also provides broad direction to forest managers...Klamath Tribes release forest restoration plan Pressing a campaign to regain control over 690,000 acres of national forest taken from them in the 1960s and 1970s, the Klamath Tribes have formed a plan to restore elements of the forest the way it was before a century of logging. The plan, produced by two of the Northwest's leading foresters, would represent one of the biggest forest restoration projects in the West...BuzzFlash interview: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. For his entire adult life, Robert F. Kennedy has fought to protect our environment. In a recent lengthy commentary in Rolling Stone Magazine, Kennedy issued a brilliant, impassioned, well-documented indictment of the Bush administration for its assault on the air, water, and land owned by all Americans for our common good. BuzzFlash recently interviewed Kennedy about his case against the Bush administration's ruinous policies toward the environment...Pot guards endanger land users Mexican cartels have taken over much of California's marijuana farming, boosting both the potency of the drug and the propensity for violence from armed guards protecting the crop, the nation's drug czar said Monday. They're planting huge marijuana plots on public lands, creating a growing danger to hikers and hunters stumbling into the line of fire, said John Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy, in advance of appearances today in Reno and South Lake Tahoe, Nev...Federal lawsuit filed over climbing ban at Tahoe landmark A rock climbing group filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court challenging a U.S. Forest Service management plan that bans climbing on Cave Rock, a landmark on Lake Tahoe's east shore. The Forest Service has agreed to postpone until May implementation of its Cave Rock management plan, which means it's OK to climb there for the time being...Riders, nature-lovers agree: Give land a rest Tire ruts appearing on San Diego County's newly burned hillsides have prompted an unusual alliance of off-road enthusiasts and environmentalists to carry a single message: Stay off the burned lands while they heal. Don't go off trails, even if the now-cleared countryside looks tempting...Bush Administration to Cut Key Salmon-Protection Measures The Bush administration's attempt to eliminate protections for imperiled salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake River Basin drew concern today from a coalition of businesses, fishermen and conservationists. The coalition sent a letter to the President arguing that a decision to eliminate summer spill would be a "serious blow" to salmon-dependent communities and would jeopardize the long-term survival of salmon throughout the Basin. Similar letters from the State of Alaska and the Alaska Trollers' Association have also been sent...Tiny owl may lose U.S. protection The U.S. agency that put the pygmy owl on the endangered species list now wants it taken off, which would make it easier to develop thousands of acres of prime Northwest Side land. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filed papers last week asking a federal judge to drop the listing of the tiny cactus ferruginous pygmy owl, whose protection transformed the politics of growth in Pima County. Echoing arguments made by home build-ers' groups, the Wildlife Service said a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in August leaves a lower District Court judge no choice but to take the owl off the list...U.S. to Delist Ariz. Agave As Endangered Federal wildlife officials plan to take the Arizona agave off the nation's list of endangered species because scientific studies concluded that the plant is a hybrid. "It hasn't progressed far enough on the evolutionary path to call it a species. Not to say it couldn't, but it hasn't gotten there yet," said Mima Falk, a plant ecologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Man charged in aerial coyote hunt A man who survived a small plane crash that killed the pilot pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court to a misdemeanor charge of aerial hunting of coyotes on the Crow Indian Reservation without a permit. The criminal complaint charges Paul A. Garrison, who was injured when the Piper PA-22 he was riding in went down Feb. 20 about six miles east of Garryowen. Pilot Jeff Puente was killed...Park snowmobiling dealt blow It was supposed to have been a merry Christmas party for the 200 or so employees of West Yellowstone's Holiday Inn, and for an extra hour it was. Then Clyde Seely, owner of the lodge, stood up and broke the news: "I didn't want to spoil this night, but an hour ago we learned the judge struck down the Bush plan to allow snowmobiling in Yellowstone (National Park). At this point we don't know the full ramifications of the decision," he said. "I'm sorry." U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled late Tuesday in Washington, D.C., that the Bush administration should not have set aside a Clinton administration plan to ban snowmobiles from the national park. Sullivan's ruling effectively reinstated a Clinton phase-out plan. Now, under that plan, 490 snowmobiles per day will be allowed through the four gates to the park this season, and unless the decision is overturned, the park will be closed to the machines next winter. Under the Bush plan, 950 of the cleaner, quieter machines were to have been allowed into the park each day for years to come...Looter gets 37 months in prison in stolen artifact case in Vegas An Oklahoma man who admitted his role in a theft ring that netted thousands of pilfered relics from throughout the West has received one of the longest prison sentences ever in a case involving stolen artifacts, authorities said Tuesday. Bobbie Wilkie, 45, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas to 37 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $102,000 in restitution, Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said...Pilgrim family member found guilty of doing park business without permit A man living inside Wrangell-St. Elias National Park was found guilty of taking an undercover ranger on a paid horseback excursion without a permit. Federal magistrate Harry Branson said Joshua Hale _ who is part of the 17-member Pilgrim family embroiled in a dispute with the government over park access _ knew that Bonanza Mine was part of the national park and that he needed a permit to guide there. But his family accepted $200 from the ranger and Hale took him on a horseback trip to the mine above Kennecott, the magistrate said. In the nonjury trial, Branson found Hale, 23, guilty of the misdemeanor crime of doing business on federal land without a permit...Wild Land or Disneyland? As though do-it-yourself river access weren't already limited at Grand Canyon National Park, Park Service officials in the Bush Administration have announced a "freeze" on accepting applications for river permits for those who don't want a large-sized, commercialized experience on one of the world's most sought-after wilderness rivers. The Administration's Park Service freeze applies only to those seeking a permit to run the river on self-guided and mostly oar-powered trips, while commercial outfitters, who already hold a tight 70% of access to the river, are allowed to continue selling seats for their large motor trips. The current system of permitting has resulted in 20+ year waits for people seeking an authentic wilderness river experience...Scientists say Desert Act limits them Roland Brady used to study geological faults in the Mojave Desert, work that he hoped would lead to a better understanding of earthquakes and help to build structures more resistant to the shaking of the ground. No more. With passage of the Desert Protection Act in 1993 and its implementation the following year, the Cal State Fresno professor says he found himself hamstrung by new regulations and restrictions. The act set aside large areas of Bureau of Land Management territory and regions of Death Valley as wilderness. It also created the Mojave National Preserve, much of it designated as wilderness. Mechanized equipment is banned in wilderness areas. The prohibition applies not only to off-road vehicles - making it impractical for scientists to trek for miles with heavy research supplies or simply access remote areas on foot - but even things such as a tape recorder that might be placed in a study zone to gather data...EPA battles Canadian company over river pollution It's not often the United States serves as a dumping ground for a foreign factory, but that is happening in the remote northeast corner of Washington. The Environmental Protection Agency is trying to force a Canadian company to clean up decades of toxic smelter wastes that have flowed down the Columbia River into Lake Roosevelt in the United States...Western Shoshone payments challenged The Western Shoshone have found an ally in U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva to join their near half-century long land battle with the federal government. The Arizona congressman is taking the Department of Interior to task asking some hard-line questions and requesting bundles of documents related to land and treaty rights directly connected with the current distribution bill which considers one-time payments to the tribe. In a four-page letter, dated Nov. 17 and addressed to Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Grijalva, D-Ariz. asked the department to cite the law the government used to take title to Western Shoshone land, called for the release of reports justifying the agency's recent treatment of the tribe and demanded information regarding any meetings or communications the agency has had with special interests eyeing the land for potential energy development. Although Grijalva said the letter isn't meant to be accusatory or demanding in nature its tone is quite clear. He wants everything laid out on the table so Congress can make an informed decision on H.R. 884, better known as the "Western Shoshone Distribution Bill." Grijalva said he hopes at least to get some "factual answers" to all the questions he raises in his letter...Theft Hampers Archaeology Site Protection Ranger Jason Caffey was on routine patrol, miles from anywhere, when he saw it: A rockshelter that archaeologists had been excavating for a decade was looted, scooped out in the middle with thousands of stone artifacts and bone fragments cast aside. But since Caffey's discovery in June in rugged, remote north-central Wyoming, no arrests have been made and leads have been limited. The vandalism points out the difficulty that a limited number of federal officials in the field face in protecting remote archaeological sites containing valuable artifacts...Ranching proposal faces criticism Proposed new federal rules would improve grazing management and help continue public lands ranching in the rural West, some say. "This proposed rule will help public lands ranchers stay on the land," Interior Secretary Gale Norton recently told the Joint Stockmen's Convention in Albuquerque. Others say the rules will perpetuate a subsidized industry and make it harder for the public to get involved in decisions that affect public lands...Top Fish and Wildlife Priorities Discussed President George W. Bush along with Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman met with Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Chairman Jim Range and representatives from several of the country's leading hunting and angling organizations Friday at the White House. The meeting was called in part to thank those in the group who had supported the President's Healthy Forest Initiative which he signed into law as the Healthy Forest Restoration Act on November 21. The meeting also provided an opportunity for the President to address issues that the sporting community has recently identified as top priority conservation concerns...Bill would protect landowners from drilling Landowners would have more protections if their property is targeted for oil and gas development under a bill introduced by U.S. Reps. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Tom Udall, D-N.M. The Western Waters and Surface Owners Protection Act was introduced just before Congress recessed for the year, after several efforts to add its provisions to the now-stalled energy bill failed. The bill would require oil and gas operators to replace water supplies lost or damaged due to development, outline steps to protect water resources and negotiate surface-use agreements with private landowners whose property sits over federal minerals. If an agreement cannot be reached, the bill provides for an alternative dispute mechanism to ensure good-faith negotiations...To see the bill, click here and enter H.R. 3698 ...Water plan under fire from rights holders New Mexico's first comprehensive state water plan is scheduled to come before Interstate Stream Commissioners today, but already the Assessment Payers Association of the Middle Rio Grande is complaining that historic water rights holders -- including Indian tribes -- "have every reason to be nervous." In the Assessment Payers November newsletter, "Watermark," put out by association member Lisa Roberts with direction from the board, a cover story states that, "Among the salient criticisms of the draft plan is the short shrift given to the protection of vested rights." Promises made under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo are not addressed in the plan and there is no mention of pre-1907 water rights, the newsletter said...Banks may have to choose between pumpers, trout farms Southern Idaho bankers said they have not had to side with groundwater users or trout producers when it comes to handing out operating loans. But a growing conflict over available water could change that. The dispute revolves around the effect of wells punched into the Snake River Plain Aquifer in eastern Idaho. That ultimately lowers the freshwater springs which supply the trout hatcheries downstream at Hagerman. Those trout farms often have earlier water rights than the groundwater pumpers. The state's dairy industry depends on that pumping...Agreement may put wolf at further risk, some say The recovery of the highly endangered Mexican wolf may be further at risk under a new agreement among federal, state and tribal leaders, conservationists say. They said the so-called memorandum of understanding places too much authority over the wolves with local officials and the livestock industry. The agreement, signed by only a handful of agencies so far, acknowledges the responsibilities of state, county and tribal governments for the welfare and protection of their citizens, and makes them an intricate part of the management process for the wolves...Non-lethal methods can resolve conflicts between bears and humans How do you keep a black bear from taking out the backyard bird feeder or going through your garbage? Play the sound of a helicopter, or flash a strobe light, say scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations, who tested several non-lethal techniques to minimize conflicts between humans and large carnivores. The scientists, who published their results in the December edition of Conservation Biology, compared the effectiveness of non-lethal methods for keeping large carnivores away from human structures, livestock, and other potential conflict areas. They found that motion-activated lights and sounds can keep both large- and medium-sized predators away from food sources, thus preventing a clash that can result in large carnivores being destroyed...Editorial: Labeling law shouldn't be delayed The reasons country-of-origin labeling on food products is good for the United States are so overwhelming that it's appalling that it has been delayed. What is even more despicable is that the labeling law (COOL) has already passed; the debate has already taken place. COOL was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush as part of the 2002 Farm Bill...Court reinstates madcow suit against USDA A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived an animal protection group's lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture aimed at stopping the sale of "downed" animals for human food because of a fear of mad cow disease. In its ruling, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a trial court's finding that the Farm Sanctuary, based in upstate New York, and Fordham University professor Michael Baur had no standing to file the suit...Keeping Cows Safe From Terrorism That's the concern of the Department of Homeland Security, which announced Friday a $33 million plan for a pair of academic centers to combat possible terrorist attacks on America's livestock and food supply. The department contends that so-called "agroterrorism" is a "top priority for university research." But outside homeland security and biological defense circles, experts are deeply divided over how realistic the threat actually is...Group aims to market lamb to US Australia has joined forces with the United States and New Zealand to boost consumption of lamb in the United States and to avoid the difficulties faced in the market in the past. Four years ago the US Government increased the tariff on lamb imports from Australia and New Zealand in an attempt to protect local farmers from competition. The World Trade Organisation eventually ruled the tariff increase illegal and the US was forced to back down...East Texans dig in for land battle "Boogie" Feagin thought his little corner of Upshur County was his retirement castle, a scrub-pine slice of East Texas where a working man could run some cows and watch his grandkids play. But trouble arrived in his mailbox three months ago. Now the 69-year-old and his neighbors are worried that an arcane Texas legal maneuver known as a "vacancy claim" could cost them their homes and land...All 31 Brucellosis-infected cattle had been vaccinated for the disease All 31 cattle which tested positive for brucellosis on a ranch in the Boulder area had been vaccinated against the disease, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarian. After answering Sublette County residents' questions during a 41/2-hour meeting in Pinedale Monday night, officials were deciding what to do next to contain the outbreak. They were weighing a number of options, including providing booster shots to Sublette County cattle. Bret Combs, a veterinarian with the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said Tuesday that seven of the infected cattle had been inoculated with the Strain 19 vaccine and the rest with the newer RB51 vaccine, which began being administered around 1996...Railcar shortage hits U.S. A record 2003 corn crop, high grain prices and rising demand in Europe and Asia for wheat and soybeans are factors contributing to railcar shortages, the Agriculture Marketing Service indicated in its weekly grain and transportation report. As a result, grain is being stored on the ground in many locations...Borders may be open to beef by 2004 As 2003 draws to a close, area beef producers are optimistic that the American border will reopen to Canadian beef early in the new year. A comment period to the American government on a proposal to reopen the border, which was closed on May 20 after one breeder cow in Alberta tested positive for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), will end on Jan. 5, 2004. Lyle Vanclief, federal minister of agriculture, reportedly told media recently that he expects the border to reopen to live animals younger than 30 months within a week following the Jan. 5 deadline for comments, but one area farmer thinks that's optimistic...Members of the Senate will work to restore COOL -- Grassley Although supporters of Country of Origin Labeling have expressed hope that the Senate will stop a two-year delay in mandatory country of origin labeling when it votes on a spending bill next January, that's not likely to happen, the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday. "It will not be stopped in the Senate on January 20, but I would not preclude activity in the next appropriations process," said Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA)...Time, progress change cowboys' job description Few things in western history have changed as drastically as the job descriptions of the American cowboy. Our long-time vision of a tall, bowlegged, sunburned, weathered, chapped and spurred rugged individual seems to have all but disappeared from the western scene. Perhaps it is because of the ever-changing job descriptions he endures. At one time, the cowboy arose before daylight, topped off his bronc for the day, then rode the wide-open ranges until late evening, tending livestock and enjoying complete freedom. In the 1880s, barbed wire was invented and the chore of fence building and repair was added to his duties...Fans want former rider in hall of fame It's been decades since "Brownie" Smith last settled down on top a saddle bronc, nodded to the men holding the gate latch and exploded into rodeo arenas all around southwest Montana. But her horsemanship skills and ability to make a good ride haven't been forgotten. And now people around Montana are working to see Smith's achievements as a cowgirl be remembered forever as a member of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. "The first I can remember seeing Brownie ride was at a rodeo in Dillon," remembers Jim Eighorn of Melrose in his nomination letter. "She made an exhibition saddle bronc ride that made your hair stand on end...
Monday, December 15, 2003
NEWS ROUNDUP
Money matters When wildfires threaten homes or forests - and especially when they can be seen from populated areas - a sense of urgency dominates the atmosphere as thickly as the blazes' smoke. The call goes out to "save" structures and habitat, and at that point, nobody asks how much a bulldozer, helicopter or hand crew will charge. But this year, as fire suppression costs nationwide top $1 billion, including at least $112 million in Montana alone, many people are wondering exactly what we're buying with that money...Heavy equipment costs $3.2 million When the heavy metal thundered into the Lincoln area to help combat the Moose/Wasson and Snow/Talon blazes, their operators were greeted with open arms. With hand crews and aircraft a limited commodity in the early days of the Lincoln Complex blazes, firefighters eagerly turned to bulldozers, skidgines, caterpillars and tractors to help cut lines around the fires in an effort to contain them. Within four days of the Snow/Talon's start, 20 water trucks, plus 14 bulldozers and skidgines - a hybrid piece of equipment that carries water for firefighting but also has a dozer-type blade on it - were at the scene, ready to work on dousing the flames...Gov report shows some cost cutting To many people, it seems as though when a wildfire begins, the United States Forest Service just opens its checkbook and starts writing, with little regard for the bottom line. However, a report by the Forest Service that looked at how the Lincoln Complex Fires were managed does show some cost-cutting attempts while also noting a couple of issues that had a "direct and negative impact" on cost containment efforts...Editorial: Big spending on wildfires To someone whose home was spared from wildfire by the quick, determined and costly efforts of firefighters, it might seem churlish to worry very much about the costly part. But, as today's stories by reporter Eve Byron reveal, some of those costs are mind-boggling. It takes nothing away from the fire bosses' courage and willingness to do whatever it takes to battle a forest fire to ask whether the job can be done for a cheaper price. That's a question, however, that can't even be discussed until people know in detail how current policies are working. That's why Rep. Hal Jacobson, D-Helena, and other legislators are seeking a performance audit to get a better handle on the spending. Jacobson, a member of the legislative audit committee, and Rep. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, a former state budget director, note that when the state gets a bill for $27 million for its share of this year's firefighting costs, maybe it's time for the state to have a say on how that firefighting is managed...Rapidly multiplying invasive species pose host of dangers to U.S. Even in this age of heightened security, dangerous invaders continue to infiltrate the United States. While they may appear harmless, they've got a rap sheet a mile long. Their infiltration threatens human health; it lays waste to fields, forests and waterways; and it costs the nation billions of dollars each year. These foreign critters are what scientists call "invasive species," and they're the No. 2 cause of death to endangered species -- beating out pollution, overharvesting, disease and global warming. They cause grave medical problems, damage crops, and can restrict trade...Colo. report on proposed drilling diluted wildlife recommendations Some recommendations for protecting wildlife amid proposed gas drilling on the Roan Plateau of northwest Colorado were omitted from a state report, prompting criticism from an environmental group. The Colorado Division of Wildlife's suggestions that four areas be protected from development were left out of the state's final report to the federal Bureau of Land Management, internal records show...Reviving species - with a puppet and planes It has to be one of man's strangest odysseys since Orville and Wilbur Wright - human beings dressed as birds flying machines with birds following who think that those humans - in their planes - are birds. But humans go to great lengths to snub Darwin: Like the reintroduction of red wolves and elk in the Smoky Mountains, this was part of a wider effort to drag animals back from the brink of extinction and repopulate regions with species that have disappeared. Florida was the cranes' winter home before they died off in the East; this journey was designed to show them back to their old habitat...Young Bald Eagles Are 'Recruited' for Relocation Jim Spickler scales a 100-foot Sitka spruce and perches at the edge of an eagle's nest, but his job is only half done. Next, he speaks to the 8-week-old raptors in the nest, just long enough to coax them into a padded nylon bag. Then he makes the descent. For the past two summers, Spickler has been on a recruiting drive that could return bald eagles to Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Southern California. The native population on the islands was wiped out by DDT...Riverbed changes owners The Black River courses through the rolling hills of Interior Alaska, past an isolated Gwich'in village and some summer fish camps. This remote waterway became something of a national issue this fall when the state of Alaska took title to its gravelly bottom, courtesy of the federal Bureau of Land Management. A paperwork transfer involving a little-known river in a far-flung corner of Alaska normally wouldn't stir ripples of interest among politicians, tribal leaders and environmentalists alike. But in this case, it marked the first time a state laid claim to a riverbed under a new fast-track approach by the Bush administration aimed at turning more federal land over to states. The BLM action opens the door for Alaska to gain control over thousands of rivers across the state. Alaska gained control of the Black River because of a policy shift at the Department of Interior ushered in by the Bush administration. Last February, the BLM revised its "recordable disclaimer of interest" regulations to make it easier for states to gain title over riverbeds and historic rights of way on public land, such as wagon and sled dog trails, cattle paths, and mining and trapper routes, for example. In Alaska, common examples include the Stampede Trail in Denali National Park, the Girdwood to Eagle River Trail, and the Chilkoot Trail outside Skagway...Road project endangers bats Snoozing in an abandoned church by day and crossing a two-lane highway by night to feed on insects, a colony of endangered and highly sensitive bats has somehow settled in a stretch of forest in rural, west-central Pennsylvania. But a proposal to build a new bridge across U.S. 22 in Blair County could disrupt their flight pattern. Wildlife experts are worried that the Indiana bats could be killed by moving vehicles at a far higher rate than they already get hit, potentially wiping out a particularly unusual colony...Trip to Yellowstone puts pupils in virtual valley A group of New Lenox middle school pupils recently visited Yellowstone National Park's Hayden Valley--without having to sell a single candy bar or roll of wrapping paper to raise money for the trip. That's because the 23 pupils at Liberty Junior High School visited the park's valley on a "virtual tour" via laptop computers as part of their earth science lesson. Yellowstone's Education Program unleashed the 50-minute virtual field trip, dubbed "Zooming in on Hayden Valley," in November, the third of its electronic field trips. Dianne Zinkel, a 7th-grade science teacher at Liberty, jumped at the chance to give her pupils a real-life look at the valley, in the center of Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, and relate it to the curriculum on weathering and erosion last week...Bush Plans Drilling in Untapped Alaska Oil Reserve Across the western Arctic sprawls an Indiana-sized land mass dotted with lakes, populated by migratory birds and other wildlife, and packed with potential oil riches. The National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A), wedged between the foothills of the rugged Brooks Range and the icy Arctic coastline, is about 120 miles from the better-known Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The NPR-A was set aside 80 years ago as an energy storehouse for the U.S. military, but the reserve has yet to send a barrel of oil to market...Spotted owl kin complicates status The northern spotted owl, icon of the Pacific Northwest timber wars a decade ago, now faces a threat at least as imposing as loggers: its bigger, badder cousin, the barred owl. The threat posed by the nonnative barred owl, reviewed by a panel of scientists Friday at Washington State University Vancouver, could influence a re-assessment of the northern spotted owl's status as a threatened species. The owl's 1990 listing sparked an uproar after a federal judge halted all federal timber sales to protect the owl's dwindling habitat in old growth forests...Court tosses timber ruling A federal appellate court on Thursday struck down a Sacramento judge's refusal to block a major logging project in Eldorado National Forest, telling the judge he applied the wrong legal standard for an injunction. One of the appellate judges even questioned whether the U.S. Forest Service can be trusted to administer such projects, since it derives all the proceeds...EPA rules may mean curbs on barbecuing, lawn mowing as focus switches from industry Southeast Michigan officials who are studying ways to comply with tough new federal air pollution rules warn that no source of smog is sacred. Not even the family barbecue. Cars and factories still emit most of Metro Detroit's air pollution, but residents also will be asked to sacrifice to meet tough new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ozone regulations that begin taking effect in 2007 and could cost the region tens of millions of dollars...Bush routes revised clean air policy to EPA Convinced that its effort to revamp the Clean Air Act is stalemated in Congress, the Bush administration is pushing the policies, which govern pollution from power plants, through regulation rather than legislation. This week the Environmental Protection Agency plans to release a pair of proposals that closely track President Bush's proposed amendments to the Clean Air Act, known as the Clear Skies Initiative. The regulations share the same timelines, limits and trading mechanisms for three of the main pollutants released from burning fossil fuels: mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Both proposals would expand the current pollution trading systems for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and introduce a new one for mercury...Brazil: Anti-Logging Activist Missing in Amazon Delta Greenpeace has admitted it is "deeply, deeply worried" about a British activist who has gone missing from one of its ships in the Amazon delta. Yesterday the Brazilian authorities launched an investigation into whether her disappearance is linked to the group's campaign against illegal logging...Beef exports to United States surging Beef exports to the United States have surged with November recording the largest amount ever shipped in a single month. Attractive prices on offer in the US are encouraging exporters to send more product to the market, which now accounts for almost half of Australia's total exports. Peter Weeks, Chief Market analyst with Meat and Livestock Australia, says the surge in shipments to North America will mean Australia may now fill the export quota when earlier in the year that looked impossible...New Jersey's bear hunt ends with 328 confirmed kills New Jersey's first bear hunt in 33 years, prompted by rising numbers of run-ins with humans, ended with hunters taking about 10 percent of the state's estimated bear population. The six-day hunt ended Saturday evening with 328 confirmed kills -- 209 females and 119 males, state Division of Fish and Wildlife Director Martin McHugh said...To Protect Ecosystem, Grand Canyon Hopes to Evict Buffalo The bison trample vegetation, defecate in ponds, pollute springs and create wallows, said Elaine Leslie, a wildlife biologist at the Grand Canyon. Some of the soil they tread on has also begun to erode, putting trees and plants at risk. Consequently, park officials have met with the state to discuss how to remove the bison, which the state owns and maintains on land outside the park. "We need to figure out how to get these animals out of the park eventually," Leslie said...Wyoming ranchers sweat as brucellosis found in cattle herd Three dozen cattle in a Wyoming herd tested positive for a highly contagious bacterial infection that, if widespread, would sharply limit the state's export of cattle, prompt the slaughter of tainted livestock and cause millions of dollars in losses. Even before Donald "Doc" Jensen's entire herd of 391 Hereford cattle was tested for brucellosis, Colorado blocked import of cattle from a sweeping region of Wyoming. Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Utah are poised to follow suit if the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, confirms state lab test results, according to the Wyoming governor's office...First cutting horse champion has legendary status The story of Hub is one that seems almost made up. It has a noble beginning and a sweet ending. It reads like a children's book designed to teach values and character. It is a true story -- certainly one that has been gently massaged over the years -- but it remains faithful to the events, nevertheless. It began in the early 1880s near Jacksboro, northwest of Fort Worth. Bill Wood, a horse trainer who lived on Keechi Creek just outside Jacksboro, had a little bay that Graves dearly coveted. As it turned out, Graves had no money, and Wood needed fence rails. A bargain was struck. Graves split 2,000 rails in payment for Hub. The legend began...
Money matters When wildfires threaten homes or forests - and especially when they can be seen from populated areas - a sense of urgency dominates the atmosphere as thickly as the blazes' smoke. The call goes out to "save" structures and habitat, and at that point, nobody asks how much a bulldozer, helicopter or hand crew will charge. But this year, as fire suppression costs nationwide top $1 billion, including at least $112 million in Montana alone, many people are wondering exactly what we're buying with that money...Heavy equipment costs $3.2 million When the heavy metal thundered into the Lincoln area to help combat the Moose/Wasson and Snow/Talon blazes, their operators were greeted with open arms. With hand crews and aircraft a limited commodity in the early days of the Lincoln Complex blazes, firefighters eagerly turned to bulldozers, skidgines, caterpillars and tractors to help cut lines around the fires in an effort to contain them. Within four days of the Snow/Talon's start, 20 water trucks, plus 14 bulldozers and skidgines - a hybrid piece of equipment that carries water for firefighting but also has a dozer-type blade on it - were at the scene, ready to work on dousing the flames...Gov report shows some cost cutting To many people, it seems as though when a wildfire begins, the United States Forest Service just opens its checkbook and starts writing, with little regard for the bottom line. However, a report by the Forest Service that looked at how the Lincoln Complex Fires were managed does show some cost-cutting attempts while also noting a couple of issues that had a "direct and negative impact" on cost containment efforts...Editorial: Big spending on wildfires To someone whose home was spared from wildfire by the quick, determined and costly efforts of firefighters, it might seem churlish to worry very much about the costly part. But, as today's stories by reporter Eve Byron reveal, some of those costs are mind-boggling. It takes nothing away from the fire bosses' courage and willingness to do whatever it takes to battle a forest fire to ask whether the job can be done for a cheaper price. That's a question, however, that can't even be discussed until people know in detail how current policies are working. That's why Rep. Hal Jacobson, D-Helena, and other legislators are seeking a performance audit to get a better handle on the spending. Jacobson, a member of the legislative audit committee, and Rep. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, a former state budget director, note that when the state gets a bill for $27 million for its share of this year's firefighting costs, maybe it's time for the state to have a say on how that firefighting is managed...Rapidly multiplying invasive species pose host of dangers to U.S. Even in this age of heightened security, dangerous invaders continue to infiltrate the United States. While they may appear harmless, they've got a rap sheet a mile long. Their infiltration threatens human health; it lays waste to fields, forests and waterways; and it costs the nation billions of dollars each year. These foreign critters are what scientists call "invasive species," and they're the No. 2 cause of death to endangered species -- beating out pollution, overharvesting, disease and global warming. They cause grave medical problems, damage crops, and can restrict trade...Colo. report on proposed drilling diluted wildlife recommendations Some recommendations for protecting wildlife amid proposed gas drilling on the Roan Plateau of northwest Colorado were omitted from a state report, prompting criticism from an environmental group. The Colorado Division of Wildlife's suggestions that four areas be protected from development were left out of the state's final report to the federal Bureau of Land Management, internal records show...Reviving species - with a puppet and planes It has to be one of man's strangest odysseys since Orville and Wilbur Wright - human beings dressed as birds flying machines with birds following who think that those humans - in their planes - are birds. But humans go to great lengths to snub Darwin: Like the reintroduction of red wolves and elk in the Smoky Mountains, this was part of a wider effort to drag animals back from the brink of extinction and repopulate regions with species that have disappeared. Florida was the cranes' winter home before they died off in the East; this journey was designed to show them back to their old habitat...Young Bald Eagles Are 'Recruited' for Relocation Jim Spickler scales a 100-foot Sitka spruce and perches at the edge of an eagle's nest, but his job is only half done. Next, he speaks to the 8-week-old raptors in the nest, just long enough to coax them into a padded nylon bag. Then he makes the descent. For the past two summers, Spickler has been on a recruiting drive that could return bald eagles to Channel Islands National Park off the coast of Southern California. The native population on the islands was wiped out by DDT...Riverbed changes owners The Black River courses through the rolling hills of Interior Alaska, past an isolated Gwich'in village and some summer fish camps. This remote waterway became something of a national issue this fall when the state of Alaska took title to its gravelly bottom, courtesy of the federal Bureau of Land Management. A paperwork transfer involving a little-known river in a far-flung corner of Alaska normally wouldn't stir ripples of interest among politicians, tribal leaders and environmentalists alike. But in this case, it marked the first time a state laid claim to a riverbed under a new fast-track approach by the Bush administration aimed at turning more federal land over to states. The BLM action opens the door for Alaska to gain control over thousands of rivers across the state. Alaska gained control of the Black River because of a policy shift at the Department of Interior ushered in by the Bush administration. Last February, the BLM revised its "recordable disclaimer of interest" regulations to make it easier for states to gain title over riverbeds and historic rights of way on public land, such as wagon and sled dog trails, cattle paths, and mining and trapper routes, for example. In Alaska, common examples include the Stampede Trail in Denali National Park, the Girdwood to Eagle River Trail, and the Chilkoot Trail outside Skagway...Road project endangers bats Snoozing in an abandoned church by day and crossing a two-lane highway by night to feed on insects, a colony of endangered and highly sensitive bats has somehow settled in a stretch of forest in rural, west-central Pennsylvania. But a proposal to build a new bridge across U.S. 22 in Blair County could disrupt their flight pattern. Wildlife experts are worried that the Indiana bats could be killed by moving vehicles at a far higher rate than they already get hit, potentially wiping out a particularly unusual colony...Trip to Yellowstone puts pupils in virtual valley A group of New Lenox middle school pupils recently visited Yellowstone National Park's Hayden Valley--without having to sell a single candy bar or roll of wrapping paper to raise money for the trip. That's because the 23 pupils at Liberty Junior High School visited the park's valley on a "virtual tour" via laptop computers as part of their earth science lesson. Yellowstone's Education Program unleashed the 50-minute virtual field trip, dubbed "Zooming in on Hayden Valley," in November, the third of its electronic field trips. Dianne Zinkel, a 7th-grade science teacher at Liberty, jumped at the chance to give her pupils a real-life look at the valley, in the center of Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, and relate it to the curriculum on weathering and erosion last week...Bush Plans Drilling in Untapped Alaska Oil Reserve Across the western Arctic sprawls an Indiana-sized land mass dotted with lakes, populated by migratory birds and other wildlife, and packed with potential oil riches. The National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska (NPR-A), wedged between the foothills of the rugged Brooks Range and the icy Arctic coastline, is about 120 miles from the better-known Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). The NPR-A was set aside 80 years ago as an energy storehouse for the U.S. military, but the reserve has yet to send a barrel of oil to market...Spotted owl kin complicates status The northern spotted owl, icon of the Pacific Northwest timber wars a decade ago, now faces a threat at least as imposing as loggers: its bigger, badder cousin, the barred owl. The threat posed by the nonnative barred owl, reviewed by a panel of scientists Friday at Washington State University Vancouver, could influence a re-assessment of the northern spotted owl's status as a threatened species. The owl's 1990 listing sparked an uproar after a federal judge halted all federal timber sales to protect the owl's dwindling habitat in old growth forests...Court tosses timber ruling A federal appellate court on Thursday struck down a Sacramento judge's refusal to block a major logging project in Eldorado National Forest, telling the judge he applied the wrong legal standard for an injunction. One of the appellate judges even questioned whether the U.S. Forest Service can be trusted to administer such projects, since it derives all the proceeds...EPA rules may mean curbs on barbecuing, lawn mowing as focus switches from industry Southeast Michigan officials who are studying ways to comply with tough new federal air pollution rules warn that no source of smog is sacred. Not even the family barbecue. Cars and factories still emit most of Metro Detroit's air pollution, but residents also will be asked to sacrifice to meet tough new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ozone regulations that begin taking effect in 2007 and could cost the region tens of millions of dollars...Bush routes revised clean air policy to EPA Convinced that its effort to revamp the Clean Air Act is stalemated in Congress, the Bush administration is pushing the policies, which govern pollution from power plants, through regulation rather than legislation. This week the Environmental Protection Agency plans to release a pair of proposals that closely track President Bush's proposed amendments to the Clean Air Act, known as the Clear Skies Initiative. The regulations share the same timelines, limits and trading mechanisms for three of the main pollutants released from burning fossil fuels: mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Both proposals would expand the current pollution trading systems for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and introduce a new one for mercury...Brazil: Anti-Logging Activist Missing in Amazon Delta Greenpeace has admitted it is "deeply, deeply worried" about a British activist who has gone missing from one of its ships in the Amazon delta. Yesterday the Brazilian authorities launched an investigation into whether her disappearance is linked to the group's campaign against illegal logging...Beef exports to United States surging Beef exports to the United States have surged with November recording the largest amount ever shipped in a single month. Attractive prices on offer in the US are encouraging exporters to send more product to the market, which now accounts for almost half of Australia's total exports. Peter Weeks, Chief Market analyst with Meat and Livestock Australia, says the surge in shipments to North America will mean Australia may now fill the export quota when earlier in the year that looked impossible...New Jersey's bear hunt ends with 328 confirmed kills New Jersey's first bear hunt in 33 years, prompted by rising numbers of run-ins with humans, ended with hunters taking about 10 percent of the state's estimated bear population. The six-day hunt ended Saturday evening with 328 confirmed kills -- 209 females and 119 males, state Division of Fish and Wildlife Director Martin McHugh said...To Protect Ecosystem, Grand Canyon Hopes to Evict Buffalo The bison trample vegetation, defecate in ponds, pollute springs and create wallows, said Elaine Leslie, a wildlife biologist at the Grand Canyon. Some of the soil they tread on has also begun to erode, putting trees and plants at risk. Consequently, park officials have met with the state to discuss how to remove the bison, which the state owns and maintains on land outside the park. "We need to figure out how to get these animals out of the park eventually," Leslie said...Wyoming ranchers sweat as brucellosis found in cattle herd Three dozen cattle in a Wyoming herd tested positive for a highly contagious bacterial infection that, if widespread, would sharply limit the state's export of cattle, prompt the slaughter of tainted livestock and cause millions of dollars in losses. Even before Donald "Doc" Jensen's entire herd of 391 Hereford cattle was tested for brucellosis, Colorado blocked import of cattle from a sweeping region of Wyoming. Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Utah are poised to follow suit if the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, confirms state lab test results, according to the Wyoming governor's office...First cutting horse champion has legendary status The story of Hub is one that seems almost made up. It has a noble beginning and a sweet ending. It reads like a children's book designed to teach values and character. It is a true story -- certainly one that has been gently massaged over the years -- but it remains faithful to the events, nevertheless. It began in the early 1880s near Jacksboro, northwest of Fort Worth. Bill Wood, a horse trainer who lived on Keechi Creek just outside Jacksboro, had a little bay that Graves dearly coveted. As it turned out, Graves had no money, and Wood needed fence rails. A bargain was struck. Graves split 2,000 rails in payment for Hub. The legend began...
Sunday, December 14, 2003
America's future: A nation of renters
The generation that fought so hard to save the world from communism is now working feverishly to condemn America's future to socialism. Through dozens of programs, all designed to "protect" the land from development, we are transforming America from the land of the free, to a nation of renters.
Nearly every week, The Nature Conservancy announces a new scheme to "protect" vast stretches of land through outright purchase, the purchase of development rights or through conservation easements. TNC claims they have protected nearly 12 million acres already, and have their eye on another 3 million acres in Alabama and Tennessee. There are more than 1,200 similar "conservancy" organizations in the United States, all doing the same thing.
When a person fragments the title to his land with a perpetual conservation easement, or by selling development rights, he is, in effect, robbing future generations of the opportunity to make their own decisions about how to use the land. What right do we have to deny future generations the use of prime real estate?
The Nature Conservancy paints a pretty picture during the sales pitch: "Imagine a vast natural playground stretching from North Alabama into Central Tennessee. Imagine forests, meadows, rivers and wetlands open to the public for hunting, fishing, canoeing and hiking. Imagine farms managed to be both self-sustaining and environmentally responsible."
Sounds good, until the "open to the public" goes away. And who decides if, and when, and how long the area may be open to the public? Who decides how to manage the farms? The owner, of course -- The Nature Conservancy. The private owners who are convinced to sell development rights or conservation easements sell their right to use their land in any way that's not agreeable to The Nature Conservancy. When it comes time to sell the land for retirement or to pay medical bills, the land has little value, except to The Nature Conservancy. The price is no longer subject to market demand; it is virtually useless.
When The Nature Conservancy acquires the remaining rights to the land, are they under any obligation to keep the land open to the public? No. Their practice has been to use the land for development, for logging, for oil, or for whatever purpose they desire, including selling vast portions of unusable land to the government -- often for a profit.
The campaign to save "the last great places" and all open space has been incredibly successful and even more ridiculous. There is no shortage of space in the United States. Less than 5 percent of the land area is developed, according to the federal government. There is plenty of space, but less and less of it is owned by private individuals.
Governments own nearly 42 percent of the land area and are buying more land every day. Conservancy organizations are buying land for their own "preserves" and selling what they don't want to government. Not only are we stealing our children's birthright, we are condemning them to eventually live in a socialist state, where government owns all the sources of production.
In every community where there is an "open space" bond initiative on the ballot, people should organize to defeat it. In every community where local government is planning to install a "comprehensive plan" to dictate the future use of private property, people should organize to defeat it.
At the rate we are now transferring private property to government, and to its surrogate "conservancy" organizations, it will take only a few more generations before all the land is under government ownership or control. America will then truly be a socialist nation.
Had this trend begun a hundred years ago, we would already be a socialist nation of renters, subject to the whims of government. When there is no more private land to produce property tax, will the government stop collecting tax? Hardly. The government will allow us to work its land and tax our productivity to whatever extent it wishes. That's how it works in socialist nations.
This march toward socialism can be reversed by first recognizing the gross disservice to future generations of our current land-grabbing policies. Then we should force government to begin divesting its gigantic inventories of land, returning it to the private sector where it can again be the basis of our free-market economy.
This can happen only if we have an informed electorate that recognizes the dangers inherent in the present trend, and then works to elect officials at every level of government who share this belief in free markets and are committed to keeping America the land of the free.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization and chairman of Sovereignty International.
Combine Mr. Lamb's article with the 9th Circuit Court decision in Big Meadows Grazing Association vs. US(pdf) which found the following:
No less than half of the wetlands n1 in the continental United States have been destroyed since 1600. n2 To counter this trend, the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture established the Wetlands Reserve Program (the "WRP") to provide landowners an opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property. n3 Big Meadows Grazing Association ("Big Meadows) sold the United States a conservation easement so that part of Big Meadows' property could be enrolled in the WRP. When Big Meadows and the United States subsequently disagreed on what conservation[**2] activities would occur on the property, the government began unilaterally implementing its proposed conservation plan. Big Meadows sued, seeking in pertinent part a declaratory judgment that implementation of the conservation plan without its approval would violate 16 U.S.C. 3837a. The district court granted summary judgment for the government, ruling that the government need not obtain Big Meadows' approval before implementing the conservation plan. Big Meadows [*942] timely appealed. Because 3837a neither requires Big Meadows' assent to the conservation plan nor requires that the agreement to implement a conservation plan be made apart from the easement, we affirm.
The generation that fought so hard to save the world from communism is now working feverishly to condemn America's future to socialism. Through dozens of programs, all designed to "protect" the land from development, we are transforming America from the land of the free, to a nation of renters.
Nearly every week, The Nature Conservancy announces a new scheme to "protect" vast stretches of land through outright purchase, the purchase of development rights or through conservation easements. TNC claims they have protected nearly 12 million acres already, and have their eye on another 3 million acres in Alabama and Tennessee. There are more than 1,200 similar "conservancy" organizations in the United States, all doing the same thing.
When a person fragments the title to his land with a perpetual conservation easement, or by selling development rights, he is, in effect, robbing future generations of the opportunity to make their own decisions about how to use the land. What right do we have to deny future generations the use of prime real estate?
The Nature Conservancy paints a pretty picture during the sales pitch: "Imagine a vast natural playground stretching from North Alabama into Central Tennessee. Imagine forests, meadows, rivers and wetlands open to the public for hunting, fishing, canoeing and hiking. Imagine farms managed to be both self-sustaining and environmentally responsible."
Sounds good, until the "open to the public" goes away. And who decides if, and when, and how long the area may be open to the public? Who decides how to manage the farms? The owner, of course -- The Nature Conservancy. The private owners who are convinced to sell development rights or conservation easements sell their right to use their land in any way that's not agreeable to The Nature Conservancy. When it comes time to sell the land for retirement or to pay medical bills, the land has little value, except to The Nature Conservancy. The price is no longer subject to market demand; it is virtually useless.
When The Nature Conservancy acquires the remaining rights to the land, are they under any obligation to keep the land open to the public? No. Their practice has been to use the land for development, for logging, for oil, or for whatever purpose they desire, including selling vast portions of unusable land to the government -- often for a profit.
The campaign to save "the last great places" and all open space has been incredibly successful and even more ridiculous. There is no shortage of space in the United States. Less than 5 percent of the land area is developed, according to the federal government. There is plenty of space, but less and less of it is owned by private individuals.
Governments own nearly 42 percent of the land area and are buying more land every day. Conservancy organizations are buying land for their own "preserves" and selling what they don't want to government. Not only are we stealing our children's birthright, we are condemning them to eventually live in a socialist state, where government owns all the sources of production.
In every community where there is an "open space" bond initiative on the ballot, people should organize to defeat it. In every community where local government is planning to install a "comprehensive plan" to dictate the future use of private property, people should organize to defeat it.
At the rate we are now transferring private property to government, and to its surrogate "conservancy" organizations, it will take only a few more generations before all the land is under government ownership or control. America will then truly be a socialist nation.
Had this trend begun a hundred years ago, we would already be a socialist nation of renters, subject to the whims of government. When there is no more private land to produce property tax, will the government stop collecting tax? Hardly. The government will allow us to work its land and tax our productivity to whatever extent it wishes. That's how it works in socialist nations.
This march toward socialism can be reversed by first recognizing the gross disservice to future generations of our current land-grabbing policies. Then we should force government to begin divesting its gigantic inventories of land, returning it to the private sector where it can again be the basis of our free-market economy.
This can happen only if we have an informed electorate that recognizes the dangers inherent in the present trend, and then works to elect officials at every level of government who share this belief in free markets and are committed to keeping America the land of the free.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry Lamb is the executive vice president of the Environmental Conservation Organization and chairman of Sovereignty International.
Combine Mr. Lamb's article with the 9th Circuit Court decision in Big Meadows Grazing Association vs. US(pdf) which found the following:
No less than half of the wetlands n1 in the continental United States have been destroyed since 1600. n2 To counter this trend, the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture established the Wetlands Reserve Program (the "WRP") to provide landowners an opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property. n3 Big Meadows Grazing Association ("Big Meadows) sold the United States a conservation easement so that part of Big Meadows' property could be enrolled in the WRP. When Big Meadows and the United States subsequently disagreed on what conservation[**2] activities would occur on the property, the government began unilaterally implementing its proposed conservation plan. Big Meadows sued, seeking in pertinent part a declaratory judgment that implementation of the conservation plan without its approval would violate 16 U.S.C. 3837a. The district court granted summary judgment for the government, ruling that the government need not obtain Big Meadows' approval before implementing the conservation plan. Big Meadows [*942] timely appealed. Because 3837a neither requires Big Meadows' assent to the conservation plan nor requires that the agreement to implement a conservation plan be made apart from the easement, we affirm.
NEWS ROUNDUP
Judge halts restoration from fire in Sequoia National Forest A plan to restore burned areas of Sequoia National Forest was halted by a federal judge who said it could ruin habitat for endangered species. Environmentalists sued to prevent the forest's Burnt Ridge project from removing fire-damaged trees from a 4,200-acre section of the forest charred in the McNally fire last year. The fire burned more than 150,000 acres and threatened groves of ancient sequoias. U.S. District Judge Robert Coyle said the work could cause "irreparable injury" to species that dwell in old-growth forests and use burned trees as habitat, such as the California spotted owl and the Pacific fisher...Forest Service moves ahead with Madan sale Forest service officials are moving ahead with a timber sale near Wrangell over objections from environmentalists. Deputy Regional Forester Steve Brink denied appeals from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Sitka Conservation Council and one from a private citizen objecting to the Madan timber sale. The Madan sale will allow 26.5 million board feet to be harvested on 2,118 acres about eight miles southeast of Wrangell. It calls for more than 18 miles of new roads and a log transfer facilities...Water agency to make up for fish kill The Sonoma County Water Agency has agreed to spend $190,000 to improve fish habitat after its accidental discharge of 2 million gallons of drinking water killed 22 steelhead trout in Santa Rosa Creek last year. The fish, listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act, died from traces of chlorine added to drinking water to kill pathogens, said Randy Poole, general manager of the Water Agency. The chlorine is added as the water is pumped from the Russian River and into a 2-foot-diameter pipeline that supplies 8 million gallons of water a day to the city of Sonoma and Sonoma Valley...Mouse derails trail progress Once again, the little Preble's jumping mouse has shown what a mighty mouse it is. The final stretch of the Pleasant Valley Trail, which has been under construction for the past few months, has been put on hold until next year because part of the route crosses mouse habitat. "We decided not to proceed this winter," said Charlie Gindler of Larimer County Parks and Open Lands. The county had hoped to complete the trail this winter, but now officials are looking at late summer or fall 2004. The portion of the trail from the Bellvue Baptist Church to the Watson Lake entrance is potential jumping mouse habitat, Gindler said, which will require a habitat conservation plan. The plan will be submitted as part of a bridge permit application and must be approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Yellowstone winter bookings fall 16 percent Winter room reservations at Yellowstone National Park are down 16 percent this year, and the park's concessionaire blames confusion about new rules limiting snowmobiles. ''There's a big difference between this year and last,'' said Rick Hoeninghausen, director of sales and marketing for Xanterra Parks & Resorts. ''There are questions about where winter use is going. Last year, we knew what we could do in winter. There were no questions, no lawsuits. This year, we've got more confusion.''...Officials rule on snowmobile access to Yellowstone The final rule limits the number of snowmobiles that will be allowed in the parks and requires guided access for both commercial and noncommercial snowmobiles to protect wildlife. It also limits air emissions and effects to the natural soundscape by requiring the best available noise- and pollution-reducing technology for snowmobiles. For the winter season of 2003-2004 in Yellowstone National Park, the rule allows only 950 snowmobiles in the park each day, and all of them must have a snowmobile entrance reservation. Eighty percent of all snowmobiles must be commercially guided and must make reservations through a guide company...Pilgrim son takes turn on witness stand Joshua Hale took the witness stand Friday in U.S. District Court and said he led an undercover ranger on a paid horseback riding trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve because the ranger insisted. But Hale, who is part of the Pilgrim family in McCarthy that has been fighting with the park over access issues, said he didn't agree to take ranger Stephen Rooker on a tour of old buildings at the Bonanza Mine, which is on federal land. "I agreed to provide a horse for hire ... a way for him to get high on the mountain," Hale, 23, told Magistrate Harry Branson. Hale, a bearded man who wore an orange button-down shirt and black vest, gave testimony that often was at odds with Rooker's from the day before. Hale faces a misdemeanor charge of operating a business in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve without a permit...Editorial: Facts ignored in Yellowstone If Bush administration officials had done their job correctly, Yellowstone National Park would not be facing a tricky dilemma this Wednesday. For more than two years, the administration has ignored the science and public opinion arrayed against recreational snowmobiles in Yellowstone. As a result, two events will come together this week. The Yellowstone snowmobile season is slated to open - and a federal judge may be asked to shut it down the same day...Column: Let USDA be guided by Interior on grazing That surely was a rancher-friendly signal that came out of the U.S. Department of the Interior 10 days ago, as Secretary Gale Norton proposed new rules for federal acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management. What the BLM does is important, because it is Washington's biggest land manager: 261 million acres, mostly in the West, of which 160 million are grazed. Only 59,000 of those acres are in North Dakota, though, so the impact here will be small. Our big federal player is the U.S. Forest Service, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with 1.1 million acres, mostly in the Badlands country. Rule changes proposed by the Forest Service have caused a firestorm among ranchers there and are now under review by a team of range scientists. Dare we hope that, as Norton reshapes BLM policy, the USDA is watching and will be inspired to make similar changes at the Forest Service?...BLM approves Newmont mine project near Battle Mountain Newmont Mining Corp. has cleared a big hurdle in its bid to open a major mine near Battle Mountain. The Bureau of Land Management's Battle Mountain office approved the proposed Phoenix Project 12 miles south of the struggling mining town. The gold and copper mine is expected to employ up to 300 workers...Bush's Energy Policy Lives Where the Deer and the Antelope Play Whether this harms the wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem or affects the air or water in the Wind River Mountains is unclear. But it is clear that here in the Upper Green, as the area is called, the Bush administration's energy policies have come to life. The antelopes' migration route and the winter range of thousands of mule deer lie atop an estimated 7 trillion to 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- more than 4 percent of the nation's reserves, according to Don J. Likwartz, Wyoming's oil and gas supervisor...BLM adjusts desert plan Complaints from three Newberry Springs area mines and from environmentalists have prompted the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to adjust part of a new desert plan, a bureau official said Friday. Three mines objected to being in the area of concern, saying its boundaries should be east of the Pisgah Crater. And environmentalists agreed with mining interests in the matter. The California Native Plant Society, an environmental group that seeks protection for plants, complained that the proposed area of concern wasn't covering the places where plant protection was needed...State may seek to reform property tax policy The state could be approaching Mohave County soon for its support in reforming property tax policies so that businesses that lease federal lands could be taxed, said the La Paz County assessor George Nault. According to Nault, Governor Janet Napolitano's office recently said the state could be utilizing more than $3 billion locked up in tax-exempt property. The hope, he said, is that the money could help erase the state deficit. "The state is going to approach every county and ask their opinion if they're for or against," Nault said...Infected bighorns regaining eyesight An outbreak of pinkeye has blinded at least nine desert bighorn sheep in the Silverbell Mountains northwest of Tucson, leading to the shotgun deaths of two dozen goats suspected of contaminating the sheep. Wildlife officials suspect the spreading pinkeye is linked to the arrival of 4,800 domestic goats this fall on the nearby La Osa Ranch. George Johnson, operator of the Pinal County ranch, brought in the goats to graze on leased state and federal lands. A storm in early November spooked the goats, and about 100 of them slipped through the ranch's fences and into the bordering national monument, said Carl Woehlecke, ranch manager...Feedlot waste alters fish characteristics Hormones that leak into streams from cattle feedlots are altering the sexual characteristics of wild fish, demasculinizing the males and defeminizing the females, according to a newly released study. The study, which examined minnows in three streams that flow into Nebraska's Elkhorn River, suggests that cattle operations pose a previously unknown effect on the environment. About 30 million head of cattle are raised in U.S. feedlots per year, and nearly all are implanted with growth-promoting synthetic hormones...Column: EPA Giftwraps Presents for Industry The Environmental Protection Agency has been as busy as Santa's elves during the fall season making, however, regulations that bring dismay instead of joy. The newest proposed regulation comes as is usual in this administration, as a gift to industry and not to the environment. It's nothing more than a coincidence that the biggest gift goes to Texas but the rest of the country will feel the effect of this gift as well. The newest proposed regulation is only the most recent in a string of regulations that have been issued...Utah plan establishes pollution cap for parks Utah Gov. Olene Walker on Friday signed the state's plan to establish a cap on haze-forming air pollution in national parks that is generated by Western power plants and industrial sources. "Utah's plan is a significant milestone because it represents a regional approach to reducing haze in the West's most celebrated national parks," Walker said. The plan is part of a multistate effort known as the Western Regional Air Partnership that focuses primarily on reducing sulfur dioxide, mostly from coal-fired industrial plants. It now goes to the Environmental Protection Agency...Official warns states to plan for less Colorado River water California and Nevada must begin planning how they will reduce water consumption if the West's drought persists, a top federal water official said Friday. Lake Mead could shrink so much during 2004 that the federal Bureau of Reclamation would have to suspend deliveries of "surplus" Colorado River water to the two states, said Bennett Raley, assistant interiorsecretary for water and science. The lake formed by Hoover Dam supplies Las Vegas with virtually all of its drinking water and helps quench Southern California's thirst...Long drought shrinking Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake has disappeared here, just outside Salt Lake City, along the first mile of the causeway leading from the mainland to Antelope Island, a refuge for coyotes, bison, bobcats and antelope. This is what things have come to in Utah as five years of drought has dried up rivers, sucked water out of reservoirs, parched fields, and turned forests into tinderboxes across the West. The largest lake west of the Mississippi River - usually about 75 miles long and 28 miles wide - has shrunk to its lowest level in 33 years, leaving longtime observers wondering how low it will go...Water lost to Mexico at center of dispute One of Mexico's top water officials bristled at suggestions Thursday that his country was taking advantage of unused water flowing down the Colorado River, water that U.S. officials say has further depleted drought-stricken Lake Mead. The water, as much as 1 million acre-feet over the past five years, arrives with too little warning and is often of poor quality, said Arturo Herrera Solis, commissioner of the Mexican section of the International Boundary and Water Commission...Column: Maybe Friends of Animals' Feral would like to take wolves home Why is it people in Alaska seem to be getting so upset about Friends of Animals going ape over plans for killing wolves in the McGrath area? The shocking thing would be if the Connecticut-based animal-rights organization wasn't making a fuss. From the standpoint of Friends, any sort of wolf control in Alaska is an irresistible target, and not just because it involves killing wolves. Consider for a moment the goal of the McGrath wolf kill. The goal is to allow more moose to survive the fangs of predators over the winter. This could, in turn, mean a few more moose for McGrath hunters to kill and eat next fall...Land war ends but new battle looms Colorado's oldest land war is over in the courts, but another fight looms as the rivals sit down to find a way to share the 77,500-acre landscape known as La Sierra. "It's time to swallow the ego pill and realize this is bigger than any of our differences," Costilla County Commissioner Joe Gallegos said. "So much depends on how well we work together." The devil is in that detail. The U.S. Supreme Court this week let stand a 2002 Colorado Supreme Court ruling that restores grazing, timber-cutting and wood-gathering rights to about 1,000 landowners with deeds that date back to an 1844 Mexican land grant. Now, those landowners, along with La Sierra's current owner - former Enron executive Lou Pai - and the community have to agree on how to share the forests and meadows...Fort Worth Hosts Competition for Horse Whisperers They may not whisper, but with gentle strokes and loving nudges, some trainers can turn a frightened horse into an obedient equine. Three trainers commonly called "horse whisperers" are participating in El Camino del Caballo, or Road to the Horse, a teaching clinic and competition at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth's historic Stockyards. After leading educational sessions for horse owners Friday afternoon, each competitor was to start working with an untamed quarter horse that night. Josh Lyons, 27, of Parachute, Colo.; Curt Pate, 42, of Helena, Mont.; and Clinton Anderson, 28, a Queensland, Australia, native who now lives in Sterling, Ill., are working with colts that have never been saddled or ridden...Thieves get buck for their bang For 48 hours, former National Finals Rodeo qualifying bucking bull Speck was missing. The bull, who had qualified for the world's biggest and richest rodeo three times, and the black cargo trailer in which he travels were stolen Tuesday night from a parking lot at the Plaza. Fortunately, animal and trailer turned up safe in the Circus Circus parking lot early Thursday evening. During the bull's absence, his caretaker's biggest fear wasn't about the animal going hungry, because Speck is always stuffed...On The Edge Of Common Sense: Cripple Creek Calvin has run-in with snakey mare Calvin said he wasn't that good at gettin' hurt. Of course, some would say he didn't have to try that hard. He's still ridin' bronky horses even though his deductible is up to $45,000. Some would have thought he should have waited more than two months after the knee surgery to try out the snakey mare; at least he started in the round corral. Some would say that naming his North Carolina ranch the Cripple Creek Livestock Co. became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It explained his perpetual lameness...Christmas I Remember: Daddy's dentures made for memorable holiday Colleen Chadwick has beautiful memories of the many Christmases she has spent with her family on her parents´ small ranch located in South Central Oklahoma. Those were the typical memories of family gatherings with lots of good food, laughter, visiting and teasing with her brothers and sister. One particular Christmas that stands out in her mind is a blend of the traditional Norman Rockwell-type celebration entertwined with the hilarious. If it were made into a movie, it would be titled a “National Lampoon´s Christmas Vacation in Oklahoma.”...
Judge halts restoration from fire in Sequoia National Forest A plan to restore burned areas of Sequoia National Forest was halted by a federal judge who said it could ruin habitat for endangered species. Environmentalists sued to prevent the forest's Burnt Ridge project from removing fire-damaged trees from a 4,200-acre section of the forest charred in the McNally fire last year. The fire burned more than 150,000 acres and threatened groves of ancient sequoias. U.S. District Judge Robert Coyle said the work could cause "irreparable injury" to species that dwell in old-growth forests and use burned trees as habitat, such as the California spotted owl and the Pacific fisher...Forest Service moves ahead with Madan sale Forest service officials are moving ahead with a timber sale near Wrangell over objections from environmentalists. Deputy Regional Forester Steve Brink denied appeals from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Sitka Conservation Council and one from a private citizen objecting to the Madan timber sale. The Madan sale will allow 26.5 million board feet to be harvested on 2,118 acres about eight miles southeast of Wrangell. It calls for more than 18 miles of new roads and a log transfer facilities...Water agency to make up for fish kill The Sonoma County Water Agency has agreed to spend $190,000 to improve fish habitat after its accidental discharge of 2 million gallons of drinking water killed 22 steelhead trout in Santa Rosa Creek last year. The fish, listed as "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act, died from traces of chlorine added to drinking water to kill pathogens, said Randy Poole, general manager of the Water Agency. The chlorine is added as the water is pumped from the Russian River and into a 2-foot-diameter pipeline that supplies 8 million gallons of water a day to the city of Sonoma and Sonoma Valley...Mouse derails trail progress Once again, the little Preble's jumping mouse has shown what a mighty mouse it is. The final stretch of the Pleasant Valley Trail, which has been under construction for the past few months, has been put on hold until next year because part of the route crosses mouse habitat. "We decided not to proceed this winter," said Charlie Gindler of Larimer County Parks and Open Lands. The county had hoped to complete the trail this winter, but now officials are looking at late summer or fall 2004. The portion of the trail from the Bellvue Baptist Church to the Watson Lake entrance is potential jumping mouse habitat, Gindler said, which will require a habitat conservation plan. The plan will be submitted as part of a bridge permit application and must be approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service...Yellowstone winter bookings fall 16 percent Winter room reservations at Yellowstone National Park are down 16 percent this year, and the park's concessionaire blames confusion about new rules limiting snowmobiles. ''There's a big difference between this year and last,'' said Rick Hoeninghausen, director of sales and marketing for Xanterra Parks & Resorts. ''There are questions about where winter use is going. Last year, we knew what we could do in winter. There were no questions, no lawsuits. This year, we've got more confusion.''...Officials rule on snowmobile access to Yellowstone The final rule limits the number of snowmobiles that will be allowed in the parks and requires guided access for both commercial and noncommercial snowmobiles to protect wildlife. It also limits air emissions and effects to the natural soundscape by requiring the best available noise- and pollution-reducing technology for snowmobiles. For the winter season of 2003-2004 in Yellowstone National Park, the rule allows only 950 snowmobiles in the park each day, and all of them must have a snowmobile entrance reservation. Eighty percent of all snowmobiles must be commercially guided and must make reservations through a guide company...Pilgrim son takes turn on witness stand Joshua Hale took the witness stand Friday in U.S. District Court and said he led an undercover ranger on a paid horseback riding trip in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve because the ranger insisted. But Hale, who is part of the Pilgrim family in McCarthy that has been fighting with the park over access issues, said he didn't agree to take ranger Stephen Rooker on a tour of old buildings at the Bonanza Mine, which is on federal land. "I agreed to provide a horse for hire ... a way for him to get high on the mountain," Hale, 23, told Magistrate Harry Branson. Hale, a bearded man who wore an orange button-down shirt and black vest, gave testimony that often was at odds with Rooker's from the day before. Hale faces a misdemeanor charge of operating a business in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve without a permit...Editorial: Facts ignored in Yellowstone If Bush administration officials had done their job correctly, Yellowstone National Park would not be facing a tricky dilemma this Wednesday. For more than two years, the administration has ignored the science and public opinion arrayed against recreational snowmobiles in Yellowstone. As a result, two events will come together this week. The Yellowstone snowmobile season is slated to open - and a federal judge may be asked to shut it down the same day...Column: Let USDA be guided by Interior on grazing That surely was a rancher-friendly signal that came out of the U.S. Department of the Interior 10 days ago, as Secretary Gale Norton proposed new rules for federal acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management. What the BLM does is important, because it is Washington's biggest land manager: 261 million acres, mostly in the West, of which 160 million are grazed. Only 59,000 of those acres are in North Dakota, though, so the impact here will be small. Our big federal player is the U.S. Forest Service, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with 1.1 million acres, mostly in the Badlands country. Rule changes proposed by the Forest Service have caused a firestorm among ranchers there and are now under review by a team of range scientists. Dare we hope that, as Norton reshapes BLM policy, the USDA is watching and will be inspired to make similar changes at the Forest Service?...BLM approves Newmont mine project near Battle Mountain Newmont Mining Corp. has cleared a big hurdle in its bid to open a major mine near Battle Mountain. The Bureau of Land Management's Battle Mountain office approved the proposed Phoenix Project 12 miles south of the struggling mining town. The gold and copper mine is expected to employ up to 300 workers...Bush's Energy Policy Lives Where the Deer and the Antelope Play Whether this harms the wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem or affects the air or water in the Wind River Mountains is unclear. But it is clear that here in the Upper Green, as the area is called, the Bush administration's energy policies have come to life. The antelopes' migration route and the winter range of thousands of mule deer lie atop an estimated 7 trillion to 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas -- more than 4 percent of the nation's reserves, according to Don J. Likwartz, Wyoming's oil and gas supervisor...BLM adjusts desert plan Complaints from three Newberry Springs area mines and from environmentalists have prompted the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to adjust part of a new desert plan, a bureau official said Friday. Three mines objected to being in the area of concern, saying its boundaries should be east of the Pisgah Crater. And environmentalists agreed with mining interests in the matter. The California Native Plant Society, an environmental group that seeks protection for plants, complained that the proposed area of concern wasn't covering the places where plant protection was needed...State may seek to reform property tax policy The state could be approaching Mohave County soon for its support in reforming property tax policies so that businesses that lease federal lands could be taxed, said the La Paz County assessor George Nault. According to Nault, Governor Janet Napolitano's office recently said the state could be utilizing more than $3 billion locked up in tax-exempt property. The hope, he said, is that the money could help erase the state deficit. "The state is going to approach every county and ask their opinion if they're for or against," Nault said...Infected bighorns regaining eyesight An outbreak of pinkeye has blinded at least nine desert bighorn sheep in the Silverbell Mountains northwest of Tucson, leading to the shotgun deaths of two dozen goats suspected of contaminating the sheep. Wildlife officials suspect the spreading pinkeye is linked to the arrival of 4,800 domestic goats this fall on the nearby La Osa Ranch. George Johnson, operator of the Pinal County ranch, brought in the goats to graze on leased state and federal lands. A storm in early November spooked the goats, and about 100 of them slipped through the ranch's fences and into the bordering national monument, said Carl Woehlecke, ranch manager...Feedlot waste alters fish characteristics Hormones that leak into streams from cattle feedlots are altering the sexual characteristics of wild fish, demasculinizing the males and defeminizing the females, according to a newly released study. The study, which examined minnows in three streams that flow into Nebraska's Elkhorn River, suggests that cattle operations pose a previously unknown effect on the environment. About 30 million head of cattle are raised in U.S. feedlots per year, and nearly all are implanted with growth-promoting synthetic hormones...Column: EPA Giftwraps Presents for Industry The Environmental Protection Agency has been as busy as Santa's elves during the fall season making, however, regulations that bring dismay instead of joy. The newest proposed regulation comes as is usual in this administration, as a gift to industry and not to the environment. It's nothing more than a coincidence that the biggest gift goes to Texas but the rest of the country will feel the effect of this gift as well. The newest proposed regulation is only the most recent in a string of regulations that have been issued...Utah plan establishes pollution cap for parks Utah Gov. Olene Walker on Friday signed the state's plan to establish a cap on haze-forming air pollution in national parks that is generated by Western power plants and industrial sources. "Utah's plan is a significant milestone because it represents a regional approach to reducing haze in the West's most celebrated national parks," Walker said. The plan is part of a multistate effort known as the Western Regional Air Partnership that focuses primarily on reducing sulfur dioxide, mostly from coal-fired industrial plants. It now goes to the Environmental Protection Agency...Official warns states to plan for less Colorado River water California and Nevada must begin planning how they will reduce water consumption if the West's drought persists, a top federal water official said Friday. Lake Mead could shrink so much during 2004 that the federal Bureau of Reclamation would have to suspend deliveries of "surplus" Colorado River water to the two states, said Bennett Raley, assistant interiorsecretary for water and science. The lake formed by Hoover Dam supplies Las Vegas with virtually all of its drinking water and helps quench Southern California's thirst...Long drought shrinking Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake has disappeared here, just outside Salt Lake City, along the first mile of the causeway leading from the mainland to Antelope Island, a refuge for coyotes, bison, bobcats and antelope. This is what things have come to in Utah as five years of drought has dried up rivers, sucked water out of reservoirs, parched fields, and turned forests into tinderboxes across the West. The largest lake west of the Mississippi River - usually about 75 miles long and 28 miles wide - has shrunk to its lowest level in 33 years, leaving longtime observers wondering how low it will go...Water lost to Mexico at center of dispute One of Mexico's top water officials bristled at suggestions Thursday that his country was taking advantage of unused water flowing down the Colorado River, water that U.S. officials say has further depleted drought-stricken Lake Mead. The water, as much as 1 million acre-feet over the past five years, arrives with too little warning and is often of poor quality, said Arturo Herrera Solis, commissioner of the Mexican section of the International Boundary and Water Commission...Column: Maybe Friends of Animals' Feral would like to take wolves home Why is it people in Alaska seem to be getting so upset about Friends of Animals going ape over plans for killing wolves in the McGrath area? The shocking thing would be if the Connecticut-based animal-rights organization wasn't making a fuss. From the standpoint of Friends, any sort of wolf control in Alaska is an irresistible target, and not just because it involves killing wolves. Consider for a moment the goal of the McGrath wolf kill. The goal is to allow more moose to survive the fangs of predators over the winter. This could, in turn, mean a few more moose for McGrath hunters to kill and eat next fall...Land war ends but new battle looms Colorado's oldest land war is over in the courts, but another fight looms as the rivals sit down to find a way to share the 77,500-acre landscape known as La Sierra. "It's time to swallow the ego pill and realize this is bigger than any of our differences," Costilla County Commissioner Joe Gallegos said. "So much depends on how well we work together." The devil is in that detail. The U.S. Supreme Court this week let stand a 2002 Colorado Supreme Court ruling that restores grazing, timber-cutting and wood-gathering rights to about 1,000 landowners with deeds that date back to an 1844 Mexican land grant. Now, those landowners, along with La Sierra's current owner - former Enron executive Lou Pai - and the community have to agree on how to share the forests and meadows...Fort Worth Hosts Competition for Horse Whisperers They may not whisper, but with gentle strokes and loving nudges, some trainers can turn a frightened horse into an obedient equine. Three trainers commonly called "horse whisperers" are participating in El Camino del Caballo, or Road to the Horse, a teaching clinic and competition at the Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth's historic Stockyards. After leading educational sessions for horse owners Friday afternoon, each competitor was to start working with an untamed quarter horse that night. Josh Lyons, 27, of Parachute, Colo.; Curt Pate, 42, of Helena, Mont.; and Clinton Anderson, 28, a Queensland, Australia, native who now lives in Sterling, Ill., are working with colts that have never been saddled or ridden...Thieves get buck for their bang For 48 hours, former National Finals Rodeo qualifying bucking bull Speck was missing. The bull, who had qualified for the world's biggest and richest rodeo three times, and the black cargo trailer in which he travels were stolen Tuesday night from a parking lot at the Plaza. Fortunately, animal and trailer turned up safe in the Circus Circus parking lot early Thursday evening. During the bull's absence, his caretaker's biggest fear wasn't about the animal going hungry, because Speck is always stuffed...On The Edge Of Common Sense: Cripple Creek Calvin has run-in with snakey mare Calvin said he wasn't that good at gettin' hurt. Of course, some would say he didn't have to try that hard. He's still ridin' bronky horses even though his deductible is up to $45,000. Some would have thought he should have waited more than two months after the knee surgery to try out the snakey mare; at least he started in the round corral. Some would say that naming his North Carolina ranch the Cripple Creek Livestock Co. became a self-fulfilling prophecy. It explained his perpetual lameness...Christmas I Remember: Daddy's dentures made for memorable holiday Colleen Chadwick has beautiful memories of the many Christmases she has spent with her family on her parents´ small ranch located in South Central Oklahoma. Those were the typical memories of family gatherings with lots of good food, laughter, visiting and teasing with her brothers and sister. One particular Christmas that stands out in her mind is a blend of the traditional Norman Rockwell-type celebration entertwined with the hilarious. If it were made into a movie, it would be titled a “National Lampoon´s Christmas Vacation in Oklahoma.”...
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