NEWS ROUNDUP

Scientists watching unusual events near volcano A series of unusual earthquakes near Mount St. Helens in recent days has scientists warning that something more serious could be imminent. The "hazardous event" the U.S. Geological Survey warns is possible could be an explosion caused by steam building up inside the volcano, or it could be more serious -- involving molten rock and deadly gas....
Mount St. Helens: Scientists in a scramble Small earthquakes rattled Mount St. Helens at the rate of one or two a minute yesterday, and seismologists were scrambling to determine the significance of some of the most intense seismic activity in nearly 20 years. Early tests of gas samples collected above the volcano by helicopter yesterday did not show unusually high levels of carbon dioxide or sulfur. "This tells us that we are probably not yet seeing magma moving up in the system," said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver, Wash. He noted additional tests are necessary to better define whether there's magma moving under the mountain's crater....
School fences out bears Construction of a bear fence at Valley School will be a community project Oct. 2. After several recent bear sightings, including two on the steps of the teacher's cabin Monday night, Sept. 13, the Forest Service gave the school permission to build the fence. Teacher Audra Morrow, who lives in a cabin next to the school on the upper South Fork, didn't see the two grizzlies at first. "I walked right past the door and didn't notice them, but my dog went crazy," she said. "I looked out and expected to see people, but there were two bears."...
The Nature Conservancy and Partners Complete Acquisition of Baca Ranch After more than a decade of work to conserve the 151-square mile Baca Ranch, The Nature Conservancy today announced it had completed the last of a complex set of real estate transactions, clearing the way for the protection of the ranch and the designation of the nation's newest national park, the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Upon closing the Baca Ranch transaction, the Conservancy transferred management responsibility for 27,000 acres of land within the designated national park boundaries to the National Park Service. The Conservancy will continue to manage the remainder of the Baca lands in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior pending a final $3.4 million federal appropriation. Once the remaining monies are appropriated, the full ownership of the ranch will be transferred to the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USDA Forest Service to create the Baca National Wildlife Refuge and expand the existing Rio Grande National Forest....
Putting Out Fires At 8:15 a.m. on a day in mid-August, Rick Ochoa, the top weatherman at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, walks into a briefing room filled with personnel from the multiple federal agencies that staff the center. As he does every morning during the peak spring and summer fire season, he provides a detailed weather report for the entire country on a floor-to-ceiling screen. But unlike the forecasts on nightly TV, Ochoa's zeroes in on weather conditions of little interest to laymen but of key importance to firefighting agencies. He talks about relative drought and the presence of "dry" thunderstorms, which can spark and then help spread a fire....
Feds may add toad to roster Colorado's only alpine toad, the forest-dwelling boreal toad, would be added to the U.S. Endangered Species List under a proposal about to be submitted by federal wildlife officials. Listing the toad would strengthen protections for the warty 4-inch amphibian, whose numbers have plummeted in the last 20 years, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist said Monday. But some state wildlife officials say the federal designation is unnecessary and could create burdensome land-use restrictions, especially on U.S. Forest Service property above 7,000 feet....
West Nile bald eagle deaths confirmed Bald eagles face a new threat this year, but humans and toxins are not the culprits. The University’s Raptor Center confirmed that the West Nile virus killed four male bald eagles in the Minnesota and Wisconsin area last week, and the number could keep climbing. Professor and Raptor Center Director Patrick Redig said he is “reasonably certain” another bald eagle in the center will test positive for the virus. The virus is transmitted from mosquitoes and can cause death in humans and animals....
Fish list grows crowded Another federally protected fish could be entering the fight for Klamath Basin water. Seven hundred and six miles of streams and 33,939 acres of lakes and marshes around Oregon were designated as critical habitat for the threatened bull trout last week. All of the lakes and marshes are in the Klamath Basin. Federal officials are still trying to determine what the impact could be on the other protected fishes, two species of endangered suckers and the threatened coho salmon, and on the Klamath Irrigation Project....
The American River's Hidden Fish Kill The Klamath River fish kill of September 2002, when 68,000 salmon died because of low, warm water conditions on the lower river, is considered the largest of its kind in U.S. history. However, another "hidden fish kill" that took place on the American River in the fall of 2001, 2002 and 2003 is now vying for this dubious distinction. Only a few short miles from the Caliornia State Capitol, huge numbers of adult chinook salmon return from the ocean to spawn. But 181,709 of these fish recently perished before spawning. River advocates and fishery biologists blame the fish kills on poor water management by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and on the continuing lack of flow and water temperature standards on the American, while federal officials claim that they are forced to balance the needs of different users in managing the river....
Two conservation groups sue over wildflower habitat Two conservation groups have made good on their promise to sue the Department of Interior over what they say is its failure to follow through in protecting two endangered plant species in the St. George area. The Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity and the Utah Native Plant Society on Monday filed a federal complaint in Washington to force the Bush Administration to provide "critical habitat" for the Holmgren milkvetch and the Shivwits milkvetch - a pair of nearly extinct wildflowers found only in the Mojave Desert near the Utah-Arizona border. The two plant species are in the path of a planned freeway interchange and roadway in St. George's south corridor that would link the city with its proposed new airport and a planned community....
Judge questions plan on dams The Bush administration's dismissal of dam removal as an option for restoring salmon has been met with skepticism by the federal judge overseeing the protection of the fish. At issue is a draft plan by federal authorities for balancing the needs of salmon against the demand for electricity, irrigation water and barge transportation provided by dams in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. U.S. District Judge James Redden has raised several questions about the legal and scientific footing for the plan and will lay out his concerns at a status conference Tuesday with government lawyers and those for conservation groups and American Indian tribes....
Group urges feds to let locals lead on sage grouse The rapid growth of state and local conservation efforts aimed at preserving the Greater Sage Grouse --which wildlife experts say is the species' best chance for long-term success -- will be reversed dramatically if the federal government commandeers these efforts through an Endangered Species Act listing. So said the Partnership for the West coalition in recent testimony to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water....
Politics skew park budgets The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire in 1969, or at least the pollution in it did. But it has been cleaned up, and Congress even made its scenic upstream valley a national park in 1974. But that park isn't well-known nationally, and few faraway families would plan summer vacations specifically to see it. Still, the Cuyahoga park has a bigger base budget ($9.5 million this year) than some of the true icons of the park system, including Grand Teton National Park ($9.35 million), Mount Rainier National Park ($9.29 million), Utah's Lake Powell ($9.28 million) and Zion National Park ($6 million) among many others. Why? "I believe it's politics," said former Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, who served in Congress for 22 years and retired as chairman of the House Resources Committee....
EPA seeks stricter park snowmobile plan The Environmental Protection Agency is urging the National Park Service to change its latest proposal for snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park to reduce the amount of pollution emitted by the machines. Scaling back emissions could mean changing the type or number of snowmobiles that are allowed into the park, according to an EPA official....
Park Service Retiree Group Wades Into Political Waters This is not the kind of group you would want as your enemy. Its members have experience, political savvy and an insider's knowledge of how the place is run. They also aren't afraid to talk. Call them the AARP of the National Park Service. The Coalition of Concerned National Park Service Retirees is a newcomer to the phalanx of interest groups in the nation's capital, but it has managed to leverage its influence by disclosing leaked internal memos, taking its case to Capitol Hill and zeroing in on key regulatory issues that the Bush administration has on its agenda for park management....
Environmental groups urge more study of drilling plans Environmental groups want the government to take a much harder look at EnCana Oil & Gas Co.'s plans to drill more than 1,200 natural-gas wells on 17,000 acres in western Colorado. The federal Bureau of Land Management released an environmental assessment of the plans in July, but the environmental groups say a more detailed environmental impact statement should be done. EnCana plans to drill the wells from 120 well pads. It would build 62 miles of roads, 71 miles of pipeline and two compressor stations in the area about 30 miles southwest of Meeker and 160 miles west of Denver....
BLM proposes wind turbine to help power new building A 120-foot-tall wind turbine could reduce by about 25 percent the electricity bill at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's new Rawlins Field Office. The 20-kilowatt wind turbine would generate about 330,000 kilowatt hours per year, worth about $15,000 at current rates....
Hunters, environmentalists protest federal land swap A controversial bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski that would trade federal land to two Native corporations in the Berners Bay region near Juneau has raised the ire of some Alaska hunters, and Monday they called the bill "plain wrongheaded." The trade, known as the Cape Fox Land Exchange, would give two Southeast Native corporations up to 12,000 acres of federal land around the popular recreation area of Berners Bay near Juneau. The corporations, Sealaska and Cape Fox, would give up other land and mineral rights in Southeast....
Column - Cheaper vs. cleaner: big differences Consider two recent news items: oil prices creeping up toward $50 a barrel and Antarctic glaciers breaking up into icebergs at an accelerated pace, probably due to global warming. They may not seem related. And with war in Iraq and the economy topping the list of election concerns, energy and the environment aren't exactly front-page political news. But the two overlap considerably. And while they may not rank as top-tier issues among voters, they resonate deeply and personally for millions of Americans - including many who've yet to make up their minds whom to vote for....
Even some foes cheer Bush for new diesel-pollution rules While environmentalists and many Democrats in Congress consistently disparaged the Bush administration's clean-air record, one of the president's most far-reaching achievements went largely unheralded. Bush agreed to cut diesel pollution 90 percent in everything from tractors and construction equipment to lawnmowers, forklifts and diesel generators. The administration also forced the refining industry to reduce sulfur — the primary ingredient in ozone pollution — in fuel by 99 percent....
Bush cut some diesel pollution but let big ships keep spewing Through a filament of haze they emerge: containerships long enough to ferry the Space Needle, some belching as much exhaust as 12,000 cars, cutting through the bay toward the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach. During a decade in which scientists learned diesel pollution was even worse for our health than once thought, Murphy's agency made an astounding discovery: Ocean-going ships that cruised past Santa Barbara's coast each year emitted more smog-forming pollution than all vehicles on the county's roads combined....
Roslyn hires consultant to research water rights The small town of Roslyn on the Eastern slope of the Cascades has hired a consultant to research new water rights after the town's irrigation district shut off the spigot this summer. Roslyn, which was built in 1886 as a mining town, is a junior water rights holder in the Roza Irrigation District. During the dry summer months, residents were forced to conserve water when the district shut off the domestic water supply for the first time. In years past the district had threatened to reduce the amount of water the city received, but never made good on those threats. This was the first time Roslyn was ever cut off from its domestic water supply, said Mayor Jeri Porter....
Environmentalists dream of restoring Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy Valley Of all the battles waged over natural resources in California, perhaps none is bolder, or more romantic, than a campaign by environmentalists to tear down a dam in Yosemite National Park that has provided water and electricity to much of Northern California for 80 years. A report released Monday by Environmental Defense is the latest attempt to sway public opinion in favor of draining Hetch Hetchy Valley and restoring to nature what conservationist John Muir called Yosemite Valley's little brother - a "precious mountain temple" and "grand landscape garden" that now lies 300 feet under water. The authors of the report, "Paradise Regained," argue that water quality, supply and storage, as well as power generation, could be maintained if the Hetch Hetchy Valley, in the Sierra Nevada mountains about 160 miles east of San Francisco, were drained and restored. The study proposes a variety of alternative water and power sources for the San Francisco Bay area and the Central Valley if the O'Shaughnessy Dam were taken down....
It's All Trew: Whetstone was also an important tool According to Roy Underhill, author of "The Woodwright's Companion," the smaller and sharper the sand particles the better the whetstone. As metal is rubbed across the stone, the particles are dulled and glazed over with the metal removed during sharpening. Oil or water must be added to flush away the dulled sand particles and surplus metal. This explanation is important as it helps explain why the whetstone requires special care and storage by owners. Our family always kept a good whetstone at hand in the house, bunkhouse and barn. My folks spent hours honing their pocket knife blades making ready for the next use. When Dad honed his knife, Mother invariably handed him a paring or butcher knife and I remember several lessons given to me on how to sharpen a knife blade. A whetstone had to be kept alive by generous applications of oil or water. I venture to guess more knives were sharpened by using saliva than oil as spit was always handy. Many whetstones, like ours, were mounted on wooden blocks with wooden lids. The wood held all surplus oil and moisture thus keeping the rock alive and not dried out and dead. Many cowboys carried their own small whetstones in leather holsters in their pockets....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Can you hear me now? The call of the wild is getting louder. But it's people, not animals, who are responsible for the uproar. From birds in European cities to killer whales off the U.S. coast, some animals are ratcheting up their calls in order to be heard above the human clamor. Recordings of whale calls made during the past three years, for example, show that orcas on the West Coast increase the length of their calls when surrounded by rumbling engines from whale-watching boats. And studies of a common European songbird reveal that city crooners shift into a higher pitch range during rush hours to transcend the traffic noise....
Editorial: Wrong recipe for the Biscuit U. S. Sen. Gordon Smith should abandon his threat to push through legislation to lock environmentalists out of the courtroom and accelerate salvage logging on the Biscuit fire. Smith is understandably frustrated with the delays and legal roadblocks thrown in front of the U.S. Forest Service's Biscuit salvage plan. Two years after the fire swept half a million acres of the Siskiyou forest, dead trees worth millions of dollars, and hundreds of good jobs, are rotting even though they could be safely salvaged without lasting environmental harm. Yet a legislative rider is a poisonous way to attempt to resolve the conflict over Biscuit salvage. Any effort to legislate one of the largest logging projects in the history of the national forest would undermine public trust in the Forest Service and Congress....
In the Mojave Preserve, Emotions Still Run Hot As the preserve's 10th anniversary approaches, its proponents celebrate it as a citadel of nature amid an onrushing tide of development, while local residents continue to resent the limits on off-road exploration, hunting, cattle ranching and other economic activities. About an hour's drive northeast of Barstow, the preserve was established as part of the California Desert Protection Act. The legislation set aside more land than any previous conservation law in the lower 48 states. It expanded Joshua Tree and Death Valley national monuments, conferring national park status on each, and it created new wilderness in areas managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. In all, the act increased protection for more than 9 million acres of desert....
Measures to designate NW lands foundering in Congress The Sierra Club and 26 other conservation groups have withdrawn support for the proposed 300,000-acre Hemingway Wilderness near Idaho's Sun Valley. A growing number of off-road vehicle recreationists are opposing that plan. A proposal to designate the Wild Sky Wilderness in the Cascade Range northeast of Seattle also withered Wednesday in Congress. And prospects are dimming this year for action on wilderness designation for the Owyhee canyonlands of southern Idaho, although Inland Northwest conservationists are still optimistic for the long term....
Column: Let's protect the Front As a rancher from Dupuyer, and a former Pondera County commissioner, I appreciate that the Front's beauty and natural values are essential to the enjoyment and economic security of local families, Front communities and all of Montana. Montanans have a long tradition of working together to protect the Front, and the wise judgments of past generations have kept the Front one of our most treasured places. This summer, Montanans again demonstrated the depth of their attachment to the Front. During a public comment period conducted by the BLM, 93 percent of Montanans participating urged the government to abandon a proposal to drill federal lands along the Front. Instead, Montanans and Americans overwhelmingly urged that the Front be protected for future generations to enjoy....
Editorial: Yellowstone grizzlies, roaring success complicated by controversy For the past 30 years, conservationists have worked to restore Yellowstone Park's most popular, living tourist attraction: the grizzly bear. The success of grizzly recovery in Yellowstone Country is both a boon and a bane. Now that we've got a healthy number of bears, we've got to live with them. Bears and people actually coexist reasonably well in the 2.2-million-acre park. There's a force of rangers to keep people and bears apart, to enforce safety measures. And there's no livestock grazing within the park boundaries. Outside the park, the greater griz population is more problematic. Bears ramble over public lands leased for private grazing and onto private land where they aren't welcome. Increased development with growing populations of seasonal and year-round residents increase potential for friction in bear country....
Editorial: Suit over hunter's death raises safety issues Timothy "Omar" Hilston, a 50-year-old experienced outdoorsman from Great Falls, was attacked and killed by a grizzly bear in 2001 as he field dressed an elk. In the suit, his widow accuses the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks of negligence in their bear management practices. The news brought into sharp relief two questions: What's the responsibility of hunters and others who use the woods to be aware of the dangers there and to prepare for them? How much responsibility does the government have to protect people from wildlife and other threats?....
Old bear spray ineffective during attack Pepper spray that did little, if anything, to prevent a bear from attacking a mountain biker might have been ineffective because it was old and unapproved, experts say. Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recommends that back-country travelers carry a can of EPA-approved bear pepper spray that is less than a year old. Old spray tends to separate from its propellant and does not discharge it properly, he said....
Groups spar with feds over protection for spotted owl Rebuffed by a federal wildlife agency last year, environmental groups aren't giving up on their fight to secure protection for the mysterious, mottled-brown-and-white California spotted owl, which lives in the mountains of Riverside and San Diego counties. The groups are charging ahead with efforts on two fronts. Led by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which has a regional office in Riverside County, environmentalists sued in May to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2003 decision not to place the California spotted owl on the endangered species list....
Plague found in sick prairie dog Plague has been confirmed in a prairie dog in western Custer County, the first such confirmed case in South Dakota wildlife in recent history, Dr. Sam Holland, state veterinarian, said Friday. A rancher who lives near the Wyoming border discovered the sick prairie dog, he said. Testing found that the animal has sylvatic plague, which is spread by infected fleas....
Bush switches nation's tack on protecting species When it comes to saving America's most endangered plants and animals, George W. Bush has listed fewer species for protection than any other president. In nearly four years in office, Bush has protected one-tenth as many species as his father did under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Even as species slipped toward extinction, most of the protection he did extend came as a result of court orders....
Going, going, gone: Three case studies It was as if the furry, back-floating marine mammals had simply vanished. After learning some Alaskan sea-otter populations were plummeting up to 17 percent a year — perhaps because they were being eaten by killer whales — federal scientists in 2002 knew what to do: They filed the paperwork to list the creatures under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)....
Pair near end of epic West Coast Trail hike For 3½ months, they have been on the move constantly, walking nearly 20 miles a day, threading their way across beaches, rainforests and farm country. On Tuesday, they expect to reach the end of the West Coast Trail — the fence marking the U.S.-Mexico border. Olive, 28, and his companion, Sarah Janes, 23, set out in June from the northwest tip of Washington. Both are taking a break from jobs with the National Park Service. Once they cross the border, the pair will become the first hikers to complete the journey in a single trip....
National parks in budget turmoil Actually, the administration cut the base budgets at three of every four parks nationally this year — including at 10 of the 13 National Park Service units in Utah, according to a Morning News analysis of published operating budgets for individual parks. Where did the money go? Much apparently helped protect "national icon" parks against terrorist threats — including the Statue of Liberty, Independence Hall, Mount Rushmore, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and memorials in Washington, D.C. So terrorism may be creating cuts at many parks to protect a few from terrorists....
For good or ill, Bush clears path for energy development Roads and well-drilling pads etched from the sagebrush now stretch to the horizon in ghostly cul-de-sacs. A decade ago this wind-swept swath of country was largely untouched by humans. Today, nearly 500 natural-gas wells dot the Green River Valley, and the Bush administration has called for up to 3,100....
Battle over NPR-A heated Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management say the marshy tundra around a giant North Slope lake could hold hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil, enough to significantly boost domestic oil production for a nation heavily dependent on foreign imports. To get at the oil, the agency recently proposed rolling back restrictions imposed in 1998 during the Clinton administration that keep oil explorers out of areas important for migratory geese and other wildlife....
Nuclear power slides back onto the agenda Reviled for more than a quarter of a century, nuclear energy is poised for a comeback. Soaring energy costs, worries about energy dependence and growing fears of global warming have combined to revive a once-doomed industry that remains the butt of pop-culture satire such as The Simpsons and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Three utility consortiums — Exelon, Entergy and Dominion Resources — recently filed early site applications with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for new plants — the first in nearly three decades....
SUWA petitions BLM for closure of certain off-road trails It's no surprise, then, that the 1978 plan for the area did not address the potential effects of off-road vehicles, and those effects are dramatic enough in the Vermilion Cliffs area that the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance petitioned the BLM last week for an emergency closure of some trails in the area. The conservation group contends those ORV trails were developed only in the last couple of years and threaten critical habitat for native wildlife and some archaeological resources....
St. Helens Activity May Signal Explosion A strengthening series of earthquakes at Mount St. Helens prompted seismologists Sunday to warn that the once-devastating volcano may see a small explosion soon. The U.S. Geological Survey issued a notice of volcanic unrest in response to the swarm of hundreds of earthquakes that began Thursday....
Column, Invasive species: The newest threat to property rights If you have foreign weeds, grass, trees, or shrubs on your property (and you most certainly do), you're in trouble. Under "Invasive Species" provisions currently sitting in the Senate's version of the Federal Transportation Bill (S. 1072), your property could quickly become the target of radical environmentalists and bureaucrats. Imagine the Endangered Species Act on steroids. Now multiply its devastating effect on property rights by one million. That should give you a pretty good idea of what "Invasive Species" legislation will mean for property owners in every state, county, city and suburb in the nation....
Major shift mapped for Delta water Under pressure from some of California's biggest cities and farm districts, federal and state officials are planning major changes in how water is stored and distributed across the state, including increased pumping of supplies from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The proposed changes, outlined in an obscure state-federal document called the Operations Criteria and Plan, sets the stage for California's most far-reaching plumbing shifts in a decade. Under the plan, water contractors would increase pumping from the Delta by 27 percent, sending more to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. Less water would flow to the San Francisco Bay and less would be reserved for endangered salmon during the driest of droughts....
Government official praises Animas-La Plata project progress The head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said he is happy with the progress of the Animas-La Plata Project, the $500 million plan to build a huge reservoir in southwest Colorado. "It's a good project and will settle water-right obligations (to American Indian tribes)," bureau Commissioner John Keys said Thursday. "I was pleased with the reaction of three private consultants who have been here to see what we're doing and how we're doing."....
On The Edge Of Common Sense: Veterinary questions for new millennium have been pondering the state of veterinary medicine in the new millennium. These subjects deserve some deeper thought, or at least a grant application for further study: 1. The plethora of chickens, the dearth of chicken practitioners. 2. The value of veterinarians in the war against bioterrorism. 3. Is there a place for grooming in an exclusive reptile practice? 4. What is the most important discovery in vet medicine since 1969? 5. What do you think of quacks in horse medicine, human medicine and brokerage firms?....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

Senate Mounts Sneak Attack on Sound Science

In a behind-the-scenes move with far reaching implications, the Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved a bill including language that would shield one of the federal government’s most important scientific agencies from legal requirements mandating integrity in government science. A clause in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Commerce and other agencies (S. 2809) would exempt research produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from complying with the Federal Data Quality Act, which requires that data circulated by federal agencies conform to standards of scientific integrity.

“This quiet ploy is clearly aimed at avoiding the inevitable lawsuits exposing the junk science, much of it traceable to NOAA, which has been employed in government publications in recent years, including two alarmist global warming reports,” said Christopher C. Horner, Senior Fellow and Counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “The apparent strategy here – that any agency or department report using NOAA science will now be above the law – guts existing data quality rules in the very context which forced Congress to enact them in the first place.”....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

Green versus Black

What are rich people doing, in the first place, trying to stop poor people on the other side of the world from getting something to eat? They are feeding their own egos by hindering poor Africans from feeding themselves.

It's not a racial thing. The green zealots would stop anybody from doing anything they don't approve of. They talk grandly about "protecting" this, "preserving" that, or "saving" something else.

From what? From other people. Nor is this just a matter of buying up things to keep them out of other people's hands. Far more often, green zealots want the government to deprive other people of the right to use land or resources for their own purposes, rather than for the recreational or other purposes preferred by the green zealots....

The Myth of the Tree Shortage

The USDA Forest Service took the lead in this study and enlisted help from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. For over two years, more than 25 scientists and analysts worked on this study. More than 100 scientists from universities, state and federal agencies, industry and conservation organizations provided peer reviews to enhance the accuracy and completeness of this report. Finally, in late 2001, the report was made public and was received with huge waves of apathy.

Why? The report was of no use to the radical environmental community because, with painstaking research and documented facts, it destroyed every assertion they had made concerning the forests of the south. It gave the lie to their "chicken little" scenarios and was impregnable to their attack because of the unimpeachable integrity of those who had created the study. So the radical environmental community just acted as if it had never happened.

From the stump landscapes of the early 1900’s, the southern forests have recovered to become one of the wood baskets of the world. Vibrant, never static, quickly responding to changing conditions, the southern forests meet the needs of today and are poised to embrace tomorrow.

The Resource Assessment does not cover the why of this marvelous transformation, but I will tell you why. It is because the southern forests are privately owned. The essential difference between the southern forests and the burning, stagnant forests of the west and looted forests of foreign lands is that of private ownership. Each landowner managing his own lands (and doing it very well as the Assessment shows) for his own perceived self-interest....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

Anti-Logging Blues... Wood construction is greener

A new report concludes that wood is one of the most environmentally-sensitive building materials for home construction -- it uses less overall energy than other products, causes fewer air and water impacts and does a better job of the carbon “sequestration” that can help address global warming.

The research showed that wood framing used 17 percent less energy than steel construction for a typical house built in Minnesota, and 16 percent less energy than a house using concrete construction in Atlanta. And in these two examples, the use of wood had 26-31 percent less global warming potential.

This $1 million study was prepared by the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials, a non-profit corporation of 15 research universities....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

CONSERVATION SUBSIDIES DON’T WORK

Paying for conservation outright is more efficient than trying to preserve ecosystems through subsidized, profit-driven enterprises, says Professor R. David Simpson.

Over the last 20 years, conservationists have sought to preserve fragile ecosystems and biological resources by putting them to economically profitable, but ecologically sustainable use.

But Simpson says that investments in activities that are believed to be compatible with conservation -- such as bio-prospecting and ecotourism -- tend not be the most cost-effective way of conserving imperiled habitats:

---There is uncertainty figuring out what incentives an investment in an eco-friendly business will generate; for example, eco-tourist areas may end up over-used by visitors.
---Eco-friendly enterprises tend to be unprofitable, often requiring subsidies to continue operating.
---Paying for conservation directly, which Simpson calls the “true market” approach to conservation, would generate greater incentives for the private sector to preserve habitats.

While realizing some income through eco-friendly enterprises can defray some of the costs of conservation, Simpson says attempts to address the many problems of conservation, development and social equity, all in one step, usually result in the failure to resolve any of them.

Ultimately, conservation is a costly endeavor, but alternatives to a true market approach make it more, rather than less, expensive.

Source: R. David Simpson, “Conserving Biodiversity through Markets: A Better Approach,” Property and Environment Research Center Policy Series No.32, July 2004.

For text http://www.perc.org/publications/policyseries/biodiverse.php

OPINION/COMMENTARY

Fairy Shrimp vs. Man

The shrimp lives -- exists? -- in a depression at the end of a runway. Officials have fenced off 108 acres for its privileged use, even though no shrimp worth eating has been found there, just eggs that haven't yet hatched, even after having been in the spot for years. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants the area to be designated as a preserve for the fairy shrimp. That probably sounds reasonable, since the property is likely to sit idle because of its location. Who would want it for anything? But an argument by LAX officials demonstrates that this is yet another case of man forcing man to yield to a lower life form.

It's not that the relatively small tract has been set aside. It's the ripple effect that area would have. Designating the area as a preserve for the fairy shrimp would require it to have standing water. That attracts birds. Though they both have wings and fly, birds and aircraft do not mix well.

Sometimes the results are disastrous. Yeah, it makes a mess of the bird. But too often it's equally as ruinous for humans. Jetliners full of passengers have been known to go down after sucking birds into their engines....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

Honk If You Support World Car-Free Day

Washington, D.C., September 21, 2004—Anti-automobile activists around the world will celebrate “World Car-Free Day” this Wednesday, envisioning a world where cars have been forcibly replaced by pedestrians, bicyclists, and mass transit. For all of their rhetoric, however, the anti-car enthusiasts are generally vague on how their utopia will accommodate the handicapped, the elderly, parents with kids, or anyone who lives outside of a central city.

“Since so many anti-car activists are young and healthy, it’s no surprise they forget what a car-free world would actually be like,” said Sam Kazman, General Counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “For many people, a car isn’t a luxury – it’s the only way to get to work, transport their kids, or pick up groceries.”

The dramatic revolution in mobility made possible by the personal automobile has faced hostility from central planners for decades. In the words of philosopher Loren Lomasky, “People who drive cars upset the patterns spun from the policy intellectual’s brain.” (Lomasky study “Autonomy and Automobility” available online at http://www.cei.org/gencon/025,01437.cfm)....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

Famous Lobster Liberator Pinched By Police

In an effort to take away the saltwater half of your Surf and Turf, the radicals at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) operate an entire website dedicated to "lobster liberation," including practical "Tips for Releasing Lobsters." Doing his part for this crazy crustacean cause, "Terminator 2" child actor and long-time PETA activist Edward Furlong was arrested in a drunken stupor Wednesday after trying to release live lobsters from a Kentucky grocery store's tank. As we've reported before, Furlong's PETA-related troubles are nothing new.

PETA Education Director Jacqueline Domac, the staffer in charge of PETA's outreach to children, began an affair with Furlong when he was 16 and she was 30. As we told you in July, Domac started as Furlong's on-set tutor, later expanding her role to include managing his acting career....

OPINION/COMMENTARY

IS ORGANIC FOOD REALLY SAFER AND HEALTHIER?

Americans spent $10.4 billion on organic foods last year, but several studies are questioning the assumption that organic foods are safer and healthier than conventional foods.

A recent survey indicated that two out of three consumers choose organic foods because they support “better health,” but two recent symposia (the American Chemical Society and the First World Congress on Organic Food) have concluded that evidence is lacking to support the claimed superior benefits of organic foods. Furthermore,

---A report by the Texas Department of Agriculture indicates that conventional produce was eight times more likely to have pesticide residue than organic, but of the few samples in which a residue was found, the amount was negligible (between 1 and 5 percent of government standards).
---Because organic farmers rely on cow and pig manure for fertilizer, organic foods are vulnerable to bacterial contamination – two recent outbreaks of E-coli involved organic strawberries and lettuce.
---Free-range birds (organic poultry) have higher rates of bacterial contamination than conventional poultry due to their higher exposure to wild bird droppings.

Moreover, a study by the American Council on Science and Health reveals that organic produce does not have significantly higher vitamin contents than conventional produce. A comparison of organically and conventionally grown vegetables revealed that a higher vitamin C content for the organic vegetables, but only by about 10 percent of the recommended daily intake, which can be compensated for when adding fruits.

What is important, say observers, is that consumers make fruits, vegetables and dairy products a part of their diet, and they should not feel guilty if they can’t afford more expensive organic foods.

Source: Melissa Healy, “Behind the Organic Label,” Los Angeles Times, September 6, 2004; Nancy McGuire, “Assessing Organic Food,” American Chemical Society, August 30, 2004; and Mary Wilson, “First World Congress on Organic Food: Meeting the Challenges of Safety and Quality for Fruits, Vegetables and Grains,” Michigan State University, National Food Safety and Toxology Center, March 29-31, 2004.

For LA Times text (subscription required) http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-organic6sep06,1,7058760,print.story

For ACS report: http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_pro.html?id=c373e9fe9f15cae18f6a17245d830100

For WCOF report: http://www.mosaorganic.org/symposium.pdf

OPINION/COMMENTARY

UN Threatens to Trump US Land Policy

It’s a clash of the titans. On one side there are well-funded environmental groups and eco-lobbyists; on the other, free-market advocates and strict constitutional constructionists. But these are just the internal forces at play. At the global level, the United Nations is proposing a new treaty that holds potential to render moot US congressional decisions.

The outcome of this battle will determine whether the Roadless Area Conservation Rule (passed Jan. 12, 2001) should be amended to open the doors to timber harvesting on our nation’s federally protected lands. The Dept. of Agriculture’s Forest Service just extended the comment period on these suggested changes, from Sept. 14 to Nov. 15, but tying into the issue is an almost simultaneous proposal from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. This body wants to develop a “successor agreement” to its U.S.-backed International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA). If enacted, this agreement would require participating nations to abide by restrictive land management policies that will likely include blanket prohibitions on timber harvests. In effect, it could usurp conclusions reached at the congressional level regarding America’s forests....

Indians give a cheer for the name 'Redskins'

Ninety percent of American Indians say the name Washington Redskins does not offend them, according to a new national survey. Only 9 percent of polled Indians say they find the name of Washington's professional football team "offensive," according to the results of the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey. The other 1 percent did not respond. "I thought more people would have had" problems with the name, said Adam Clymer, political director of the survey, which questioned more than 65,000 Americans of all races and ethnic groups between Oct. 7, 2003, and Sept. 20, 2004. Mr. Clymer, formerly a reporter for the New York Times and other newspapers, says it was his idea to ask Americans polled who identified themselves as American Indians or Native Americans if they objected to the team name Redskins, a moniker that many Indian leaders and activists have said is offensive....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Stories of heroism emerge from crash The airplane was already aflame, burning hot, when Jodee Hogg pushed open the cargo door and fell into the cold mountain air. That she was alive has been called remarkable. That she was relatively unhurt has been called miraculous. That she climbed back into the burning plane to rescue a friend is being called nothing short of heroic. In fact, as details of Monday's wilderness airplane crash continue to emerge, the story is shifting quickly from one of tragedy to one of survival, and finally to one of heroism....
Weather likely played role, but answers still unknown Low clouds and high mountains remain the prime suspects in Monday's wilderness plane crash that killed three, but firm answers as to the cause of the accident likely won't come for at least nine months. "It is far too soon to be making conclusions," said Georgia Struhsaker, senior air safety investigator for the Northwest Regional Office of the National Transportation Safety Board. Struhsaker, whose job it is to investigate airplane crashes, arrived on the scene Wednesday, and has been working at the site alongside teams from the Forest Service and Federal Aviation Administration. A team from the Cessna airplane company is also on hand, she said....
Brother of crash survivor describes grief, joy On Friday, Ryan Hogg, whose sister survived a plane crash in northeastern Montana, outlined his family's week. Hogg, 27, said the family was informed by Forest Service officials on Tuesday at about 3 p.m. that Jodee had died in the contract plane with four others, because "it wasn't a survivable crash." Twenty-four hours later, they were told that two people from the crash had walked out of the wilderness. After another half hour, they learned that one of them was Jodee, 23. The other was Matthew Ramige, 29, of Jackson, Wyo....
Report: Spotted owls still declining Fourteen years after coming under federal protection, the northern spotted owl continues to decline, particularly in Washington state, a new study shows. The owl — an icon of the Northwest timber wars — no longer faces the severe threat from logging it once did, but it faces new threats, including catastrophic wildfires that rage through overgrown forests and the barred owl, a relative that is rapidly taking over spotted owl habitat in the West, the report said. The study, conducted by a Portland firm on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, appears to be a blow to timber industry efforts to loosen restrictions on federal forest logging in Washington, Oregon and Northern California....
Drillers awaiting word on protection of grouse's habitat Some wildlife experts want to make the greater sage grouse an endangered species icon. Its Western habitat, unfortunately, is atop some of the nation's largest untapped natural gas fields. The grouse has lost about nine-tenths of its 2 million population in Western states and Canada since the early 19th century. A decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on whether it should be listed as an endangered species is expected by the end of the year. Developers wanting to drill for natural gas in the grouse's habitat, in sagebrush-covered areas of Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, are tense....
Development holds reins in the Wild West But the administration's most enduring environmental legacy may lie here in the West, where a series of policy decisions and little-noticed administrative actions have eased development restrictions on millions of acres of federal lands. More than 60 million acres -- an area twice the size of Virginia -- are more vulnerable to logging or drilling as a result of policies that weakened federal restrictions on their development. Other administration actions have made it harder for government officials to apply the most stringent protections to federal wild lands. As part of a legal settlement reached last year with Utah, the administration banned government workers from surveying public lands to identify areas worthy of being set aside by Congress as federal preserves off-limits to development of any kind. More than 3 million acres of land that had been nominated for a congressional designation lost their protected status....
California Backs Plan for Big Cut in Car Emissions California regulators approved a plan on Friday aimed at drastically reducing over the next 11 years the vehicle emissions of gases that scientists have linked to global warming. It would be the first such regulation in the nation and one that, if it survives legal challenges, would force automakers to increase sharply the fuel efficiency of millions of vehicles. Though the plan is being put into place by only one state, automakers see it as the most challenging demand from government since Congress first imposed standards to improve fuel economy in the 1970's....
Retailer Gets Out the Green Votes Patagonia Inc.'s corporate mission is to protect planet Earth. So, when the Ventura, California-based1 company's executives sat down in January to map out the company's marketing strategies for the year, they decided to focus on convincing Americans to vote in the 2004 election for candidates with sound environmental records. This summer, the private company -- which sells about $250 million worth of fleece clothing, camping equipment, climbing gear and other outdoor products a year -- launched a $500,000 multimedia Vote the Environment campaign that will run until Election Day. As Nov. 2 nears, Patagonia is stepping up its get-out-the-vote campaign. It is sending e-mails to 400,000 subscribers, printing essays penned by well-known environmentalists in its catalogs, communicating with visitors in hundreds of environmental and outdoor-sports chat rooms, message boards and blogs, and funding the national distribution of Monumental, a documentary on David Brower, the Sierra Club's first executive director....
Canal Mule Reaches Retirement There's a mule in Georgetown who puts the term 'workhorse' to shame. Frances has worked for more than two decades pulling visitors along the C&O Canal, and on Saturday she will end her career with one last tow. At 28, Frances is a senior citizen by mule standards. But she's a spry thing who doesn't act her age, which is the equivalent of 84 human years. She doesn't even have gray hair. "Frances is a genetic marvel. She looks and acts like the day we got her. Her health is great. She loves to work," said Kathy Kupper of the National Park Service....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Survivors' footprints in snow disappeared The footprints in the snow could have been a clue - if they hadn't disappeared. Jodee Hogg, 23, of Billings, and Matthew Ramige, 29, of Jackson, Wyo., left the prints behind Tuesday morning after spending a cold and bitter night near the burned wreckage of the Cessna that crashed the day before in the rugged hills of northwestern Montana Monday afternoon. When the two U.S. Forest Service workers limped away from the wreckage Tuesday, both burned and injured and cold, there were apparently footprints in the snow around the mangled plane, according to Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont....
Woman recounts struggle to survive Jodee Hogg was staring idly out the airplane window, relaxed, enjoying the mountain view, when suddenly the ground seemed much, much too close. "She was sitting behind the pilot," said Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont. "Everything was fine. And then all of a sudden, there it is - the side of a mountain." Hogg, 23, was one of two to survive the wilderness plane crash Monday, walking out of the mountains injured, cold, exhausted and very grateful two days later. Alongside the Billings woman was 29-year-old Matthew Ramige of Jackson Hole, Wyo., badly burned, his back broken, but still on his feet....
Survivors had ‘seconds’ to escape The survivors of the plane crash that killed three people Monday probably had only seconds to escape the wreckage before it was consumed by fire. That's a preliminary assessment by Georgia Struhsaker, a senior air safety investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board. She arrived in Kalispell on Wednesday. She examined the wreckage on Mount Liebig, where officials on Tuesday had pronounced the crash "unsurvivable," even as two passengers were moving through the woods trying to save themselves....
Local reaction to handling of crash mostly negative At coffee shops, in health clubs and on the street, people were talking about the plane crash and the improbable tale of tragedy and survival. "I think it's a little surprising they didn't check who should be on the plane," Anderson said of rescuers who called off Tuesday's search after finding the devastated wreckage. "They used weather for an excuse," Patti McIlhargey said. "It sure doesn't give me much hope if I'm up there. "It was only a rain storm. A little Montana rain storm." According to Anderson, "They didn't assume anybody could live through that. I think it's inexcusable."....
Environmentalists denounce feds' plan for the bull trout Oregon environmental groups say the federal government's final plan for protecting bull trout habitat in Northwestern states, which cuts original proposals by 90 percent, imperils the fish's future in the Deschutes River basin. The bull trout, an aggressive and migratory member of the salmon family, was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1999. The fish need cold, clean water and silt-free stream beds to survive....
Groups sue over wolf program A coalition of more than two dozen Wyoming agricultural, sportsmen, predator control and county government groups has followed through on its intention to sue over the federal gray wolf recovery program. The Wolf Coalition is seeking judicial and monetary relief in federal court for alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act because of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's rejection of the Wyoming wolf management plan....
New rules on pesticides challenged Environmental groups went to court yesterday against Bush administration rules that allow the use of new pesticides with fewer checks on how they affect endangered species. Eight groups filed suit in federal district court in Seattle claiming the rule changes in July violated several environmental laws. The changes let the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) review some pesticides without consulting Interior and Commerce department experts....
New UN Talks Bid to Save Fish, Plants and Timber Long a forum for protecting endangered species like whales or tigers, a U.N. meeting in Bangkok next month will seek a wider role in regulating the billion-dollar trade in timber, fish and medicinal plants. Obscure but commercially valuable species like the humphead wrasse fish, the Chinese yew tree or the hoodia cactus are likely to steal some of the limelight at the October 2-14 meeting from elephants, bald eagles and great white sharks....
The $50 million faucet: Cougar Dam's temperature control tower expected to benefit salmon The big tower is, in effect, a giant faucet that will allow the Corps to correct water temperatures thrown out of balance when it built the dam. It's an elaborate and expensive attempt to fix a temperature imbalance that helped push native spring chinook salmon to an endangered species listing. Water temperatures have been all wrong on the South McKenzie - and on a sizeable stretch of the mainstem McKenzie - since 1963, the year Cougar Dam was completed and ice-cold water began flowing through turbines at its base....
Park's pepper-spraying report done; still secret The National Park Service’s Internal Affairs Division is "reviewing" its investigator’s report on the July 28 pepper-spraying of two Inverness Park teenagers. It should release its findings within 10 days, the Park Service told The Light Wednesday. Agent Paul Crawford, based at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, was assigned to investigate the actions of Point Reyes National Seashore rangers Roger Mayo and Angelina Gregorio who pepper-sprayed Jessica Miller, 17, and Chris Miller, 18, repeatedly even after both were restrained on the ground and Jessica was handcuffed. At least that is what the victims and witnesses have said publicly. Both siblings were released without charge. Victims and witnesses have called the incident, off park property in Point Reyes Station, a case of unprovoked brutality....
Grandmother Being Forced Out Of National Park A grandmother who is one of the few people who can legitimately call Rocky Mountain National Park her home is being forced out. Betty Dick's husband bought the wild land in the 1960s, before the park expanded. But a feud between her dead husband and his first wife is forcing Dick out, and she's not ready to go. "I'm just kind of in a little corner here where the mountains wind around," said Dick, who is 82....
House panel passes Lincoln County land bill A House panel on Wednesday approved sweeping legislation reconfiguring federal land in Lincoln County and allowing a pipeline to deliver water from the rural county to Las Vegas. The bill was pushed forward by voice vote after lawmakers on the House Resources Committee made several changes that Nevada sponsors said they could accept in the interest of getting it passed through Congress this year....
Bush, Kerry court sportsmen in hopes of reeling in votes There they are, on the cover of the newsstand edition of Field & Stream: George W. Bush and John Kerry, wearing blaze orange, wielding shotguns. "This much we know: The next president of the United States will be a sportsman," the magazine declares in its new election issue. "Beyond that, of course, it gets complicated." The pursuit of voters who hunt and fish is one of the inner battles in this campaign. It's a testament to the clout of the country's nearly 40 million sportsmen, especially in such battlegrounds as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia....
Schwarzenegger approves conservancy, signs 20 other enviro bills Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose a woodsy mountain setting Thursday to sign legislation establishing a 25 million-acre Sierra Nevada Conservancy, while also signing nearly 20 other bills to protect the Pacific Ocean, curb smog and clean up blighted urban land. With numerous strokes of the pen, Schwarzenegger opened 1,100 miles of car pool lanes to hybrid cars, established the nation's first Cabinet-level Ocean Protection Council in state government and barred cruise ships from burning garbage and dumping sewage inside state waters. He also banned commercial fishing fleets from bottom trawling along designated parts of the California coast and required 100-foot firebreaks around homes in mountain wildfire zones....
EPA's chief under Nixon rips Bush on environment Russell Train is so disappointed in President Bush's environmental record that the staunch Republican, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's second leader 30 years ago, is casting his vote in November for Democrat John Kerry. Train, 84, EPA administrator under Presidents Nixon and Ford from 1973 to 77, was in Madison Tuesday in support of Environment2004, an organization trying to end what it calls the anti-environmental agenda of the Bush administration....
Outfitters can float down Snake River through Monday River outfitters in Grand Teton National Park will have five more days of floating the Snake River this season after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation agreed to hold off reducing river flows. The bureau said it will keep releases from Jackson Lake Dam steady at 2,500 cubic feet per second until Monday afternoon, at which time it will begin the process of cutting back the flow to store water for next summer....
Town fights to keep its post office in business Local residents are planning to fight like the dickens for the last business in Dickens, Neb. That business is a part-time post office operated on a contract basis for the past 12 years by Roni Melton, a local rancher's wife. The post office serves as the last gathering place in the unincorporated town of 23 people, about 30 miles southwest of North Platte. It's the only place in Dickens to post a sale bill or grab a cup of coffee from a pot set out by Melton....
Column: End of an era As I sat and listened to the bedridden old cowboy talk about the adventures he had lived, I detected a sorrow in his eyes that I did not fully understand. But some 60 years later I am beginning to understand, for the sadness is coming into my eyes as well. B.E. “Cyclone” Denton had seen the West, as he knew it, settled and fenced. He had seen the buffalo slaughtered for hide and tongue. In their place Longhorn cattle were raised to feed a hungry nation. As the country settled these were replaced by the more efficient English breeds of cattle like the Hereford and Angus. It didn’t change suddenly, but civilization was steadily creeping west as a nation hungered for more land to farm and raise beef....

GAO REPORT

International Convention and U.S. Laws Protect Wildlife Differently (pdf)

Implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora has become increasingly complex and controversial since its inception. Complexity has increased in part because of the sheer number of member countries (166) and species protected (more than 33,000) and because the criteria for identifying protected species have become more scientific and specific, resulting in heavier data-gathering, permitting, enforcement, and reporting requirements for member countries. Controversy, in turn, has increased because the Convention membership has recently contemplated, and in some cases approved, protection of commercial species such as sharks and Patagonian toothfish (commonly marketed as Chilean seabass)—species that in some cases are already managed under regional fisheries agreements. Over the 9-year fiscal period 1995 through 2003, the United States spent more than $50 million on Convention-related activities. As the agency primarily responsible for U.S. implementation of the Convention, the Fish and Wildlife Service spent the largest portion of these funds—about $37 million over the period. Other agencies have roles as well, including the Department of State, which makes U.S. contributions to help administer the Convention internationally. The Convention and the Endangered Species Act protect species differently. In some cases, the act prohibits imports that are allowed by the Convention. For example, the act generally prohibits the import of a popular exotic fish, the Asian arowana, although the Convention allows some commercial trade in the species. The Convention establishes mandatory requirements and recognizes countries’ rights to establish stricter protections. However, such protections have generated heated debates among affected parties. Those in favor say that the United States should impose stricter protections than the Convention, when needed to protect endangered species or their habitats. Opponents say that U.S. actions should be consistent with the agreements reached by a majority of the Convention’s members....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Two survive plane crash thought to have killed 5 Two survivors of a Monday plane crash in the rugged wilderness of northwest Montana emerged on a highway Wednesday after making their way on foot through the mountains. The survivors, both U.S. Forest Service employees, made their way out a day after both the Flathead County sheriff and the Forest Service had announced their deaths. Three others died in the crash....
Conservation groups seek court order to halt prairie dog killing Conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to prevent federal agencies from beginning a program that would poison and shoot black-tailed prairie dogs on federal land in southwestern South Dakota. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Denver, argues that the new plan to reduce the prairie dog population should be blocked because it violates national environmental and forest-management laws....
Boomerang bears Troublesome black bears exiled to backwoods areas return home or die trying, a recent study finds, and some wildlife biologists say bear-resistant trash containers — not relocation — may be the only cure for a growing problem. People and bears — as many as 30,000 in California — run into each other these days in campgrounds and neighborhoods springing up in mountainous areas. Yosemite National Park reported 214 human-bear encounters in the first half of this year, a 149% increase over the same period in 2003....
Widow sues over bear death The widow of a hunter mauled by a grizzly bear while he was gutting an elk is suing state and federal wildlife officials, saying negligent management practices led to her husband's death. Mary Ann Hilston contends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks knew there was an aggressive grizzly bear with two cubs prowling the Clearwater Wildlife Management Area northeast of Missoula during the fall of 2001. "The defendants knew that bears were becoming accustomed to gunshots and that bears were using the sound of gunshots as a 'dinner bell,' " the women's suit states....
Forest fees program revived by key committee in House The National Recreation Fee Demonstration program was on life support in May after the Senate voted to kill the program for all federal agencies except the National Park Service after 2005. But an important committee in the House yesterday approved a bill that authorizes the program for all agencies for 10 years....
Elk charges people, cars in Yellowstone A 60-year-old Texas man was gored by a bull elk in Yellowstone on Sunday morning after venturing too close to take a photograph, officials said Wednesday. Park managers removed the antlers from the elk that charged and injured two people and damaged several cars near Terrace Grill in Mammoth Hot Springs....
Arch pays $611M for largest coal lease in state history On Wednesday, Arch Coal Inc. paid $611 million for the Little Thunder federal coal lease containing an estimated 719 million tons of recoverable coal -- enough coal to generate all of the nation's electrical power for more than three months. It is the largest coal lease ever offered in the state's history, and it is among five federal coal leases in the area to come up for sale this year. Arch Coal was the only bidder in the open bidding process, according to Wyoming Bureau of Land Management officials....
Column: White House actions irk advocates for wilderness In the four decades since the Wilderness Act of 1964 was enacted, 3.4 million acres of the state's most revered landscapes and mountain peaks have been preserved. But in a changing West, where the seesaw battle between conservation and development swings from one administration to another, the landmark law remains at the center of a heated debate about wilderness expansions....
Wild Sky measure is killed in House A popular drive to create Washington state's first new wilderness area in 20 years collapsed yesterday after a House committee refused to consider a compromise offered by Rep. George Nethercutt, touching off a fierce exchange of accusations and sharply differing accounts of who is to blame. The daylong barrage commenced minutes after Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., withdrew legislation sponsored by Nethercutt to create the 106,000-acre Wild Sky Wilderness and Backcountry area. Pombo said he acted after being told that the Washington delegation couldn't resolve differences over competing bills....
Column, Hunting: It's Not About the Gun It is clear to me that there is a widening gulf in the sporting community. When we elect a president this fall, there will be those who vote wildlife and those who vote gun. With 47 million sporting votes at stake, and two candidates vying for 5 percent of the voters in crucial states where a lot of hunters live, the ramifications are huge. As an outdoorsman living in the West, it's hard for me to ignore the damage that has been done to our wildlife heritage in the last four years. Places where I used to hunt pronghorn and sage grouse on the Upper Green River outside Pinedale, Wyo., are now oil and gas fields....
Interior Appropriations Bill and Legislative Riders The Senate is expected to consider S. 2084, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Interior Department and Related Agencies Appropriations bill this Thursday. Sierra Club is closely following the overall bill, which fails to adequately fund the long-established programs and services charged with overseeing America's natural resources, as well as numerous "riders" that, if passed as part of the bill, could cause severe environmental damage. Summaries are provided for you below....
Acid rain pollution up 4 percent in 2003 Emissions of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, rose 4 percent in 2003, but probably will not compromise long-term air quality goals, the government reported Wednesday. Coal-fired power plants were the main source of the 10.6 million tons of sulfur dioxide. That total compared with 10.2 million tons in 2002 and reverted to the level from 2001. Nonetheless, pollution from sulfur dioxide has dropped significantly over the past two decades, from 17.3 million tons in 1980 to 11.2 million tons in 2000, the year before President Bush took office....
Putin tells ministries to salvage Kyoto Russian President Vladimir Putin has told key ministries to sign the Kyoto protocol on global warming in a step towards salvaging the U.N. plan, international environmentalists said on Wednesday. The WWF conservation group said the 1997 pact, which is dependent on Russia's final approval if it is to come into force despite a U.S. pullout in 2001, could be ratified by the Russian parliament within the next few weeks....
Bull rider enjoys happier trail now Bull rider Cory McFadden is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train. Having gone through a roller coaster of emotions over the past two years, the Coleman, Texas, cowboy appears to have put his life onto the right track. Winning rodeos is only one of the contributing factors....
Of stock and bonds: Family ranch raises rodeo stars As Jim Gay drives around his family's 1,000-acre Rafter G Rodeo Ranch in a dusty pickup, he can tell a story for almost every acre. He'll talk about the time two bulls – King Kong and Godzilla, each weighing about a ton – got into a tussle and caved in the side of a truck, right over there by the stables. He'll point out his favorite bucking horse, Susie Q, in the pasture. She always gives the cowboys a hard time....
Former child star donates items to Gene Autry museum Jimmy Hawkins' life is filled with a series of unforgettable and one-of-a-kind events. Like taking his horse, Pixie, to children's hospitals to entertain patients and make them forget their troubles for a while. It's something Gene Autry taught him. For six years, Hawkins was under exclusive contract with Autry, playing Tagg Oakley in the "Annie Oakley" series produced by Autry's Flying A Productions. During that time, he learned a lot about the entertainment business and got a lesson or two in character building from a man who had plenty of it himself....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Split estates bill takes shape A draft bill being worked on by a legislative committee would extend minimum compensation for surface damage caused by oil and gas development beyond just crops. Sheridan County rancher Clay Rowley told the Joint Executive Legislative Committee on Split Estates on Monday that a growing number of landowners rely less on crops and more on bed-and-breakfasts and dude ranching for income. Wyoming landowners who don't hold title to the mineral rights below their properties are seeking better "property value" protection for themselves. Such situations are referred to as split estates....
Conservation project clears hurdle in Congress Funds to preserve working ranches in Humboldt County has passed a key U.S. Senate committee, but its fate may be up in the air as Congress races toward adjournment. The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved $2.8 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Legacy Project, money that would help preserve 17,000 acres on five Humboldt ranches. The money is the linchpin for the Six Rivers to the Sea project organized by the North Coast Regional Land Trust and the national Trust for Public Land....
Need a trophy but don't hunt? Bid on one Call it a hunting trip for folks who cannot pull the trigger. The Colorado Division of Wildlife in coming days plans to auction dozens of deer and elk antlers and a score of mountain lion and bear hides. The remains of the once-noble animals were salvaged from roadkills, seized from poachers or taken from ranchers who had shot bears or mountains lions preying on livestock. Those who do not want to kill a wild animal will have a chance to gussy up their dens or cabins by bidding on 35 sets of deer antlers and 20 sets of elk antlers, many of them trophy-sized; 20 bear hides; three mountain lion hides; and four bobcat hides....
Lost plane discovered; passengers all dead The wreckage of a single-engine plane missing in a Montana wilderness area was found Tuesday and all five occupants aboard were found dead, Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont said. Four of those on board were employees of the U.S. Forest Service. The fifth was a contract pilot working for Edwards Jet Center at the Kalispell airport....
Appeals court upholds medicine wheel ruling A federal appeals court has upheld the U.S. Forest Service's decision to set aside 23,000 acres to protect the view from a sacred American Indian medicine wheel. Wyoming Sawmills Inc., a logging company in Sheridan, had challenged the agency's decision to create the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark in the Bighorn National Forest, which closed the area to logging....
Grazing Rider on Interior Appropriations Threatens Public Lands A rider attached to the FY05 Interior Appropriations Act (S 2804) seeks to completely eliminate public input and environmental review regarding livestock grazing on potentially millions of acres of public lands. The Senate rider is the latest, and one of the most egregious, in a string of tactics used by the livestock industry, and the leadership at the U.S. Forest Service, to avoid their responsibility to ensure that grazing does not preclude other vital uses of our public lands....
New federal plan could cut back bull-trout habitat A recovery plan being finalized this week would sharply reduce the amount of federally designated critical habitat for the threatened bull trout in three Western states and eliminate federal requirements for such habitat in Montana. The new plan, to be announced today by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, would designate nearly 1,750 miles of streams and 61,235 acres of lakes and reservoirs in Washington, Oregon and Idaho as critical to the bull trout's survival under the Endangered Species Act. The new figures represent about 10 percent of totals announced in November 2002, when the agency announced it planned to designate more than 18,000 miles of streams in the four states and 500,000 acres of lakes and reservoirs....
Drums and Bells Open Indian Museum To thundering drums, jubilant whoops and bell-jingling dancers, the Smithsonian on Tuesday opened the National Museum of the American Indian, dedicated to the history, culture and painful travails of native people in the Western Hemisphere. With the glistening white dome of the Capitol as a backdrop, more than 20,000 people from Alaska to Peru paraded across the Mall to witness the event. Under gauzy blue skies, they formed a brilliant river of deerskin jackets, feathered headdresses and beaded skirts, in conflict with Washington's pinstriped style. The opening capped a 17-year quest by tribal leaders and elected officials to commemorate Indian culture and history in the capital....
Agency to Designate Habitat for Dragonfly Prodded by a lawsuit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to designate critical habitat for the endangered Hine's emerald dragonfly. The federal agency reached a settlement with five environmental groups that accused the government of shirking its responsibility to protect the dragonfly, found only in a few Midwestern wetland areas....
West Nile kills four bald eagles; raptor experts concerned West Nile virus has killed four adult male bald eagles in the past month in Minnesota and Wisconsin, officials at the University of Minnesota Raptor Center said Tuesday. The eagles showed symptoms including head tremors, blindness and seizures before they died. "We won't know for some time the extent to which this disease may be affecting bald eagles, but it is definitely something to be concerned about," Patrick Redig, director of the raptor center, said in a statement....
Appeals court: Navy doesn't have to consider explosion effect on salmon The Navy doesn't have to consider the effect an accidental missile explosion at Submarine Base Bangor might have on protected salmon in Hood Canal, a federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday. The panel said the upgrade had been ordered by President Clinton, and presidential orders are not subject to review under the National Environmental Policy Act....
Environmental group files lawsuit to protect chubs The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its alleged failure to protect the roundtail and headwater chubs. The Tucson-based group filed the lawsuit Monday because the federal agency missed a one-year deadline to respond to a petition the center had filed to protect the fish under the Endangered Species Act. The fish are minnows found in small streams in the upper Gila River watershed of New Mexico and Arizona....
Column: Rethinking Green Philanthropy Green philanthropy in the United States is in trouble. And not for just the obvious reasons of the downturn in the stock markets. Environmental giving from private foundations misses the boat when it comes to systematically addressing the major problems we face in providing a catalyst to significant environmental restoration, protection, and generation of an environmentally friendly and sustainable human impact upon the earth. Have we noticed that we have been losing most of the political and ecological battles over the last ten years while we continue to approach grantmaking in the mode of 10, 20 and 30 years ago?....
Column: Rethinking Green Philanthropy, Part 2 By all means, evaluate strategic action plans, past results and visions for the future. Then, if you like, the vision and plans, give unrestricted grants, fund infrastructure, and in effect say, "go forth and multiply your good works". Trust the people and systems the groups have put in place and give them the flexibility to act in the face of rapidly changing conditions. Most environmental foundations act exactly in opposition to this idea....
Plan for refuge would turn farmland back to marshes and mudflats Farmland that was drained and diked more than 100 years ago would turn back into salt marshes and mudflats for migrating salmon under a 15-year plan for the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. A $30 million plan the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is soon expected to approve calls for taking down most of a system of dikes that separates the refuge from the salty waters of Puget Sound, reviving nearly 700 acres of what used to be an estuary. Besides tearing down dikes, the 15-year plan envisions doubling the size of the refuge and extending its boundary south of Interstate 5 to include agricultural lands....
National Park Service Retirees Outline Key Reforms More than 320 former non-political career National Park Service employees with well over 10,000 years of cumulative park management experience today unveiled an extensive "call for action" blueprint to overhaul the management of America's national parks over the next 12 years leading up to the National Park Service's 100th anniversary in 2016. Among the key steps outlined in the ambitious plan are an immediate $600 million annual infusion of additional funds to get national parks back on track and the creation of the "National Parks Restoration and Conservation Corps" (NPRCC), a large public works project patterned on the Great Depression's Civilian Conservation Corps. The NPRCC would focus on erasing the national park's chronic maintenance backlog crisis now estimated at over $6 billion....
Hot foam an alternative to herbicides for noxious weeds The Bureau of Land Management is testing a new way of killing noxious weeds: zapping them with hot foam as an alternative to herbicides. The BLM’s Eugene district is in the second year of a three-year lease of the weed-killing system, called Waipuna. Developed in 1993, it’s used worldwide to kill unwanted vegetation and to remove chewing gum and graffiti and clean monuments....See a better article here....
BLM finishing review of leasing Martin's Cove to church A final decision could come next month on leasing historic Martin's Cove to the Mormon church, federal land managers said. In 1856, a company of Mormon pioneers, mostly poor European converts pulling handcarts, were trapped by an early winter storm as they neared the end of their 1,300-mile trek to Utah. They sought shelter in the cove, where many died. Rescuers, sent from Salt Lake City, wrapped the dead in blankets and buried them under piles of rock. As many as 150 are believed to have either starved or frozen to death in the blizzard....
House committee debates bill to give land to Pechanga tribe The House committee that sets environmental policy appears poised to add 990 acres to the Riverside County reservation of California's wealthy Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. Tribal chairman Mark Macarro and federal officials said at a House Resources Committee hearing Tuesday that the Bureau of Land Management property has no commercial value or development potential, and the tribe is better equipped to maintain it than the federal government....
Bill would allow use of pack animals Seeking to head off environmental groups that want to limit access to federal lands, House lawmakers won approval Tuesday of legislation to assure that people can continue to use pack and saddle animals in their visits to parks and wilderness areas. With passage of the bill, said Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., of the House Resources Committee, the House is "preserving one of the most fundamental and truly historic ways to experience our public lands." The legislation, passed by voice, assures that pack and saddle animals will have access to lands where a historic tradition allows such use....
Plan to save water in Idaho aquifer goes to lawmakers State leaders unveiled the outline of a water deal Monday they hope can avert a legal crisis that would dry up hundreds of acres of farms and businesses involuntarily and cost Idaho's economy up to $900 million. The deal would cost $80 to $100 million over 30 years and pay willing farmers and business owners to give up their water rights....

NEWS ROUNDUP

Motorcyclists stop trail crew When a crew of volunteers showed up in the Bridger Mountains Saturday to barricade a motorcycle trail, they found about 20 people on dirt bikes waiting for them. The work never got started, even though the volunteers had legal permission from the Forest Service to erect a stone barricade. "We had permission to do something very particular, and they were not going to let us do that," said Alex Phillips, a Montana Wilderness Association staffer and an organizer of the volunteers....
Forest plane missing A Forest Service-contracted plane was listed as missing Monday night in the Flathead Valley, and planning for a search this morning was under way. Aboard the Cessna 206 G was an Edwards Jet Center pilot, three U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station employees from Ogden, Utah, and one Flathead National Forest employee, according to the Forest Service....
Genes From Engineered Grass Spread for Miles, Study Finds A new study shows that genes from genetically engineered grass can spread much farther than previously known, a finding that raises questions about the straying of other plants altered through biotechnology and that could hurt the efforts of two companies to win approval for the first bioengineered grass. The two companies, Monsanto and Scotts, have developed a strain of creeping bentgrass for use on golf courses that is resistant to the widely used herbicide Roundup. The altered plants would allow groundskeepers to spray the herbicide on their greens and fairways to kill weeds while leaving the grass unscathed. But the companies' plans have been opposed by some environmental groups as well as by the federal Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management....
Secret Deal Greases Skids For Drilling In Alaska Refuge Oil drills could soon roll into a National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska if Senator Ted Stevens has his way. A “rider” Sen. Stevens has inserted into the pending FY 05 Interior Appropriations Bill would “expedite” a land exchange between the Doyon Corporation and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to hand drilling rights on close to 100,000 acres of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge over to Doyon. The appropriations rider seeks to provide funding and Congressional approval in advance for a massive land exchange with a for-profit corporation, sight unseen. No public meetings or notices have been held to inform the public about the details of the proposed plan, even though sources close to the negotiations say it will almost certainly include a pipeline through the White Mountains National Recreation Area, a favorite winter destination for residents of Fairbanks....
Ranch owners battle Billings County A family that wants to sell its historic and beautiful Badlands ranch for public use says a move by Billings County to build a road across their property is a disguised attempt to thwart that sale. The Eberts family has been trying for four years to sell about 5,000 acres to the national and state park services, saying the ranch land has a historic connection to the Theodore Roosevelt Elkhorn Ranch site just across the Little Missouri River. No deal with either the National Park Service or the state of North Dakota is final yet, and the Eberts say that Billings County's action may make any sale more difficult, if not impossible....
Browns Park land-use battle looms Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge's first goal is to provide habitat for migrating birds. But lately the refuge has been propagating studies as well. The political atmosphere has centered on arguments between county government and refuge management about multiple use at the refuge, with cattle grazing emerging as the most controversial potential use of the land. County government insists the refuge should allow grazing, but refuge management says it isn't appropriate at this time. Because of the groups' inability to cooperate, the State Land Board, which manages Colorado's state land trusts, is conducting its own study even as the refuge starts its own....
Editorial: How did BLM come to 'own' this land? The House Resources Committee voted Wednesday to approve a bill that would transfer to Clark County 229 acres of land currently controlled by the Bureau of Land Management -- free of charge -- for use as a rural heliport. (The land sits along Interstate 15, about 12 miles south of Las Vegas.) The bill now moves on to the Senate. But if the measure survives the legislative wringer it will be over the objections of Elena Daly, director of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System, who Tuesday told a House subcommittee that the county should be made to pay $56.8 million for the land, thus ensuring "that taxpayers are fairly compensated for the removal of public land from federal ownership." But how did they come to "own" it? Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution specifies that the federal government can acquire land within the several sovereign states only "for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards and other needful buildings" -- and then only if such places are "purchased by the consent of the Legislature of the state in which the same shall be."....
Wolf pack to be killed Federal officials plan to wipe out a wolf pack after its third attack on a Paradise Valley sheep herd this summer. "We took two (wolves) Friday and we've got three left to go," said Joe Fontaine, a wolf specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena. Gunners from Wildlife Services, a separate federal agency, will hunt the remaining wolves from the Lone Bear pack as soon as the weather clears enough to allow for safe flying, Fontaine said....
Cow attacks concern park officials Jennie Barber, a veteran hiker, knew to watch out for rattlesnakes, mountain lions and ticks when she set out for a hike last month in Sunol Regional Wilderness. She never expected to be attacked by a cow, one of thousands on East Bay public lands. Barber tried to gingerly slide past a cow with a calf on a narrow trail when the cow charged and rammed her. "It threw me in the air," said Barber, 35, of Oakland. "When it prepared to charge again as I lay on the ground, I thought I was dead. I couldn't believe this was happening." She escaped with painful bruises, six stitches, a missed day of work and a new appreciation of the risk of hiking near cattle on public land....
Committee tackles new split estate proposal The working draft of new proposal on how to deal with split estate issues in coal-bed methane development will be debated today. The joint-legislative committee on split estates will have a public hearing in Casper to listen to comments on a new version of the bill, which concentrates more on damage issues and draws from Montana law that has worked successfully. Split estate refers to land in which the surface and the minerals beneath it are owned by separate entities. It remains one of the most contentious issues under discussion between landowners and coal-bed methane developers....
Future of coal mine on Hopi-Navajo reservations still in doubt Quick agreements must be reached between utility companies and tribal leaders if a major coal mine on the Navajo and Hopi reservations is to have a future, says a top Interior Department official. The mine, which accounts for a significant amount of revenue and jobs on the remote Navajo and Hopi reservations, produces coal that is crushed into powder, mixed with water and then piped 270 miles to the Mohave Generating Station in Laughlin, Nev. The tribes have demanded that mining company Peabody Energy quit using the current aquifer because they fear the pumping is damaging springs that have ceremonial significance. Unless the issues are resolved, Mohave Generating Station, which provides power to millions of people in the West, will be shut down by the end of next year....
Flaming Gorge releases could change Scientists say because sediment settles out of the water behind Flaming Gorge Dam, the once warm and muddy Green River downstream now runs cold and clear green, which inhibits the recovery of four endangered native fish. So the federal Bureau of Reclamation is proposing to mimic nature's historic peak runoff flooding through specific flow releases at the dam. The aim is to stir up sediment, redistribute it and create hundreds of new sandy shores where vegetation can take root and feed fish....
Pony Bar is the beating heart of a ghost town If Pony's 100 residents are one big family, the Pony Bar is their living room. It's where ranchers gather after branding. It's where football fans watch Monday night games. It's where veterans' groups meet and hunting buddies tell stories. On Saturday nights, pickup trucks line an otherwise empty Main Street. Inside the 130-year-old building, people from three counties crowd the bar, their laughter and music breathing life into an otherwise dead town....
Sheep ranchers stick with traditions Bonnie Villard cried the first time she assisted in a sheep roundup that would send lambs to slaughter. But those moist eyes seemed a long way off Saturday as the Villard family -- consisting of four generations of sheep ranchers -- held to tradition. On the ranch, about 20 miles north of Craig, family members gathered as the sun rose to complete another task synonymous with the ranching life. With sheepdogs and flailing arms, the Villards rounded up and separated 700 5-month-old lambs to be sent to market....
It's All Trew: 1938 was bad year for Panhandle blizzards I suspect every old-timer born and raised in the Panhandle has a few stories to tell about the early day blizzards that swept the plains from time to time. Western history is chock-full of the disastrous results of such storms. The livestock industry has suffered more than most as drift fences, overgrazing and poor winter preparations plagued the ranchers since first arriving on the prairies. A nice letter from Wanda Stringer, raised in Mobeetie, recalls the April 3, 1938, blizzard that blew for three days and nights....