New federal contracts give water districts more than they need
News
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Follow-up
The 2003 wilderness settlement between Interior Secretary Gale Norton and then-Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt may be on the ropes (HCN, 4/28/03: Wilderness takes a massive hit). The settlement eliminated protection for 2.6 million acres of potential wilderness in Utah and barred the BLM from proposing any new land for wilderness designation without congressional approval. But […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Drilling leases slowed by paper jam
At a Denver gas industry conference Aug. 3, Assistant Secretary of the Interior Rebecca Watson said a “staggering” increase in protests is hobbling gas drilling in the Rocky Mountains. Pre-lease protests — attempts to stop the Bureau of Land Management from auctioning off parcels of land to oil and gas companies — are up 664 […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Ferret recovery pioneer moves on
In his 18 years as Wall District ranger in Buffalo Gap National Grassland, Bill Perry led the effort to restore endangered black-footed ferrets. He helped write the plan to bring in captive-bred ferrets, engineered land swaps to consolidate habitat, and helped manage the pens where the animals were acclimated before being released. Perry built the […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Bedrock environmental law takes a beating
Pombo’s task force tears into the National Environmental Policy Act
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Congress and Indians spar over lost money
McCain proposes a settlement on trust accounts, but Cobell is wary
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Feds oppose state’s effort to empower landowners
Wyoming’s new “split-estate” law was meant to give property owners more control over energy development on land where the underlying minerals are owned by someone else, usually the federal government. Now, the law has hit a huge obstacle — the Bush administration. Years of lobbying by ranchers and environmentalists persuaded the Legislature to pass the […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Island’s pig problem pits animal-rights activists against conservationists
An animal rights group is trying to stop the killing of thousands of feral pigs on Southern California’s Santa Cruz Island. But the National Park Service says the hunt, which started in April, is necessary to put an end to the pigs’ destruction of native plants and animals. Channel Islands National Park occupies the eastern […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Industry walks a fuzzy line between preservation and extortion
Gas company offers millions for permission to maximize drilling
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Follow-up
The Mexican wolf program is on the rocks. In mid-July, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists captured F511, the alpha female of the first wolf pack reintroduced in the Southwest. They planned to remove her radio collar and vaccinate her four pups (HCN, 7/25/05: Wolf Man John). But according to Colleen Buchanan, assistant coordinator of […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Primrose focus of legal dustup
This summer, no one is enjoying the dusty trails of central California’s Clear Creek Management Area: The Bureau of Land Management has temporarily closed 30,000 of the area’s 75,000 acres. George Hill, the BLM’s Hollister assistant field manager, says the agency shut the area down to protect people from naturally occurring asbestos dust. But environmentalists […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Horn hunters face hard times
For centuries, Asian men have consumed powdered antlers to try to boost their sexual performance, a tradition that’s helped fuel today’s demand for deer and elk antlers. Recently, though, the rising popularity of Viagra has “just about finished off” the Asian market, says Mike Aldrich, of Pinedale, Wyo., who buys and sells antlers. But more […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Domenici clobbers cooperation on the RioGrande
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici, R, wants to give more money — nearly $13 million annually — to a five-year-old program dedicated to endangered species on the Middle Rio Grande. He also plans to put the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Collaborative Program under federal authority and trim its membership. But not all the […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Birds get a break from blades
This winter, the whirling blades of half of the more than 5,000 windmills perched atop Altamont Pass will grind to a halt for two months. That plan will allow migrating birds to fly safely through the area. Under new county permitting rules, the windmill companies, which supply power for 120,000 homes, will halt their turbines […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
The Great Salt Lake’s dirty little secret
High mercury levels may have a surprising source
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Industry embeds its own in the BLM
Mining and energy companies fund workers at land-management offices
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
As Washington waffles, Western states go green
Legislatures boost wildlife and clean energy, while bucking the nuclear and oil industries
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Follow-up
Southern Arizona’s San Pedro River, the Southwest’s last free-flowing desert river, dried up for the first time since the U.S. Geological Survey started tracking flows in 1904 (HCN, 8/30/04: A Thirst for Growth). Beginning on July 4, river flows fluctuated between zero and 0.3 cubic feet per second. But when the river dried on the […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Mining waste dumped in streams — and now lakes
The Bush administration tweaked Clean Water Act regulations to reclassify mining waste as “fill.” Now, that revised definition has been applied to metals mining for the first time — allowing a gold mine to put its tailings directly into an Alaskan lake. The 1972 Clean Water Act prohibited dumping waste into streams and lakes. But […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
New grazing rules ride on doctored science
Veteran scientists leave the BLM in frustration