A Fourth of July party landed Nevada’s Jarbidge
Shovel Brigade in hot water (HCN, 7/31/00). The Justice Department
has sued the group for clearing rocks and debris from a national
forest road, closed to protect endangered bull
trout.
l
For the first time,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs has formally apologized for
mistreating Native Americans. Bureau chief Kevin Gover, a Pawnee
Indian, told a group of federal officials and tribal leaders that
the agency is haunted by “a legacy of racism and inhumanity. By
accepting this legacy, we accept the responsibility of putting
things right,” he
said.
l
Wise-use groups are
suing Clinton over his creation of national monuments. The Mountain
States Legal Foundation and the Blue Ribbon Coalition argue that
Clinton made the monuments unnecessarily large (HCN, 11/22/99).
Western Republicans tried to limit the president’s power to create
monuments; the House bill failed this summer,
197-234.
l
A federal judge has
put the kibosh on a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Forest
Service’s initiative to protect roadless areas (HCN, 11/8/99). U.S.
District Judge Edward Lodge told the Boise Cascade Corp., ranchers
and two Idaho counties that they can’t sue until the agency’s rule
is final. The judge dismissed a similar complaint from the state of
Idaho last spring.
l
The
“salmon czar” has jumped ship. Will Stelle is leaving his position
as northwest regional director of the National Marine Fisheries
Service to join Seattle’s oldest law firm. Stelle told the Seattle
Times that state and local governments now must take the lead in
protecting endangered salmon (HCN, 12/20/99).
*
Greg Hanscom
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The latest bounce.
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