If a protected tree falls in an Oregon
national forest, the Forest Service makes a sound —
oops. The agency accidentally included about 15 acres of a
designated botanical area when it marked the boundaries of the
Fiddler timber sale, part of the controversial Biscuit Fire salvage
project (HCN, 5/16/05: Unsalvageable). Loggers cut nearly 300
trees, many of them rare Brewer spruce found only in southwest
Oregon and northwest California. One large stump measured three
feet in diameter; the rings showed it was 234 years old, says the
nonprofit Siskiyou Project.
California, New
Mexico and Oregon are fighting for their right to be
roadless. They’ve gone to court to challenge the
Bush administration’s repeal of the Roadless Area
Conservation Rule. Meanwhile, the Forest Service will dole out some
financial help to any state that plans to petition for protection
of its roadless forests — but the “couple million”
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey says he’ll offer probably
won’t stretch very far. New Mexico, with 1.6 million roadless
acres, has asked for $500,000 to complete the petition process
(HCN, 7/25/05: Western governors wary of roadless forest mess).
Planning a fish fry? Don’t head to the
Great Salt Lake, even though Utah is one of only two
Western states that haven’t warned fishermen against eating
their catch because of high mercury levels (HCN, 8/8/05: The Great
Salt Lake’s dirty little secret). Great Salt Lakekeeper wants to
test for mercury in 2,000 fish from the lake’s watershed. But
the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources won’t give the
nonprofit group the necessary permit, saying that state agencies
are planning their own testing and private efforts could prove
“counterproductive.”
The federal Bureau of Land
Management admits its new grazing regulations might need a
little more work. In June, the agency published revised
grazing rules, rewriting its own scientists’ reports to say
that the new rules won’t hurt wildlife, water, or other parts
of the natural environment (HCN, 7/25/05: New grazing rules ride on
doctored science). The nonprofit Western Watersheds Project sued,
and now the agency says it will complete a supplemental
environmental impact statement to “fully consider all comments and
views.”
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Latest Bounce.
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