January 2006, Newsletter #6 Welcome to THE RED LODGE CLEARINGHOUSE, the full-service information source for collaborative groups throughout the Interior west committed to resolving resource-use conflicts. The drive to make NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) more efficient by shortening public comment periods, excluding certain projects from public review and participation, and other suggested improvements, gathers steam—as does the drive to refashion ESA (Endangered Species Act) by entirely eliminating "critical habitat" designation or injecting a good dose of incentives for private land owners who find themselves landlords of endangered species. A central player is Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, chair person of the Subcommittee on Fish, Wildlife, and Water. He is holding his cards close to his chest while awaiting a final report from a task force studying possible ESA revisions moderated by the Keystone Center. The report is due next month. NEPA task force recommends "modest improvements and modifications" DAN BERMAN, E&E DAILY, 12/22/05 The chairwoman of the House Resources Committee's NEPA task force yesterday indicated she will wait until receiving comments from members and the public before proposing any legislation to amend the National Environmental Policy Act. In a much-anticipated report released yesterday, the task force recommended making 22 "modest improvements and modifications" to the 35-year-old NEPA. "It's a starting point," Rep. Cathy McMorris (R) said in a phone interview from her district in Spokane, Wash. "The goal is to find some common ground so we can hopefully move forward." SEE FULL STORY >> VISIT THE NEPA TASK FORCE HOME PAGE >> READ MORE ABOUT NEPA >> A bureaucratic bottleneck JIM MANN, THE DAILY INTER LAKE, 12/01/05 Staff reductions and an increased workload are causing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fall behind on NEPA “consultation” reviews for the Forest Service and other agencies. “Myself, a fisheries biologist and a wildlife biologist, do all the Forest Service Section 7 work in the state,” Anne Vandehey said. “One year ago, we had four more people doing the same work.” Mark Wilson, the service’s field supervisor in Helena, said budget cuts prompted steep overall staff reductions over the last year. SEE FULL STORY >> Crapo, Lincoln float ESA bill with landowner incentives DAN BERMAN, E&E DAILY, 12/16/05 Looking ahead to reforming the Endangered Species Act next year, two senators yesterday introduced legislation that would give landowners tax breaks as incentives for helping to recover endangered and threatened species. SEE FULL STORY >> READ MORE ON LANDOWNER INCENTIVES >> READ MORE ON ESA REFORM >> Aware of Political Ecosystem, Property Rights Advocate Embraces Conservation Plan FELICITY BARRINGER, NEW YORK TIMES, 12/27/05 Young cedar trees in the Texas Hill Country are obstructionist, brambly knots of vegetation. Older ones guzzle scarce moisture. When they are really mature, the golden-cheeked warbler, a songbird in danger of extinction, sometimes moves in. So imagine the reaction in these precincts when, in the early 1990's, the Interior Department set out to protect the warbler by buying—or condemning—cedar-covered land. SEE FULL STORY >> READ MORE ON SAFE HARBOR AGREEMENTS >> Quivira conference explores urban-rural divide STACI MATLOCK, SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN, 01/03/06 The coalition’s fifth annual conference, Jan. 12-14 at the Hilton Hotel in Albuquerque will explore “Bridging the Urban-Rural Divide: Reconnecting People to Land and Each Other.” SEE FULL STORY >> READ MORE ABOUT THE QUIVIRA COALITION >> State to protect valley’s waters STACI MATLOCK, SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN, 12/15/05 Northern New Mexico’s Valle Vidal, where sportsmen and environmentalists are fighting to keep out coal-bed-methane drilling, got a new layer of protection Wednesday from the state Water Quality Control Commission. After a two-day hearing in Santa Fe, the commission voted 11-1 Wednesday in favor of designating the streams and ponds in the Valle Vidal as Outstanding National Resource Waters. SEE FULL STORY >> READ MORE ABOUT THE COALITION FOR THE VALLE VIDAL >> Court rules against Lolo National Forest PERRY BACKUS, THE MISSOULIAN, 12/10/05 The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has called the Lolo National Forest's efforts to log in areas burned by the fires of 2000 “arbitrary and capricious” and reversed a lower court's ruling in favor of the agency. The San Francisco-based court likened the U.S. Forest Service's efforts to thin old-growth stands for forest health without knowing for sure how those efforts would impact wildlife to pharmaceutical companies marketing drugs without ensuring they are safe and effective. SEE FULL STORY >> "JUDGE REQUIRES TIMBER SALE BOND," THE MISSOULIAN 12/23/05 >> Can grazing issues be negotiated? Grazing does irreparable damage to the land—the position held by some advocates. Others counter that traditional ranching preserves open space that would otherwise be gobbled up and that proper grazing can improve land health. Where do we go from here? Jon Marvel of the Western Watersheds Project, Ed Marston of High Country News (publisher emeritus), Courtney White of the Quivira Coalition, and George Wuerthner of the National Public Lands Grazing Campaign have made their positions well known over the years. READ MORE ON OUR HOME PAGE >> HOME PAGE  |   CONTACT US