March 2006, Newsletter #8 Welcome to THE RED LODGE CLEARINGHOUSE, the full-service information source for collaborative groups throughout the Interior west committed to resolving resource-use conflicts. Driven by her conviction that voluntary conservation works best, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (see the Secretary's 4 C's) spearheaded the President's White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation held in St. Louis at the end of August. An important premise was that local citizens as well as the general citizenry must have a substantial role in determining public resource policy. James Connaughton, Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality was assigned the role of forming a task force that would follow up and report on the recommendations derived from the event. Those recommendations are below. However, cuts in agency funding and personnel—the proposed sale of public lands—national park cutbacks—raise concerns that implementing a meaningful collaborative program in the field will be difficult. And most importantly, there is an apparent cut in funds for the collection and distribution of relevant data which should inform policy decisions. Implementing the vision for cooperative conservation JAMES CONNAUGHTON, COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY, 02/03/06 Members of the task force and their agencies continue to make progress on the Federal commitments made at the Conference. For example, task force representatives are working to develop legislation that will establish cooperative conservation as a defining policy approach to environmental and natural resources issues. READ MORE >> Forest Service chief to defend budget cuts, land sales plan BY DAN BERMAN, E&E DAILY, 03/06/06 Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth takes to Capitol Hill for the second time in two weeks this Thursday to defend the Bush administration's proposal to cut the agency's budget by over $100 million, this time testifying before the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee. SEE FULL STORY >> Federal wildlife monitors oversee a boom in drilling BY BLAINE HARDEN, WASHINGTON POST 02/22/06 The Bureau of Land Management, caretaker of more land and wildlife than any federal agency, routinely restricts the ability of its own biologists to monitor wildlife damage caused by surging energy drilling on federal land, according to BLM officials and bureau documents. SEE FULL STORY >> Rep. Boehlert praises NASA 'openness' as pressure builds on Bush admin BY LAUREN MORELLO, E&E DAILY, 02/17/06 House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) yesterday praised NASA's attempts to address scientific openness at the space agency, even as the controversial issue continued to sizzle at a number of other federal agencies where scientists may have been muzzled. SEE FULL STORY >> Science researchers decry rising political pressure BY LAUREN MORELLO, GREENWIRE, 02/21/06 Recent claims of scientific censorship by NASA's top climatologist and others are evidence of an unprecedented "demand for orthodoxy" from the White House, Nobel Prize-winning biologist David Baltimore said last weekend at the annual meeting here of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. SEE FULL STORY >> Northern forests decimated by beetles BY DOUG STRUCK, WASHINGTON POST, 03/01/06 Millions of acres of Canada's lush green forests are turning red in spasms of death. A voracious beetle, whose population has exploded with the warming climate, is killing more trees than wildfires or logging. SEE FULL STORY >> In fire's wake, logging study inflames debate BY BLAINE HARDEN, WASHINGTON POST, 02/27/06 MEDFORD, Ore.—In this corner of Oregon, where environmentalists and logging interests have been jousting for decades, jawboning about forest policy is a spectator sport. The hearing, held in Medford City Hall, was so packed with spectators that the fire marshal insisted it could begin only after he delivered a stern lecture on emergency exits. SEE FULL STORY >> READ MORE STORIES ABOUT SALVAGE LOGGING >> Use killing to manage grizzly dispersal, official says BY JEFF GEARINO, CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE, 02/17/06 By killing grizzly bears, Wyoming should be able to determine where the animals live, federal officials told Wyoming Game and Fish commissioners Thursday. The state will be able to direct grizzly bear mortality—once the animal is removed from federal protection and management is largely turned over to the state—to manage for lower densities of bears in areas including the Salt and Wyoming ranges, the head of the federal grizzly bear recovery program told commissioners. SEE FULL STORY >> Deadline for delisting grizzlies moved back BY PERRY BACKUS, THE MISSOULIAN, 02/14/06 People interested in commenting on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plan to remove Yellowstone-area grizzly bears from the protection of the Endangered Species Act will have another month to do so. After hearing concerns about the initial time frame, the service decided last week to push the comment deadline back to March 30. SEE FULL STORY >> Conservation banks catch on, aiding wildlife and builders BY JOHN J. FIALKA, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 02/22/06 The California gnatcatcher is a shy gray bird. It makes a soft mewing sound and usually scuttles unseen beneath the brush along this sandy coastland, north of San Diego. But real-estate developers call it "the bird that roared." SEE FULL STORY >> Keystone group comes up short on critical habitat solution BY ALLISON A. FREEMAN, E&E NEWS P.M., 02/21/06 A group representing environmental groups and the regulated sector charged with advising the Senate on changes to the Endangered Species Act agrees that reform is in order but failed to reach consensus on the contentious issue of critical habitat. SEE FULL STORY >> High noon for habitat BY TONY DAVIS, HIGH COUNTRY NEWS, 02/20/06 In Southern California, a host of imperiled wildlife lies in the path of America’s worst urban sprawl. The battle over the last patches of habitat is ringing through the halls of Washington, D.C. READ MORE >> Endangered, but on road to recovery BY MARK CLAYTON, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, 03/02/06 Is the Endangered Species Act really helping the piping plover, Delmarva Fox squirrel and more than 1,300 plants and animals on the protected list survive—or is it as critics argue—a costly failure? SEE FULL STORY >> HOME PAGE  |   CONTACT US