In the Rockies today, a new study questions federal wildfire reduction efforts, and the nominee to head up the U.S. Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service withdraws his name from consideration.
A team of scientists from the University of Montana, University of Colorado and Colorado State University released their findings of an eight-year study of federal wildfire reduction efforts that found only 3 percent of those projects were done in the wildland-urban interface.
The study surveyed all 44,613 projects done in Western states between 2000 and 2008 under the National Fire Plan and found 11 percent of the projects were done in the wildland-urban interface and a 1.5-mile buffer strip around those areas.
And on Monday, Homer Lee Wilkes, the Mississippi man President Barack Obama had nominated to serve as undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture overseeing the U.S. Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, withdrew his name from consideration, and said he wanted to stay in Mississippi until his children graduated from high school.
And in Headwaters News' Western Perspective, Kiki Hubbard, who served as Grow Montana's policy coordinator during the 2009 legislative session, writes about the effect legislation passed this year will have on the state's local food production and processing efforts.
We invite you to read the column and send us your comments.
Rockies today
Nominee for USDA undersecretary withdraws from consideration
Homer Lee Wilkes, the Mississippi man nominated by President Obama to serve as undersecretary of Agriculture in charge of the Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, withdrew his name from consideration on Monday, citing personal reasons.
NewWest.net; June 8
Montana, Colorado study says wildfire approach needs an overhaul
A new study conducted by the University of Montana, University of Colorado and Colorado State University recommends that the National Fire Plan be reworked to focus wildfire fighting efforts on areas near homes and in other key ecosystems.
Idaho Statesman (AP); June 9
Group says U of Idaho found bighorn disease link in 1994
Jon Marvel, the head of Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project, criticized Marie Bulgin, head of the university's Caine Veterinary Teaching and Research Center, for not publicizing the results of tests done on bighorn sheep in 1994 that died from pneumonia soon after mingling with domestic sheep that indicated the parasites that caused the disease in the wild sheep were biochemically identical to bacteria found in the domestic sheep.
SeattlePI.com; June 5
Environmental groups file second lawsuit over Smith Creek in Montana
After winning a partial victory last year over elk habitat in a fight to block the sale and prescribed burn of timber near Smith Creek north of Livingston, two Montana environmental groups, The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council, have filed a second lawsuit contending that logging in the area would also threaten the Yellowstone cutthroat trout population in nearby creeks.
Billings Gazette; June 9
Colorado West Slope officials brace for Colorado River water call
At a meeting last week in Durango, officials of the Southwestern Water Conservation District and the Colorado River Water Association, groups that represent all the Colorado counties on the Western Slope, heard the results of a study they commissioned about the consequences of Arizona, Nevada and California demanding their full share of Colorado River water.
Durango Herald; June 9
U.S. high court declines to hear Arizona tribes' Snowbowl case
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of five Arizona tribes of a lower-court decision that will allow Arizona Snowbowl to use wastewater to make snow on the San Francisco Peaks, an area the tribes hold sacred.
Arizona Daily Sun; June 9
Nevada Mining Ass'n asks state to wait on mercury controls
The Nevada Mining Association asked the state for a "timeout" on new mercury regulations until the federal Environmental Protection Agency makes a decision on whether it will regulate such emissions, although the association opposes federal regulation.
Las Vegas Sun; June 9
Opinion
NREPA Montana's best shot at wilderness
Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg has it all wrong about the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act, the bill that would protect 24 million acres in Montana, Idaho, northwestern Wyoming, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington as wilderness: 96 percent of Montanans aren't against the bill; the lands protected under the act were federalized more than 100 years ago by President Teddy Roosevelt, and the first drafts of the bill were written by a Montanan, not a New Yorker. A guest column by Paul Richards.
Headwaters News; June 9
Utah city's streetcar project needs to wait
While the infrastructure, and probably the need, for a streetcar system to connect the Sugar House to the main TRAX line in the Salt Lake Valley, exists, there are 40 million reasons to wait on the Utah project while other, less expensive options are put in place.
Salt Lake Tribune; June 9
Schweitzer's inaction on 39 Montana bills inexplicable
Missoulian State Bureau Chief Charles Johnson notes that Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer allowed an unprecedented 39 bills to become law without his signature during Montana's last legislative session, and questions why Schweitzer took that route.
Missoulian; June 9
Beyond the Region
Gas prices continue the march upward
Gas prices have risen each day for the past 41 days, with the national average price now almost $2.62 per gallon.
New York Times; June 9
Beaver's comeback create headaches for towns, counties
Beaver once teetered on the edge of extinction in the United States, but the species has now recovered to the point that in some areas they are a nuisance; a scenario repeated in Florida by alligators, in Louisiana with pelicans and in California with mountain lions.
New York Times; June 9
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