Company selected to clear Arizona forest overgrowth

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Arizona Republic 5/19/2012
Excerpt:   “The U.S. Forest Service awarded a contract Friday for the first phase of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, a 20-year project to thin Arizona’s overgrown forests and reduce the risk of fire with the help of private industry.

Pioneer Forest Products was selected to start thinning the first 300,000 acres of a planned 2.4 million acres across four national forests in Arizona. The company, which includes multiple subsidiaries and markets in the U.S. and Canada, intends to build a processing plant in Winslow to produce a range of wood products, creating about 500 jobs.   ….”
Read entire article at http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/articles/2012/05/18/20120518arizona-forest-overgrowth.html

Environmentalist pleads guilty to illegal tree marking

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Rapid City Journal 5/19/2012
Excerpt:   “Black Hills environmentalist Brian Brademeyer has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of illegally marking trees to be cut in a U.S. Forest Service timber sale.

Brademeyer agreed prior to a proceeding scheduled for Thursday in federal court to pay a $475 fine, plus a $25 processing fee. The maximum penalty for the charge, a federal petty offense, was $5,000 and six months in jail. ….”
Read entire article at http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/701fc20e-a166-11e1-bf5e-001a4bcf887a.html

Forest Service Awards One of Largest-ever Timber Contracts to Agency Insiders

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Center For Biological Diversity News Release  5/18/2012
Excerpt:   ” FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.— The U.S. Forest Service awarded one of the largest-ever tree-cutting contracts in the history of the national forest system today to a timber company represented by a retired Forest Service official. While he was a federal employee, the official was the agency’s liaison to that same company’s timber-sale inquiries in the same region. The contract calls for timber harvesting on approximately 300,000 acres of ponderosa pine in northern Arizona as part of the Four Forests Restoration Initiative, a showcase forest restoration project for the Obama administration under what’s known as “the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Act” and program. ….”
Read entire news release at  http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2012/timber-contract-05-18-2012.html

Bureaucracy threatens town’s future

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Arizona Republic Editorial; 5/17/2012
Excerpt:   “Is the Town Too Tough to Die too tough to go dry?   We shall see.

In this fight, the 1,400 residents of Tombstone are facing an opponent considerably more resourceful than the Clantons. The federal government is standing athwart the town’s water supply.

The U.S. Forest Service is refusing to allow Tombstone to make improvements and repairs that town leaders say are necessary to maintain its water supply. That supply originates from a group of springs 26 miles from town in the Huachuca Mountains, some of which are in areas protected by the 1964 Wilderness Act. ….”
Read entire editorial at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/2012/05/17/20120517tombstone-bureaucracy-future.html

Colorado Mining Association appeals roadless rule to Supreme Court

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Denver Post 5/18/2012
Excerpt:   “The Colorado Mining Association Thursday petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the nation’s rule for protecting 58.5 million acres of roadless public forests — mostly in Western states.

The 28-page request for high court attention argues that “roadless” as defined in the federal government’s rule is de facto wilderness and that only Congress has the power to create wilderness.

Wyoming also is challenging the rule — trying to reverse a federal appeals court decision last fall in Denver.  ….”
Read entire article at http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_20649870?source=commented-

Endangered Indiana bats found in Talladega National Forest

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Anniston Star 5/15/2012
Excerpt:   ” Wildlife biologists tracked the endangered Indiana bat from a cave in Tennessee to the Talladega National Forest last month, where they made a one-of-a-kind discovery.

The biologists glued pinky-nail sized radio transmitters to five of the mouse-sized bats to track the tiny animals from White County, Tennessee. They expected the bats to fly north into the heart of their usual habitat, but one flew 150 miles south to a “maternity colony” — a birthing place for bats — in a dead loblolly pine tree in the lowlands of Shoal Creek in Talladega National Forest.  …”
Read entire story at http://www.annistonstar.com/view/full_story/18610650/article-Endangered-Indiana-bats-found-in-Talladega-National-Forest?instance=home_news

Wildlife group sues for bat-disease documents

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Seattle Times 5/16/2012
Excerpt:   ” HELENA, Mont. —A wildlife advocacy group sued the U.S. Forest Service Wednesday for the release of documents on how the agency plans to keep a disease that has already killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada from spreading to the Northern Rocky Mountains.

The Center For Biological Diversity wants an explanation of why the federal agency has taken no action to keep white-nose syndrome out of the Forest Service’s northern region, which includes Montana, Idaho and parts of Washington, North Dakota and South Dakota.  …”
Read entire story at  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018224029_apmtbatdiseaselawsuit1stldwritethru.html

Wyoming takes Roadless Rule appeal to U.S. Supreme Court

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Casper Star Tribune 5/16/2012
Excerpt:   “

CHEYENNE — The state of Wyoming formally petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge of the federal Roadless Rule, Gov. Matt Mead’s office announced Tuesday.

It’s likely the last legal appeal Wyoming can make in its lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule. The Clinton-era policy prohibits roads on nearly 50 million acres of land in national forests across the U.S., including 3.2 million acres in Wyoming…..”
Read entire story at http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming-takes-roadless-rule-appeal-to-u-s-supreme-court/article_d3145ade-ef49-5e2e-b295-caba64d5c0ce.html

Smokey Bear along for the ride to space station

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MSNBC 5/16/2012
Excerpt:  “When a former American schoolteacher, a veteran Russian space station commander, and a rookie Russian cosmonaut launched toward the International Space Station Monday, their fiery blastoff was not without a touch of irony: The trio rode a pillar of flame into orbit while carrying a toy mascot known for promoting fire safety.

NASA astronaut Joe Acaba and cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin launched with Smokey Bear, a toy of the mascot used by the U.S. Forest Service to promote awareness of the dangers of human-started fires.  …..”
Read entire article at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47435505/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.T7OUV8Upm58

Active-duty troops get free passes to national parks

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Missoulian 5/16/2012
Excerpt:   “Active-duty military personnel and their families received the keys to a national trove of treasured lands on Tuesday when the Department of the Interior swung open the gates to all national parks in a gesture of appreciation.

As a token of gratitude to America’s service men and women, and at the behest of U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar introduced the “America the Beautiful” pass, which grants service members free admission to Glacier and Yellowstone national parks, as well as more than 2,000 other National Park Service sites and other public lands across the country – including 55 in Montana.  …”
Read entire article at http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/active-duty-troops-get-free-passes-to-national-parks/article_befb80a0-9f06-11e1-b3f3-0019bb2963f4.html