Here is a weekly digest of on-line news pertinent to forestry in California provided by University of California Cooperative Extension Natural Resources Advisor Greg Giusti (gagiusti@ucdavis.edu):
Feds withdraw appeal in Sierra creek case, The Associated Press, Contra Costa Times, 01/26/2012
RENO, Nev.—Federal agencies have withdrawn their appeal of a ruling that blocked efforts to poison a Sierra Nevada creek near Lake Tahoe to reintroduce threatened Paiute cutthroat trout. The Reno Gazette-Journal ( http://on.rgj.com/AEM1k5) reports conservationists are calling the move a victory. But officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Forest Service characterize it as a procedural step and say they still intend to pursue the Silver King Creek project......
Agency unveils sweeping new planning rule, Phil Taylor, E&E reporter, Greenwire, January 26, 2012,
The Obama administration today released a crucial new proposal that aims to protect wildlife while promoting recreation, logging, grazing and other uses on nearly 200 million acres of national forests. The new planning rule will make land management on 175 national forests and grasslands cheaper, more efficient and less vulnerable to lawsuits, the administration said. At the same time, the new guidelines will enhance collaboration between the Forest Service and the public and will require the use of the best available science to inform decisions, the agency said.......
Sacramento judge makes release of Moonlight fire documents risky, By Denny Walsh, Sacramento Bee, Jan. 26, 2012
A Sacramento federal judge has avoided making public a set of documents sought by The Bee that were offered to support a critical motion in a bitter legal battle over how a 2007 wildfire started and who should pay for damages it caused. U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller said the party offering the documents, timber giant Sierra Pacific Industries, is free to file them publicly within three days of Tuesday, the day she signed a 10-page order filed Wednesday. Mueller noted a prior ruling that the documents are immaterial to the matter at issue in Sierra Pacific's lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "In light of (the prior) ruling, SPI's attempt to file the documents at all appears to be improper," the judge stated. .....
U.S. Lumber Coalition Welcomes President Obama's Commitment to Continued Strong Trade Enforcement, Sacramento Bee, Jan. 26, 2012
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2012 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Lumber Coalition welcomes President Obama's statement during the State of the Union address in which he underlined the Administration's continued strong commitment to trade enforcement. President Obama stated that he would "not stand by when our competitors don't play by the rules," further explaining that "[i]t's not fair when foreign manufacturers have a leg up on ours only because they're heavily subsidized." .....
California air board to vote on landmark electric-car rules, By Paul Rogers, Contra Costa Times, 01/25/2012
In a move that could reshape the American automobile industry, California regulators Thursday are expected to approve sweeping new rules requiring that 15 percent of new cars sold in California by 2025 run on electricity, hydrogen or other systems producing little or no smog......
Coho salmon face lofty recovery goals; Siskiyou County calls rates 'unfair, unrealistic', By Ryan Sabalow, Redding Record Searchlight, January 25, 2012
Federal fisheries biologists say threatened coho salmon need to return to the Scott River in Siskiyou County at rates more than four times higher than ever recorded. The federal fisheries goals, released this month in a draft plan that calls for sweeping coho habitat restoration efforts in two states, have drawn condemnation from Siskiyou County officials and the leaders of the county's resources conservation groups. They say the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's coho recovery models create "unfair and unrealistic" standards that could be used to place even more restrictions on farmers' irrigation use in a region already embroiled in a bitter dispute with regulators and environmental groups over the state- and federally protected fish......
Klamath dam removal costly, but would add jobs, federal report says, Michael Doyle, Sacramento Bee, Jan. 25, 2012
WASHINGTON – The ambitious proposal to remove four Klamath River dams would add jobs and aid fish, a new federal report asserts, but the idea still leaves California lawmakers badly divided. As they approach a make-or-break decision on whether to recommend the dam removal, U.S. Interior Department officials on Tuesday touted anticipated benefits that include improved salmon habitat and 1,400 construction jobs during the year it would take to remove the hydroelectric dams. Long-term Klamath basin restoration efforts would add an estimated 4,600 jobs, the report says. But the dam removals would also cost somewhere between $238 million and $493 million, potentially increase flooding risks and cut electricity production, the new Interior Department compilation shows. The new report pegs the most probable dam-removal cost at $291.6 million.......
State office approves new fire prevention fee; homeowners in some rural areas face levy of up to $150, By CATHY KELLY, Santa Cruz Sentinel, 01/25/2012
SANTA CRUZ - A new fire prevention fee affecting homeowners in some unincorporated areas of the state was approved this week by the state Office of Administrative Law. The annual fee of up to $150 was approved by Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators last summer, for homes in "state responsibility areas" served by Cal Fire, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said. Those areas commonly abut wildlands and contain some type of valuable natural resource, such as timberland, Berlant said. Most affected homeowners will be assessed $115, due to a $35 exemption for homes in both the state responsibility area and a local fire district, Berlant said......
Environmentalists challenge judge's decision on low carbon fuel standard, By John Howard, Capitol Weekly | 01/23/12
Environmentalists have gone to federal court to support California’s program requiring the use of low-carbon fuels as a means of cutting climate-changing greenhouse gases. On Friday, the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a motion to block the court’s ruling last month that halted the California Air Resources Board’s decision to move ahead with the Low Carbon Fuel Standard program, or LCFS, which is intended to cut carbon emissions. The environmental group hopes to get a response within three weeks, said NRDC spokeswoman Serena Ingre......
Environmentalists see reason for alarm in GOP race, By MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, January 23, 2012,
(01-23) 00:37 PST West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP) -- Four years after the GOP's rallying cry became "drill, baby, drill," environmental issues have barely registered a blip in this Republican presidential primary. That's likely to change as the race turns to Florida. The candidates' positions on environmental regulation, global warming as well as clean air and water are all but certain to get attention ahead of the Jan. 31 primary in a state where the twin issues of offshore oil drilling and Everglades restoration are considered mandatory topics for discussion......
National climate change strategy proposed for wildlife, By Dean Kuipers, Los Angeles Times, January 20, 2012
The United States has no national strategy for curtailing its contributions to climate change, but it does now have a partial strategy for responding to its effects. On Thursday, the Obama administration released a draft of the National Fish, Wildlife and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, a plan to coordinate responses to global warming across the country. It’s been a long time coming. Congress ordered the President’s Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of the Interior to prepare the strategy back in 2010. This is just a draft put together by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NOAA, and the New York State Department of Economic Conservation (representing state agencies) and is up now and available for public comment through March 5, 2012......
Forest Service gets land transfer nod, by Chris Caskey, The Sonora Union Democrat, January 20, 2012
The U.S. Forest Service took a step closer toward owning and managing a stretch of land near Lyons Reservoir that currently belongs to utility giant PG&E. The Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council voted Thursday to transfer 628 acres of PG&E land to the Stanislaus National Forest. Located around Rushing Meadows, the land proposed for the transfer surrounds the South Fork of the Stanislaus River and is part of the old Sugar Pine Railroad grade northeast of the reservoir. The four parcels in the proposal are surrounded mostly by the Stanislaus National Forest. Vanessa Parker-Geisman with the Stewardship Council said after the meeting that the recommendation does not mean the land is immediately turned over to the Forest Service......