Please note that all
links to the news stories below were accurate and working at the
time of posting and archiving, however, the Guardian
has no control on the length of time that a respective news
source will continue to maintain any story in its own archives,
so be advised that you may encounter non-working links - Bill
McKee - Editor.
The
first release this year of contract water from
Painted Rocks lake is scheduled for tomorrow,
01-Aug-2002. Outflow from the dam will be
increased by 150 CFS around 10:30 to 11:30 AM on Thursday by DNRC
personnel. A DNRC spokesman indicates that the
water level downstream of the dam is expected to
rise by about 1/2 foot as a result of the
outflow adjustment.
Wednesday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +43F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +85F. There was no
measurable amount of precipitation in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Miner:
'Somebody Screwed Up' A
retired miner said Monday the map that mislead
miners into danger was deliberately misdrawn to
hide mining improprieties - and a state official
said the 89-year-old's theory is entirely
plausible [another 'exemplary' extractive
industry - Ed.]
Jackson,
WY herd Officials
estimate 40 percent loss of bighorn herd State
researchers aren't sure what caused the high
death rate, but veterinarians speculate that
stress from drought and poor forage led to a
pneumonia outbreak -
[they also better do a precautionary clearcut of
the Tetons just in case the problem is not
caused by drought but rather by excessive
predation due to there being too many trees for
the mountain lions to hide behind (just like at
Painted Rocks lake.. as fantasized by several of
the 'great' wildlife minds at the FS and MTFWP
in the mid to late '90's) - Ed.]
Tuesday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +45F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +82F. There was a
brief period of showers yesterday afternoon, but no
measurable amount of precipitation was recorded in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Feds
shoot 2 wolves near Dubois Federal
wildlife managers recently killed two
troublesome wolves and are attempting to destroy
two others that continue to menace livestock
When
Dave Bunnell joined the Forest Service in 1967,
Smokey Bear was more popular than Lassie and few
professionals were as beloved as forest rangers. "It
used to be almost like hero worship,"
recalled Mr. Bunnell, who began his career as a
green 24-year-old ranger in Montana's Flathead
National Forest. "Everybody wanted to be a
ranger. You were able to work in the woods every
day, you were fighting fires, you were
protecting nature; I was so proud I could barely
get my shirt buttoned." Those days have
gone the way of the Johnson administration and
the 6-cent postage stamp. During his 35-year
career, Mr. Bunnell has watched public opinion
of his agency sink under the weight of criticism
over its environmental record, its
forest-management practices and, most recently,
its inability to prevent a rash of
record-breaking wildfires. When the local ranger
walks into a town meeting these days, Forest
Service employees say, he's just as likely to be
greeted with sneers as handshakes.
"Somewhere along the road, things changed.
Now, people scorn us," said Mr. Bunnell.
"Rather than being welcomed, you're
constantly challenged — people ask, 'What the
hell were you guys thinking?' We've become
personas non grata."
[Why heroes to zeros? - it's the decades of promoting needless
destructive commercial
logging and clearcuts, stupid! Many FS 'resource
managers' of this generation sold out (and
continue to sell out) any trust that was ever
given to them and many should be in jail for the
wanton destruction of the nation's forests - Ed.]
Why
did the FS 'management' go so wrong on timber?
Bad incentives and integrity-challenged bureaucratic 'resource managers' who were
willing (and are still willing) to do anything
for a buck, a promotion, and 'job-security'. These
are the kind of
folks who are 'decision-makers' these days in
many parts of the FS. You may even know a
few of them. They are the kind that should be
retired early for the good of our forests. Click here
to link with the "Timber
Incentives" chapter of Randel O'Toole's
report "Reforming the Fire Service".
Monday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +46F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +81F. There was no
measurable precipitation recorded in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
"Once
again, large forest fires are covering the
national forests and other federal lands in the
West -- and everyone knows it is because past
Forest Service fire suppression policies have
led to a dangerous accumulation of fuels. That's
why Congress is giving the Forest Service and
other agencies $400 million a year to treat
hazardous fuels -- twenty times the amount they
spent a decade ago.
That's also
why the Forest Service continues to suppress
99.7 percent of all fires. Even though everyone
knows it should let more fires burn, built-up
fuels are so dangerous that it doesn't dare let
fires burn. So Congress has more than doubled
the budgets for fire preparedness (such as
having firefighters on standby) and
firefighting.
But is the
story about hazardous fuels true? Thoreau
Institute researcher Randal O'Toole spent a year
reviewing data about scores of recent fires and
couldn't find any evidence that hazardous fuels
are responsible for those fires, firefighter
fatalities, or increased fire suppression costs.
Instead, droughts are the cause of the fires,
new technologies and an aging workforce are the
causes of increased firefighter fatalities, and
perverse incentives to waste money are the main
cause of increased firefighting costs.
Nor is it
true that a scientifically managed program of
prescribed fire will reduce future fires and
firefighting costs in the West. Unlike the
Southeast, where most forests are ecologically
adapted to frequent, low-intensity fires, most
forests of the West are adapted to infrequent,
high-intensity fires. The West has always had
big fires and it always will have them.
This
means that the $2.9 billion a year that Congress
is dumping on federal fire programs is mostly
wasted. Naturally, the Forest Service
perpetuates the hazardous fuels myth so that it
can get those funds. But the long-term solution
to fire problems is to spend less money, not
more."
[I
highly recommend that you take time to download
and read and study the full text of this report (in either
format). - Ed.]
Full
text (36,000 words) of the report with
no graphics in Word (.doc) format (300 KB)
Sunday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +41F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +75F. There was no
measurable precipitation in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
A
group of top Northwest scientists has fired back
at U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth,
saying the agency has only itself to blame for
years of inaction that have turned Western
forests into tinderboxes. In a scathing letter
to a congressional committee that earlier heard
from Bosworth, the six scientists said the
forest chief misrepresented their work to
Congress and falsely implied that the Forest
Service is bogged down by unwieldy policies and
questionable science.
[this
is just more confirmation of we been telling you
about this outfit of the unfit; it's time to retire an entire
generation of FS 'management' - Ed.]
Painted Rocks lake
is just about through spilling for 2002.
Photo 26-Jul @ 3:45PM
Saturday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +51F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +83F. There was no
measurable precipitation in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Friday,
26-Jul-2002
Forest
for the Trees In the
search for common ground in the Bitterroot,
loggers and enviros aren't out of the woods yet
Economist
criticizes spending on fires Forest
Service should stick to budget, he says ...
"O´Toole doesn´t only challenge the fire
suppression policy, he argues that the Forest
Service is overspending on thinning as well. The
Forest Service has used a report saying that 72
million acres of the 191 million acres of
national forests is at risk of
uncharacteristically large fires. But
O´Toole cites another Forest Service report
that says only 424,000 high fire risk federal
acres lie within the “wildland-urban
interface” that threatens homes. Most of this
is in California, and the risk people will lose
their homes to forest fire is far less than the
risk they will lose their home to fires caused
by their children"
State
key to plan for delisting wolves Getting
gray wolves off the endangered species list
promises to be a carefully choreographed dance
by the federal government and the three states
poised to take over management
Deal reached on mine venture
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the J.R.
Simplot Co. have reached an agreement on
environmental issues at the Smoky Canyon
phosphate mine in Caribou County near Afton,
Wyo., although details of the agreement are
rather sketchy
Fire team investigates near-disaster in Oregon
"A special investigation team went to
Oregon's biggest wildfire on Thursday to find
out why 20 firefighters had to climb into their
emergency shelters to escape being overrun by
flames"
More
Fun With Numbers How
many Americans are parasites? ...
" it
appears that of all the working people in 2000,
about 40 million people worked directly for
political government at all levels, or about 31%
of the total number of working people or 13% of
the total population. Now you wouldn’t think
that a mere 13% of the population could command
a livelihood from the majority 87% of the
population, but they have two things in their
favor. One, the legal use of force to collect
taxes. Two, the tacit approval of the large
number of people who share in the plunder..."
Friday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +49F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +81F. Precipitation in
the form of rain was generally about 0.25" in the Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Due
to good water conditions in most of the
Bitterroot valley, contract water from Painted
Rocks lake likely will not be called for
until August this year according to the
Bitterroot watermaster Vern Woolsey.
Wednesday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +46F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +87F. Generally
less than 0.1" of rain fell in scattered
early morning showers throughout the Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
local
golden fleece the taxpayer award winner Painted
Rocks VFD awarded 'huge' grant - Fire
department will use $40,000 in federal money to
outfit its volunteers
[more lipstick for the pig! PR is home for one
of the most costly (per capita) and least needed
FD's in the entire US - it is widely known
locally that this organization was illegally
formed thanks to lots of invalid petition
signatures. We understand that although it has
taken some time, the other legal shoe will be
falling on it one of these days - Ed.]
Tues
The local overnight low temperature last night was +48F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +85F. Generally
less than 0.1" of rain fell in scattered
late afternoon showers throughout the Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM.Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Montanans
file $54 million claim against
Forest Service Homeowners
in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley have filed a
$54 million claim against the U.S. Forest
Service, alleging a backfire that firefighters
set to protect their homes during the summer
fires of 2000 destroyed their property instead
Man
arrested in 'Rodeo' fire suspected
in 220 other arsons The
man accused of starting the "Rodeo"
fire is among several suspects in about 220
wildland arsons in the Cibecue area on the Fort
Apache Indian Reservation during the last two
years, a federal law enforcement agent said
Monday
Monday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +42F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +84F. There was
no measurable precipitation in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Sunday,
21-Jul-2002
Forest
Circus Fire Follies Redux - 2002
Out of control Mistakes in
the early hours allowed firestorms to form in
Arizona and Colorado, providing lessons for the
nation
... Federal officials ignored or turned back
resources in the early stages of both blazes. At
Colorado's Hayman fire, top military
firefighting crews went untapped. At Arizona's
Rodeo-Chediski fire, heavy bulldozers and other
equipment were not pressed into service until
the blaze had broken loose from initial fire
lines ... "The
Forest Service said we didn't have any qualified
personnel. That's baloney," Fire Chief
Verne Witham of Fort Carson said. "We never
got a call. We were never approached. The Forest
Service is in (its) own world. You
know what's sad is we're both federal
agencies."
... A
pair of C-130 military tankers sat on the tarmac
of Peterson Air Force Base near Colorado Springs
while the Hayman fire burned. The sight upset
U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., who learned the
planes were grounded because of a federal rule
prohibiting the military from competing with
private business. It
was six days before the planes helped
... All
across the Mogollon Rim in Arizona and Pike
National Forest in Colorado, there were reports
of inaction and indecision by federal fire
coordinators.
As
residents of towns such as Heber and Overgaard
in Arizona battled blazes with garden hoses,
crews on pumper trucks watched from nearby
parking lots, unable to engage because they
didn't have the proper orders, said
Jerry Smith, one of several residents who
complained ...
Paper'
losses, real-world impact
As stocks losses mount – now $8 trillion since peak
–
tough choices face retirees, colleges, and nonprofits
The
NSA Draws Fire A
scathing House report charges the agency is badly
mismanaged [think
of it as the Forest Service of the national security
world - Ed.]
Sunday
The local overnight low temperature last night was +43F and
yesterday's afternoon high temp was +81F. There was
no measurable precipitation in the immediate Painted Rocks area during the last 24 hour
period ending at 6AM. Daily local min-max temp & precip
charts may be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
News Archives
In order to
keep the news page loading time short, we regularly archive the stories appearing on
this page. You can see other News, Links, & Commentary stories by selecting the
appropriate available archive period in the table below.
In
accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in the
stories above is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit
research and educational purposes only.
About
the Painted Rocks Guardian's
News, Links, & Commentary Section
It is
a daily look at environmentally related stories from
around the country, many of which are illustrative of the high
level of incompetence (and worse) existing within most of the
government entities currently charged with administering our
nation's parks, forests, other public lands, waterways, and
airsheds. As you read these news stories from many
different sources, you will note that almost all environmental
protection/preservation efforts and programs to save our
nation's public treasures originate from private environmental
organizations, often times via court order, and NOT through the
respective governmental agencies with primary administration
responsibilities. Most of these governmental entities (e.g., the
Forest Service) have become top heavy with many levels of career
bureaucrats who, instead of protecting and preserving the
nation's priceless resources, are 'busy' catering to
consumptive/extractive industry interests in the course of
administering politically designed social welfare employment
programs and wealth redistributionist grant programs. While the
current system is almost hopelessly corrupt at many levels, it
is being increasingly understood as such by the general public.
Increased general public awareness of the problem is necessary
to trigger environmentally informed political actions that will eventually
save the nation's public treasures. Effective solutions to
the current situation will most likely involve the
deconstruction of several bureaucratic agencies as they exist
today with a functional redesign that will shift major policy
development and administrative direction authority into the
hands of environmental groups/organizations (as contrasted with
agency hand-picked and selected 'citizen groups' dominated by
consumptionists) and out of the hands of self-interested
bureaucrats and extractive industry interests.
- Bill
McKee - Editor.
