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.
Monday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +31F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +54F.
Rain in the amount of 0.0625" was
recorded in the last 24 hour period ending at
6AM at our location. Light snow began falling
early this morning and is continuing. Snow
accumulation is negligible as of 7AM. Daily
local min-max temp & precip charts may
be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Saturday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +32F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +51F.
No measurable precipitation was recorded in the
last 24 hour period ending at 6AM at our
location. Daily local min-max temp &
precip charts may be seen on our PR
Temp & Precip Data page
27-Sep-2002
Snowmobile
testimony missing The views
of some government experts were never heard when
the Environmental Protection Agency was
considering new restrictions on pollution caused
by snowmobiles, a U.S. senator said Wednesday
Friday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +28F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +67F.
No precipitation was recorded in the last 24
hour period ending at 6AM at our location. Daily
local min-max temp & precip charts may
be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
26-Sep-2002
1230 hrs.
A USFS West Fork spokesperson has advised late
this morning that the USFS/WF will be conducting
another controlled prescribed burn again today
in the upper Salt Creek area. The size of
the burn later today is to be 14 acres and the
location on the map given to area residents last
week is designated on the map as "5"
(in the close vicinity of the 5a and 5b burns of
earlier this week). The spokesperson said that
the prescribed burns earlier this week had gone
well and that the amount/quantity of fuels
consumed in the those burns was very good. Click here to
see the map (on page 2 of 2) [the
map is in *.pdf format and requires the
freeware Adobe Acrobat reader to view - Ed.]
Thursday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +26F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +68F.
No precipitation was recorded in the last 24
hour period ending at 6AM at our location. Daily
local min-max temp & precip charts may
be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
25-Sep-2002
smoke rising from
Salt Creek prescribed burns on 9/24
- view from Coal Creek road looking south
Gov.
Martz hails industries as "true
environmentalists" "People
who produce oil, wood and minerals are the true
environmentalists, while people who sit in trees
or tie themselves to logging trucks should
"get a job," Gov. Judy Martz told a
friendly crowd in Bozeman Tuesday. "There's
not a one of you in this room that isn't a true
environmentalist," Martz told the annual
meeting of the Western Environmental Trade
Association, a group of extractive industries
that includes some of the state's biggest
polluters. Sponsors for the event include
Smurfit-Stone Container, Burlington Northern
Railroad, Exxon Mobil and ARCO."
[what more can we add? an
extra special governor's hurrah for those 'true
environmentalists' at Plum Creek Timber? ... it
appears that the governess is no longer in touch
with reality very often anymore - Ed.]
The
annual safety inspection of Painted Rocks dam
for 2002 was conducted by MT DNRC and Dam Safety
Office personnel on 24-Sep-2002. During
one phase of the inspection, dam outflow was
stopped for about an hour while safety personnel
examined the inside of the dam. The dam passed
the safety inspection. Over approximately
the next two weeks, several minor concrete
spillway surface repairs will be performed by
private contractor personnel.
Following
the inspection on 24-Sep, the dam's outflow was
set to approximately 168 CFS. Next week the
outflow will be set to approximately 60 CFS for
winter operation.
Wednesday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +28F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +72F.
No precipitation was recorded in the last 24
hour period ending at 6AM at our location. Daily
local min-max temp & precip charts may
be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
24-Sep-2002
two items of particular local interest for
today
Painted
Rocks dam gets it's annual safety inspection
today from the DNRC - outflow from the dam will
be shutoff for up to several hours later this
morning resulting in reduced flows at downstream
locations.
A USFS West
Fork spokesperson has advised this morning that
the USFS/WF will be conducting a controlled
prescribed burn today in the upper Salt Creek
area. The size of the burn is to be 10
acres and the precise location on the map given
to area residents last week is designated on the
map as 5a. If conditions permit, another
nearby 10 acre site (designated on the map as
5b) may be burned today also. Click
here to see the map (on page 2 of 2) [the
map is in *.pdf format and requires the
freeware Adobe Acrobat reader to view - Ed.]
The
New Mexican Editorial:
Thin Our Crowded Woods, Don't Create New Hazards
Monday, September 23, 2002 "...According
to the Los Angeles Times, the worst forest fires
of the past half-century have closely followed
the heaviest logging allowed by the U.S. Forest
Service.
Citing the Forest Service's own
statistics, the Times notes that the era of big
burns began not during the past decade of
lessened logging, but back in the '80s, the
heyday of deregulation and huge sales of public
trees to private loggers ..."
Tuesday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +31F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +75F.
No precipitation was recorded in the last 24
hour period ending at 6AM at our location. Daily
local min-max temp & precip charts may
be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
Sunday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +24F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +62F.
No precipitation was recorded in the last 24
hour period ending at 6AM at our location. Daily
local min-max temp & precip charts may
be seen on our PR Temp
& Precip Data page
21-Sep-2002
More tales of responsibility-free
& consequence-free employment with your
Federal government:
Senate
calls it a day. Bush Administration charges
ahead.
an
update on Timber Bill situation from
the Oregon Natural Resources Committee
THANK YOU!
Massive citizen input temporarily derails
attempt to nullify citizen rights and
environmental laws.
Thank
You for Taking Action
ONRC Update
Alert #128 - September 20, 2002.
After
weeks of trying to choose between a disastrous
Republican "logging rider" and a
dangerous Democratic alternative, the US Senate
has come to the conclusion that neither side
currently possesses the necessary votes to pass
their amendments to the Interior Appropriations
bill. Senators Wyden and Feinstein's attempts to
craft a compromise between the disastrous and
the dangerous have so far met with failure,
although both sides state that they are still
trying to craft a "solution" to the
forest health problem.
Not
content with trying to change the law through
Congress, the Bush administration will now try
to expand "Categorical Exclusions" (CEs)
to allow their use in previously prohibited
projects. (CEs are usually an exemption meant
for small projects like improving a picnic site
or cutting on a small scale.) By defining large
timber sales under the CE label, the Forest
Service and Bureau of Land Management will be
able to fast-track logging operations and shut
out the public from land management decisions.
CEs are not subject to the
constraints usually imposed under the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA is the law
that guarantees citizens the right to
participate in decisions that affect our public
lands. The Bush Administration is also working
to gut NEPA.
We still
need your help!
Changing
the rules on CEs will require a public comment
period so watch this site for news of the
hearings. Additionally, the House of
Representatives continues to advance legislation
that puts into law the President's so called
"Healthy Forests Initiative". While we
consider the Senate's inability to eviscerate
environmental laws to be a positive development,
we expect more attempts in the near future,
perhaps as early as next week. So stay tuned!
Thanks
again for your fine work during the past three
weeks. You made a difference!
Lake
Trout Tracking
the trout wars YELLOWSTONE
NATIONAL PARK - Standing on the deck of the
32-foot boat gently plying Yellowstone Lake,
there's no hint of the battle being waged below
the surface of the smooth, bottle-green water
Choc
treatment
An
apple a day? Make that a chocolate bar.
Researchers have good news for chocoholics
Saturday
The local
overnight low temperature last night was +22F
and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +67F.
No precipitation was recorded in the last 24
hour period ending at 6AM at our location. 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.
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