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
Despite a
scathing evaluation by Colorado-based U.S. Forest
Service officials, top agency leaders in
Washington
,
D.C.
, have approved a controversial preferred- access
pass program at Copper Mountain Ski Area.
A
recent internal Forest Service report on the
so-called Beeline Advantage program determined
that the pass is inconsistent with Forest Service
policy and "not an appropriate use of
National Forest System lands."
Skiers
and snowboarders who buy the pass can cut ahead of
others at some of Copper's lifts by using a
separate line. The
program was first introduced during the 2001-02
season "in violation of (Copper's special use
permit)," according to the Forest Service
report. The
pass was subsequently approved as a test program
last winter.
CONCLUSION "...Although
the assertion is frequently made that reducing
tree density can reduce wildfirehazard,
the scientific literature provides tenuous support
for this hypothesis...."
"...This
reviewindicates
that the specifics of how prescriptions are to be
carried out and the effectiveness of
these treatments in changing wildfire behavior are
not supported by a significant consensus
of scientific research at this point in time. This
conclusion is supported by the work of other
researchers..."
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+43F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +88F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+52F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +87F.
0.01" of precipitation has been recorded at
our location in the last 24-hour period ending at
6AM. It has rained another 0.375" since
6AM (through 830AM), that will be reported on
tomorrow totals. Daily local min-max temp &
precip charts may be seen on our
PR Temp & Precip Data page
Activists
Pushing Slaughterhouse Changes The owners of a
Southern California egg farm insist they did
nothing wrong when they slaughtered 30,000
chickens, quarantined because of a virus, by
throwing them into wood chippers
Forest
Temps "...A
little-known 1998 law with the delightful acronym
FAIR (the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act)
opens the door to wholesale outsourcing of Forest
Service personnel. Under FAIR, each federal agency
must classify its employee positions as either
“inherently governmental” or “commercial”
in nature. The Forest
Service’s current FAIR inventory lists 30,408 of
the agency’s 39,000 employees as commercial—75
percent of its workforce..."
"The only
“inherently governmental” employee is the
district ranger, the head of the office."
[currently this deemed as true although, in fact,
many district ranger slots have been filled with
compliant career bureaucrats for whom
organizational preservation, not forest
preservation, is job #1 - Ed.]
"...To find
out the fate of your local Forest Service workers,
click on the FAIR inventory spreadsheet and scroll
down to your state and city.
[as a start, there
looks to be a lot of candidate positions for
privatization in DARBY, HAMILTON (obviously),
STEVENSVILLE, and SULA (obviously) - Ed.]
To identify each
employee's position in the office, look up the
column H Function Codes. To learn more about the
reasons underlying the commercial function
determinations, look up the Column J Reason Codes.
The
Forest Service's FAIR
inventory (Excel spreadsheet, 2.55 mb)
FAIR
inventory Function
Codes (Column H in the spreadsheet)
FAIR
inventory Reason
Codes (Column J in the spreadsheet) ..."
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+41F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +81F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+42F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +82F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+39F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +82F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+40F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +81F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
Thursday,
03-July-2003
Privatization
of park jobs under fire "...On
Tuesday, a leaked copy of an internal Forest
Service memo showed the agency is considering
replacing its entire law enforcement staff with
private security officers, as well as contracting
out parts of its fire suppression, environmental
monitoring and timber sales work force..."
The
assembly of the new steel culvert at Slate Creek
has been completed, fill and cover operations,
rerouting of the creek, and the removal of the old
concrete culvert will begin starting next week
Aggressive action "...Rep.
Richard Pombo, the California Republican who
chairs the House Resources Committee, said the
U.S. Forest Service needs the flexibility to
"do what is needed" to restore the
nation's forests to health - and that includes
cutting trees in forests far from town..."
Utah
gets disaster status The federal
government has designated the entire state of Utah
a natural disaster area as a result of prolonged
drought conditions, insect infestations and high
winds. U.S. Department of Agriculture
Secretary Ann Veneman made the declaration
Wednesday, weeks after Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt
filed a formal request for assistance. Leavitt
filed the request May 20.
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+41F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +78F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
Assembly
of the new Slate Creek culvert was completed
yesterday, 1-July-2003. Cover and fill
activities may begin today and the creek's course
will be changed to the new culvert next week.
Following the creek's rerouting, removal of the
old culvert will begin. - Ed.
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+40F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +84F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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
Tuesday,
01-July-2003
The
spillway's protective log boom collar that
prevents debris, boats, etc. from going over the
Painted Rocks dam, broke on 29-May. A steel cable
with warning buoys was installed at the spillway
on Monday, 30-Jun. The replacement log boom
for the spillway will be installed later this year
when the water level is lower.
The
local overnight low temperature last night was
+43F and yesterday's afternoon high temp was +88F.
No precipitation has been recorded at our location
in 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.
