• Bitterroot Settlement Undermined by Failures
  
• Settlement Could Bring Cleaner Air to Pittsburgh
  
• Air Pollution Captured on Satellite Images
  
• New DOE Office Helps Care for Contaminated Sites
  
• Dune Destruction Brings $15,000 Fine
  
• Siberian Tiger Returns to China
  
• Moose Born in Wisconsin after 100 Year Absence
  

Bitterroot Settlement Undermined by Failures

Meanwhile, 70 percent of the logging permitted by the plan is already complete - a fact that conservation groups say demonstrates the Bush administration's intentions for all national forests.

On February 7, 2002, the "Burned Area Recovery Plan" settlement was signed by the Forest Service, timber industry representatives and conservation groups. At the time, the plan made headlines across the nation as a model of cooperative conservation - but it is now touted as an example of underhanded dealing.

While 70 percent of the logging projects have been completed, just 12 percent of the reforestation work is done and less than three percent of the watershed and road restoration work has been completed.

"The Forest Service's commitment to watershed restoration and road rehabilitation was a keystone for the entire compromise. By failing in this obligation, the Forest Service jeopardizes the goodwill of all parties, and undermines the factual basis for the settlement agreement," explained Dr. Chris Frissell, Senior Staff Scientist for The Pacific Rivers Council.

"The Forest Service is paying lip service to the protection and restoration work, but it finds plenty of time to do the logging," added Jennifer Ferenstein, Sierra Club president and participant in the Bitterroot negotiations. "This is a concrete example of the Bush administration saying one thing but doing another when it comes to America's national forests."

Much of the needed restoration work on the Bitterroot National Forest may never be completed, critics warn, because $25.5 million appropriated for restoration on the Bitterroot has been used to cover costs associated with the 2002 wildfires. This reality stands in stark contrast to repeated statements from Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth and other Forest Service officials that restoration was the agency's top priority.

"While the Forest Service repeatedly touted restoration as the top priority of the 'Burned Area Recovery Plan,' we continually pointed out that the Forest Service was using restoration as a smokescreen to push through a massive commercial logging project," said Larry Campbell with Friends of the Bitterroot. "A year into the project and it's clear that this 'recovery' plan is nothing but an old fashioned timber sale where you cut the big trees and run from restoration. Trust in the Forest Service has been burned on the Bitterroot. Once burned, twice shy is a reality that will haunt any future attempts to negotiate with the Forest Service."

In recent months, the Bush administration has proposed several measures that claim to support restoration, fire prevention, and forest health, such as the so called Healthy Forests Initiative and changes to the National Forest Management Act. Included in these efforts are plans to log in the Sierra Nevadas and Giant Sequoia National Monument.

"Despite what the Bush administration says, the numbers speak for themselves," said Ferenstein. "We've learned that when the Bush administration says 'restoration' or 'fire prevention,' they really mean logging."

Settlement Could Bring Cleaner Air to Pittsburgh

The agreement calls new steps to prevent future violations of federal health standards for ozone or smog pollution in Pittsburgh. The settlement came in a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP) and the Sierra Club.

The groups filed the suit last year, contending that the EPA had improperly re-labeled the Pittsburgh area as meeting clean air requirements without mandating additional steps to prevent future violations of standards.

Pittsburgh has a long history of violating federal health standards for ozone. Although the area has not violated the current standard for several years, it has come close. The EPA has acknowledged that smog levels meeting the current standard still threaten people's health.

The settlement announced Thursday requires additional pollution controls within the next year to protect air quality, and adoption of further controls in the future where needed to prevent or remedy future violations.

"This settlement will help to protect Pittsburgh residents from air pollution for years to come," said Earthjustice attorney David Baron. "It's a health insurance policy for everyone who breathes the air."

The settlement calls for stronger limits on pollution from certain industries, and requirements to reduce ozone forming fumes from paints, varnishes, and certain consumer products. It sets out requirements for "contingency" measures to be triggered if standards are violated in the future.

Those measures include stronger enforcement of limits on fumes from gas stations, plus such additional measures as are needed to bring the area back into compliance with standards. Specific measures will be recommended by a panel of citizens, environmentalists, business, and community representatives.

"While the region strives to reduce ozone, we must take very seriously last year's monitored exceedances of ozone standards in the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley seven county area," said Sue Seppi of GASP. "In general, when ozone levels are elevated, your chances of being affected by ozone increase the longer you are active outdoors, especially for sensitive groups including active children. This agreement helps get Pittsburgh along the road to healthier summer days."

"This is good news for everyone in Pittsburgh who breathes," added Nancy Parks, chair of the Sierra Club's clean air committee. "When the Clean Air Act is enforced, it works. Pittsburgh residents will be better protected from smog pollution, and kids with asthma will breathe a little easier."

The settlement is contingent on formal EPA approval, which must wait for completion of a public comment process.

Air Pollution Captured on Satellite Images

The images, captured from January 1-20, demonstrate a near real time capability that represents a breakthrough for NCAR team members working with the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite.

The images show levels of carbon monoxide (CO) in a region where pollution tends to begin increasing around January and continue rising through the spring. The sources include emissions from motor vehicles and industrial activities, the burning of wood and other vegetation for heat, and fires set to clear land for agriculture.

Scientists are using satellite measurements along with data gathered in field campaigns to begin to untangle the different pollution sources.

Another image shows CO pollution from bush fires burning in southeast Australia from January 15-20. Because CO persists in the atmosphere for several weeks, it can be used to trace the path of pollution plumes above the fires as the plumes drift out thousands of miles into the air over the southern Pacific Ocean.

"We're very pleased to unveil this new ability to provide images very soon after the satellite observations are made," said John Gille, NCAR scientist and U.S. principal investigator for MOPITT. "This means our data can be helpful in pollution situations as they unfold."

CO gas is a both pollutant in its own right and a useful tracer for others, such as ozone at or near ground level. CO can also be used to calculate the level of pollutant cleansing chemicals in the atmosphere, such as the hydroxyl radical. When CO levels are high, the level of hydroxyl radical is usually lower and fewer pollutants are removed from the atmosphere.

"CO is involved in much of the chemistry of the lower atmosphere, and it's now one of the few gases that we can measure from space, thanks to MOPITT," said NCAR scientist David Edwards. "The data give us a new window on chemical processes affecting the ability of the atmosphere to clean itself."

New DOE Office Helps Care for Contaminated Sites

The Office of Legacy Management will have responsibility for sites that have been closed and no longer support the department's ongoing national security, energy and science missions.

So called "legacy liabilities" stem from the previous activities of the department and its predecessor agencies, particularly during World War II and the Cold War. These activities left a legacy of radioactive chemical waste, environmental contamination, and hazardous materials at more than 100 sites across the country.

"The establishment of the Office of Legacy Management demonstrates the department's continued commitment to manage sites where active remediation has been completed," said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "The establishment of this new office is a significant step to ensuring the long term protection of human health and the environment."

The office's primary functions will include: management of the land and associated resources as a Federal Trustee, surveillance and maintenance associated with environmental remedies, records and information management, and the management of post closure liabilities.

The sites transferring to the Office of Legacy Management's authority will include: The Office of Environmental Management closure sites (Pinellas Plant, Weldon Spring Site), Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA) sites, and Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) sites where remediation is complete. As more sites are remediated and closed by Environmental Management, the site surveillance and maintenance functions, and worker benefits as appropriate, will be transferred to the new office for long term management.

More details and the complete proposed legacy management budget are available at: http://www.energy.gov

Dune Destruction Brings $15,000 Fine

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) cited Alice Hedaya and fined her $15,000 for violations of the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA). Hedaya destroyed a dune on her property without applying for a permit as required under CAFRA.

"Hasty, unauthorized activities along the New Jersey shore - like those conducted by Ms. Hedaya - can harm our coastline's fragile ecosystem and impact the natural beauty that attracts visitors," said DEP commissioner Bradley Campbell. "Only by appropriately regulating development activities can we prevent pollution, destruction of vital wildlife habitat, increases in rainwater runoff, and in some cases prevent the loss of life and property from coastal storms, erosion, and flooding."

The DEP has ordered the submission of a restoration plan to restore the site to its pre-disturbance condition. The plan must include a time schedule for implementation through project completion.

The department reserves the right to modify inadequate or incomplete information within the proposal.

The CAFRA law regulates almost all development activities involved in residential, commercial, or industrial development, including construction, relocation, and enlargement of buildings or structures; and all related work, such as excavation, grading, shore protection structures, and site preparation.

Siberian Tiger Returns to China

The New York based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said the photo provides strong evidence that tigers are crossing from the Russian Far East to repopulate previous tiger strongholds.

The tiger was photographed in Jilin Province's Hunchun Nature Reserve, which WCS helped establish in 2001. Working in partnership with WCS, staff members at the reserve set up the camera trap after a local farmer reported that a predator killed a mule.

Adult tiger photographed last week by remote camera in the Hunchun Nature Reserve in Jilin Province. This is the first known photograph of a Siberian tiger taken in China. (Photo courtesy Wildlife Conservation Society)

The reserve, on the western side of the border between Russia and China, provides a corridor of habitat so tigers can disperse from Russia and repopulate areas of China where they once lived. Poaching of tigers for traditional Chinese medicine, along with over hunting of their prey species, wiped out populations in China.

Yet much of their habitat remained intact. With increased enforcement of hunting laws, WCS scientists were confident that tigers would return.

"The photo of a wild tiger in Hunchun Nature Reserve represents not only the reserve's recent progress, but also a bright beginning for Amur tiger conservation in the future," said Dr. Endi Zang of The Wildlife Conservation Society.

This May, The WCS will open "Tiger Mountain," a three-acre, interactive tiger exhibit that links visitors to the Bronx Zoo in New York with field conservation efforts, including those in China and the Russian Far East.

Moose Born in Wisconsin after 100 Year Absence

A radio collar attached to an adult cow moose has provided state wildlife officials with documentation of landmark event.

While there were no observations of the calf in Wisconsin, Wisconsin biologists have been tracking the calf's mother during the spring and summer of the last two years, according to Adrian Wydeven, a wildlife biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) endangered and nongame species program.

During that time she had an established summer range in northern Forest County, then during the fall and winter, headed back to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where she had originally been collared by biologists from the Michigan DNR.

"We never saw a calf during the summer of 2002 while she was being monitored by DNR pilots, but it is very difficult to see a moose during summer from the air. We relied on the radio collar to track her, just as we rely on radio collars to track wolves, which are also difficult to see from the air during the summer," Wydeven said.

"But after she returned to Michigan in December, Michigan DNR biologists discovered she had a calf with her when they tracked her in southern Baraga County about 45 miles northeast of her Wisconsin home range."

The adult moose cow, which biologists identify by the number 5155, was last detected in the Upper Peninsula on March 5, 2002 and was first detected in northern Forest County on April 29. She remained in her summer home range through October 29.

"We know that moose do not normally have calves prior to about May 15 and most have their calves by mid June." Wydeven said. "Thus it is most likely that the calf was born sometime while the moose was in Wisconsin."

State officials estimate the Wisconsin moose population at about 20 to 40, and say that it probably varies quite a bit.

"What we've learned with moose 5155 is that moose can migrate between summer range in Wisconsin and winter range in Michigan. There may be other moose doing this that we have not detected. Our hope is that this moose will teach this migration pattern to her calf," Wydeven said.

Moose once occurred across the northern third or half of Wisconsin in the mixed conifer-hardwoods forest. They were fairly common in these areas until the mid or late 1800s, but by the early 1900s were no longer found anywhere in the state.

A few isolated reports of moose occurred in northern Wisconsin in the mid 1900s, as moose from Isle Royale were moved to the Michigan mainland. In the 1960s, moose began to be seen in the northwestern part of the state as the Minnesota moose population increased.

In all, there have been more than 280 observations of moose reported to DNR biologists over the last decade.