• Second Suspect Cow Not Mad
  
• Bush Denied Funds for New Nuclear Weapons Research
  
• Scientists Urge Bush to Scrap Salmon Plan
  
• Groups Question Federal Employee’s Role in New Jersey Bear Hunt
  
• Riders Reverse Some Wilderness Protections
  
• Forest Service Sued to Protect Wyoming Water
  
• Whooping Cranes Flock to Florida for the Winter
  
• Drought Seen as Culprit in Georgia’s Blue Crab Decline
  

Second Suspect Cow Not Mad

No information has been given about the location of the animal in question, but officials say it did not enter the food or feed chain. The routine tests for mad cow disease were conducted as part of an enhanced surveillance program that began June 1 after a cow in Washington state was found to have the disease last December.

This week, two preliminary tests on the carcass for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, had proved inclusive, but the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa tested the inclusive screening sample again and found it negative for the disease.

John Clifford, deputy administrator for the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), said the lab used the immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, "an internationally recognized gold standard test for BSE."

In order to be absolutely certain of the results, and mindful of the two inclusive preliminary screening tests, the National Veterinary Services Lab ran the immunohistochemistry (IHC) test twice, once on November 22 and again on November 23. Both times, the test was negative for BSE, the agency said.

The lab received a negative result on Monday and again on Tuesday, Clifford said. "Negative results from both IHC tests makes us confident that the animal in question is indeed negative for BSE."

APHIS has reported three inconclusives including the November 18 sample and all have tested negative on confirmatory testing.

"APHIS began an enhanced surveillance program on June 1 and to date has tested over 121,000 samples for BSE," said Clifford. "Screening tests are designed to be extremely sensitive and false positives are not unexpected."

BSE is caused by misfolded infectious proteins known as prions that infect the brains and spinal cords of animals.

The fatal disease is passed on when an animal or human consumes infected tissue. The brains, spinal cords and parts of ruminant digestive tracts are now known as specified risk materials and the USDA has passed regulations that aim to ensure these materials do not become human or animal food.

The human form of mad cow disease is called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), and it too is invariably fatal.

Bush Denied Funds for New Nuclear Weapons Research

The funding was deleted from the final version of the $388 omnibus spending bill passed Saturday by the Congress.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the nonprofit group Arms Control Association, hailed the decision as "an important rejection of the administration's costly and counterproductive drive to invent new nuclear arms for new missions."

The Bush administration had requested $36 million to continue research on modifying two existing high-yield warheads to destroy targets buried deep underground – bunker-buster bombs – and to develop low yield nuclear weapons less than five kilotons.

A five-kiloton nuclear weapon is about half the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Critics say that the administration’s policy is dangerous and undermines efforts to curb proliferation of nuclear weapons across the world.

Congress also slashed the administration's request for $30 million toward construction of a new facility for building the explosive cores or plutonium pits of U.S. nuclear weapons.

Only $7 million was appropriated for the project and said none of the funding could be used to select a location for the facility in fiscal year 2005, which ends Sept. 30, 2005.

The proposed Modern Pit Facility could churn out up to 450 pits a year, cost up to $4 billion to build, and $300 million annually to operate.

According to independent analysts, the proposal greatly exceeds realistic requirements for maintaining a shrinking U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

"The congressional budget cuts send a strong signal to the White House that Republicans and Democrats will resist efforts to create new and 'more usable' nuclear weapons or resume nuclear testing," Kimball said. "It is clear many believe such efforts make it harder to convince other states to exercise nuclear restraint."

Scientists Urge Bush to Scrap Salmon Plan

Groups Question Federal Employee’s Role in New Jersey Bear Hunt

In a letter sent Monday to Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Interior Inspector General Earl Devaney, the groups charged that Fish and Wildlife Service employee John McDonald unlawfully threatened to terminate all federal conservation funding for the state of New Jersey unless the DEP allows a bear hunt to occur this season.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and other trophy hunting groups have lobbied for the hunt.

New Jersey currently receives some $2 million in federal aid for habitat and species conservation efforts throughout the state, including funds for the comprehensive management of black bears.

Federal law calls on states to use federal funds for non-lethal wildlife management, according to the letter, which says McDonald informed the state on November 10 that federal funds cannot be used for such purposes unless New Jersey also conducts a sport hunt for bears.

The DEP has refused to carry out such a hunt because, among other reasons, the it "lacks the resources to oversee and conduct the hunt in a manner consistent with public safety."

"Congress has made clear that this Act was not designed as a tool for the Fish and Wildlife Service to further their independent agenda to promote trophy hunting," said Michael Markarian, president of The Fund for Animals, which sent the letter with the The Humane Society of the United States.

"By using the Act in this manner, the federal government is not only grossly abusing its authority, but is also trampling the state’s right to make it’s own wildlife management decisions," Markarian said.

Last year New Jersey permitted its first bear hunt in 33 years – more than 320 bears were killed by hunters.

The state approved the hunt amid some concern that conflicts between black bears and humans are on the rise in New Jersey.

Critics say there is a lack of scientific evidence showing that trophy hunting reduces human-bear conflicts and caution that there is scientific uncertainty concerning the size of the bear population.

Riders Reverse Some Wilderness Protections

One rider directly affects Cumberland Island, which lies off the Georgia Coast and is the largest undeveloped barrier island on the eastern seaboard.

The entire island was designated as the Cumberland Island National Seashore in 1972 – there has been a long-running dispute over roads through an 8,800-acre wilderness area created in 1982. Island residents were allowed to use the roads to access their properties, but commercial tour operators were barred from using the roads.

A federal appeals court upheld that ban earlier this year, but the rider effectively voids that decision and authorizes motorized tours through the wilderness area by park concessionaires.

A rider inserted by Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens reverses a federal appellate court ruling that found aquaculture activities are prohibited within anational wildlife refuge wilderness in Alaska.

A third rider in the massive spending bill alters the application of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act to the Wild Salmon River, which flows through the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho - the largest wilderness in the lower 48 states.

The U.S. Forest Service allowed seven commercial outfitters to set up temporary outfitter camps along the congressionally designated Wild Salmon River.

The outfitters gradually turned those temporary camps into permanent structures - cabins and lodges with glass windows, doors, covered porches, septic systems and other amenities- for their clientele.

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act prohibits permanent structures within a Wild River corridor and four of the seven outfitters had removed their camps. A district court ruling found the lodges were illegal and had to be removed within five years.

This rider authorizes the lodges to remain.

"These latest Congressional actions cavalierly cast aside four decades of national wilderness policy for the benefit of a tiny handful of well connected constituents," said Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility Executive Director Jeff Ruch, pointing to Greyfield Inn, the private corporation that had run motorized tours through Cumberland Island wilderness areas for its guests, as the sole beneficiary of one rider.

"Unfortunately," he said, "the current Congressional leadership appears quite willing to sell out the Wilderness Act to the highest bidder."

Forest Service Sued to Protect Wyoming Water

The coalition contends the federal agency has failed to halt ongoing water pollution in the Crow Creek watershed east of Laramie that is the result of overgrazing on Forest Service land.

Testing of water quality in 2002, 2003, and 2004 by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the local conservation district found that domestic livestock grazing authorized by the Forest Service in the Vedauwoo area violated water quality standards.

In particular, grazing was causing fecal coliform pollution in North Branch Crow Creek and Middle Crow Creek, both streams that contribute to Cheyenne’s drinking water supply.

The presence of fecal coliform indicates that cow manure is polluting these streams and also indicates a health risk exists for individuals exposed to the water.

The coalition says that despite reports of water pollution and associated health risks, the Forest Service has continued to allow overgrazing in the Vedauwoo area and water pollution has continued.

According to the Forest Service’s own records, water quality standards were violated again this past summer in both the North Branch of Crow Creek and Middle Crow Creek.

"Three years straight of water quality violations shows the Forest Service is not protecting our water," said Mike Harris, an attorney with Earthjustice, which is representing the coalition. "Since the Forest Service will not protect clean water, we will."

In addition to providing clean water, the Vedauwoo area of the Medicine Bow is a popular recreation spot and also supports abundant wildlife and fish populations, all of which depend on clean water.

"With sensitive fish and wildlife habitat on the line, the last thing the Forest Service should be allowing is overgrazing," said Jacob Smith with Center for Native Ecosystems, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. "It is unfortunate that good stewardship hasn’t been a priority."

Whooping Cranes Flock to Florida for the Winter

The birds are part of an effort by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP) an international coalition of public and private organizations determined to return this highly imperiled species to its historic range in eastern North America.

The ultimate goal of the project is to establish a self-sustaining wild, migrating flock of whooping cranes in eastern North America.

Biologists tracking the migrating whoopers found crane 14 from the Class of 2002 at the Chassahowtizka National Wildlife Refuge last week. She was the first of the wild birds bird to reach Florida.

The now wild cranes were joined by a new traveling companion - crane 18-04 - the first young whooper to be conditioned behind the ultralight aircraft but introduced among older birds to learn the migration route.

Crane 18-04 was not able to complete the necessary conditioning to begin the ultralight-led migration on October 10.

This is the fourth year WCEP pilots and biologists have guided juvenile cranes to the Florida refuge.

These cranes have begun returning to their summer home in central Wisconsin, and there are now 35 whooping cranes in the wild in eastern North America.

Whooping cranes were on the verge of extinction in the 1940s, and today, only about 300 cranes live in the wild.

Aside from the Wisconsin-Florida birds, the only other migrating population of whooping cranes nests in northwest Canada and winters at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast.

A non-migrating flock of approximately 100 birds lives year round in the central Florida Kissimmee region.

Drought Seen as Culprit in Georgia’s Blue Crab Decline

Prior to the recent drought, the 45 year average for blue crab landings in the state was 8.6 million pounds per year, but at the height of the drought landings fell to 1.8 million pounds.

This sharp and sustained reduction in yearly catch drove most of the state's blue crab fishermen out of business and many into bankruptcy.

Many of the crabs caught during the drought seemed to be suffering from a parasitic infection, researchers Richard Lee and Marc Frischer explained in an article in the November/December issue of the "American Scientist."

The infection was determined to be Hermatodinium perezi - not unknown to the Georgia coast.

According to the researchers, an important part of the puzzle is the effect drought has on the delicate balance of salt water and fresh water that exists in coastal estuaries.

Blue crabs spend most of their lives in this brackish water. During a drought, less fresh water comes down the state's rivers to mix with salt water that tides bring in from the Atlantic Ocean, raising the salt content in coastal estuaries.

It is in water with this higher percentage of salt that Hermatodinium thrives and spreads from crab to crab.

Lee and Frischer also cite data showing that during times of high river flow, when the percentage of salt in the estuaries is lower, blue crab landings historically have increased.