Alaska to mount legal challenge to Endangered Species Act

Alaska's legislature is considering a request by the state's attorney general to appropriate $1 million for a lawyer to mount a challenge to the Endangered Species Act.

That's according to a report in the Juneau Empire today.

Alaska officials have repeatedly complained about the application of the ESA within their state, most recently in connection with the polar bear.

The state has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior, arguing that the listing of that species as threatened is not justified.

Environmentalists challenge off-road vehicle use plan in Idaho national forests

Environmentalists have sued to block plans for allowing off-road vehicles in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, the largest in the 48 contiguous states, arguing that regulations issued by the USDA Forest Service fail to protect the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness.

The Idaho Statesman has a report here.

Sen. Feinstein seeks additional protections for land in California desert

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has announced that she will introduce legislation aimed at expanding protections of public land in the Mojave Desert.

The bill, which will be called the California Desert Protection Act of 2010, would create two new national monuments, expand Death Valley National Park and Joshua Tree National Park, and designate 250,000 acres of wilderness near Fort Irwin.

Feinstein, who sponsored another landmark measure aimed at preserving land in the Mojave Desert in 1994, told the Los Angeles Times that she thought the bill could become law in 2010.

Are the Yellowstone wolves in trouble?

The number of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park is declining.

That's the gist of a report in today's USA Today, which says that the population of the animals in the nation's oldest national park is down by a third from its high in 2003.

The species, which was re-introduced to Yellowstone in 1995, is stressed because hunting in areas around the park is now permitted. The U.S. government removed the gray wolf from the list of endangered and threatened species in 2008.

Management plans for the species proposed or adopted by Wyoming, Idaho and Montana would allow the number of individuals to fall from about 1,650 to 450.

In addition, the number of elk in and around Yellowstone National Park has significantly dropped since wolves were re-introduced.

NYT: More protection for wolves needed

The New York Times published today an editorial arguing that too much hunting of wolves is being allowed in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

The piece is worth a read.

Colorado Rep. Salazar seeks wilderness protection for Forest Service land in Centennial State

Coloradans may soon see more of the public land in their state protected by the Wilderness Act.

Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., has introduced a bill that would designate more than 60,000 acres on four national forests as wilderness.

In keeping with a trend in recent wilderness bills, the proposal forecloses any possibility of federal government water rights in the protected areas.

The measure must be approved by the House Natural Resources Committee before being considered on the floor or moving to the Senate.

NOAA scientists recommend protection of coastlines from oil and gas drilling

The federal government's chief oceanographers are recommending that the Obama administration preclude oil and gas drilling along much of the country's coastline.

The suggestion, which is not binding, was made last month by officials of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today.

It says that the Department of Interior should decline to approve permits that would allow drilling along much of the coast off Alaska, the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA also recommends caution in allowing oil and gas extraction activity in protected waters off California.

The Bush administration had indicated a willingness to allow drilling in all of those areas.

The Los Angeles Times has a detailed story.