"SEEP volunteers teach kids about wildlife" (Ridgecrest Daily Independent, 05/21/2004)
Fifth graders learn about "plants, birds, archaeology, art, history, and water conservation" in the Sand Canyon Environmental Education Program. (BLM is one of 10 partners in the effort.) Volunteers bring wildlife specimens to classrooms to show and explain. Then students take a field trip to Sand Canyon, where volunteers "introduce the different subjects with hands-on experiments and projects."
http://www.ridgecrestca.com/articles/2004/05/20/news/local/news06.txt

Note: Our "Photo Album" is currently not available, while some of the hardware that operates it is undergoing repair. We expect this News.bytes feature to return next week.

WILDFIRE

"Wildfire forecast goes from bad to worse" (Sacramento Bee, 05/23/2004)
"Months ago, national fire managers predicted the 2004 wildfire season would be a bad one in the West. Now, they're changing their forecast: It's going to be worse...."
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1388073p-8646273c.html

"Editorial: Winter blizzard brings extra risk of summer fires" (Redding Record Searchlight, 05/20/2004)
Editorial: "As fire season approaches, Shasta County has the distinction of being singled out by the National Interagency Fire Center as facing high risk for destructive blazes this summer -- the only county in the parched West to earn such an honor." Cites flammable debris and grounding of BLM and U.S. Forest Service airtankers: "All this only puts a greater weight on the shoulders that ultimately bear responsibility anyway: Property owners need to mind their land, for their own and their neighbors' sake. Maintaining defensible space around houses is the law, as well as a life-saver of a good idea."
http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_opinions/article/0,2232,REDD_17536_2896288,00.html

"Reducing wildfire fuels; Area residents prepare defense" (The Union, 05/22/2004)
"Anyone who survived the 49er Fire of 1988 can describe the devastation of a runaway blaze in the wild. Although the fire destroyed 165 homes and blackened 33,000 acres from North San Juan to the outskirts of Beale Air Force Base, brush and homes have sprung up again in the ensuing 16 years. That mix presents new danger...." A BLM grant aided a "fuels reduction" project to help reduce the danger from flammable vegetation.
http://www.theunion.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040522/NEWS/105220101

"BLM Proposes Fuels Reduction Work in Virginia Creek/Willow Springs Area of Mono County" (BLM California news release, 05/21/2004)
The purpose of this project would be to decrease the intensity of future wildfires in this area, and to increase the safety of residents, private property, and firefighters working to protect the community and suppress fires.
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2004/05/nr/CCnews26_fuelreduct.html

MORE LAND USE PLANNING AND RECREATION

"Gun club still aiming for range" (Redding Record Searchlight, 05/26/2004)
Members "aren't giving up on their seven-year quest to put a shooting range off Walker Mine Road northwest of town....the Redding Gun Club will appeal a local Bureau of Land Management official's decision to scuttle its purchase of as many as 260 acres."
http://www.redding.com/redd/nw_local/article/0,2232,REDD_17533_2914913,00.html

"Roughing it" (Bakersfield Californian, 5/27/2004)
"36 desert cabins have been fixed up (mostly) for public use, but don't expect much in the way of amenities. The best part? They're free." Volunteers with the Adopt A Cabin program have been working on them, coordinated by the BLM's Ridgecrest Field Office.
http://www.bakersfield.com/eye_street/story/4713889p-4763810c.html

Related: "Adopt a Cabin meeting, May 2004" (BLM California Web page)
Photos from the recent meeting at the "Boxcar Cabin" feature views inside and out.
(At left: volunteers prepare lunch inside the cabin.)
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/newsbytes/xtra-04/158-xtra_adoptacabin.html

"Leimgruber and off-road recreation groups lobby in D.C. for land access" (Imperial Valley Press, 05/25/2004)
Imperial County Supervisor "has been in the nation's capital for the last few days, trying to push the case for off-highway vehicle recreation and its economic impact to the Valley's economy. 'Closures in this area are having a serious negative impact on the struggling economy,' [he] said. 'Many of our merchants depend on this recreation for their survival'." He and off-highway groups "are pushing for more public lands to be opened or reopened for motorized vehicle use...."
http://ivpressonline.com/articles/2004/05/25/news/news08.txt

"OHV group meets with BLM head" (Desert Trail, 5/26/2004)
"A new manager at the Bureau of Land Management apparently means a new, more cooperative relationship between the BLM and community activists seeking to curb illegal off-highway vehicle use in the Morongo Basin."
http://www.deserttrail.com/articles/2004/05/26/features/feature3.txt

"New signs make visiting areas around Bay simpler" (The Eureka Reporter, 05/20/2004)
"Visitors to the South Spit and other public areas around Humboldt Bay will now have an easier time learning about the area and how to get around it, thanks to new signage....The project was made possible with a more than $30,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy and an approximately $20,000 match" from many local sources including BLM.
http://www.eurekareporter.com/Stories/cm-05200402.htm

CEMEX

"Cemex open to options" (Los Angeles Daily News, 05/21/2004)
"The company behind a massive sand and gravel mine approved for Canyon Country appeared willing Friday to look at options during a meeting with Santa Clarita city officials in Washington, D.C."
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20949%257E2164110,00.html

"Realtors rally against mine" (Los Angeles Daily News. 5/26/2004)
"About 1,000 local real estate agents have united for a massive movement to inform the public about the possible effects of the proposed sand and gravel quarry in Canyon Country." Cemex, Inc. has held a sand and gravel permit for the site from BLM, for about 10 years.
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20949%257E2174056,00.html

"Sides continue battle over mine" (The Signal, 5/23/2004)
"Thirteen years and counting. Whatever the final outcome, the Cemex mining project will likely go down in the books as the longest running legal battle in Santa Clarita Valley history."
http://www.the-signal.com/News/ViewStory.asp?storyID=4710

"Plan for river disputed" (Los Angeles Daily News, 5/26/2004)
"A small nocturnal amphibian could curtail development around the Santa Clara River, according to a U.S. U.S. Fish and Wildlife proposal to broaden critical habitat because the endangered arroyo toad is more widespread than previously thought...." Said a local environmentalist: "People may not care about a little 2-inch toad, however this toad has the ability and potential to protect our community from the Cemex mining project and from the massive proposed housing developments which will surely impact our quality of life...."
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20949%257E2174032,00.html

"Wild horses coming to Chico from champion-producing herds" (BLM California news release, 05/25/2004)
Wild horses will be up for public adoption at Chico's Silver Dollar Fairgrounds Saturday and Sunday, June 12 and 13, and they're coming from herds that are known for producing endurance champions. These 60 horses come from the Twin Peaks, Buckhorn and Devil's Garden herds of northeastern California. The herds produce good-sized wild horses, two of which recently won top national honors in American Endurance Ride Conference competition.
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2004/05/nr/NCnews65_whbchico2.html

"Interior Secretary Norton announces $2.3 Million in grants to support 47 cooperative conservation projects in California" (BLM California news release, 05/24/2004)
The $2.3 million in challenge cost-share grants are to support 47 cooperative conservation projects in California, from constructing a filtration wetland near Tule Lake to enhancing California condor recovery efforts.
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2004/05/nr/WOnews_doigrants_5-24-04.html

"Calpine halts geothermal projects" (Mount Shasta News, 5/26/2004)
"In the face of continuing legal challenges, Calpine Corporation has announced it will cease major work at the Medicine Lake geothermal electrical generation facilities until 2005....some surveying and other minor work will continue, but that there will be no well drilling.
http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2004/05/26/news/01geothermalhalt.txt

Related: "Environmentalists sue over California geothermal plans" (Associated Press in San Francisco Chronicle, 05/19/2004)
"Environmental groups have sued the federal government over geothermal projects it has approved in California's remote Medicine Lake Highlands region, considered sacred by Indian tribes."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/05/19/state1935EDT7605.DTL

"Anderson sworn in as Redding Field Office manager" (BLM California Web page)
Steve Anderson, the new field manager for the Redding Field Office, received the oath of office from State Director Mike Pool during a brief ceremony on the banks of Clear Creek Thursday, May 13. Photos of the event and a related tour to highlight a partnership that is resulting in restoration of Clear Creek, including a return of spawning salmon.
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/newsbytes/xtra-04/158-xtra_anderson.html

"Desert woman contests eviction" (San Bernardino County Sun, 05/21/2004)
National Park Service states woman is "living illegally on federal land in the Mojave National Preserve. [The woman] disagrees, claiming her five acres is on private land." Her attorney disputes conditions of the lease issued by The BLM, "which administered the area until it became a national preserve in 1994...."
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%257E12588%257E2164320,00.html

Current job openings - BLM California
BLM California job listings on USAJOBS Web site. Highlights this week include several firefighting or fire prevention positions, and an ecologist.
http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/a9blm-ca.asp