MEET YOUR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS: Walt Pachucki
An original member of BLM's Central California Resource Advisory Council and a former chairperson, Walt has been a key player in developing the Rangeland Standards and Guidelines, developing a formula for the use of range improvement funds, leading the opposition to the trading of federal oil leases for timber, and in other issues before the council over the past eight years.
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/rac/cencal_rac/member_profiles/pachucki.html

PROFILES: Amy Lawrence
Amy is the resident archaeologist at BLM's Barstow Field Office. She says, "it's nothing like the scenes of 'Indiana Jones' I see so many people thinking of when I say I'm an archaeologist." Learn more about what it is like, in our weekly News.bytes Profile:
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/newsbytes/profiles/lawrence_barstow.html

Related: "Dave Moore Nature Area" (BLM CA Web page)
...When work was completed in 1986, the site was closed behind a locked gate and abandoned. No reclamation plans for the site had been made or carried out. In June of 1989, the BLM began restoration of the site by filling in the excavated pits and recontouring the settling pond with mechanized equipment.
http://www.ca.blm.gov//folsom/sfa_dmna.html

OUR READERS WRITE: Table of Contents?

"I sure liked your e-mail publication better when there was a TABLE OF CONTENTS at the top. It helped me spot items that were of special importance to me. Hopefully, you'll restore it in future issues."
Thanks,
    - N.S., Weed, California

RESPONSE: The News.bytes Team felt the Table of Contents was too long and could not cover the whole range of topics in each newsletter. While we listed the Table of Contents by key news coverage for the week, the majority of topics usually fall under the "Headlines and Highlights" category - that does not tell the reader if there are items of importance they may be interested in. So to save space, and megabytes in your email box, we discontinued the Table of Contents to see if readers would notice. Several of you did! We will reconsider the Table of Contents, perhaps in a condensed version that will meet your needs and keep the list to a minimum. Thanks for your feedback!

FIREFIGHTING

"Federal firefighting agencies will return two additional large airtankers to service" (Department of the Interior news release, 8/12/2004)
The Departments of the Interior and Agriculture today announced they will return two P-2V aircraft to firefighting service on a limited basis. Both aircraft would be outfitted with structural health monitoring devices to gather information on the stresses that occur to airtankers in the fire environment, which will help determine vital safety information for the remaining P-2V fleet.
http://www.doi.gov/news/040812b

Related: "Two tankers to return to duty for rest of fire season" (Associated Press in Sacramento Bee, 08/12/2004)
http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/nation/story/1564516p-9148792c.html

"Current wildland fire information" (NIFC Web site)
Updated Mondays through Fridays by the National Interagency Fire Center.
http://www.nifc.gov/information.html

HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS

Volunteer Opportunity - Habitat Restoration
The Habitat Restoration Team at Cosumnes River Preserve maintains and builds trails, controls erosion, restores disturbed areas, eradicates noxious weeds and non-native plant species and removes fences. Habitat restoration workdays are scheduled once or twice a month. Team members also serve as leaders for community workdays.
http://www.volunteer.gov/gov/uidetail.cfm?ID=2282

"Current job openings - BLM California"
BLM California job listings on USAJOBS Web site. Current openings include firefighters, dispatcher and student trainee in range/forestry.
http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/a9blm-ca.asp

"BLM Ridgecrest Field Office to close temporarily" (BLM California news release, 08/13/2004)
The office will be closed for repairs and building maintenance, from August 19 through August 24.
http://www.ca.blm.gov/news/2004/08/nr/CDDNews62_repairs%40ridgecrest.html

NATIONAL AND/OR DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ITEMS

"Assistant Secretary Watson underscores federal commitment to conservation, and the protection of wildlife, during energy leasing and development" (Department of Interior news release, 8/16/2004)
In remarks before the American Wildlife Conservation Partners annual meeting Rebecca Watson, assistant secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management, highlighted the Bush administration's strong commitment to the health and conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat in the land-use planning process for energy development. (The BLM is within the Department of Interior)
http://www.doi.gov/news/040816a

Related: "U.S. vows to protect wildlife before leasing energy areas" (Associated Press on MSNBC, 08/17/2004)
"The Interior Department said Monday it will begin delaying some new oil and gas drilling projects until the effects on wildlife are studied more thoroughly. But some environmentalists were skeptical, saying the department has routinely ignored its power to defer energy leases for the sake of wildlife."
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5733333/

Related: "Interior may delay oil and gas projects" (Washington Post, 08/18/2004)
(Registration required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9536-2004Aug17.html

"AP: Most U.S. Oil, Gas Leases Unexplored" (ABC News, 08/13/2004)
"Despite soaring oil and gas prices, oil companies and individuals who own nearly 30 million acres of nonproducing federal oil and gas leases have made little effort to transform them into energy producers, federal records show. An Associated Press analysis of Bureau of Land Management records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act found that 98 percent of the more than 33,000 leases still considered nonproducing by BLM have never had an exploratory well drilled."
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Politics/ap20040813_122.html

"Land sales aimed at fueling growth" (Los Angeles Times, 08/18/2004)
Lawmakers propose selling off BLM-managed land in Nevada - with the highest percentage of public lands of any state - for development. Opponents call proposal a land giveaway. "Originally designed to divest the U.S. Bureau of Land Management of property it owned around the Las Vegas Strip - so-called urban islands that didn't make sense for a wild-land management agency to keep - the Nevada land bills now reach beyond the metropolitan fringe into distant desert." Observers see potential impacts on other Western states with much public land.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-me-nevada18aug18,1,5572817.story?coll=la-headlines-business