Bush and the Enviroment: Trout plan likely dead in water

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

When the Bush administration unveiled a plan to save the Northwest's endangered bull trout, they billed it as a conservation triumph.
"We are protecting bull trout," said Craig Manson, the administration's point man on the Endangered Species Act. But here's how the news played in mining country:

"Fish and Wildlife Service gives miners, timber a break," read the headline on Mineweb, an industry newsletter.

"Mining and exploration companies in the West may breathe a little easier," it read, "after the finalized a bull trout recovery plan that actually reduced the total protected species habitat."

Oops. Somebody forgot to send the miners the official talking points.

It's not easy to spin what was announced Wednesday as a win for the environment.

Two years ago, federal scientists urged that 18,175 miles of mountain streams be protected as habitat for bull trout.

The government shrunk that to 1,750 miles — a cut of 90 percent from what its own biologists said was needed for the fish to rebound across its historic range, which includes every major river drainage in Washington state

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002045185_danny24.html

[nosmokes]

1. lil flora's popularity drops daily amongst rural

oregonians, i believe. at least the ones i have contact with, here in the williamette valley. i'm gonna be spending a few days up on the plateau next week i think. it'll be interesting to see what the feeling is there. but a big part of the reason for the drop in his popularity here is in his environmental policies. there's a lot of sportsmen, even among the ranchers and tree fallers, that recognize the idiocy of some his changes in the endangered species act and roadless rules and such.