November 20, 2001

Environmental Watch: Hildenbrand named Saltbush principal

TACOMA -- John F. Hildenbrand has been named a principal of Saltbush Environmental Services, Inc.

Hildenbrand will continue to serve as a senior environmental scientist along with assuming management of the daily operation of Saltbush.

During his 15-year career, he has served as a regulatory official in two states, developed and taught college courses in environmental sciences/technology and operated his own consulting company. Hildenbrand is a graduate of Montana State University.

Neighborhood grants offered

SEATTLE -- Seattle Public Utilities and the city's Department of Neighborhoods have formed a partnership to issue neighborhood environmental improvement grants.

The partnership, called Grant Central Station, will provide grants up to $5,000 for community projects that reduce waste, reduce waterborne pollution and remove litter and graffiti.

Individuals, neighborhood groups , youth groups and businesses and nonprofits are eligible. Preference will be given to projects that include in-kind contributions or matching funds. Call (206) 684-0224 for more information.

Energy Star rolls out campaign

Energy Star, the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency's energy efficient appliance branding program, is launching a new campaign.

Called "Change," the campaign is designed to educate consumers and businesses about ways they can achieve energy efficiency, save money and help protect the environment.

The two-year campaign includes television, radio and print public service announcements that emphasize specific actions consumers and businesses can take to use energy more efficiently.

According to the EPA, in 2000 alone, Energy Star helped save enough energy to power 10 million homes and reduced air pollution equivalent to taking 10 million cars off the road. While accomplishing this for the environment, the program also saved Americans more than $5 billion on their energy bills.

See www.energystar.gov for more information.

Tollgate meadow preserved

SEATTLE -- The Trust for Public Land has purchased the Tollgate central meadow property in North Bend from Miller Land and Timber. The 52 acre property is valued at about $7 million.

The trust will convey the land to the city of North Bend and King County. The land is part of historic Tollgate Farm and contains significant habitat and viewsheds of Mount Si.

At one point the land was slated for office and residential development.

Funding for the purchase came from King County, North Bend, private donations and grants from the King Conservation District and the Conservation Futures Fund.

ESA coho ruling appealed

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) -- Environmentalists have appealed the court ruling that took Oregon coastal coho salmon off the threatened species list and prompted the federal government to review protection for salmon throughout the West.

The appeal was made possible by U.S. District Judge Michael J. Hogan in Eugene who earlier granted a coalition of environmental and commercial fishing groups the right to intervene in the case so they can try to overturn his decision.

Given their interest in restoring Oregon coastal coho salmon populations, the groups can bring their own appeal because the government decided not to appeal, Hogan wrote.

After deciding against an appeal, the National Marine Fisheries Service announced last week that, based on Hogan's ruling, it would take the next year to review whether 23 of the 25 groups of Pacific salmon and steelhead protected under the Endangered Species Act should keep their listings.

Prior to coming to those decisions, NMFS would decide whether to expand the role of hatcheries in restoring salmon populations, the core of Hogan's original ruling. Current federal policy considers hatchery fish a threat to the survival of wild fish because they compete for limited food and habitat, carry disease, and are less successful at survival in the wild.

Cleanup to be ordered at Squaw Valley

TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) -- California water regulators have voted to order an environmental cleanup at the Squaw Valley USA ski resort near Lake Tahoe while the state attorney general investigates alleged water pollution violations.

The California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Lahontan Region based in South Lake Tahoe voted 4-1 to issue the formal cleanup and abatement order on Dec. 14.

Members were poised to issue the order at their meeting in Truckee last week but backed off when officials for the Sierra ski resort that hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics urged more time to negotiate details of a cleanup agreement.

State water officials say water quality standards are being violated as a result of erosion of mountain ski slopes and roads sending sediment into Squaw Creek, a tributary of the Truckee River at the 4,200-acre mountain resort.

The board asked the California attorney general's office in May to investigate alleged environmental damage caused by construction of ski lifts and a gondola, drainage culverts, poorly designed ski runs and water runoff from parking lots.

The cleanup order stems from an ongoing dispute over a series of alleged environmental abuses over the past decade. It will primarily address erosion problems and set water discharge standards.

Carl Gustafson, a civil engineer who has lived in Squaw Valley since 1963, told the board during a public hearing Wednesday that runoff from rain or snow events around the ski resort causes so much turbidity the creek turns brown "like a chocolate milkshake."

Mike Livak, Squaw Valley Ski Corp.'s director of planning, said the water quality standards the board proposes for turbidity levels in Squaw Creek would be stricter than those the federal government requires for drinking water.

Nancy Wendt, president of the Squaw Valley Ski Corp., said the resort was being singled out unfairly for enforcement of state environmental laws.

Bitterroot salvage plan delayed

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Forest Service said Monday it is delaying release of its plan for logging thousands of acres of the Bitterroot National Forest burned during the 2000 forest fires.

Spike Thompson, deputy Bitterroot supervisor in Hamilton, Mont., said authorities decided they simply were not ready to release details of the proposal.

Thompson said the goal remains to get the plan out as soon as possible, but he could not be more specific.

Environmentalists, who have said they will go to court to block the logging plan, accused the Forest Service of ignoring evidence that the plan to remove the scorched trees will do irreparable harm to the forest.

But the Forest Service said its proposal to cull the blackened trees from 46,239 acres of the forest is based on the research of more than 400 scientists.

The 1.6 million-acre forest is draped across the glacier-carved peaks and valleys of the Bitterroot Range in southwest Montana and Idaho. It encompasses what the Forest Service has described as the largest expanse of continuous wilderness in the lower 48 states.

Wildfires during the summer of 2000 consumed more than 307,000 acres of the national forest. The Forest Service wants to invite timber companies in to harvest the badly burned trees for saw timber, and maybe pulp.

The Forest Service says removing the dead and dying trees would reduce the severity of future fires.