FEDS TO STOP NM COUGAR KILLING: A federal judge has ordered the USDA's Wildlife Services, better known as Animal Damage Control, FS and BLM to immediately stop killing cougars in New Mexico, reports the Albuquerque Journal 1/12. The courts cited "bad science and uncertain cougar population estimates" as reasons for stopping the federal predator control program. The federal government is responsible for killing about 11 cougars a year which conservationists say "could have significant impacts."

GRAZING TO REMAIN ON NEW NATIONAL MONUMENT: In creating 3 new national monuments and doubling the size of a fourth, President Clinton stated, "the nation's economy in the 21st Century hinges on the health of its environment," says the Las Vegas Review-Jounal 1/12. The largest is the new Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument encompassing some 1-million acres on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Despite a BLM & NPS promise "to restore the land to its condition before white settlers arrived," grazing will be allowed to continue in the national monument. The other new national monuments are the 71,000 Agua Fria near Phoenix, and California Coastal which includes "thousands of islands, rocks and reefs along an 840 mile stretch of the CA coast."

FS RECONSIDERS MT HOPKINS TELESCOPE PROPOSAL: American Indians are "upset" that the FS is allowing the Smithsonian Institution to "resubmit its proposal" to expand its array of telescopes on Mt. Hopkins in AZ, says Indian Country Today 1/12. The proposed expansion would violate sacred ceremonial sites used by local tribes while roads and fences would disrupt "the natural flow of wildlife and nature."

COURT ORDERS MEETING OVER BISON DISPUTE: The courts have ordered the state of MT to meet with federal officials to try and resolve the impasse over the state's insistence that all bison who leave Yellowstone Park be immediately shot, says the Billings Gazette 1/7. The federal government pulled out of negotiations over a management plan for the bison after becoming "fed up with the state's steadfast opposition" to non-lethal alternatives.

THE TWO FACES OF US TRADE POLICY: The Clinton administration is appealing a court order to have environmentalists represented on a panel that advises US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky on wood and paper products trade policy, says Reuters 1/12. GREEN sources confirm that at the WTO meeting in Seattle, President Clinton emphasized the need to open up the WTO to public scrutiny and represent environmental and social concerns in the WTO's deliberative process.