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Show T DAILY HERALD Sunday, August 2(j 2007 Joseph B. B7 Frazier dam for years. But it, isn't simple, and no-body is sure where the process mig ht go. The task force has 60 days to make a recommendation to NOAA Fisheries on the states request. NOAA could decide by spring. If NOAA approves, it must identify the animals to be killed and specify the time, place and method, i But Charles Hudson of the . THE ASSOCIATED MESS PORTLAND, Ore. To Columbia River tribes, California sea Hons are g menaces that have outgrown their need for federal protection, threaten tribal livelihoods and fly in the face of treaty rights. Animal rights advocates see them as a politically convenient scapegoat used to explain dwindling salmon runs when the real problems lie elsewhere. salmon-gobblin- Oi Sej. 4, a broad-base- federal task force meets here to make a recommendation to NOAA Fisheries as to whether to aOow some sea lions, protected under the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act, to be killed to take pressure off salmon runs. : In recent years sea lions : have gathered in growing numbers at the base of the Go per-recov- . to snack on spring Chinook salmon, a mainstay of tribal fisheries, as the fish gather to go up fish ladders toward tq river spawning grounds. Oregon, Idaho and Wash- ingtan filed for permission late last year to kin up to 80 sea Hons a year below the dam. An amendment to the 1972 law outlines a complicated pro-cess that can lead to permits to kill individual sea Hons that are fication. Others are known to fisheries managers by scars threats to species listed under the Environmental Protection Act, including the spring chi-nook run. The three states are seeking permission under that amendment. Some sea lions, whose . population is growing fast, have been branded for identt . THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS Nevada Sen. Harry Reid is calling on U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthome to conduct a full and thorough investigation" into the nitrate contamination ; horses in July horse herds, in the arras.' A spokeswoman for the BLMs Las Vegas field office said the bureau is developing ' an environmental testing strat- egy that includes additional water and soil sampling to see if we can identify the source of the nitrates." Capt. Justin McVay, a spokesman for Nellis Air Force Base, which uses the Nellis range for aircraft testing and air combat exercises, deferred comment to Secretary of Defense Robert Gatess fice, saying it would be inap-th-e propriate" for Nellis officials to speculate on a reaction to Reid's letter. deaths of at the Tonopah Test Range. V. "There are strong concerns in southern Nevada that these deaths are the result of serious negligence in the management of the test range and the wild ..horse herds in the area," Reid in a letter sent Friday to secretary . ' "In Hght of this unfortunate event , I believe that this is also an appropriate time to take close look at the land and 'a wildlife management practices used on the larger Nellis Air Force Range," Reid, the Senate majority trader, suggested. The horses carcasses were found at a watering hole about a mile from the Tonopah Test . Range airfield, about 210 miles northwest of Las Vegas. ' A former Air Force tech ser- -. geant told the Las Vegas Re view Journal earlier this week that when he worked at the airfield in the 1990s, deicing compounds high in nitrogen routinely ran Off the runway into the desert. The watering ... hole is on land restricted from public access. , I cant imagine that we can just turn a blind eye on this stuff being dumped illegally," Reid told the newspaper. "I think its something we need to take a look at." While the Air Force oversees operations at the range, the Bureau of Land Management is responsible for managing the 71 wild . : : cute. They say salmon runs may not have time for what could be a delayed NOAA decision. So they also are backing independent legislation to fast- track permission to kill sea lions, HR 1769, introduced by !Z and Rep. Brian Baird. Doc Hastings, Rep. Fish Columbia Inter-TribThe bill is not a part of the Commission, which is a strong task force meeting but was inspired in part by time concerns supporter of the states re-regarding the 1972 law. quest, said lawsuits or injunc- Fidelia Andy, chairwoman tions could snarl things. of the Columbia River Inter-ba- n An exception to the killing has only been tried once, Tribal Fish Commission, tokj ' he said, in Puget Sound's Bal- a House Natural Resources lard Locks in the 1990s, where subcommittee this month that sea Hons nearly wiped out a the observed catch by sea Hons steelhead run that has yet to . this spring was about 4 cent, some 300 fish, but that ; It ended inconclusively when the total take may have been7 nearer 17 percent, nearly triple three of the worst violators were packed off to Sea World the percentage allotted to the tribes. . in Orlando, Fla., after public ' figures including thenPresi-Anyone who does not think ' this is having a profound dent Clinton made pleas for other markings, and have., their Hves. ... pact on our people is terribly But the sentiment is lost on been regular visitors at the mistaken," she said. al ' d the tribes, who see sea lions as a menace to a way of life , and don't think the critters are : I i . il i t .. j ?... te GRAND OPENING SALE UltraLux 'ii M 9) .ih lOoo f--. too) VI j QUEEN SET, $689.00 KING SET $939.00 FUU SET $559.99 TWIN SET $429.00 V ? maaMMSmU MATTRESS FACTORY jsii OREM 1008 S. 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