Becky Kramer

Federal budget troubles spilled into the woods this week, with logging contractors receiving notices to stop harvesting timber on national forests. The shutdown halted about six timber sales that Vaagen Brothers Lumber Co. had purchased on the Colville National Forest, and it could trigger future work furloughs at the company’s two sawmills in northeast Washington, said Russ Vaagen, the firm’s vice president.

A tribal court has affirmed the Confederated Colville Tribes’ plan to use half of a $193 million federal settlement to strengthen job opportunities and cultural traditions on its 1.4 million-acre reservation, instead of spending the money on payouts to members. The $193 million was among the largest of 70 such settlements that the U.S. government made with tribes in recent years. The settlement ended a lawsuit over decades of federal mismanagement of receipts from logging sales, agricultural leases and mining activity on the Colville Tribes’ lands.

Subjecting Lake Pend Oreille to fluctuating water levels aimed at increasing downstream power generation will erode shorelines, hurt water quality and destroy valuable wetlands at Idaho’s largest lake, the Idaho Conservation League said in a lawsuit. The suit was filed against the Bonneville Power Administration in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week. It targets the variable winter water levels in the lake, which have been unpopular with local residents.

Conservation groups are challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to shrink protected habitat by more than 90 percent for the last caribou herd in the Lower 48 states. After proposing that 375,000 acres in North Idaho and Northeast Washington be protected for endangered mountain caribou, the Service abruptly changed course last November, protecting only 30,010 acres.

The Colville National Forest has awarded a 10-year stewardship contract to a Northeast Washington sawmill owner, allowing logging in return for restoration work. Vaagen Brothers Lumber Co. was the sole bidder on the contract, which is valued at up to $30 million.

Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park is willing to do additional environmental studies in pursuit of a long-running effort to expand the ski hill, General Manager Brad McQuarrie said Wednesday. “We will do whatever the state parks commission asks of us,” he said.

A state appeals court has halted a major expansion at Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park, saying that the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission erred by not requiring a detailed study of how a new chairlift and runs would impact old-growth forest, meadows and wetlands. Tuesday’s ruling was hailed by The Lands Council, which appealed an earlier court ruling on the issue. The Spokane-based environmental group opposes the nonprofit ski area’s expansion into 279 acres on the mountain’s northwest face, which is recognized as having one of the largest unbroken tracts of subalpine habitat left in Spokane County.

Avista wants to charge 9.4 percent more for natural gas this winter, which would drive up heating bills for 150,000 customers in Spokane and other parts of Eastern Washington. The Spokane-based utility blames rising wholesale prices after last year’s relatively cheap heating season. Natural gas prices were at record lows in 2012.

Higher wholesale prices for natural gas has Avista Utilities asking for a 9.4 percent increase in gas rates for residential customers by Nov. 1.

Wind turbines spinning on the Palouse are the final piece of Avista Utilities’ strategy to meet Washington’s new renewable energy standards. Energy from the 58-turbine Palouse Wind farm, which started operations last year, has pushed the Spokane-based utility over the top. Even with future customer growth, Avista officials say they’ve lined up enough qualifying renewable energy to meet Initiative 937’s requirements through 2020.

In a case involving a Dayton rancher, the Washington state Supreme Court has upheld state officials’ authority to regulate cow pies in streams. The case involved Joseph Lemire, who grazes cattle in a pasture bisected by Pataha Creek. In 2003, the Department of Ecology and the Columbia Conservation District identified Lemire’s ranching practices as contributors to poor water quality in the creek, according to court documents.