WILDLIFE TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
What do California Slender Salamanders eat?
(a.) flowers and nectar and over-ripe fruit
(b.) small snakes
(c.) grass, weeds, and the leaves of low bushes
(d.) insects and arthropods and worms and slugs
(e.) A garden salad with dressing on the side, nonfat cottage cheese and a diet soda
------> See answer near the end of this issue of News.bytes.

HEADLINES AND HIGHLIGHTS

"BLM Snapshots" (BLM Office of Fire and Aviation, 12/15/06)
Wildfire prevention items from around the West. A California article summarizes how fuel breaks helped slow the Esperanza Fire and protect communities.
PDF file, 1 megabyte, 8 pages:
http://www.fire.blm.gov/textdocuments/12-15-06.pdf

"BLM offers free, guided bald eagle hikes" (BLM California news release, 1/8/07)
BLM natural resource specialists will lead the outings in the Cache Creek Natural Area in Lake County on Saturdays, Jan. 20 and 27, and Feb. 3, 10, 17 and 24. Organizers advise early reservations because the hikes are popular and limited to 25 participants each. Hikes will be cancelled in rainy weather. The four-mile hikes last three to four hours. The trail includes a steep, 600-foot climb in the first mile, so hikers should be in good physical condition.
http://www.blm.gov/ca/news/2007/01/nr/NCNews0722_eaglehikes_jan07.html

"Board may aid Clear Creek plan" (Redding Record Searchlight, 1/6/07)
"Shasta County may chip in $75,000 toward a parkway project along lower Clear Creek, where a dam removal and other restoration efforts have rejuvenated salmon runs....The county's contribution would add to a $1.1 million state grant to the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, which has worked with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to complete such restoration efforts as the removal of Saeltzer Dam in 2000 and the addition of spawning gravel, sediment controls, garbage cleanup and other measures."
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/jan/06/board-may-aid-clear-creek-plan/

RELATED: "Clear Creek road improvements are step on right path" (Redding Record Searchlight, 1/9/07)
Editorial: "A planned trail through what's been dubbed the Lower Clear Creek Parkway will be recreational gold, but it would be worse than foolish if it turned into a death trap for hikers. Preventing that outcome is behind a $75,000 request that the Shasta County Board of Supervisors will consider today. The money would help improve lines of sight near the Horsetown-Clear Creek Preserve's parking lot and hook a walkway onto the narrow bridge where the road crosses Clear Creek."
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/jan/09/clear-creek-road-improvements-are-step-on-right/

RELATED: "Lower Clear Creek restoration project celebrates success" (News.bytes Spotlight on Partners, 11/7/06)
In a partnership celebration last fall, local, state, federal and private partners in the Lower Clear Creek Restoration Project toured sites to get a close look at projects that are having dramatic effects at restoring the creek that has suffered from more than 100 years of impacts due to gold and gravel mining. The partners celebrated the return of spawning salmon, heralded an amazing increase in riparian plant growth and bird diversity, and discussed growing public interest in returning to the stream to again enjoy outdoor recreation.
http://www.blm.gov/ca/news/newsbytes/2006_partners/lowerclearcreek.html

RELATED: "County leaders are sworn in" (Redding Record Searchlight, 1/10/07)
County board also moves forward with Clear Creek parkway project.
http://www.redding.com/news/2007/jan/10/county-leaders-are-sworn-in/

"Stewardship Steering Committee meets January 18" (BLM California news release, 1/8/07)
Members of the Modoc-Washoe Experimental Stewardship steering committee will discuss wide ranging natural resource topics when they meet Thursday, Jan. 18 in Cedarville. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.
http://www.blm.gov/ca/news/2007/01/nr/NCNews0723_esp_meeting_jan07.html

"Nature claims Yosemite route" (Los Angeles Times, 1/8/07)
"Winding lazily into the Sierra Nevada, California 140's two asphalt lanes for generations served as the busiest road to Yosemite, with more than 1 million visitors each year rolling up the route to the magnificent granite valley. But of late, the natural world has gotten in the way. A dozen miles from the park, the old road has disappeared, its once-bustling blacktop buried under a rubble pile broad as two football fields." The rockslide affects BLM-managed recreation areas (see below).
(Free registration may be required>)
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-slide8jan08,1,2488431.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

RELATED: "Merced River" (BLM California website)
The rockslide affects BLM recreation users along stretches of the Merced River.
http://www.blm.gov/ca/folsom/merced.html

"Canadian pleads guilty to sabotage" (Portland Oregonian, 1/10/07)
"A Canadian eco-saboteur pleaded guilty Monday to his role in the Earth Liberation Front firebombing of a federal wild horse corral five years ago in northeastern California....The defendant acknowledged a series of covert actions that ended in the destruction of a barn and 250 tons of hay at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's wild horse and burro corral near Litchfield, Calif."
http://www.oregonlive.com/metro/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1168397755314450.xml&coll=7

"Study: Price for border fence up to $49 billion" (San Francisco Chronicle, 1/8/07)
" The cost of building and maintaining a double set of steel fences along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border could be five to 25 times greater than congressional leaders forecast last year, or as much as $49 billion over the expected 25-year life span of the fence, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service." BLM California manages approximately 3.3 million acres in the borderland zone, roughly within 100 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/08/BAG6RNEJJG1.DTL

RELATED: "Statement...border security on federal lands" (BLM legislative testimony, 8/5/06)
Statement of Steve Borchard District Manager, California Desert District Bureau of Land Management before the Committee on Resources of the United States House of Representatives: "Border Security on Federal Lands: What can be done to mitigate impacts along the Southwestern Border."
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/legislative/pages/2006/te060805.htm

"BLM proposes hike in some recreation fees" (Lake Havasu City News-Herald, 1/7/07)
BLM's Lake Havasu Field Office "is proposing a hike in the annual fee for use of recreation facilities along Lake Havasu. In addition, day-use fees and camping fees could see a slight increase at facilities along the Parker Strip.... A 2005 study of fees versus costs found the local BLM office operating at a more than $200,000 deficit.... Along the Parker Strip, the largest expense was $86,600 for repair and replacement of amenities at Empire Landing on the California side of the Colorado River."
http://www.havasunews.com/articles/2007/01/08/news/news02.txt

"40 years and still going strong" (Kern Valley Sun, 1/10/07)
"This year marks the 40th anniversary of Thyra Apalatea tossing the ceremonial first shovel full of dirt at Kernville Elementary School's groundbreaking ceremony. And as the school's current modernization project nears completion, there is continued cause for celebration.....In the August 10, 1967 issue of the Sun, it was reported 'the half-million dollar school is being built on 20 acres of land that was purchased from the Bureau of Land Management for $54.20.'"
http://www.kvsun.com/articles/2007/01/10/news/011007-7-kernvillerenovation.txt

"Current job openings - BLM California" (USAJOBS website)
Current listings include outdoor recreation planner, dispatcher, administrative officer, range technician and student trainees.
http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/a9blm-ca.asp

HUGE EARTHQUAKE'S 150TH ANNIVERSARY

"The really big one" (Los Angeles Times, 1/7/070)
"Northridge was mild compared to the Ft. Tejon earthquake of 1857. To understand what might come, look at then....On Jan. 9, 1857, the San Andreas fault unzipped from near the central California town of Parkfield down to Cajon Pass, a distance of nearly 250 miles. Stream channels crossing the fault reveal that, at least in some places, fault motion reached a staggering 30 feet, with an average sideways movement of about 15 feet. It blasted down the Carrizo Plain...." BLM manages the Carrizo Plain National Monument, where evidence of this earthquake can still be seen.
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-quake01jan07,1,5959531.story?coll=la-headlines-magazine

"The San Andreas Fault" (BLM California website)
On January 9, 1857 at 8:20 am, an earthquake with a estimated magnitude of 8.0 occurred just north of Carrizo Plain. The current of the Kern River was turned upstream, and water ran four feet deep over its banks. The waters of Tulare Lake were thrown upon its shores, stranding fish miles from  the original lake bed. The waters of the Mokelumne River were thrown upon its banks, reportedly leaving the bed dry in places. Because the San Andreas Fault has been seismically quiet for decades, and the Carrizo Plain is relatively dry, evidence of this quake is still visible in places. Photographs of the stark hills and clear trace of the fault in the Carrizo Plain have been used in numerous earth science text books.
http://www.blm.gov/ca/bakersfield/geology.html

"Past offers lessons on future Big One" (Los Angeles Times, 1/10/07)
"When the great Ft. Tejon earthquake ripped the San Andreas fault 150 years ago this week, the shaking was so powerful it shook the Kern River from its banks and for a moment made it run upstream, according to accounts from the day. If such a quake occurred today -- and scientists say we are overdue for one in Southern California -- it would cause $150 billion or more in damage, disrupt water and power supplies for Los Angeles and pancake buildings from San Bernardino to the L.A. Basin."
http://www.latimes.com/la-me-quake10jan10,0,7564852.story?coll=la-home-headlines

"Geology and mining history field trips" (BLM California, Bakersfield Field Office website)
In September, the BLM and Buena Vista Museum of Natural History sponsor a 2-day field conference looking at the San Andreas Fault between Hollister and the Carrizo Plain.
http://www.blm.gov/ca/bakersfield/geologytrips.html

"Verdict from SoCal quake conference: 'Doomsday'" (Palm Springs Desert Sun, 1/10/07)
"The anniversary of the Jan. 9, 1857, Fort Tejon earthquake was marked at a special conference at USC Tuesday by kicking off a new public awareness campaign to urge preparedness for the next 'Big One'....Unlike relatively recent earthquakes that many people consider major, such as the 6.7 magnitude Northridge earthquake in 1994, a major quake along the San Andreas would cause destruction along the fault line over hundreds of miles." Includes photo gallery and links to earthquake preparedness guides.
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070110/NEWS0805/701100331

"Quake experts predict Katrina-like damage" (San Diego Union-Tribune, 1/10/07)
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20070110-9999-1n10quake.html

"Ready for 'The Big One'? AV faces bigger issues than L.A." (Antelope Valley Press, 1/10/07)
http://www.avpress.com/n/10/0110_s4.hts

MEET YOUR ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS: Barbara Gonzales-Lyons...
...represents the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians on BLM's Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains Advisory Committee. She has served on the tribal council for over 20 years. Read more:
http://www.blm.gov/ca/news/rac/srsjmnm_rac/member_profiles/Barbara_Gonzales-Lyo.html

NATIONAL AND/OR DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR ITEMS

"BLM seeks bids for one or more new pasture facilities in West to care for a maintain wild horses" (BLM national news release, 1/8/07)
Each pasture facility must be able to provide humane care for and maintain at least 750 wild horses -- up to as many as 1,500 -- over a one-year period, with an option under BLM contract for an additional four one-year extensions. The BLM needs additional space for wild horses placed in long-term holding facilities, all of which are currently located in Kansas and Oklahoma.
http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2007/pr070108_whb.htm

WILDLIFE TRIVIA answer
(d.) insects and arthropods and worms and slugs

SOURCE: "California Slender Salamander, Batrachoseps attenuatus" (BLM California wildlife database)
http://www.blm.gov/dyn/ca/forms/wildlife/details.php?metode=serial_number&search=2470

RELATED: "California Slender Salamander - Batrachoseps attenuatus" (California Department of Fish and Game)
Species account, including distribution, habitat requirements, life history and references.
PDF file, 11 kilobytes:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/bdb/cwhr/lha/lha_A014.pdf