Ambrose book under fire by student researcher
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A history student says a paper she wrote three years ago identified improper use of source material in Stephen Ambrose's popular "Undaunted Courage," adding to the list of books in which he is accused of failing to give proper credit.
At least six other books by the best-selling history writer have been questioned.
Lara Marks, a senior at the private Washington University, said she wrote the paper for a class on Lewis and Clark's exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, the subject of "Undaunted Courage."
The paper cited three passages in the best seller that are similar to earlier works, but are not noted in a footnote or surrounded by quotation marks, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday.
A response to an e-mail the newspaper sent to Ambrose's office seeking comment read, in part, "people use the word 'plagiarism' much too quickly."
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Marks said her 12-page paper mentioned the three passages only briefly. Its overall theme suggested Ambrose made the narrative more exciting by using less than accurate reporting of the facts.
Conservationists go to court for listing of freshwater cod
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Two conservation groups have gone to federal court to protect the Kootenai River burbot of northern Idaho and northwestern Montana under the Endangered Species Act.
The burbot, nicknamed the "leopard of the Kootenai," is now so rare in the river that fishing is prohibited in Idaho and British Columbia.
The Idaho Conservation League and American Wildlands filed the complaint on Wednesday. They first filed a petition on Feb. 7, 2000, and under the act, a federal decision was required within 12 months.
"The petition spells out the danger of extinction facing the few remaining burbot, and the lack of any effort to save the fish," said Jerry Pavia, Idaho Conservation League board president and Bonners Ferry resident.
The freshwater cod was once a popular sport fishery in the river before it was dammed at Libby. Today, it is nearly extinct because river flows were altered at critical spawning times.
Environmental groups seek to block heli-skiing
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Environmental groups say they plan to go to court to curtail helicopter skiing in the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Helicopter skiing allows participants to take chopper rides to normally unreachable peaks for skiing on unbroken snow.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Wyoming Outdoor Council and Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance say the U.S. Forest Service violated federal law by reissuing permits for helicopter skiing in December without first studying the effect on wildlife.
"By issuing the helicopter skiing permit, the Forest Service nearly doubled the amount of authorized helicopter skiing on the Bridger-Teton forest without any preceding environmental analysis," the groups said in a letter to the Forest Service.
The issue arose late last year when several of the forest's long-term winter-use permits came up for renewal.
Instead of reissuing the permits, District Ranger Nancy Hall decided on one-year temporary permits to allow business to continue while giving forest officials more time to conduct analyses that meet National Environmental Policy Act requirements.
The environmental groups say the permits should not have been reissued until the Forest Service studies the effect, especially in the Teton Range and Hoback River drainage, on species such as bighorn sheep, lynx and wolverines.
Jon Shick, owner of High Mountain Helicopter Skiing, dismissed the arguments as misguided.
"Wildlife issues are non-issues," he said. "Where we are flying and skiing, there is no wildlife."
