Not that any of them voted for him, but I'm sure that the environmentalist community is not happy about this news. I'll tell you Oregonians--aside from fishermen and ranchers--are none to pleased by this.

The Bush administration Tuesday proposed large cuts in federally designated areas in the Northwest and California meant to aid the recovery of threatened or endangered salmon. Protection would focus instead on rivers where the fish now thrive.

The critical habitat designation originally included rivers accessible to salmon, even if no fish occupied them, and covered most of Washington, Oregon and California and parts of Idaho.

Under the federal plan, critical habitats would be cut by more than 80 percent in the Northwest and 50 percent in California — and more cuts might be ordered based on public comments over the next six months, said Bob Lohn, northwest regional administrator for NOAA Fisheries, the federal agency responsible for saving salmon from extinction.

Large areas could be cut where state and federal habitat protections are already in place, such as national forests and places where the economic benefits of development outweigh the biological benefits of habitat.

Link.