Searching for the soul of America: Report highlights challenges to National Landscape Conservation System, recommends actions to address those challenges
Aug. 20, 2009
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Keeping Safe: On Montana's Blackfeet Reservation, the Po'ka Ranch looks beyond bars and walls to help troubled youth.
June 18, 2009
Fact & Fiction sponsors a review of Richard Manning's Rewilding the West: Restoration in a Prairie Landscape
Aug. 5, 2009
Greater Yellowstone Coalition's 2009 summer outdoor adventures and projects:
- Aug. 22 : Hike to the High Lakes of the Beartooth Plateau, near Cody, Wyo.
Groups sue to stop wolf hunts in Idaho, Montana
A coalition of conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Thursday in federal district court in Montana, asking the court to put wolf hunts planned in Idaho and Montana on hold.
Idaho Statesman; 08/21/2009
- Montana hunters ready for wolf tags to go on sale
Montana's Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks has wolf hunt regulations and quotas in place, and tags are set to go on sale Aug. 31, but with environmental organizations waiting to see what Idaho's wolf-hunt rules look like today, the hunting season in both those states may be derailed by a lawsuit.
Missoulian; 08/17/2009
- Idaho sets rules, limits for wolf hunt
At its meeting Monday, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission set a limit of 220 wolves that could be taken during a hunting season that begins Sept. 1, although Defenders of Wildlife said the group will seek an injunction to stop the hunt.
Idaho Statesman; 08/18/2009
U-Haul launches U Car Share in Utah cities
U-Haul is running the U Car Share program that offers members access to 12 vehicles parked at Utah Transit Authority's TRAX and FrontRunner stations from Ogden to Sandy, and plans are to expand the program over the next few months to 28 cars, adding spots at University of Utah and around Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/19/2009
Montana Hi-Line communities welcome new bus service
A new transit system, partially funded by federal stimulus funds, will offer free bus service between several communities along Montana's Hi-Line.
Great Falls Tribune; 08/19/2009
Yellowstone Club pays out $2.5 million to creditors
Court-appointed Billings bankruptcy attorney James "Andy" Patten signed about 800 checks on Wednesday, sending a total of $2.5 million to creditors of the Yellowstone Club in Montana who were owed $5,000 or less.
Billings Gazette; 08/20/2009
Obama administration tackles crime in Indian Country
The Obama administration announced Thursday its intent to tackle violent crime on the nation's Indian reservations, with Attorney General Eric Holder, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli scheduled to hold working sessions with tribal leaders and crime experts in Seattle, Wash., on Aug. 25-26, and on Sept. 21-22 in Albuquerque, N.M., and a listening session Oct. 28-29 in Minneapolis, Minn. Editor's note: The dates and locations of the sessions were taken from a press release from the Justice Department.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/21/2009
Colorado tribe brews up biofuel from algae
Solix Biofuels, a start-up company co-founded by a Colorado State University professor, is using algae to make biofuel using carbon dioxide emissions from an adjacent natural gas processing plant on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwest Colorado.
New York Times; 08/17/2009
Swift foxes to move to new home on Montana reservation
The Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana has a $247,000, three-year grant to increase the number of swift foxes on the tribe's lands, and next month Montana will begin moving as many as 30 of the foxes from the north-central region of the state to the reservation.
Billings Gazette; 08/15/2009
Tribes win dispute over light-rail station on ancient site in Utah
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed off on a conservation easement that will divert a plan to build a light-rail station atop an ancient site in Draper.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/19/2009
Vilsack shares vision for USFS at Seattle speech
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke Friday in Seattle, where he said the U.S. Forest Service would not appeal a recent 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that struck down forest rules put in place by the Bush administration, and that the agency would appeal a decision to maintain the 2001 rules on logging and road building on federal roadless forest lands.
Los Angeles Times; 08/15/2009
USFWS agrees to consider 29 species for protection
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a list Tuesday of 20 plants, six snails, two insects and a fish that may need protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, with all 20 plants found in some of the eight Rocky Mountain States; snails in Montana, Utah and Nevada; the Meltwater lednian stonefly in Montana; and the Northern leatherside chub in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming.
Salt Lake Tribune (AP); 08/19/2009
Montana investigates illegal killing of giant grizzly bear
A rancher discovered the decaying carcass of a grizzly bear known as "Maximus" due to its enormous size on Aug. 12 near Dupuyer on the Rocky Mountain Front; the bear had been shot and Montana and federal wildlife officials are investigating the illegal killing of the bear.
Great Falls Tribune; 08/20/2009
Grizzly cub from Montana park heads to Bronx Zoo
Glacier National Park officials were forced to kill a 17-year-old grizzly sow that had become too habituated to humans, one of her cubs died after being shot with a tranquilizer, and the remaining cub left the park on Tuesday, headed for the Bronx Zoo in New York.
Flathead Beacon; 08/19/2009
Fish count finds 452 sockeye salmon in Idaho river
So far this year, 452 sockeye salmon have made the swim to the upper reaches of the Salmon River in Idaho, nearing their final destination in the Redfish Lake Area; the salmon run nearly disappeared in the 1990s, when just 16 fish made the swim between 1991 and 1998.
Idaho Mountain Express; 08/19/2009
BLM in talks with Nevada ranch over possible wild horse sanctuary
The Winecup Gamble Ranch in northeastern Elko County is in talks with the Bureau of Land Management to create a wild horse sanctuary in the Nevada county.
Elko Daily Free Press; 08/20/2009
Utah company seeks permits to store natural gas in salt caverns
Magnum Gas Storage, a subsidiary of Salt Lake City-based Magnum Development, has applied for federal permits to create caverns in a massive salt deposit north of Delta to store natural gas, a facility the company said will be one of the first in the West.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/19/2009
Wyoming asks judge to block NPS's new winter-use plan
U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer heard arguments Tuesday on a motion filed by Wyoming asking the judge, who set a 720-daily limit on snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park last winter, to keep that plan in place, blocking the National Park Service's latest interim plan that allows 318 snowmobiles a day in the park.
Helena Independent Record (AP); 08/19/2009
Salazar's Arizona trip puts mining issues on the front burner
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Arizona Sen. John McCain and Colorado Sen. Mark Udall will tour the Grand Canyon today and at a community meeting in Superior to talk about uranium mining on land near the Arizona park and about a proposed land swap that would clear the way for a copper mine near Superior.
Arizona Republic; 08/21/2009
Utah's hedging its bet on Snake Valley water understandable
Utah doesn't exactly have a royal flush in its card game with Nevada for Spring Valley groundwater, making the Beehive State's willingness to strike a deal understandable, but the proposal to pipe the groundwater from the valley on the Utah-Nevada border to Las Vegas is still environmental folly.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/14/2009
Lack of fence at Alberta landfill 'poison' for bears
If Alberta wildlife officials were as aggressive about keeping attractants--such as the unfenced landfill near Conklin--inaccessible by bears as they are about removing bears drawn to such attractants, perhaps the province wouldn't have to deal with such shameful events as the killing of 12 bears, drawn to the unfenced landfill.
Edmonton Journal; 08/19/2009
Montana park officials made right decision on grizzly bear
Glacier National Park officials tried again and again to dissuade the grizzly sow from haunting campsites and shadowing hikers on trails in the Montana park, and their decision to remove the 17-year-old bear and put her cubs in a zoo was the only decision they could make.
NewWest.net; 08/20/2009
Once wolves prove hard to kill, the debate will really rage in Idaho
Idaho is set to conduct a wolf hunt, designed to reduce the number of the predators by 220 annually, although the debate on the wolf hunt is still very much alive -- but once Idahoans learn what hunters in Alaska and Canada have about hunting wolves, the call will go out to improve the odds of hunters filling their tags--and the debate will turn truly nasty.
Idaho Mountain Express (Sun Valley); 08/21/2009
Wyoming needs ground rules for wind-energy projects
With wind-energy developers knocking on the door, it's time Wyoming developed some baseline regulations for such projects to give counties a starting point for their regulations and wind developers some regulatory certainty.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/21/2009
Gun-toting protester at Obama's speech a publicity stunt
Freedom's Phoenix Publisher Ernest Hancock told CNN's Rick Sanchez on Tuesday that the having a protester carry an AR-15 at President Obama's speech Monday in Arizona was planned well in advance.
Arizona Republic; 08/19/2009
Wyoming senators oppose Waxman-Markey climate bill
Wyoming's U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi said there's nothing good about the U.S. House-passed Waxman-Markey bill that sets limits on carbon emissions, and said the cap-and-trade system put in place by the legislation will bankrupt the nation and do nothing to curb emissions.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/21/2009
N.M. lawmakers push for third-party power producers
Public Service Company of New Mexico contends that contracts with third-party power producers are illegal under state law, but a panel of state lawmakers have filed a brief with the state Public Regulation Commission supporting such agreements, indicating that they are necessary to advance renewable-energy projects in the state.
Santa Fe New Mexican; 08/17/2009
Utah legislators hear testimony on climate change
Utah lawmakers continued their fact-finding investigation into the issue of climate change on Wednesday, hearing from a wide range of experts, although none of the experts were climate scientists and most were skeptical about the science behind climate change.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/20/2009
Colorado project captures methane, converts it to electricity
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has investigated for years ways to capture naturally occurring methane gas that seeps from the exposed rim of the San Juan Basin that arches across the southern half of La Plata County, and LT Environmental Inc. has successfully done just that, converting the methane into enough electricity to power an average U.S. household for about half a year.
Durango Herald; 08/21/2009
Company seeks permit for in-situ uranium mine in Wyoming
Uranium One, Inc., one of the world's largest uranium producers, has applied for a permit with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build an in-situ uranium mining facility in Wyoming's Sweetwater County.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/17/2009
Recession, low prices push natural production in Colorado down
The number of natural gas drilling rigs in Colorado is at its lowest point since 2003, with just 40 operating in July of this year compared to 140 operating in July of last year.
Durango Herald; 08/21/2009
The bids go on for control of Arizona-based Asarco LLC
Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. matched Grupo Mexico SAB's offer for Tucson-based Asarco LLC on Wednesday, the latest offer in a round of bidding that began Aug. 10 in bankruptcy court in Texas.
Arizona Daily Star (Bloomberg News); 08/20/2009
Jobless rates in Nevada, Las Vegas hit all-time high
In July, the unemployment rate in Las Vegas reached 13.1 percent and the statewide jobless rate was 12.5 percent for that month, the highest rates recorded since the state began tracking jobless numbers in 1976.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 08/21/2009
Federal agency gives Alaska gold mine a green light
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued an essential permit for the Kensington gold mine in southeast Alaska that will allow the mine to dump millions of tons of waste rock in a nearby lake.
Los Angeles Times; 08/17/2009
USFS: California wildfire ignited at marijuana grow-op
The nearly 90,000-acre La Brea wildfire in California's Santa Barbara County was started by Mexican nationals tending a 30,000-plant marijuana growing operation in the national forest, one of many that have been discovered thus far this year in the county.
Los Angeles Times; 08/19/2009
Arizona companies plan 4 solar plants in California
Tempe-based First Solar Inc. is building two solar-power plants in California's Riverside and San Bernardino counties that will provide 550 megawatts of energy to Southern California Edison; and another 55-megawatt plant in Imperial County for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power; and Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems will break ground on two solar-thermal plants in California next year.
Arizona Republic; 08/19/2009
U.S.'s first geothermal energy project off to a rocky start
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded AltaRock Energy $6.25 million last year for the nation's first crack at developing geothermal energy at a site in Northern California, but the project is off to a slow start--due in part to the cap rock that has proved nearly impossible to penetrate, and concerns that such drilling could trigger seismic activity after a similar project in Switzerland did just that.
New York Times; 08/20/2009
U.S. OKs Alberta-Wisconsin oil pipeline
The U.S. State Department granted a permit to Enbridge Inc. for its Alberta Clipper pipeline that will carry oilsands crude from the company's hub at Hardisty, through Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Superior, Wis.
Calgary Herald; 08/21/2009
SNWA votes to forge ahead on Snake Valley pipeline project
At its meeting Thursday, the Southern Nevada Water Authority voted unanimously to continue work on a proposal to build a 285-mile, multibillion-dollar pipeline to ship groundwater from the Snake Valley to Las Vegas, and opponents of the project vowed to continue to fight the proposal.
Las Vegas Review-Journal; 08/21/2009
- Utah extends public comment period on Snake Valley water deal
Given the amount of public comment received thus far on a plan to divvy up unallocated Snake Valley groundwater between Nevada and Utah, Beehive State officials decided to extend the public comment period on the plan to Sept. 30.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/21/2009
'Flaming Gorge' pipeline one option in Colorado, Wyoming water talks
Colorado's thirsty Front Range cities are looking north to Wyoming to slake their thirst, and the once-fanciful option of piping water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in the Cowboy State south is now one of four concrete proposals under consideration.
Denver Post; 08/17/2009
- Comment period on Wyoming-Colorado water pipeline again extended
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' officials said it needed to again extend the public comment period on a proposal to build a water pipeline from Wyoming's Flaming Gorge Reservoir to Colorado's Front Range cities because the agency needed more time to address more than 40 requests from a variety of agencies and organizations for cooperating agency status.
Billings Gazette (Casper Star-Tribune); 08/19/2009
Group blames coalbed methane work for drop in Wyoming groundwater
The Powder River Basin Resource Council said Tuesday that the estimated 625-foot decrease of groundwater in the Powder River Basin is primarily due to coalbed-methane operations in the Wyoming-Montana basin, and that the drawdown is much more than federal estimates indicated would occur.
Casper Star-Tribune; 08/19/2009
Utah's Great Salt Lake 'off the charts' on mercury pollution
The U.S. Geological Survey's most recent sampling of 291 fish taken from freshwater streams across the nation found mercury in each of the fish sampled, and although the Great Salt Lake was not included in the study, the baseline data provided indicated that the Utah lake has mercury levels double those found in 90 percent of the waters sampled by the USGS.
Salt Lake Tribune; 08/21/2009
Colorado county commission OKs Nestle's water request
The Chaffee County Commission approved Nestle's application to use 200 acre-feet of water — about 65 million gallons -- annually from an aquifer near Buena Vista for its bottled water facility in Denver, and the Colorado county commission attached 44 conditions to the 10-year permit.
Denver Post; 08/20/2009
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