In the Rockies today, Montana officials want wildfire considerations injected into the planning process.
Yesterday, Colorado water officials said it's time they were given a place at the planning table.
Today, local officials in Montana say it's time to consider the expense of protecting communities from wildfire before subdivisions are built in the wildland-urban interface.
Of particular concern in Montana is Plum Creek Timber's decision to develop its considerable holdings in the state rather than log them.
Rural subdivisions have already crimped the budgets of counties struggling to provide road maintenance and police protection, but after the 2007 wildfire season, where it cost $1,000 an acre to fight the Jocko Lakes fire near Seeley Lake, local, state and federal officials can attest how wildfire can turn budgets into ash.
Elsewhere on the page, Wyoming oil producers said they probably won't benefit much from oil prices hitting the $100-a-barrel mark, and New Mexico joins California's lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Rockies today
Montanans worry about effect of subdivisions on former forest lands
U.S. Forest Service officials said they had no choice but to grant Plum Creek an easement through federal lands to build a quarter-mile road to allow easy access to a subdivision planned on the company's former timber lands in Montana, but neighbors and local officials wonder how they'll protect that subdivision from fire and what future development on Plum Creek lands will do to local fire-fighting budgets.
Missoulian; Dec. 30
Former USFS entomologist critical of Wyo. senator's bark-beetle bill
Jesse Logan spent 15 years as the project leader of the Forest Service's Interior West Bark Beetle Project based in southern Colorado, and he said Sen. John Barrasso's Wyoming Forest and Watershed Restoration Act of 2007 will not save the state's forest from bark beetle infestations, a position echoed by current Forest Service employees who said the bill would allow them to mitigate the effects of infestation rather than stop the spread of the beetles.
Jackson Hole News & Guide; Jan. 3
Federal solicitor urges U.S. high court to hear Mont.-Wyo. water case
The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the U.S. Office of the Solicitor General to submit the opinion of the federal government about the dispute between Montana and Wyoming over water rights on the Tongue and Powder rivers, and on Wednesday the solicitor general said the high court should hear the case.
Billings Gazette; Jan. 3
Study: Climate change puts Montana wolverines at risk
A five-year study of wolverines in Glacier National Park concluded that earlier melting of snowpack in Glacier National Park puts wolverines at risk; the study found only 40 to 50 of the alpine weasels in the park, which provides some of the best habitat in the nation for the species.
Great Falls Tribune; Jan. 3
Former Montana senator no longer part of Abramoff investigation
The U.S. Justice Department has informed former U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns that he is no longer part of the department's investigation of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Montana Standard; Jan. 3
Colorado county reports slow December real estate sales of just $180M
Real estate sales slumped a bit in Colorado's Pitkin County, with total sales of just $2.51 billion, down from $2.64 billion in 2006, the record-setting year for the county.
Aspen Times News; Jan. 3
Montana, other states work to reduce animal-vehicle collisions
A record seven grizzly bears were killed by vehicles in Montana in 2007, and transportation officials in that state as well as other states are working on ways to reduce the number of animal-vehicle collisions.
New York Times; Dec. 22
Opinion
Wyoming should take note of dip in mining jobs
For the first time in four years, mining and natural resource jobs in Wyoming decreased in 2007, an important sign that the state needs to get over its mineral addiction and diversify its economy.
Casper Star-Tribune; Jan. 3
Utah cities may find there is no UTOPIA
Seven years ago, the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency launched an effort to build a fiber optic network to carry ultra-broadband Internet access, high definition TV, video on demand and Internet-based telephone to 11 Utah cities, but UTOPIA continues to miss its business goals, and soon those 11 cities may find that the bill for UTOPIA is coming due.
Salt Lake Tribune; Jan. 3
Phoenix mayor's plea for tolerance a courageous stance
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon showed true leadership in his second inaugural address, where he asked for tolerance and said he supported a legal way to accommodate immigrants who are working in the Arizona city and elsewhere in the nation and provide them a way to become citizens.
Arizona Republic; Jan. 3
Guest column:
Nation's process to pick president needs work
There are better ways to pick candidates for the U.S. presidency than the current one, and although it's too late for 2008, perhaps the nation will have one in place for 2012. A guest column by Bob Brown and Daniel Kemmis, senior fellows of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, of which Headwaters News is a project.
Bob Brown and Daniel Kemmis, Center for the Rocky Mountain West; Jan. 3
Beyond the region
California takes EPA to court over greenhouse-gas standards
After the Environmental Protection Agency took the unusual step of denying California a waiver to set its own rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks, the state took the federal agency to court.
New York Times; Jan. 3
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New Mexico joins California's lawsuit against the EPA
New Mexico adopted the same greenhouse gas standards put in place by California, which was denied a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency needed to implement the new standards.
Santa Fe New Mexican (AP); Jan. 3
Oil prices hit $100 a barrel
For the first time, oil prices teetered across the $100-a-barrel mark, before settling down to $99.64, with political turmoil in Pakistan, Kenya and North Korea, along with colder temperatures in the northeastern United States, cited as reasons for the increase, and while Alberta's economy glowed hotter with the higher oil prices, concerns are that other economies, including the United States' could be adversely affected.
Toronto Globe and Mail; Jan. 3
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Record-high oil prices won't help Wyoming producers much
Most of the oil producers in Wyoming weren't celebrating the $100-a-barrel oil prices on Wednesday, as many do not have the carbon dioxide needed to pump up production in the state's aging oil fields, nor the pipelines to get the oil produced to market.
Casper Star-Tribune; Jan. 3
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Gold, platinum prices surge to historic highs
Rising oil prices sent investors scurrying to gold as a haven against inflation, sending the price of gold to $866.10 (U.S.) an ounce, and platinum soared as well, selling at $1,548 an ounce.
Toronto Globe and Mail; Jan. 3
Virginia farmer wants to tap into uranium deposit under his land
Under 200 acres of farmland in south central Virginia lies what could be the nation's largest uranium deposit, estimated at 110 million pounds, which could supply the nation's nuclear power plants with all the fuel they need for two years, but it's illegal to mine for uranium in the state, and many residents aren't sure that the law should be changed.
Washington Post; Jan. 2
In depth
Aspen stands as the vanguard of Western ski towns
Officials of many resort towns across the West have held Aspen as what they don't want their towns to become, but the Colorado ski resort has one of the most ambitious affordable housing programs in the nation, a bus system that runs 80 miles to Rifle and stringent ordinances to preserve historic buildings and to keep the downtown region robust. A perspective. Final in a series about ski towns in the American West.
NewWest.net; Jan. 2
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Actress says paparazzi ruin her stay in Colorado resort town
Goldie Hawn has been visiting Aspen for the last 25 years, and owns an Old Snowmass ranch with longtime partner Kurt Russell, but the movie star said her holiday trip to the Colorado resort town was ruined by photographers.
Aspen Times News; Jan. 3
Wyoming ski town works to maintain its sense of community
Jackson is a PEAS--Place of Ecological and Aesthetic Significance--according to Jonathan Schechter, executive director of the Charture Institute, a local think tank that has worked to dissect the Wyoming town's character in an effort to preserve what makes it unique. A perspective. Part four of a five-part series about ski towns in the Rocky Mountain West.
NewWest.net; Jan. 1
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