In the Rockies today, wolves, lynx and prairie dogs are in the news.
Idaho, Wyoming and Montana want to intervene in the federal lawsuit brought by environmental groups to get federal protection of wolves reinstated.
The states are joining the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the lawsuit, defending the agency's decision to hand over management of the species to the states.
In Colorado, where efforts to reintroduce Canada lynx are ongoing, the Bureau of Land Management agreed to defer energy leases on tens of thousands of acres in the Rio Grande National Forest where lynx reintroduction efforts are centered.
And, finally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is taking another look at its decision not to list the white-tailed prairie dog as an endangered species.
That decision was one alleged to have been inappropriately influenced by Julie MacDonald, when she served as deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks.
Wyoming has the greatest number of white-tailed prairie dogs, which are also found in parts of Utah and Colorado, and a small area of Montana.
Rockies today
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming ask court to let them into wolf lawsuit
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have all filed the paperwork to join the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a lawsuit filed against the federal agency by a coalition of environmental and animal-rights groups challenging the decision to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list and turn management of the species over to the three Western states.
Great Falls Tribune (AP); May 7
BLM withdraws energy leases from lynx habitat in Colorado
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management withdrew the lease of 146,000 acres of land in the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado from its auction set for May 8, a decision lauded by groups who had protested leases in the region because the area contains the core release area of Canada lynx.
Durango Herald; May 6
USFWS opens public comment on listing white-tailed prairie dog
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reconsidering its decision not to list the white-tailed prairie dog for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, and on Tuesday, the agency opened a public comment period on that reconsideration.
Billings Gazette; May 7
Arizona residents sue USFS over recreational tax
Four Tucson residents filed a lawsuit on Monday against the U.S. Forest Service, alleging a variety of constitutional violations on the $5 the federal agency charges for access on Arizona's Mt. Lemmon Highway.
Tucson Citizen; May 6
Areva plant will be one of Idaho's largest construction projects
Idaho officials said the construction phase of Areva's planned uranium enrichment plant will provide 1,000 jobs over the five years it will take to build the plant, and will provide 250 high-paying jobs once it is operational.
Idaho Statesman; May 7
Loss of federal tax credit could stall Arizona's $1B solar plant
If Congress does not extend the Federal Investment Tax Credit, which returns 30 percent of the cost of building and installing solar-energy projects to the investor, the massive $1-billion solar project planned near Gila Bend in Arizona may not be built.
Christian Science Monitor; May 7
Montana valley gets federal kudos for conservation efforts
At a three-day workshop in Montana's Blackfoot Valley on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife program, which provides money and aid to private landowners for wildlife and habitat conservation, Lynn Scarlett, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, applauded the work done in the Montana valley.
Missoulian; May 7
Opinion
Idaho's schedule of wolf hearings raises questions
Although Idaho officials assure the public that they want everyone's voice heard on the plan to reduce the number of wolves in the state by 25 percent, they have scheduled the only public hearing in the state's Magic Valley during the day and in Jerome, and no public hearing at all in Boise, the state's capital.
Idaho Mountain Express (Sun Valley); May 7
Arizona, Colorado residents sue USFS over recreational access tax
Arizona and Colorado residents filed class-action, civil lawsuits against the U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday, alleging that the Recreational Access Tax is an illegal tax, and seeking an injunction barring federal lands agencies from imposing such taxes. A perspective.
NewWest.net; May 5
Beyond the region
Fannie Mae posts $2.2-billion loss
Officials of the Federal National Mortgage Association, Fannie Mae, had predicted the national housing market would take its toll on the government-sponsored, publicly held company that is the nation's largest supplier of mortgages this year, but the $2.2-billion loss for the first quarter was worse than predicted, and officials said even higher losses may be ahead.
Washington Post; May 7
Survey pegs loss of honeybees across the nation at 36 percent
The Apiary Inspectors of America second annual survey of the nation's commercially managed bee hives found that beekeepers lost 36.1 percent of their bees in 2007, up from the 32 percent reported in 2006.
Washington Post (AP); May 7
EPA official says agency might not act on perchlorate contamination
At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Benjamin H. Grumbles, the Environmental Protection Agency's assistant administrator for water, said that it was a "distinct possibility" that the agency may not set limits for perchlorate in water, even though experts testifying at the hearing said they had sufficient data to support such a limit.
Los Angeles Times; May 7
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