In the Rockies today, the debate on brucellosis in the Greater Yellowstone area shifts from bison to elk.

New cases of brucellosis in Montana and Wyoming cattle herds have prompted calls to reduce the number of elk in the Greater Yellowstone Region.

More than 6,000 bison that wandered out of Yellowstone National Park over the past 20 years have been rounded up and sent to slaughter to curtail the spread of the disease, which causes cows to abort their fetuses.

But the newest cases have occurred in areas where bison don't roam, thus the shift in focus to elk.

The federal government and Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have discussing a brucellosis plan that would cover the tri-state area and different species.

But the states' differing approaches to managing elk, particularly Wyoming's practice of feeding elk in the winter, makes agreement on a plan uncertain.

And in our In-depth section, we offer a package of stories on the 1988 wildfires in Yellowstone National Park.

Rockies today

Yellowstone-area states now focus on elk in brucellosis fight
With new cases of brucellosis reported in Wyoming and Montana over the past few weeks in areas where bison haven't roamed for decades, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming officials are urging elk, which also carry the disease, be culled to halt the transmission of brucellosis to cattle, a proposal that is drawing considerable fire from hunters and outfitters.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); July 7
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BLM's plan to euthanize wild horses elicits protests
U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials said overpopulation of wild horse herds, as well as the public's lack of interest in adopting wild horses, makes euthanization of some of the horses necessary, but horse advocates said the agency has simply pulled too many horses off public lands, and that they'll fight any plan to kill the horses.
Seattle Times (AP); July 7
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• U.S. ban on horse slaughter has unintended consequences
  Before the last domestic slaughterhouses were closed two years ago, about 100,000 unwanted horses were slaughtered and the meat shipped to zoos or other countries, but with that option off the table, more horses are being abandoned on public lands, particularly in the West, and reports of horse abuse are rising as well.
  High Country News; July 3
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• Arizona businesses strike back on tough immigration laws
  Businesses shackled by new laws in Arizona and other states that sanction employers who hire workers who are in the United States illegally are fighting back, proposing alternatives for verifying employees' status and expanding programs for legal immigrant workers.
  New York Times; July 7
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• Some small California communities go it alone on wildfire fights
  With hundreds of wildfires burning in California, firefighting resources are stretched to the breaking point, and some small communities are going it alone with residents pitching in on the fire lines and businesses picking up the tab.
  New York Times; July 7
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• National media dramatized already sensational Yellowstone fires
  Most of the wildfires that burned through Yellowstone National Park in 1988 ignited outside the park in May and June, and it wasn't until August that the fires drew national attention. Another in a series.
  Billings Gazette; July 7
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• Images of Yellowstone wildfire burned into memories
  Photographs of the 1988 Yellowstone wildfire.
  Billings Gazette; July 7
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