Items by Rachel Odell
For 30 years, local environmentalists have been fighting with Crested Butte’s owners over a proposed controversial expansion of the ski resort.
The Nez Perce Tribe says that salmon-killing dams -- such
as the three in Hells Canyon whose licenses are up for renewal this
year – amount to an illegal "taking" of the tribe’s
guaranteed right to fish
A change in the federal Endangered Species Act will give
Idaho and Montana more control over threatened gray wolves, but
deny the Nez Perce Tribe a role in wolf management.
Oregon’s Warm Spring Indians become co-owners of the
Pelton-Round Butte Dam Complex and hope to restore salmon runs on
the Deschutes River
Mountain bikers in the Central Oregon Trail Alliance favor
creation of a Badlands Wilderness Area near Bend, Ore., even if
they can’t ride in it
Dutchman Flat outside Bend, Ore., is becoming tense as
snowmobilers and backcountry skiers argue over winter
recreation
Overnight boaters on the lower Deschutes River in Oregon
need to pack out their waste, the BLM says
Unconfirmed wolf sightings in Oregon are on the rise, and
wolf advocates are arguing with ranchers over how to handle the
return of the predator packs.
Federal biologists say the threatened Yellowstone grizzly
population is healthy and increasing, but conservationists say the
bears still face many long-term risks.
Kniffy Hamilton, supervisor of Bridger-Teton National
Forest, Wyo., has issued a draft environmental impact statement
that would not allow oil and gas drilling on land near the Gros
Ventre Wilderness.
In Wyoming, backcountry skiers are upset to find that the
Park Service's decision to ban snowmobiles from Yellowstone and
Grand Teton may also ban skiing in some areas, to protect bighorn
sheep.
Environmentalists say the new Yellowstone bison management
plan put together by Montana and the Park Service won't really help
the bison much.
Republicans are trying to undo the Clinton
administration's planned phase-out of snowmobiles in Yellowstone
and Grand Teton national parks.
A final winter use plan for Yellowstone and Grand Teton
national parks will ban snowmobiles altogether by the winter of
2003-2004.
The Jackson Hole Airport near Grand Teton National Park
has decided to allow some helicopter flights, despite fierce local
objections.
Following protests by downwinder Jackson, Wyo., residents,
the Department of Energy agrees to scrap nuclear-waste incineration
plans at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental
Laboratory.
The Park Service says that snowmobiles will likely be
banned from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks by
2002-2003.
The 10th Circuit Court overturns a controversial ruling
and decrees that the 300 transplanted wolves in Yellowstone
National Park were not illegally reintroduced.
Flamboyant Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence is at the head of
a legal challenge to the Idaho National Engineering and
Environmental Laboratory's plan to build a nuclear-waste
incinerator, which Wyoming residents fear could send emissions into
their state.
Almost 50 years after biologists dumped DDT on Yellowstone
Park to kill the spruce budworm moth, traces of the pesticide
remain in the ecosystem.
Despite word from the federal government that bison do not
threaten cattle with brucellosis, Montana continues to crack down
on stray animals and arrest protesters.
Conservationists and boaters are battling over American
Whitewater's attempt to open Yellowstone's rivers to
kayaking.
An activist group called Buffalo Nations has set up
tripods to block the road leading to a planned bison pen near West
Yellowstone, Mont., where stray bison would be held and tested for
brucellosis.
Eleven reintroduced wolves have been sighted recently near
Jackson Hole, Wyo., as they migrate south from Yellowstone toward
Grand Teton National Park and the National Elk Refuge.
Even though the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service admits there is little risk of cattle catching brucellosis
from calves, yearlings and bulls, Montana's Dept. of Livestock is
hazing all stray bison back into Yellowstone.
In Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park officials and
environmentalists are battling airline representatives who want to
expand the runway at the Jackson Hole Airport, which is located
inside the park.
Environmentalists object to a Forest Service plan to build
a new snowmobile bridge across Cougar Creek near the edge of
Yellowstone National Park.
Critics blast Yellowstone's draft management plan for
bison, which would quarantine, vaccinate and reduce the size of the
herd to deal with the threat of brucellosis.
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