Two packs of Mexican wolves are getting a
second chance in the wild. Several months ago, the packs
were recaptured after conflicts with people and livestock in
Arizona’s Apache National Forest (HCN, 1/31/00: Yellowstone wolves
are here to stay). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decided that
the remote Gila Wilderness in New Mexico would be a better home for
the wolves; in late March, biologists moved the nine wolves into
the area by mule train. Four of the wolves have already been
released, and the remaining five wait in a temporary holding
pen.
There’s one more reason to move the
Atlas uranium tailings pile away from Moab, Utah (HCN,
1/31/00: Mountain of mine waste may move after all). Results of a
new federal study say ammonia levels in the Colorado River near the
pile are several hundred times higher than state standards – bad
news for the river’s endangered fish. “It’s so bad that fish in the
river are dying immediately when they contact that water,” says
Bill Hedden of the Grand Canyon Trust. A $300 million plan to move
the pile awaits approval by Congress.
The
coal-bed methane boom in Wyoming (HCN, 9/27/99:
The Cowboy State’s next boom) is spilling into eastern Montana, but
Montana environmentalists want none of it. The Northern Plains
Resource Council sued the state Board of Oil and Gas Conservation
in March, arguing that the board needs to study the effects of the
hundreds of wells proposed for the Powder River Basin area. In
early April, the board agreed to put a temporary hold on new
drilling permits until a judge rules on the
issue.
Congressman Scott McInnis, R-Colo., has
big ideas for the White River National Forest
(HCN, 1/17/00: STOP – A national forest tries to rein in
recreation). A draft of his management proposal for the Colorado
forest would permit a new ski area near Rifle, nearly 13,000 acres
of ski area expansions outside the currently permitted boundaries,
and one-third more logging than the most timber-friendly Forest
Service plan. McInnis will submit his proposal as a public comment
on the draft plan for the White River National
Forest.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
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