Colorado wildlife officials kill black bear that people fed and even petted.

It is possible to pet black bears if they are full, happy and completely unafraid of humans. The same bear could injure someone a couple days later when it is frustrated, hungry, or maybe has something like a sore tooth.

Story from Colorado. Wildlife Officials Kill Bear In Contact With Human. Colorado DOW Wanted To Prevent Deadly Attack. cbs4denver.com

June 24. Bear feeding charges unlikely. Aspen Times. The couple who probably fed the bear are thought to be too poor to pay the fine.

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Half of the jobs in Pinedale, WY now are in the “patch”

The oil patch, or more properly the various gas fields west and southwest of Pinedale, are changing the social and economic complexion of the long time ranch-outfitting and tourist town at the base of the Wind River Mountains.

Gas infuses, confuses quiet cowboy community: In Sublette County, roughnecks seem to outnumber rough stock as energy boom transforms ranch lands. By Noah Brenner. Jackson Hole News and Guide.

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Today’s pattern of development requires planning for wildfires

George Wuerthner recently wrote an important piece in New West on the need to plan for those who build on “the fire plain,” just like planning should be done for those on a flood plain.

Land Use Planning Must Address Wildfire Plain. New West. George Wuerthner.

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Rocky Barker’s blog: Canadian wolves are wimps next to these guys

This is about the extinct “superwolves” that once inhabited Alaska, but died out because they became too specialized. He ends with a dig at that fraction current elk hunters whose techniques don’t change either.

Barker’s blog. Idaho Statesman.