Another hunter felled by grizzly near Gardiner, Montana

Hunter survives grizzly attack. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press writer. This is a new incident in the same general area and with different bears.

On the 9th a Yellowstone Park employee who was hunting black bears was mauled by a grizzly too in the Gardiner area.

. . . . more. I have learned that this individual behaved with more sense about grizzly bears than the earlier incident with the person who is the “Safety Officer” for Yellowstone National Park who was given at least two opportunities to retreat after her first attack. He also shot and wounded the bear.

Earlier story on the attack on the Safety Officer. Yellowstone Safety Office mauled by bear.

Yellowstone safety manager mauled by bear

Another bit of bad news regarding bear. Yellowstone National Park safety manager, Ken Meyer, was injured by what is believed to be a grizzly bear along Little Trail Creek. He was hunting for black bear.

Grizzly suspected in attack on park safety manager
Mike Stark
Billings Gazette

Biologist Boyce discovers the landscapes where elk are most likely to be killed by wolves

It is this kind of information that is very useful in judging the ecological effects of wolves. Human hunters too should take notice because elk learn what kinds of areas are safe and which are not.

Story from Science Daily. [Silly headline] Wolves Find Happy Hunting Grounds In Yellowstone National Park.

Wolfwatching on Dunraven

Salle Englehart, WRF’s Vice President, was kind enough to email me this report from Aug. 27 (or 28?). People are seeing the Agates. Kathie Lynch told me the same.

– – – – –

Wolfwatching on Dunraven
by Salle Engelhardt

Yesterday I was given the day off and decided to take my brand new 10×42 binoculars out and see how well they work for my needs in the Park. They were as good as any spotting scope I have used.

I originally wanted to go see the now famous grizzly sow with the four cubs again but was not able to catch up with her while I was on the mountain. There were also four black nears near the Dunraven Trailhead but I never saw them either. I concluded that it was a wolf watching day instead so I went down the northern slope and parked about halfway down.

Within minutes I spotted a big black wolf on the eastern edge of the floodplain on the valley floor. Moments later there was a large gray that emerged from the deep creek bed, wandered over to the shady spot where the black wolf lay, they “talked” a moment and the gray went off in a northwesterly direction.A few minutes later a French couple showed up and wondered at what I was watching. As we sat on the edge of the grass and talked about the wolves, sharing my bino’s, I decided that I didn’t really know enough about this pack so I cheated, I called Ralph from a cell phone and asked him about the pack. While I was speaking to Ralph, several other wolves emerged from the creek bed until there were seven of them visible. Three blacks, four grays. One gray is so light that its whiter parts look alabaster in the sunlight, another is so dark that it looks like it has light dappling on a dark, almost black, background. the other grays look silvery in the sun.

Castle Rock Fire next to Ketchum, ID, growing exponentially

Castle Rock Fire growing exponentially. From 30 acres Friday, blaze increased to 12,058 acres Tuesday. By Jason Kauffman. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer.

Updates on other Idaho fires. From the Idaho Statesman.

• I visited the Mitchell Fire (east of Rockland, Idaho) again Tuesday. Due to recent rains in Eastern Idaho, I’d say all the fires are basically out.
• In case you missed the video of the Cascade Complex (160,000 acres) burning near Warm Lake. Here is that video of the fire raging near the fire camp.

A member of FUSEE uploaded a video of the Cascade Complex fire overrunning a firecamp. From Scott Maben at Huckleberries Online

The Yellowstone Park fires are no longer growing. Here is an interesting map (a fire progression map) of the season’s largest fire, the Columbine Fire near the East Entrance.

post 1481

A grizzly anomaly

Interesting email . . . . thanks Salle!

A Grizzly Anomaly.
These photos were taken this past Thursday, Aug. 16, 2007, on the north slope of Dunraven Pass. According to the ranger that was interviewed about this speculated that the sow had an altercation with another sow who had three cubs. This sow with two, left the scene with all four of these cubs. Nothing more is known of the fifth cub that was allegedly present at that time or the other sow.

This particular sow has been seen with these four cubs over the past month. The cubs appear to be of two different ages as they are clearly two different sizes.
I would offer that they may be from the same sow over two successive breeding rounds that were a little close together time-wise with her ending up raising two litters rather than one this year. Hard to tell.

Salle Engelhardt, Vice-President
Wolf Recovery Foundation

Sow with the 4 cubs. Copyright Mike Burdic

Sow with four cubs. Copyright Mike Burdic

Road to Yellowstone East Entrance closed by mudslide

Although almost an inch of rain dropped on the Columbine Fire in Yellowstone Park, a fire which has twice caused the entrance to close, the rain itself closed the road again by causing a mudslide across the highway 7 miles outside (east) of the Park. The mud and boulders flowed accross the highway and into the North Fork of the Shoshone River.

Story by Gazette News Services.

Aug. 20. The debris have been cleared from the highway and the East Entrance is now open once again. Rain has rendered fire activity at the Columbine burn minimal.

post 1470

Columbine Fire in Yellowstone now at 18,500 acres. Rain helps.

The spread of the fire was almost stopped by a modest rainstorm (one tenth of an inch). Conditions for burning are predicted to increase by Monday. The East Entrance road was reopened for the time being at 9 am today, Aug. 17.
The Beaverdam and Promontory fires continue to grow slowly in SE quadrant of Yellowstone Park.

Yellowstone East Entrance closed again

It was closed again at 8 pm Tuesday due to a spot fire along the East Entrance road. It is closed until further notice.

The road had been open for 12 hours since the previous closure.

Update Aug. 16. The East Entrance is still closed. Here is the detailed story from the Billings Gazette. Fire jumps outside Yellowstone Park. Businesses see traffic redirected from East Entrance closure. By Ruffin Prevost. Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau.

Here is the latest on the Columbine Fire from Inciweb. It’s now 13,000 acres.

The fire on The Promontory in Yellowstone Lake was very active yesterday too, and my colleague Mark McBeth captured a good photo of it.

Telephoto of fire on The Promentory Aug. 15. Copyright Mark McBeth.

Columbine fire explodes. Yellowstone East Entrance closed.

Sunday was great fire expansion day all over Western Montana, NW Wyoming, central Idaho, and SE Idaho. Among the many fires, the Columbine Fire which had been slowly growing about 7 miles south of the East Entrance, blew up.

Story on many of these fires in today’s (Aug. 13) Billings Gazette. Park’s East Entrance remains closed; Hicks Park fire still east of road. By the Gazette staff.

Photo of Columbine fire on Aug. 12 from near Fishing Bridge. Park Service Photo.

Update. The East Entrance to the Park will probably be opened at 8 am on Tuesday, August 14.  

Three fires now actively burning in Yellowstone

Although the Owl Fire has been contained and personnel demobilized, the Beaverdam, Columbine 1, and new Promontory Complex are burning rapidly. All three are SE Yellowstone backcountry fires. Folks will recognize The Promontory, which sticks out into Yellowstone Lake. It is on fire.

Here is the Park’s wildfire page.

The Inciweb Page is usualy better, but it is overloaded and hard to access due to the demand for fire information.

Beaverdam Fire. Info is six days old on 8/12

Beaverdam Fire. Credit Yellowstone National Park.

Columbine 1 Fire. Updated on August 13, 2007. Text is now correct.

New fire in Yellowstone burns south of Sylvan Pass

A thunderstorm started the Columbine fire on Friday. It has grown to over a thousand acres. It is 7 miles south of Sylvan Pass (over which traffic from the Park’s East Entrance passes).

Story in the Billings Gazette. By Lance Benzel.

Meanwhile the Owl Creek fire in the NW corner of the Park has been contained and crews are being withdrawn.

See update on Aug. 12 on this blog.

post 1432

Yellowstone’s Wolves Save Its Aspen

This was nice. The New York Time’s does a piece on “The Basics” with wolves and Yellowstone’s aspen. I like the cartoon as well.

Bangs predicts no wolf populaton growth in Wyoming this year

But is wasn’t supposed to be this way, the Wyoming wolf population would grow 20% forever! Just ask Gov. Dave or that Crank guy who is the State’s AG.

Here is the brief item from the Bang’s weekly report:

Mid-summer pack counts in Wyoming include: 15 breeding packs with pups, 7 packs with unknown breeding status, and 2 suspected packs outside the Parks and Yellowstone reports 10 packs/breeding pairs, the same number as last year. It is likely the wolf population estimate in Wyoming in 2007 will be similar too or slightly lower than it was in 2006 [311 wolves in 25 breeding pairs].

post 1417

Contact Governor Brian Schweitzer (Buffalo Field Campaign update)

This is the time to contact Governor Schweitzer asking for bison habitat, especially since Republican Montana congressman Dennis Rehburg shot down an effort in Congress to provide it.

I’d think the Democratic governor would want to knock of this obstreperous retrograde Republican holdover.

_________________

Here is the BFC update.

In this issue:

* Update from the Field
* Letter from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
* ACTION: Contact Governor Brian Schweitzer
* Buffalo in the News
* Last Words

——————————

* Update from the Field

Dear Buffalo Friends,

Thanks to everyone who forwarded us copies of the letter and news article you received from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer regarding his buffer zone idea for Montana lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. Apparently, Schweitzer sent this form letter and article out to everyone who has contacted him via email regarding the last wild buffalo. For those of you who may not have seen the letter, a copy is pasted below.

Montana gets a bison hunt proposal from two tribes.

Story by the Associated Press.

If Montana is not willing to provide bison habitat, I’d certainly prefer that tribes get their treaty priority first. Montana should not just get to suck off of the surplus from Yellowstone Park. If they want bison to hunt, they should allow bison to use the vacant habitat just west of Yellowstone Park.

Rocky Barker’s blog: We live in the indefinitely bad fire season with conditions off the chart

Rocky Barker says that we ( in Idaho) are now living in conditions like those in Yellowstone in 1988 when the fires exploded, and a month early at that!

We live in the indefinitely bad fire season with conditions off the chart. By Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman.

I have added the following after receiving comments to the post. Fires close all roads to Yellow Pine. Idaho Statesman. By Heath Druzin and Cynthia Sewell

Inciweb East Fork complex. Explosive Western Idaho forest fires and numerous emergency road closures.

post 1408

Kathie Lynch on Druids return to the Lamar, the Haydens, Sloughs, Agates and more

The Druids returned to the Lamar for the first time since late June. Although their visit may have been brief, Kathie Lynch describes it all.

Her report.

– – – – –

Copyright By Kathie Lynch.

Just when I was wondering what excitement I’d write about for a late summer wolf report, the Druid Peak pack made a return visit to Lamar Valley! Early on the morning of August 1, nine Druids (five black and four gray) galloped down the low southern flank of Mt. Norris and emerged near the Chalcedony fan, headed toward their old rendezvous site in Lamar. They had made a similar boundary check one week earlier, but prior to that had not been seen in Lamar since June 30. I was thrilled since I had not seen them all summer!

Wolf predation in the summer: Yellowstone Park study

In the latest “wolf weekly” report from Ed Bangs at USFWS, Ed wrote: Yellowstone Park researchers report that the summer predation study is going well. Approx 31 kills have been found May-mid through mid-July and they are 20 bulls, 5 cows, 5 calves, 1 mule deer. These data support the results of research done by following tagged elk calves [wolves killed few] and generally, but less so, scat analyses (scat analyses show more mule deer used in summer). Collar locations decrease from one every 30 min now to 8/day starting Aug. 1.

– – – –

I should say a bit more about this study. It is very important because all the quantitative data on wolf prey comes from winter observations when wolves generally have more of an advantage, and the ungulate composition in the Park differs somewhat from the summer when a lot of mule deer enter the Park from the Gardiner and some other areas.

Surprising New Species Of Light-harvesting Bacterium Discovered In Yellowstone

I posted a story earlier about this energy generating bacteria that lives in Old Faithful and nearby thermal features. It was a short story.

I have deleted it in favor of this longer story. Surprising New Species Of Light-harvesting Bacterium Discovered In Yellowstone. Science Daily.

post 1379

Yellowstone’s Owl Fire now over 2000 acres

The one big fire in Yellowstone keeps growing, and now at over 2000 acres has burned out the middle of Specimen Creek, a major drainage in the NW Corner of the Park.

My earlier stories on the Owl Fire.

Update, from Inciweb on Saturday, July 28. Today 12 handcrews were assigned to the fire line constructing direct handline for perimeter control in divisions B, C, D and G. Weather conditions limited fire growth and was conducive to line construction. Little fire activity is expected for the next 24 hours.

All visitor services, park entrances and roads are open. Some trails and backcountry campsites are temporarily closed. 

The fire was estimated at 2800 acres. 

First big fire for Yellowstone Park

So far Yellowstone has escaped this summer’s conflagrations because there has been almost no lightning, but you don’t have spend much time in the Park to see that it is every bit as dry as the summer of 1988.

The first big fire is the Owl Fire in the backcountry at the NW corner of the Park.

Yellowstone Park page on the Owl Fire.

Update late on July 25. The Owl Fire has grown from 200 acres to over a thousand. The new Beaverdam Fire in the remote SE corner of the Park is over 540 acres (about a square mile).

July 26 The latest on the fire on Inciweb. The growth was due to thunderstorm winds.

July 27. The Owl Fire has doubled again, and is now over 2000 acres.

post 1358

Alien Invader in Yellowstone: toadflax

Here is the story in the West Yellowstone News. By Carol Hoffman.

When I was in YNP last week I pulled up some of this from along the Madison River (at “the Barns”) and also along the north part of the Grand Loop. I saw some on the edge of the road in Lamar Valley, but there was not good place to stop.

I hope someone who reads this will get it before it goes to seed.

Web page on yellow toadflax.

Kathie Lynch: Detailed report on the Hayden wolves

Kathie Lynch sent this story to me on July 21. I was in Yellowstone at the time. The scene for watching the wolves was perfect — sit in the shade at the Otter Creek picnic area and wait for them to appear on the other side of the Yellowstone River about 175 yards away.

Kathie’s report below is mostly about the Hayden wolves, but she does discuss some of the other packs. Kathie told me today that the Hayden Pack appears to have finally moved — to the Alum Creek vicinity (not far), and they can still be seen.

I hiked across the valley and up the canyon to Cache Creek and then up the Cache Creek canyon a way today. I was looking for signs of the Druids. I thought perhaps I heard a distant howl, but I saw nothing but a few old scats. Given the temperature, I’d bet they are with the elk high up on the Absaroka crest somewhere.

Here is Kathie report.

________________________

Awesome! That’s the only word to describe the amazing viewing over the past two weeks of the Hayden Valley wolf pack across the Yellowstone River from the Otter Creek picnic area. Since July 7, the entire pack of four adults and five pups has put on an incredible show for the awestruck visitors lining the river bank. Seasoned wolf watchers and photographers alike agree that this has been their best pup viewing ever!

My best day, July 18, began at 5:30 a.m. with a blanket of fog over the river and no sign of wolves. By 9:30 a.m., the crowd of hopefuls had started to thin, and I debated about leaving for awhile. But, at 9:45 a.m., the cry of “There they are!” went up, and the entire group of four gray and one black pup burst into view on the river’s edge.

We watched with delight as the pups, strung out in a perfect line, gamboled along the shore. They played chasing games, pulled tails, practiced pouncing, explored rocky caves, leap-frogged over backs, straddled logs, and made life miserable for a pair of spotted sandpipers who kept trying to lure them away from a nearby nest. The most fun of all was watching them take turns slipping and sliding down a steep, sandy hillside with front legs straight out and toes splayed wide. Some even went down on their bellies with legs forward and back like a frog!

Thanks to BE for being webmaster

I’ve been in Yellowstone for about 4 days. I want to thank BE for taking care of the blog.

I came home early. It was a very unpleasant trip — hot and smoky.  Until the heat wave passes and the forest fires abate, I won’t recommend the trip. Outside the Park, the dirt roads have turned to a dusty powder from weeks without rain. I can certainly see why the fish are dying because you could swim in what are usually cold mountain streams. In fact people were doing just that outside the Park boundaries.

July hasn’t been at all good for outdoors recreation from what I have experienced in Idaho and Yellowstone, but May and June were great!

Rehberg kills bill to protect yellowstone bison

It seems the cattle industry has maintained it’s scapegoat for the time being. Montana representative Rehberg killed a house amendment based on Schweitzer’s plan to buffer the rest of the state’s brucellosis free status from those that wander around Yellowstone. That would have protected the buffalo AND the livestock industry’s sacred brucellosis free status. Rehberg prefers to slaughter an icon of his state – and of the West – “saying the problem should be dealt with inside the park.”

New York congressman advocates Schweitzer plan in U.S. House
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer

post 1348

Pup count for Yellowstone Park

Dr. Douglas Smith provided me with a near complete pup count for the Park this year. He stressed that for the packs where all pups have been visually counted, this is a high count, meaning that already a few have disappeared, probably dead.

Most surprising to me was Oxbow with 12 pups, eleven still alive. This was an odd double liter — one female with eleven pups, one female with one (which has died). He believed that eleven pups is a record sized litter for a gray wolf.

Slough Creek Pack, which had multiple litters, had the high count in the Park with 13 pups.

The Agates had 9 pups.

Druids had 6. Delta had 6. The Hayden Valley Pack, for the first time had an average sized litter — 6 pups. That’s now down to five. In the past, their litters were very small.

The new Gardiner’s Hole Pack (which has replaced the Swan Lake Pack almost exactly in terriotory) had 5 pups.

Mollies Pack had 4 or 5 pups.

The Leopolds, who have often had large litters, had just 4 pups.

The Snake River Pack which formed last year and had about 5 pups, but then moved south of Yellowstone Park, returned to den in the Park and had 4 pups.

Cougar Creek has a count of only one, but that pack lives in the thick regenerating lodgepole pine and probably has more than one.

Still unknown is the Gibbon Pack (which acted as though it denned and probably did) and the Bechler Pack. The SW corner of the Pack is the home of the Bechler Pack, but they haven’t been located on the last two flights.

Wyoming official says new proposed changes in the wolf rule still won’t let Wyoming kill the wolves fast enough

Wolf changes insufficient, Wyo official says. Casper Star Tribune.

CHEYENNE (AP) — Proposed federal rule changes don’t go far enough in giving the state the ability to kill wolves preying on other wildlife, Wyoming Attorney General Pat Crank said Monday.

Crank is angry that the state’s wolf killing plans still would have to be peer reviewed. I guess he doesn’t want any scientists meddling. Scientists have an undesirable commitment to objective evidence, the truth, etc. Wyoming knows what it wants to do, and the facts be damned!

Warm water due to hot weather, not hot springs, killing Yellowstone Park trout

With the record high temperatures in the Rocky Mountain and Intermountain West, the temperatures of trout streams are soaring above, sometimes far above, that which kills trout.

It is plainly evident in Yellowstone Park. Heat kills fish in Yellowstone. Jackson Hole News and Guide. Yellowstone is more vulnerable than many mountain stream areas because the hot springs do raise the stream temperatures over what is common at the elevation and the Yellowstone is mostly a high plateau, not an area full of snow-capped peaks.

Trout and other fish are under heat stress in many other places too, with their mortality not getting in the news like it does in Yellowstone Park.

post 1292

Park Service regional director backs up Yellowstone Park on plan to close Sylvan Pass during the winter

Maybe the continuation of the incredible monetary subsidy per snowmobiler at the Park’s East Entrance during the winter will in fact be cut off. The NPS regional director is supporting Yellowstone superintendent Suzanne Lewis and the Park’s plan to close this little-used, avalanche prone pass.

Story. Park boss: Sylvan Pass danger palpable. By Ruffin Prevost. Billings Gazette (reprinted in the Casper Star Tribune)

Kathie Lynch’s report: wolf watching slow; bear watching hot

Kathie Lynch has sent a report for June 17-23, 2007. It follows. Thanks Kathie!

There is not too much to report from Yellowstone right now as the wolf watching has been pretty quiet. We see the occasional Agate Creek adult traveling by in their traditional Antelope Creek den area. And, we have occasional Slough Creek wolf sightings in Lamar, but that’s about it. I did hear that the spotter plane finally saw Druid Peak and Slough pups, but I have not heard how many or where. We were all just glad to hear that both packs do actually have pups.

We have seen seven to eight Agate pups occasionally and at a very great distance. Sometimes they are chaperoned by good old 113M, who is looking very good! The pups are a joy to behold as they hop through the meadows and then disappear into the trees far, far away. We are hoping that the Agates will move closer for better viewing as they did last summer. We are very lucky to have them to watch since Slough and Druid viewing is so sporadic.

The bear watching has been unbelievable, however! People are often seeing more than 10 grizzlies a day–someone actually saw 17 grizzlies today! There seems to be every possible combination–sow with three cubs of the year, sow with two COY, sow with yearling cub, single boar…you name it. Most of them are seen up on Dunraven Pass; yesterday I saw a sow with two COY cross the road there and another sub-adult just lying stretched flat out right next to the road!

There has also been great bird viewing. Along the Tower/Dunraven Roads there are at least three active nests–peregrine falcon, osprey and redtail hawk. Today I saw the mother feeding chicks in each. There are also sandhill cranes on Floating Island Lake.

And, in the miscellaneous fauna category you can see an otter at Trout Lake (although one adult and perhaps two pups were killed, cause unknown), bighorn sheep near Yellowstone Picnic area, mountain goats on Barronette Peak, bison calves galore in Lamar Valley, moose in Floating Island Lake, a coyote den in Soda Butte Valley, and the usual assortment of black bears around Tower store and Tower Junction. But, best of all is the astounding spectacle of hundreds (thousands?) of spawning trout at Trout Lake. The seething mass is a sight guaranteed to astound anyone as they flash their fins and fight their way up the little rapids of the inlet creek. It is truly one of the miracles of nature!

post 1249

Relatively dry Yellowstone braces for fire season

It could be a bad fire season in Yellowstone Park (and, of course, outside it too). I would say especially in Idaho and Western Wyoming.

Relatively dry Yellowstone braces for fire season. By Brett French. Billings Gazette.

Update June 15, 2007. Fire potential in Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks worse than last year. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.
post 1208

Dozens of bison pushed back inside Yellowstone

post 1200

Rather than slaughter the bison it just captured, public opinion has once again forced Montana to once again push them into the Park. The push continues today.

Yesterday Park visitors witnessed the unprecedented hazing of bison all the way to 7-Mile Bridge and beyond (on the West Entrance road).

Associated Press story.

Next page has photos

Montana goes back on its word, to send bison to slaughter June 11

-Important update. See the June 12 story on bison-

I don’t like to step on the story that federal Judge Winmill just overturned Bush’s bastardized BLM rules because it is the more important story, but folks will probably be more likely to read that Montana has doublecrossed folks and captured the bison and sent the bison bulls, which can’t transmit brucellosis, to slaughter.

Here is the Buffalo Field Campaign’s news release, but remember this is not really about a disease or even about who gets the grass, the purpose is to show folks who are not in the grazing industry who is boss. Idaho lost its “brucellosis free status” due to infection from Wyoming elk, and in Idaho brucellosis is a total non-issue in media and among the public.

* PRESS RELEASE*

WILD BUFFALO CAPTURED; BULLS SLATED FOR SLAUGHTER
Agencies Deceive Public, Go Back on their Word Not to Slaughter

For Immediate Release, June 8, 2007
Exclusive Video Footage and Photos Available Upon Request
Contact: BFC, Stephany Seay 406-646-0070

WEST YELLOWSTONE, MONTANA – Going back on their word not to slaughter wild bison, state and federal agencies to do just that. Today they have hazed about 50 wild bison off of cattle-free National Forest land and captured them in a bison trap constructed near the West Yellowstone Airport.

According to livestock officials, bulls will be transported to slaughter facilities on Monday. Yearlings may be transported to a state-federal quarantine facility as part of a scientific experiment. Calves and mothers will be transported over 150 miles to the Stephens Creek bison trap located within Yellowstone’s northern boundary and released after a few days.

“None of these buffalo are a brucellosis-transmission risk,” said BFC campaign coordinator Mike Mease. “There are no cattle in this region right now, and there never are any on the public lands where the buffalo are migrating.”

Last week, public pressure forced Montana and Yellowstone to call off the slaughter of 300 wild buffalo that remained in Montana. Following the no-slaughter decision, agencies stated they would capture and transport to Yellowstone’s northern boundary any buffalo found in Montana this week.

However, a DOL press release and confirmation by a Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks official today stated the agencies intend to slaughter bull buffalo caught in today’s operations.

Recent stories about the bison issue near West Yellowstone

This came from a Buffalo Field Campaign news release today.

Buffalo in the News
6/5/07 LTE: Golden Pen Award ~ Right a wrong, preserve wild bison.
Billings Gazette (Montana)http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/03/opinion/letters/46-golden.txt

6/5/07 LTE: Bison wrong target for DOL slaughter.
Billings Gazette (Montana)http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/03/opinion/letters/50-wrongtarget.txt

6/4/07 Officials hopeful they won’t have to truck renegade bison
Billings Gazette (Montana)
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/06/04/news/wyoming/15-bison.txt

6/2/07 Montana, under pressure, to take bison back to Yellowstone
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/02/us/02bison.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Lawsuit filed to halt grizzly bear delisting in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem

Now the other shoe has dropped, and a number of conservation groups have filed a lawsuit to halt the delisting of the grizzly bear in the greater Yellowstone. The grizzly was delisted on May 1, 2007. The greater Yellowstone is in NW Wyoming with substantial portions extending into Montana and Idaho.

The full name of the lawsuit is Western Watersheds Project, Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alliance For The Wild Rockies, Center For Biological Diversity, Great Bear Foundation, And Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Plaintiffs,
vs.

Christopher Servheen, U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator; H. Dale Hall, U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service Director; Dirk Kempthorne, Secretary Of The Interior; And United States Fish And Wildlife Service, defendants.

Here is the story as covered by the Bozeman, MT newspaper. Lawsuit seeks to reverse grizzly delisting. By Scott McMillion, Bozeman Chronicle Staff Writer.

Here is the original news release. Lawsuit Filed to Restore Protections for Yellowstone Grizzly Bears

post 1182