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Montana Biologists Use Trout to Study Dam Removal
Missoula Missoulian
05/09/2008
State fisheries biologists implanted telemetry devices into seven more trout Thursday, the latest batch to be followed in a decade-long study of the biological impact of the removal of the Milltown Dam and the toxic mining wastes that accumulated behind it over the past century.
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Marlenee, Sinrud form group to stop 'radical environmentalists'
Missoula Missoulian
05/04/2008
Former U.S. Rep. Ron Marlenee and state Rep. John Sinrud have formed an election-year issue advocacy group to promote the use of Montana's natural resources, protect property rights and stop “radical environmentalists.”
The two Bozeman Republicans have launched Western Tradition Partnership and are soliciting money and memberships from industry and business executives.
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Free Energy Makeover in Missoula
Missoula Missoulian
05/08/2008
A plan to green up city blocks in Missoula will put some green in the pockets of residents, too.
The city will deliver to the power company eight blocks of customers ready to conserve energy. Instead of spending all its marketing money trying to reach those customers, NorthWestern spends some dough making those homes more efficient.
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Missoula Photo Exhibit Documents Climate Change
Missoula Missoulian
05/08/2008
Western Montanans have been living with climate change for years, including longer droughts, worsening wildfires and dwindling snowpacks.
But they'll get a new perspective on global warming when a 40-print photo exhibit opens Thursday at the Roxy Theater in Missoula.
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Blackfoot Valley Lauded for Open Space Efforts
Missoula Missoulian
05/07/2008
Federal wildlife managers, politicians and policymakers praised the Blackfoot Valley's ranchers Tuesday, saying they are national leaders in cooperating to preserve America's open spaces and a rural way of life.
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Idaho, Montana To Court To Keep Wolf Control
Great Falls Tribune
05/07/2008
Three states have asked to intervene in federal court against a lawsuit seeking to return gray wolves in the Northern Rockies to the endangered species list.
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Improved Census for Montana Natives in 2010
Great Falls Tribune
05/07/2008
Members of the Native American Local Government Commission — pointing out that a few thousand Cascade County Indians were not recorded in the 2000 census — told U.S. Census Bureau officials Tuesday they could reduce the undercounting by hiring better counters in 2010, including more Native Americans.
An accurate population estimate is important to Native Americans and non-Native Americans alike because federal funding for state and tribal services often is linked to population size.
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Trumpeter Swans Released in Montana
Missoula Missoulian
05/06/2008
Six more trumpeter swans were released in the Blackfoot Valley on Monday, the latest batch of the imperiled waterfowl to be reintroduced here by a coalition of government agencies, nonprofit groups and landowners.
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Interior Proposes Concealed Weapons in Parks
Missoula Missoulian
05/01/2008
The Interior Department on Wednesday proposed allowing people to carry concealed weapons into national parks, depending on the laws of the state where the park is located.
The move came in reaction to a call for changes to national park gun policy by 51 senators, including the four from Montana and Wyoming. But some park groups and former park officials blasted the proposal as unsafe and a bureaucratic nightmare.
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Missoula's Green Cabbie
Missoula Missoulian
05/01/2008
Since he started Green Taxi, Mick Murray has driven a euphoric skier down from Snowbowl and navigated his Prius through a blinding winter storm to deliver a tourist to Paws Up Resort.
At first, Murray didn't sleep much. But since February, when he opened the environmentally friendly cab business in Missoula, he's managed to clock more than 6,000 miles on his Toyota hybrid.
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Montana Fire Panel Discusses Solutions
Missoula Missoulian
04/30/2008
Montana's Fire Suppression Interim Committee kicked off its statewide road tour Monday at ground zero in the West's growing dilemma on how to reduce large-scale wildfires at a time when more people are building homes in fire-prone forests.
The Bitterroot National Forest, which the U.S. Forest Service considers America's most threatened national forest because of the population explosion in the Bitterroot Valley's “wildland-urban interface,” served as a backdrop for the state legislative committee's first public forum.
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Views: Keeping Gray Wolves Alive
Los Angeles Times
04/30/2008
The Fish and Wildlife Service should re-list the wolves until it receives more reasonable management plans from the states involved, and should demand that the population fall no lower than 1,000. The wolves weren't reintroduced to provide target practice for hunters.
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Gray Wolves Should Go Back on List
Los Angeles Times
04/29/2008
A dozen environmental groups sued the federal government Monday in an attempt to reverse a decision to remove gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains from the endangered species list.
Since the delisting went into effect March 28, at least 35 wolves have been killed in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
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Montana Road Deal May Lead to Court
Missoula Missoulian
04/29/2008
Western Montana counties are on a legal collision course with top federal land managers, at odds over how much private-land access is granted by U.S. Forest Service road easements.
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Montana Daycares Seek Plastic Baby Bottle Alternatives
Missoula Missoulian
04/29/2008
Western Montana daycare providers have struggled to find alternatives to plastic baby bottles and drink containers in the wake of recent news reports about the chemical Bisphenol A.
After the National Toxicology Program released a draft report on Bisphenol A on April 14, several national news programs, including NBC's “Today” show, aired segments highlighting the use of Bisphenol A in polycarbonate plastic.
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New Tool Will Help With Bitterroot Forest Rehab
Missoula Missoulian
04/29/2008
The Bitterroot National Forest is known for its mountain views, but Cole Mayn looks at what's underfoot - and under the surface - when he's out tracking the impact that heavy logging equipment has on the landscape.
Nationwide, millions of miles of old logging roads and skid trails crisscross public lands, promoting noxious weeds, disrupting surface and subterranean ecosystems, and bleeding soil into streams for decades.
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Candidates Perform the Coal Dance
NPR
04/28/2008
Four of the seven remaining presidential primaries are in big coal-producing states. Ths forces Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to walk a fine line, balancing concerns about global warming with concerns about energy.
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Missoulia Denies Subdivision Proposal
Missoula Missoulian
04/24/2008
On Wednesday, the Missoula Board of County Commissioners unanimously denied the 33-lot, 67.3-acre Linda Vista Acres subdivision proposed near the southern intersection of Lower and Upper Miller Creek roads on the back side of the “little hill.” They also denied Twite's request to rezone a portion of the land to accommodate higher density.
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Entrepreneur's Motors Give Bikes a Push
Billings Gazette
04/24/2008
With gas prices soaring ever higher, Lloyd Schell, owner of Green-Go Bicycles LLC, can help people looking for alternatives to driving to work. The Lockwood resident outfits bicycles with electric motors. A two-hour charge can take the rider 20 miles. With pedal assist, that number is doubled.
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Ranchers Fight for New Deal on Wilderness
Christian Science Monitor
04/22/2008
Rancher Mike Hanley may have to sell half his cattle after losing permission last week to graze them on a piece of public land. His wife has spent sleepless nights thinking over their options.
Uncertainty has become a way of life for a generation of ranchers here, locked in a long-running battle with environmentalists wanting to restrict grazing on public lands. The ranchers' fight, dubbed the sagebrush rebellion, has played out in communities up and down the mountain West.
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Beetles Feast on Trees in Bitterroot
Missoula Missoulian
04/23/2008
The mountain pine beetle gets most of the blame for killing vast swaths of evergreens across the West.
But there's another tree-munching insect that's causing trouble in the Bitterroot Valley by taking advantage of the growing number of new residents who mistakenly thin their pine stands in the spring.
The pine engraver beetle is native to western Montana, but it appears to be spreading in the Bitterroot by feasting and laying eggs in logging slash piles each spring.
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Stimson Workers Get Job Help After Mill Closes
Missoula Missoulian
04/23/2008
Ninety-two workers at Stimson Lumber Co. who face an indefinite layoff in mid-May from the Bonner plant were briefed Tuesday on their options for retraining, education and other prospects by a variety of government agencies.
The briefings, held in two sessions at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Bonner, urged the millworkers to start considering their future plans.
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Four More Homes Lost to Flathead Gas Spill
Missoula Missoulian
04/22/2008
Four more Flathead lakeside homes were evacuated over the weekend, bringing to five the number that have been deemed unsafe to occupy in the wake of an April 2 fuel tanker accident that dumped 6,380 gallons of gasoline into a barrow ditch along Highway 35.
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Charges Against Troy Mine Top $500,000
Missoula Missoulian
04/22/2008
The Troy Mine now faces fines totaling more than a half-million dollars, with federal regulators charging that mine management has not adequately protected underground workers from falling rocks.
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Missoula Affordable Housing Project Gets Lift
Missoula Missoulian
04/22/2008
In a windfall for low-income housing at the Intermountain Lumber site, the Missoula Housing Authority received tax credits this year for its project just off Russell Street.
The Montana Board of Housing awarded the MHA its full request, some $474,000 in tax credits. The agency passed over MHA last year, but the Housing Authority now plans to move quickly to build Garden District I.
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