You are viewing news tagged as 'conservation' || Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Experts say more funding, coordination needed to battle infestations

Posted: May 22, 2013

Invasive weeds will infest more than 100 million acres of public lands by 2017 if the federal government does not pick up its pace tackling the problem, a weed scientist warned lawmakers yesterday.

Federal agencies treated 3.2 percent of public land infested with invasive weeds in 2009...

Wolf killing ban sought for land between Yellowstone and Teton national parks

Posted: May 21, 2013

A conservation group is asking the National Park Service to eliminate potential wolf hunting in the 24,000-acre Rockefeller Parkway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks.

The National Parks Conservation Association is petitioning the agency to launch a “rulemaking process” to review...

Feds join forces on Rio Grande cleanup, restoration

Posted: May 21, 2013

It's usually the Rio Grande's waning flow that gets the most attention from environmentalists and regulators, but water quality is also a big problem, officials made clear at a pair of meetings here yesterday.

At an afternoon event along an urbanized stretch of the Middle Rio Grande here...

O&G lobbies for access to White River National Forest

Posted: May 17, 2013

The oil-and-gas industry is claiming that closures of land and increased regulations contemplated in the White River National Forest will make drilling “uncompetitive.”

Five organizations affiliated with the gas industry submitted comments last winter to the Forest Service as part of the...

National park officials mull action after cactus vandalism

Posted: May 17, 2013

Spray-painted graffiti on cactuses and other objects along an Arizona hiking trail has created a conundrum for the National Park Service.

While the signs and boulders that were tagged with acronyms and symbols can be repainted and scrubbed, the paint on the cactuses is another story....

Judge blocks Utah law that would prevent BLM, Forest Service from enforcing state rules

Posted: May 17, 2013

A state law that would have prevented some federal officials from enforcing state laws anywhere in Utah was temporarily blocked yesterday by a federal judge.

Under the law sponsored by state Rep. Mike Noel (R), federal employees would have faced a $1,000 fine and six months in jail for...

Controversial Tongass land-swap bill up for review

Posted: May 15, 2013

A controversial bill to allow an Alaska Native corporation to acquire roughly 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest primarily for logging goes before a House Natural Resources panel Thursday.

H.R. 740 by Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) would allow...

ENR panel to mark up roughly 30 bills promoting wilderness, O&G

Posted: May 15, 2013

A Senate committee Thursday will seek to advance roughly 30 lands bills, including measures to designate wilderness in Nevada and New Mexico, swap tens of thousands of acres of gas-rich lands in Utah, and designate a national historic park in Rhode Island.

The Energy and Natural Resources...

Colo. foundation gives $50k for Thompson Divide lease buybacks

Posted: May 14, 2013

An Aspen, Colo.-based nonprofit foundation that has given away millions of dollars in the past decade for regional conservation projects has awarded its single largest grant yet to three conservation groups working to buy back oil and natural gas leases in the pristine Thompson Divide.

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Feds work to remove protections from northern Rockies grizzlies

Posted: May 14, 2013

Grizzly bears lack a reputation as a rule-following animal, but they sure inspire a lot of rule-making. The bears of the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem have a draft 158-page rulebook up for public comment this summer as they move toward possible removal from federal Endangered Species Act...