At a Glance: News Briefs

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

By Ben Cannon

Bears back on protection...
Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Grizzly bears throughout the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem will go back on the endangered species list, a federal judge ruled on Monday.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Montana District Court said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials did not do enough to ensure a healthy grizzly bear population in the Yellowstone region. Judge Molloy cited impacts from global warming and other factors affecting food supplies as significant threats to grizzlies.
A 2007 decision had removed the population from the “threatened” designation that gave them protection under the Endangered Species Act.

The removal was challenged by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a Bozeman group, which claimed a victory following the decision.

But Wyo. lawmakers decry ruling
Wyoming’s delegation of lawmakers in Washington sharply denounced the decision to return grizzly bears to federal endangered protection. In a joint release, the three Republicans said the move symbolizes an environmentalist agenda undermining the rights of Wyoming’s public land users.

“Two years ago the federal government and the states came together and, based on sound science and a healthy grizzly population, agreed that the grizzlies no longer needed the protection of the Endangered Species Act,” Sen. Mike Enzi stated in the release. “It is unfortunate that one slam of the gavel can erase that agreement.”

Rep. Cynthia Lummis said she believes the ruling will be overturned in a higher court.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service made the right call on de-listing the grizzly bear in 2007, and I expect their decision will stand up once the case is finished,” she said in the statement.

And bears still aren't safe
A subadult, female grizzly bear was shot last Saturday by a hunter in the Ditch Creek drainage, north of Jackson, according to a Wyoming Game and Fish release.
Game and Fish reports that the incident is under investigation, and reminds hunters that many prime big-game hunting areas overlap with bear habitat, including areas grizzlies hadn't previously been spotted in, such as the southern Teton Range and the Gros Ventre Range.

The department suggests these guidlines: Hunt with a partner, carry bear spray, bear-proof your camp, pack and remove "downed" game right away, and don't compete with a bear for a carcass.

State slow to recover
While Wyoming was late by the national economic slump, it might be slow to recover due to factors that include a housing glut and the absorption of job growth created during boom years, the Chairman of U.W.’s Dept. of Economics and Finance told a state commerce group last week.

Speaking to the  Wyoming Retail Association, Dr. Robert Godby said Wyoming businesses should avoid taking out risky loans, the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reported.

“The problem is we want people to spend who don’t have the money or shouldn’t be spending,” he said.

“It won’t be a drag on Wall Street. It will be a drag on Main Street, on retailers.”
Godby said the stimulus package has already been a boost to the state, but it will be a matter of two- to-three years before consumer demand and job rates are back to pre-economic turmoil numbers.

Web site names Terra top ski lodge
Away.com, a leading travel Web site, named Hotel Terra a destination in a list of the world’s top resorts.

The “Best Resorts and Lodges Guide” featured the slopeside Teton Village hotel as an editor’s pick in the ski lodge category.

Another Yellowstone area resort, the Lodge at Sun Ranch in Cameron, Mont., was an editor’s pick in the “adventure lodges” category.

The Away.com guide profiles 200 destination resorts around the world. JHW

Courtesy photo
Rep. Cynthia Lummis


PERMALINK:
At a Glance: News Briefs | Planet JH News Article: General News

Leave a Comment