NEWS ROUNDUP

'A very historic year' Not since 1910 has there been such an array of wildfire in northwest Montana, not to mention the rest of the northern Rockies. It was a fire season that is already regarded as historic...What in the blazes? Two decades back, in the summer of 1983, the unthinkable happened deep in the heart of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Lightning struck, a tree burst into flame, a wildfire crept up a mountainside - and firefighters simply sat back, waiting and watching...Pending bill may tighten fossil rules A bill pending in Congress would make the rules governing fossil collection on federal land more uniform and would tighten restrictions on commercial collecting. The bill, passed earlier this summer by the Senate, now awaits action in the House resource committee...Feds say scientific data being lost Now, some of these creatures are leaving the area in the backs of four-wheel-drive pickups. And some are being taken illegally from federal land by poachers selling their fossilized skeletons. Government and academic paleontologists say fossil poachers, particularly those who are poorly equipped and unskilled, are costing the public valuable scientific information and precious resources...Landowners sign deals for endangered species An ex-computer executive is thinning impassable woods on his weekend retreat west of Blanco to make the black-capped vireo feel at home. Portable stereos play recordings of the endangered bird's calls to invite them to drop in. A Republican Party leader has agreed to let environmentalists cordon off two lakes on his family's property in Bastrop to help save the Houston toad, an endangered amphibian he's never seen. And a Rio Grande Valley rancher plans to plant native brush to benefit the ocelot, an elusive and beautiful wildcat... The Imnaha River serves as a lab for technological solutions for saving salmon Wild and fecund as the place appears, it is, in fact, an intensively managed laboratory for one of the nation's most far-reaching attempts to manipulate nature. Answers gleaned from it will help decide whether technology, costing hundreds of millions of dollars, can help salmon return in abundance to the Imnaha and other Snake River tributaries -- or whether dams must be demolished to save wild salmon runs... Scientists fight spread of plant in the San Marcos Experts aren't exactly sure how it was introduced, but a decade after it was first noticed by botanists, a common aquarium plant that overpowers native species in the wild has commandeered a delicate segment of the San Marcos River... BLM burn will finish job started north of Potomac The Bureau of Land Management will burn 548 acres in the Belmont and Dunnigan creek drainages north of Potomac over the next few weeks. The project began last April, but could not be completed because of unfavorable weather conditions...Hopis seek their Water Rights Arizona's economic future, in part, depends upon its complicated historical relationship with its Indian residents, including the 8,000-member Hopi tribe. The 21 existing Indian reservations in the state compose about 28 percent of the state's land base, and, in an irony that confounds historical theories of Manifest Destiny and the settlement of the American West, Indians could determine which interests - agricultural, municipal, rural, tribal - receive water...IID extends Interior written olive branch The latest effort by the Imperial Irrigation District to reach a negotiated settlement with the Department of the Interior over the district's use of water came in the form of a letter, in which new language was proffered... Agriculture deaths creep upward in 2002 Work fatalities in agriculture increased 2 percent in 2002, while the all-industry average declined by 3 percent according to the National Safety Council. Agriculture ranked second behind the mining/quarrying industry, with 21 fatalities per 100,000 workers, or around 730 deaths...Australia says no to sheep stranded on ship Australia has ruled out taking back a shipload of 57,000 live sheep that has been stranded for weeks in the Middle East after being rejected by Saudi Arabia, and said it was looking for other countries to take the animals...'Outsider' romances cowboy life Groneberg is the author of "The Secret Life of Cowboys," the memoir of his nearly 20-year pursuit of the Western life. "I guess I kind of struggle with that in the book, trying to fit in. The cowboys are the guys in the last chapter, at that branding - the guys that wake up at 4 in the morning and just work and work and work. In a lot of ways, if I were to say I was a cowboy, it takes away from them and what they do."...Wild West road trip displays artist's world What do cowboys, Indians, wily wolves, and dinner in the diner have in common? They're all highlights of central Montana's scenic Russell Trail. It's a Wild West road trip packed with intriguing links between today's Big Sky landscapes and the rough-and-tumble frontier painted nearly a hundred years ago by "America's Cowboy Artist," Charlie Russell... Doing things the hard way is often more fulfilling For the first five years of my practice I followed his procedure and castrated horses in the standing position. It could be compared to changing a fan belt while the engine's running, or standing on a chair and trying to stick your head between the spinning blades of a ceiling fan...