NEWS ROUNDUP

Two survive plane crash thought to have killed 5 Two survivors of a Monday plane crash in the rugged wilderness of northwest Montana emerged on a highway Wednesday after making their way on foot through the mountains. The survivors, both U.S. Forest Service employees, made their way out a day after both the Flathead County sheriff and the Forest Service had announced their deaths. Three others died in the crash....
Conservation groups seek court order to halt prairie dog killing Conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to prevent federal agencies from beginning a program that would poison and shoot black-tailed prairie dogs on federal land in southwestern South Dakota. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Denver, argues that the new plan to reduce the prairie dog population should be blocked because it violates national environmental and forest-management laws....
Boomerang bears Troublesome black bears exiled to backwoods areas return home or die trying, a recent study finds, and some wildlife biologists say bear-resistant trash containers — not relocation — may be the only cure for a growing problem. People and bears — as many as 30,000 in California — run into each other these days in campgrounds and neighborhoods springing up in mountainous areas. Yosemite National Park reported 214 human-bear encounters in the first half of this year, a 149% increase over the same period in 2003....
Widow sues over bear death The widow of a hunter mauled by a grizzly bear while he was gutting an elk is suing state and federal wildlife officials, saying negligent management practices led to her husband's death. Mary Ann Hilston contends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks knew there was an aggressive grizzly bear with two cubs prowling the Clearwater Wildlife Management Area northeast of Missoula during the fall of 2001. "The defendants knew that bears were becoming accustomed to gunshots and that bears were using the sound of gunshots as a 'dinner bell,' " the women's suit states....
Forest fees program revived by key committee in House The National Recreation Fee Demonstration program was on life support in May after the Senate voted to kill the program for all federal agencies except the National Park Service after 2005. But an important committee in the House yesterday approved a bill that authorizes the program for all agencies for 10 years....
Elk charges people, cars in Yellowstone A 60-year-old Texas man was gored by a bull elk in Yellowstone on Sunday morning after venturing too close to take a photograph, officials said Wednesday. Park managers removed the antlers from the elk that charged and injured two people and damaged several cars near Terrace Grill in Mammoth Hot Springs....
Arch pays $611M for largest coal lease in state history On Wednesday, Arch Coal Inc. paid $611 million for the Little Thunder federal coal lease containing an estimated 719 million tons of recoverable coal -- enough coal to generate all of the nation's electrical power for more than three months. It is the largest coal lease ever offered in the state's history, and it is among five federal coal leases in the area to come up for sale this year. Arch Coal was the only bidder in the open bidding process, according to Wyoming Bureau of Land Management officials....
Column: White House actions irk advocates for wilderness In the four decades since the Wilderness Act of 1964 was enacted, 3.4 million acres of the state's most revered landscapes and mountain peaks have been preserved. But in a changing West, where the seesaw battle between conservation and development swings from one administration to another, the landmark law remains at the center of a heated debate about wilderness expansions....
Wild Sky measure is killed in House A popular drive to create Washington state's first new wilderness area in 20 years collapsed yesterday after a House committee refused to consider a compromise offered by Rep. George Nethercutt, touching off a fierce exchange of accusations and sharply differing accounts of who is to blame. The daylong barrage commenced minutes after Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., withdrew legislation sponsored by Nethercutt to create the 106,000-acre Wild Sky Wilderness and Backcountry area. Pombo said he acted after being told that the Washington delegation couldn't resolve differences over competing bills....
Column, Hunting: It's Not About the Gun It is clear to me that there is a widening gulf in the sporting community. When we elect a president this fall, there will be those who vote wildlife and those who vote gun. With 47 million sporting votes at stake, and two candidates vying for 5 percent of the voters in crucial states where a lot of hunters live, the ramifications are huge. As an outdoorsman living in the West, it's hard for me to ignore the damage that has been done to our wildlife heritage in the last four years. Places where I used to hunt pronghorn and sage grouse on the Upper Green River outside Pinedale, Wyo., are now oil and gas fields....
Interior Appropriations Bill and Legislative Riders The Senate is expected to consider S. 2084, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 Interior Department and Related Agencies Appropriations bill this Thursday. Sierra Club is closely following the overall bill, which fails to adequately fund the long-established programs and services charged with overseeing America's natural resources, as well as numerous "riders" that, if passed as part of the bill, could cause severe environmental damage. Summaries are provided for you below....
Acid rain pollution up 4 percent in 2003 Emissions of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, rose 4 percent in 2003, but probably will not compromise long-term air quality goals, the government reported Wednesday. Coal-fired power plants were the main source of the 10.6 million tons of sulfur dioxide. That total compared with 10.2 million tons in 2002 and reverted to the level from 2001. Nonetheless, pollution from sulfur dioxide has dropped significantly over the past two decades, from 17.3 million tons in 1980 to 11.2 million tons in 2000, the year before President Bush took office....
Putin tells ministries to salvage Kyoto Russian President Vladimir Putin has told key ministries to sign the Kyoto protocol on global warming in a step towards salvaging the U.N. plan, international environmentalists said on Wednesday. The WWF conservation group said the 1997 pact, which is dependent on Russia's final approval if it is to come into force despite a U.S. pullout in 2001, could be ratified by the Russian parliament within the next few weeks....
Bull rider enjoys happier trail now Bull rider Cory McFadden is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and it's not an oncoming train. Having gone through a roller coaster of emotions over the past two years, the Coleman, Texas, cowboy appears to have put his life onto the right track. Winning rodeos is only one of the contributing factors....
Of stock and bonds: Family ranch raises rodeo stars As Jim Gay drives around his family's 1,000-acre Rafter G Rodeo Ranch in a dusty pickup, he can tell a story for almost every acre. He'll talk about the time two bulls – King Kong and Godzilla, each weighing about a ton – got into a tussle and caved in the side of a truck, right over there by the stables. He'll point out his favorite bucking horse, Susie Q, in the pasture. She always gives the cowboys a hard time....
Former child star donates items to Gene Autry museum Jimmy Hawkins' life is filled with a series of unforgettable and one-of-a-kind events. Like taking his horse, Pixie, to children's hospitals to entertain patients and make them forget their troubles for a while. It's something Gene Autry taught him. For six years, Hawkins was under exclusive contract with Autry, playing Tagg Oakley in the "Annie Oakley" series produced by Autry's Flying A Productions. During that time, he learned a lot about the entertainment business and got a lesson or two in character building from a man who had plenty of it himself....