Search
Our archives

Major Funders:
Foundation for Community Vitality
Greater Montana Foundation
Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation
Idaho Public TV
Focust West
Southeast Montana
Photo courtesy of Rick and Susie Graetz
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
produced daily by Shellie Nelson
Editor's Notes...

West map In the Rockies today, thousands of temporary federal firefighters can now get health care coverage, a new deal is inked on two Idaho trout fisheries, and wild winds push a Wyoming wildfire out of containment lines.

After a petition drive gathered 125,000 signatures in support of allowing seasonal wildland firefighters access to federal health insurance coverage, the White House announced that nearly 8,000 of those firefighters would be allowed to participate in the federal plan.

In Idaho, the Kalispel Tribe and three federal agencies have signed a deal to protect bull and cutthroat trout fisheries in the Pend Oreille Lake watershed.

And in Wyoming, crews lost ground on the Sawmill Fire burning near Glendo State Park after a storm front with strong winds moved into the area.

Tonight on Montana Public Radio, Clay Scott continues Mountain West Voices' series of stories exploring Montana's legacy of homesteads and homesteaders.

The second broadcast in the series takes listeners to Virgelle - the tiny settlement along the Missouri that epitomizes the rise and fall of Montana's dry land homesteads in the early 1900's.

Tune into Montana Public Radio at 8:25 p.m. or listen online via the Mountain West Voices website.

Rockies today

 BuRec delays final report on Colorado River until September
Bureau of Reclamation officials announced during a teleconference Tuesday that its planned final report on Colorado River water and demand for that resource won't be released in July, but rather September.
Deseret News; July 18

Seasonal wildland firefighters can now get federal health insurance
Seasonal wildland firefighters had gathered 125,000 signatures on a petition requesting that they be allowed to buy into federal health insurance plans while working, and on Tuesday, President Barack Obama announced that an estimated 8,000 temporary firefighters would be allowed to do so.
Flathead Beacon (AP); July 17

Kalispel Tribe, federal agencies sign deal to improve trout numbers in Idaho
The Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation and the Kalispel Tribe signed a $39.5 million, ten-year deal to improve bull and cutthroat trout numbers in the Lake Pend Oreille watershed in northern Idaho.
Spokane Spokesman-Review; July 18

Sixteen grizzly bears have died so far this year in Yellowstone ecosystem
Data from the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team indicate that 10 of the 16 grizzly bear deaths so far this summer in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem were due to natural causes, and that the percentage of human-caused deaths is about half what it normally is.
Jackson Hole News and Guide; July 18

Shifting winds drive Wyoming wildfire beyond containment lines
Firefighting crews lost some ground Monday night on the 23-square-mile Sawmill Fire burning near the Glendo State Park in Wyoming when dry thunderstorms moved through the area.
Casper Star-Tribune (AP); July 18


Goldman Sachs pledges $15 million to help Utah small businesses
New York-based Goldman Sachs, which has its second-largest U.S. base in Salt Lake City, has established a $15-million fund in Utah, with $10 million of that allocated for capital investment to area businesses and $5 million for a mentoring program for business owners and classroom education at Salt Lake Community College.
Salt Lake Tribune; July 18

Opinion

 Utah should require larger license tags for ATVs
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of off-road vehicles in Utah and other western states, and the proliferation of off-road recreation has also led to an increase in damage to public and private lands by scofflaws seeking to make their own way off designated trails, a situation Utah could help combat by requiring ATVs have a large license plate readable from a distance that would allow the public to report errant riders.
Salt Lake Tribune; July 18

Input is needed on Montana's block management program, too
Thousands of people weighed in on Montana's proposed changes to the state's wolf hunting regulations, but what Montanans may not realize is that a program that keeps private acres open to hunters is facing a funding crunch, and the response to the Rural Landscape Institute's ongoing survey about the Block Management Program may provide important insights about what's causing the budget slump--so respond now.
Missoulian; July 17

Idaho county commissioners need to rethink a salary bump
Blaine County commissioners need a reality check after they welcomed the suggestion from County Administrator Derek Voss, who said that the commissioners' annual pay should be increased from $55,434 to a "market-rate" wage of $90,147--which is nearly double the county's median wage, and which totally ignores the effect the Great Crash of 2008 had on the residents--and taxpayers--of the Idaho county.
Idaho Mountain Express (Sun Valley); July 18

Beyond the region

 Commerce reports housing starts in June the highest since October 2008
The U.S. Commerce Department reported that, in June, single-family housing starts increased in every region of the country.
Idaho Statesman (AP); July 18

Task force on states' fiscal problems releases list of recommendations
An independent task force charged with reviewing states' long-term financial woes released a list of recommendations for state policy makers that included working more closely with the federal and local governments, making state budget processes more transparent and making it easier for states to capture revenue from Internet sales.
New York Times; July 17

Four women in contention for national chief of the Assembly of First Nations
For the first time in the history of the Assembly of First Nations, the largest aboriginal advocacy group in Canada, there are an equal number of women and men vying to be the next national chief of the Assembly.
Toronto Globe and Mail; July 17
Mountain West News is a program of the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West
at The University of Montana.
"I think this is the exact case of why we pursued this legislation. He literally went out and poached five more deer within a couple of days after his previous conviction of a couple of other deer."

Scott Werbelow, game warden supervisor in the Cody region, discussing the first conviction of felony poaching in Wyoming.
- Casper Star-Tribune
On The Bookshelf
Barbara Theroux of Fact & Fiction reviews Christine Byl's "Dirt Work: An education in the woods

5/15/2013
Mountain West Perspectives
Study uncovers the restoration realities in Montana


4/15/2013
A Look Ahead
July 21: Montana Renewable Energy Fair, National Center for Appropriate Technology, Butte
Mountain West Voices
Hear weekly stories from the Rocky Mountain West as gathered by Clay Scott

5/15/2013:  A Long Way
5/8/2013:  Making Roots
5/1/2013:  Cancer in the Real World
4/24/2013:  Sheep Country
4/10/2013:  Shearing Sheep

Mountain West News is a program of the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West



at the

The University of Montana