Link

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) – The National Park Service is seeking public comment on its plan to repair or replace the Lamar River Bridge, on the Northeast Entrance road to Yellowstone National Park

Link

The six men are facing one count of felony depredation of government property and a misdemeanor charge of prohibited use of vehicles off-road, Jackley said.

Link

Red Lodge, MT – The Cascade Wildland fire, burning out of control 10 miles west of the Montana town of Red Lodge, has now scorched Custer National Forest timber within five miles of Red Lodge Ski Area as flames are steadily progressing toward the slopes.

Link

The Bush administration is spearheading two separate meetings here this week that will examine plans for the proposed changes to the way roadless forests are managed in Colorado. The meetings are in response to the administration’s newly proposed rule change (published July 25 in the federal register) that would open the land to logging and ski resort expansions. The change could also allow 97 new oil and gas leases on 87,000 acres to be developed on national forests in Colorado that are currently protected from drilling by federal rule.

Worst. President. Ever.

Link

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Bush administration on Monday projected the U.S. budget deficit will soar to a record of nearly half a trillion dollars in fiscal 2009 as a housing-led economic slowdown cuts into government revenues.

Link

For years, the Bush administration has tried to detour around federal protections and open millions of acres of national forest to road construction and logging.

Now it has quietly negotiated a deal to convert hundreds of thousands of acres of privately owned Montana forest to residential subdivisions by paving roads in national forests.

Link

You read that right: $8,470.76 per single tourist visit into the Park via Sylvan Pass. That’s an expensive day pass–picked up, I might add, not by the visitor. Not by the Cody company providing the guide service in. By us. You and me. The taxpayer. So much for the “smaller government, fiscally responsible” Bush administration.

Link

The draft plan released Friday contains three options, including the plan written by a Colorado task force and submitted to the U.S. Forest Service. The public will have until Oct. 23rd to comment on the plan and eight public houses, starting Aug. 18, will be held across the state.

Link

The Gallatin National Forest closed the Soda Butte and nearby Chief Joseph campgrounds following the attack on Steve Bartley, 59, of Springfield, Ore., on July 17. Bartley had followed all rules for camping in bear country when he was attacked in his tent at about 3 a.m.