MONTANA
Groups sue railroad over plan to reduce grizzly deaths
HELENA — Two wildlife conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against BNSF Railway over delays in finalizing a plan to reduce the number of federally protected grizzly bears that are killed by trains in northwestern Montana and northern Idaho.
WildEarth Guardians and the Western Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit in federal court in Missoula on Dec. 14 arguing BNSF and other railroads that use their tracks, including Amtrak, have been killing grizzly bears without an incidental take permit for decades. Such permits, required under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, allow a certain number of protected animals to be killed in exchange for efforts by a company to try to reduce the deaths.
BNSF Railway says that even though it doesn't have a permit, it is taking measures to prevent grizzly bear deaths.
An estimated 1,000 grizzly bears live in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem while 50 to 60 bears live in the Cabinet-Yaak.
Despite not having a habitat conservation plan, BSNF Railway has implemented many of its proposed requirements, spokeswoman Lena Kent said in an email. Those include removing spilled grain and dead livestock and wildlife from the tracks; reducing vegetation that might attract grizzly bears; helping fund additional grizzly bear managers for the state and the Blackfeet Nation; buying radio collars, bear-proof garbage bins and electric fencing; and providing educational programs.
The lawsuit argues the railroad could do more, such as having trains slow down on curves and in narrow areas where grizzly bears may not be able to get away and reducing train traffic at dawn and dusk.
Men charged with killing 3,600 birds to sell on black market
Two men killed about 3,600 birds, including bald and golden eagles, during a "killing spree" on Montana's Flathead Indian Reservation and elsewhere, then sold eagle parts on a black market that has been a long-running problem for U.S. wildlife officials, a federal grand jury indictment says.
The men worked with others to hunt and kill the birds, according to the indictment, and in at least one instance used a dead deer to lure in an eagle that was shot. The two defendants conspired with others who weren't named to sell eagle feathers, tails, wings and other parts for "significant sums of cash" across the United States and elsewhere, the indictment said.
Simon Paul, 42, of St. Ignatius, Montana and Travis John Branson, 48, of Cusick, Washington, face 13 counts of unlawful trafficking of bald and golden eagles and one count each of conspiracy and violating wildlife trafficking laws.
Text messages obtained by investigators showed Branson and others telling buyers he was "on a killing spree" to collect more eagle tail feathers for future sales, according to the indictment that described Paul as a "shooter" for Branson.
The indictment said the killings began in January 2015 and continued until 2021 near Ronan, Montana, on the Flathead Reservation, home of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. It did not say how many of the 3,600 birds killed were eagles.
Illegal shootings are a leading cause of golden eagle deaths, according to a recent government study.
Bald eagles are the national symbol of the United States, and both bald and golden eagles are widely considered sacred by American Indians. U.S. law prohibits anyone without a permit from killing, wounding or disturbing eagles or taking any parts such as nests or eggs. Even taking feathers found in the wild can be a crime.
NEW MEXICO
State extends ban on oil and gas leasing around Chaco park
ALBUQUERQUE — New oil and natural gas leasing will be prohibited on state land surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park, an area sacred to Native Americans, for the next 20 years under an executive order by New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard.
The Dec. 13 order extends a temporary moratorium that she put in place when she took office in 2019. It covers more than 113 square miles of state trust land in what is a sprawling checkerboard of private, state, federal and tribal holdings in northwestern New Mexico.
The U.S. government last year adopted its own 20-year moratorium on new oil, gas and mineral leasing around Chaco, following a push by pueblos and other Southwestern tribal nations that have cultural ties to the high desert region.
Cordelia Hooee, the lieutenant governor of Zuni Pueblo, called it a historic day. She said tribal leaders throughout the region continue to pray for more permanent protections through congressional action.
A World Heritage site, Chaco Culture National Historical Park is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization. Within park boundaries are the towering remains of stone structures built centuries ago by the region's first inhabitants, and ancient roads and related sites are scattered further out.
WYOMING
Commission could bring passenger rail back to Cheyenne
CHEYENNE — Cheyenne hasn't had passenger rail service since 1997. On Dec. 11, the city announced it will be taking steps to change that through the creation of a formal commission, with hopes to connect to Denver and across the Front Range.
The Cheyenne Passenger Rail Commission is tasked with leading the efforts to reintroduce passenger rail to the capital city. It is made up of eight government officials on the city, county and state levels, one Chamber leader and one Cheyenne citizen representative.
Talks of passenger rail in Colorado connecting Pueblo to Fort Collins via Denver are in more advanced stages. In the next year or two, Colorado residents will vote on whether they would support a tax to help fund this development. Cheyenne hopes to extend the northern terminal of the route to cross the state border into Wyoming.
The commission hopes that the rail service would not only make transportation easier for commutes, but also increase tourism and lighten the traffic along Interstate 25.
In 2021, Colorado established the Front Range Passenger Rail (FRPR) District to oversee the development of the rail along the I-25 corridor between Wyoming and New Mexico. Steenbergen is the ex-officio member representing Wyoming on the board of FRPR.
Jeff Noffsinger, director of Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization and a member of the commission, said there would be some local funding, but he has hopes that it will largely be backed by federal money.
Noffsinger also said he has had conversations with All Aboard Northwest, a group looking to reinstate the Pioneer passenger rail line from Chicago to Seattle via Cheyenne.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Vanity plate restrictions unconstitutional, settlement says
South Dakota officials will no longer deny applications for personalized license plates based on whether the plate's message is deemed to be "offensive to good taste and decency," following the state's admission that the language is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.
The change is part of a settlement state officials reached in a lawsuit filed in November by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Lyndon Hart. His 2022 application to the Motor Vehicle Division for a vanity plate reading "REZWEED" was denied after state officials called it "in bad taste."
Hart runs a business called Rez Weed Indeed, which he uses to support the legal selling and use of marijuana on Native American reservations. Hart intended for the personalized license plate to refer to his business and its mission of promoting tribal sovereignty, the ACLU said.
The section of the law allowing for denial of personalized plates based on the decency clause is "unconstitutional on its face and as applied to the plaintiff," said U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange in an order signed on Dec. 8. The unconstitutional clause can't be used to issue or recall personalized plates, Lange wrote.
As part of the settlement, state officials agreed to issue the "REZWEED" plate to Hart, as well as the plates "REZSMOK" and "REZBUD," that will not be later recalled "so long as personalized plates are allowed by the legislature." State officials also agreed to issue plates to those previously denied who reapply and pay the required vanity plate fees.
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