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asked U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell last week to block the U.S. Forest Service from what they called harassment and interference that has prevented them from earning an income from the three mining claims in Helena National Forest.
“The Forest Service has shown by actions and words that it has no intention of allowing Kornec and Nappo to peace- fully and exclusively enjoy their owner- ship of the mining claims at issue, and to enjoy the benefits of revenue from their mining operations,” the mens' attorney, Joshua Campbell, said in the filing.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office filed its law- suit in August after the miners enlisted armed protesters to guard the mine and the road leading to it. The protesters said they wanted to ensure the government interference stopped and they declared victory when the August lawsuit was filed.
The government’s lawsuit asks a judge to declare the men acted illegally in build- ing a garage, cutting down trees, opening a road and locking a gate near the mine.
The miners say an 1872 law grants them surface and subsurface rights to the land where their mine is located.
The Forest Service, however, says it has the surface rights because the 1872 law does not apply to the claims.
BUTTE
5. Columbia Falls Woman Killed in Wrong-Way Crash
Officials have released the names of a Montana woman and a California man who were killed in a head-on crash on Interstate 90 in southwestern Montana.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County officials tell The Montana Standard that 57-year- old Carol Pollock Kennedy of Columbia Falls and 26-year-old Osiris Munoz Riffo of Woodland Hills, California, died in the crash on Sept. 28 near Anaconda.
The Montana Highway Patrol says Kennedy was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes when the two vehicles collided. Kennedy’s car caught fire.
Trooper Joseph Fowler says the driver of the second vehicle, a 25-year- old woman from Van Nuys, California, was hospitalized in critical condition in Butte.
Investigators are still trying to deter- mine why Pollock was driving on the wrong side of the interstate.
HELENA
6. Bullock: Make Species Delisting More Predictable
The process of removing Endangered Species Act protections from recovered species should be made more straight- forward and predictable not only for the benefit of business but of animals and plants still imperiled, two governors told federal lawmakers last week.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed wolves and grizzly bears in Montana and Wyoming from federal pro- tection in recent years only to see law- suits restore their protected status.
Nobody disputes both animals have proliferated — a headache for ranch- ers as they prey upon sheep and cattle
beyond the Yellowstone area. Yet griz- zlies remain classified as threatened region-wide, and wolves remain endan- gered in Wyoming. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Species lingering on the threatened and endangered lists also are a challenge for coal, oil and gas developers in Wyo- ming, which exports more energy than any other state, said Mead, a Republican. “How can I tell a company, ‘Come into Wyoming, start your development, but I can’t tell you if you can get it through in one year, three years, five years, a decade?’ ” Mead said.
Republican committee members including Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, suggested changes to the law, such as requiring states to agree to endangered species listings, might be in order.
Mead likewise has made coming up with ideas for changing the act a prior- ity of his yearlong term as chairman of the Western Governors’ Association. He described the act as broken.
Of more than 1,500 species listed as threatened or endangered since the act was passed in 1973, only 30 have been delisted because they have recovered, Mead pointed out.
“The delisting process must become more straightforward so we can focus our collective resources on species that may need more attention,” said Bullock, a Democrat.
Last week brought big news about endangered species when the Interior Department announced the greater sage grouse didn’t warrant protection through the Endangered Species Act. Possible federal protection for the bird would have loomed over practically any project in the sagebrush, not unlike how protections for the northern spotted owl impeded Pacific Northwest logging.
Getting species off the list dominated the briefing. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe told the senators another attempt to delist grizzly bears could come soon.
GREAT FALLS
7. Hunter Escapes Attack by Shoving Arm Down Bear’s Throat
A bow hunter in Teton County is recovering after he survived a grizzly bear mauling by shoving his arm down the animal’s throat.
The Great Falls Tribune reports that 26-year-old Chase Dellwo was hunting with his brother northwest of Choteau on Oct. 3 when he came face to face with a 350 to 400 pound male grizzly.
Dellwo says as the bear attacked him, he remembered an article his grand- mother had given him saying large ani- mals have bad gag reflexes. He shoved his arm down the bear’s throat, forcing the animal to release him. The bear left. Dellwo was able to find his brother, who drove him to the hospital.
He received stitches and staples in his head, some on his face, a swollen eye and deep puncture wounds on his leg.
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OCTOBER 7, 2015 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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