You are viewing news tagged as 'recreation' || Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Key groups suggest new ways to fund NPS

Posted: March 20, 2013

Even as sequestration continues to take a toll on the National Park Service, groups that support the parks today shifted the conversation to focus on the agency's financial future.

During a forum at the Bipartisan Policy Center, the National Parks Conservation Association and the National...

Wyo. county seeks donations to plow, open Yellowstone gate

Posted: March 20, 2013

The Cody Country Chamber of Commerce launched a fundraising campaign Thursday to raise $50,000 to hire state snow plows to clear the road through the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park and open up the gate two weeks sooner than currently planned.

The chamber would match donations...

Utah public lands legislation puts federal control in cross hairs

Posted: March 20, 2013

The anti-federal theme that characterized much of the 2013 session reached far into the natural resources arena. The Legislature passed several bills and resolutions affirming state and local "sovereignty" over public lands, forests, water rights, endangered species and law enforcement.

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USFS head calls for stewardship contracting, warns of sequester impacts

Posted: March 15, 2013

Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell yesterday urged Congress to permanently authorize an expiring program that allows proceeds from timber sales to be used for forest restoration, arguing it enjoys broad bipartisan support.

Tidwell said a recovering housing market has generated more demand...

NPS to leave open 900 full-time job slots, 1,000 seasonal positions

Posted: March 13, 2013

National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis offered the most detailed account to date of how sequestration funding cuts are affecting the agency in a letter to his employees Friday that at times struck an almost apologetic tone.

To meet funding reductions, Jarvis wrote, 900 permanent...

Yellowstone gets real about budget cuts

Posted: March 12, 2013

The giant yellow snowplows that wake Yellowstone from its winter slumber every March are idled, waiting for the sun to make up for federal budget cuts that are forcing the park to open late for peak season.

Mandatory cuts kicked in three days before the plows were to start clearing snow...

Bills curbing federal authority gain momentum in Utah

Posted: March 7, 2013

HB155, which cleared the House on Monday, is just one of several pieces of legislation this session aimed at limiting or mitigating federal influence in the management of public land, natural resources and endangered species in Utah.

Additional legislation this session aimed at limiting...

Judges rule for USFS in Nev. road dispute

Posted: March 7, 2013

Federal judges today upheld a Forest Service plan to rebuild a controversial road in Nevada's Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

At issue is a Jarbidge Canyon road that was severely damaged when the Jarbidge River flooded in 1995. Located in Elko County, the area is home to the only...

USFS budget cuts likely to affect fire, forest management

Posted: March 7, 2013

The U.S. Forest Service expects to shoulder $212 million in sequestration cuts this year, but no one can say how that might play out at the local level.

An email from that office provided a Feb. 5 letter from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to the Senate Appropriations Committee...