US to focus bison restoration on expanding tribal herds

DENVER – U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a March 3 order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that calls for the government to tap into Indigenous knowledge in its efforts to conserve the burly animals that are an icon of the American West.

Haaland also announced $25 million in federal spending for bison conservation. The money, from last year’s climate bill, will build new herds, transfer more bison from federal to tribal lands and forge new bison management agreements with tribes, officials said.

American bison, also known as buffalo, have bounced back from their near extinction due to commercial hunting in the 1800s. But they remain absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied, and many tribes have struggled to restore their deep historical connections to the animals.

As many as 60 million bison once roamed North America, moving in vast herds that were central to the culture and survival of numerous Native American groups.

They were driven to the brink of extinction more than a century ago when hunters, U.S. troops and tourists shot them by the thousands to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts in machinery, fertilizer and clothing. By 1889, only a few hundred bison remained.

The return of bison in some locations is considered a conservation success. But Haaland said they remain “functionally extinct” and more work is needed to return the animals to tribal lands and restore the grasslands they depend on.

The Interior Department currently oversees 11,000 bison in herds on public lands in 12 states.

UTAH

Governor says he plans to sign abortion clinic ban

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said on March 3 that he plans to sign a measure that would effectively ban abortion clinics from operating in the state, meaning hospitals will soon be the only places where they can be provided in the state.

After passing through the state Senate a day earlier with minor amendments, it returned to the Utah House of Representatives on March 3, where it was approved and then sent to the governor for final approval. The move comes less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, returning the power to regulate abortions to states.

Cox told reporters that he will sign the legislation, which also clarifies the definition of abortion to address legal liability concerns providers voiced about the way exceptions are worded in state law – a provision that he and Republican lawmakers called a compromise.

The measure is one of several that members of Utah’s Republican-supermajority statehouse has passed this year while abortion restrictions approved in years past are on hold because of a state court injunction. It has faced fierce opposition from business, civil liberties and abortion rights groups, including Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, which operates three of the four abortion clinics in the state.

The proposal from Rep. Karianne Lisonbee would require all abortions – via medication or surgery – be provided in hospitals by not allowing new clinics to be licensed after May 2 and not allowing any to operate once their licenses expire. It would affect the operations of the four clinics that provide abortions in Utah – three run by Planned Parenthood and the other by Wasatch Women’s Center, an independent clinic in Salt Lake City.

ARIZONA

Governor won’t proceed with execution set by court

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vowed on March 3 that her administration won’t carry out an execution even though the state Supreme Court scheduled it over the objections of the state’s new attorney general.

The Democratic governor’s promise not to execute Aaron Gunches on April 6 for his murder conviction in a 2002 killing came a day after the state Supreme Court said it must grant an execution warrant if certain appellate proceedings have concluded – and that those requirements were met in Gunches’ case.

The previous week, Hobbs appointed retired U.S. Magistrate Judge David Duncan to examine the state’s procurement of lethal injection drugs and other death penalty protocols due to the state’s history of mismanaging executions.

Attorney General Kris Mayes’ office has said it won’t seek court orders to carry out executions while Hobbs’ review is underway.

Mayes, a Democrat who took office in January, tried to withdraw a request by her Republican predecessor, Mark Brnovich, for a warrant to Gunches. The court declined to withdraw the request on Thursday.

Hobbs maintains that while the court authorized Gunches’ execution, its order doesn’t require the state to carry it out.

Arizona, which has 110 prisoners on death row, carried out three executions last year after a nearly eight-year hiatus following criticism that a 2014 execution was botched and because of difficulties obtaining execution drugs.

Gunches is scheduled to be executed on April 6 for the 2002 killing of Ted Price, his girlfriend’s ex-husband, in Maricopa County.

NEW MEXICO

19 wild cows killed in aerial shooting operation

ALBUQUERQUE – A specialized team of wildlife managers has killed 19 wild cows in the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico as part of a contested project to rid the area of the unauthorized animals.

The three-day operation used a helicopter and high powered rifles to take out the cows in a rugged area where federal officials and environmentalists say the animals have been trampling stream banks, damaging habitat for other species and ruining water quality.

The U.S. Forest Service had estimated there were as many as 150 of the unauthorized cows in an area along the Gila River.

The agency said on Feb. 28 that searches were conducted with the naked eye and through thermal imagery. The crew spotted significant numbers of elk, deer, javelina and even rabbits – but no additional cattle were found following the operation.

The carcasses will be left in the forest to decompose and the Forest Service plans to monitor the area.

Ranchers had opposed the project, saying rounding up the animals and removing them would have been a more humane way to clear them out of the wilderness. They accused the Forest Service of violating its own policies, but a federal judge denied their request to sideline the project, saying the cows were indeed feral and the Forest Service had the authority to kill them.

Gila Forest Supervisor Camille Howes said a combination of ground-based and aerial removal efforts since October 2021 have substantially reduced the feral cattle population.

Voters could decide if state lawmakers get a salary

ALBUQUERQUE – The state House has endorsed a plan to ask voters to end New Mexico’s status as the only state without a salaried Legislature.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the plan won approval on March 4, largely along party lines with Democrats in favor. The newspaper said the plan would amend the New Mexico Constitution to establish a citizen commission that would set a salary for the state’s 112 lawmakers.

The measure will go before voters next year if the Senate agrees to the plan in the final two weeks of this year’s session that ends on March 18.

Members of the Legislature now draw per diem payments during legislative sessions and for meetings in the interim, receive mileage reimbursements and can participate in a retirement plan, but they don’t get a year-round salary.

The legislation debated Saturday wouldn’t set a particular salary, the Journal said, adding that a nine-member citizen commission would instead determine the salaries with the extra pay starting in mid-2026.