MONTANA

Canada lynx recovery plan proposed

BILLINGS — U.S. wildlife officials finalized a recovery plan for imperiled populations of Canada lynx on Nov. 27 and proposed new habitat protections in the southern Rocky Mountains for the forest-dwelling wildcats that are threatened by climate change.

The fate of the proposal is uncertain under President-elect Donald Trump: Officials during the Republican’s first term sought unsuccessfully to strip lynx of protections that they’ve had since 2000 under the Endangered Species Act.

Almost 7,700 square miles of forests and mountains in Colorado and northern New Mexico are covered under the habitat proposal. That’s different from a previous plan that left out the southern Rockies and concentrated instead on recovery efforts elsewhere, including Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota and Maine.

Areas of protected habitat also are being added in Idaho and Montana. Protected areas in Wyoming would be sharply reduced under the new proposal.

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Wildlife officials said they were removing locations where they consider lynx unlikely to thrive in the future, while adding new areas that the latest science suggests are more suitable to their long-term survival.

Lynx are elusive animals that live in cold boreal forests and prey primarily on snowshoe hares. Warmer temperatures are melting away the lynx’s snowy habitat and could decrease the availability of snowshoe hares.

There are more than 1,100 lynx in the contiguous U.S., according to estimates from scientists. Those numbers are expected to plummet in some areas, and officials are aiming for a minimum contiguous U.S. population of a combined 875 lynx over a 20-year period.

WYOMING

Lawmaker aims to restrict transgender access

CHEYENNE — Two bills headed to the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 general session, sponsored by a Republican legislator, aim to restrict transgender people’s access to female-only spaces and collegiate sports teams.

Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, said in a Dec. 1 email that it’s time for the Wyoming legislature to create “uniformity” across the Equality State when it comes to transgender policy.

Lawley’s first bill would amend an existing law that prohibits biological male students in grades seven through 12 from participating on female sports teams to apply to all grade levels, as well as collegiate sports. Any educational institution that receives public funding would fall under this amendment, Lawley said, which includes the University of Wyoming and community colleges.

Her amendment would also prevent Wyoming sports teams from competing against out-of-state teams with a transgender player.

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Lawley’s second bill, the Protecting Women’s Privacy in Public Spaces Act, prohibits transgender access to what it terms “female spaces,” including bathrooms, locker rooms and correctional facilities.

When Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the Student Eligibility in Sports Act to go into law without his signature in 2023, he criticized it as “overly draconian” and discriminatory in his four-page letter to the secretary of state.

While he acknowledged the intent of the legislation was “to protect the integrity and fairness of women’s sports,” he also believed it sent a “harmful message” to the transgender community, saying these individuals deserve the same opportunities as others.

Landowners eye burying carbon emissions

CHEYENNE — A new company plans to inject carbon emissions deep into geologic formations underground in eastern Laramie County. If realized, this would be the second project of its kind in the county.

Meridian Carbon founder and CEO Jeff Kummer, a landowner, says this project is unlike any other across the country.

Kummer has united 20 landowners in northeast Laramie County, in the area of Meriden, who own a cumulative 100,000 acres. These landowners have agreed to work together to allow companies who are seeking to meet decarbonization goals to store their emissions in geologic formations deep below their property.

Initially, Kummer had been working in the area, looking for oil and natural gas sources. He found that there weren’t many large sources in this area, but instead discovered geologic formations that he believes are suitable for CO2 storage.

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One of the landowners, Ron Rabou, said that he sees this opportunity as a way to diversify the income realized from his land.

Kummer said the going rate for carbon sequestration is typically between $85 and $180 per ton of CO2. He estimates that this asset will have between 100 and 150 million tons of net storage across the 100,000 acres, though the estimate is pending completion of drilling and testing.

Meriden Carbon officials have yet to identify how they intend to transport the CO2 to the site for sequestration but indicated they would likely construct new carbon dioxide pipelines in the county and plan to tap into existing pipeline systems.

NEBRASKA

Judge OKs medical marijuana petitions

OMAHA — Weeks after Nebraska voters overwhelmingly approved medical marijuana the state moved a step closer to allowing it when a judge ruled on Nov. 26 that the petitions that put the question on the ballot were valid.

The decision by Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong was a victory for advocates of medical marijuana, but opponents, including Nebraska’s secretary of state and attorney general, are likely to appeal it to the state Supreme Court.

More than two-thirds of Nebraska voters supported legalization at the polls Nov. 5.

Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Attorney General Mike Hilgers argued that problems with the way thousands of signatures were gathered meant the ballot initiatives shouldn’t have been put to voters. One person who circulated petitions in Grand Island was criminally charged with falsifying at least 164 signatures. The officials also raised questions about whether other signatures were properly notarized.

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Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana argued in court that even if some of the signatures gathered were flawed, the group still had well over the 86,499 needed. The Secretary of State’s Office certified nearly 90,000 signatures on both the petition to allow marijuana for medical use and the one to set up a commission to regulate it.

The judge agreed that the state wasn’t able to show any widespread fraud.

This year marked the third time Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana tried to get the issue on the ballot and the first time it made it there.

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