MONTANA

Interior cancels conservation ‘use’ rule

BILLINGS — The Interior Department is canceling a rule that put conservation on equal footing with development, as President Donald Trump’s administration eases restrictions on industries and seeks to boost drilling, logging, mining and grazing on taxpayer-owned land.

The 2024 rule adopted under former President Joe Biden was meant to refocus the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which oversees about 10% of land in the U.S. It allowed public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling.

But Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has said the rule could have blocked access to hundreds of thousands of acres of land — preventing energy and timber production and hurting ranchers who graze on public lands.

Supporters argued that conservation had long been a secondary consideration at the land bureau, neglecting its mission under the 1976 Federal Lands Policy Management Act. While the bureau previously issued leases for conservation purposes in limited cases, it never had a dedicated program prior to the Biden administration.

Bobby McEnaney with the Natural Resources Defense Council said repealing the rule ”means less protection for the clean drinking water, less protection for endangered wildlife that depend on healthy habitat, and less accountability when corporations leave these landscapes damaged and degraded.”

In documents released on May 11, administration officials said it exceeded the land bureau’s authority for outside parties to be allowed to obtain conservation leases.

Industry groups and their Republican allies in Congress strongly opposed the rule and had lobbied to repeal it. They said the change under Biden violated the “multiple use” mandate for Interior Department lands by catapulting the “non-use” of federal lands — meaning restoration leases — to a position of prominence.

Election Day registration OK’d

A Montana judge has blocked the state from limiting voter registration on Election Day, concluding the move would disproportionately harm Native American and young voters.

The ruling prevents a law that was enacted last year by the Republican-controlled legislature from being enforced that would have prevented voters from casting ballots in presidential, U.S. Senate and U.S. House races if they register after noon on Election Day. It was the second time in five years that legislators attempted to move away from Election Day registrations.

District Judge Adam Larsen’s order, issued on May 8, is to remain in effect through the trial of a lawsuit filed by the Montana Federation of Public Employees, later joined by Native American tribes, including the Blackfeet and Northern Cheyenne. However, the state’s primary elections are June 2, and the trial isn’t until late August.

Larsen noted that registering on Election Day is “wildly popular.” Montana has allowed it since 2006, and in 2014, 57% of voters rejected a statewide ballot initiative to end it.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s office expressed disappointment in the ruling, saying same-day registration puts an “undue burden” on election administrators.

In 2021, the legislature enacted a law ending voter registration on noon the day before Election Day, but the Montana Supreme Court struck it down in 2024 as a violation of an “unequivocal fundamental right” protected by the state Constitution. The justices said more than 70,000 Montana voters had taken advantage of Election Day registration since its inception.

WYOMING

Bear attack injuries two 

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK — Two hikers were injured in a bear attack on a popular hiking trail near Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful geyser, park officials said on May 5.

The attack was described by officials as a single event on the afternoon of May 4 along the Mystic Falls Trail.

A large area of the park near the Midway Geyser Basin was temporarily closed pending an investigation. The area includes at least five trails and several backcountry campsites.

Park officials said one or more bears were involved, but did not specify which species. The park has populations of both grizzly bears and black bears, which can be difficult to tell apart at times. Grizzlies can be more aggressive and they grow much larger — as much as twice as big as black bears. Black bears usually have darker coloring.

Yellowstone gets more than 4 million visits by tourists annually and attacks by grizzlies or black bears are rare.

The last fatal bear mauling in the park was in 2015 when a 63-year-old Billings, Montana man was killed while hiking alone in the park’s Lake Village area.

The fate of bears that attack humans is typically dictated by the circumstances of the encounter.

Following the 2015 fatal attack, officials captured and killed an adult female grizzly because it had eaten part of the victim’s body and hid the rest, which is not normal behavior for a bear defending its young.

By comparison, last year’s attack on the Turbid Lake Trail happened during a surprise encounter between the victim and the bear. The animal’s reaction was considered natural, so it was not relocated or killed.

ARIZONA

Runner dies on ultramarathon

PRESCOTT — A participant in a grueling 250-mile ultramarathon on trails across northern Arizona died on May 5 after experiencing a medical emergency, race organizers and local law enforcement said.

First responders attended to a woman in her 40s who was participating in the race and collapsed at a trailhead in the Groom Creek community south of Prescott, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Paul Wick said.

Cocodona 250 ultramarathon codirector Erika Snyder confirmed the death and declined to provide further details at the request of the runner’s relatives.

Ultramarathons can test the boundaries of human endurance, but deaths are very rare relative to the total number of participants in a sport that has in recent years grown in popularity around the world, with races hosted from Death Valley to the Himalayas.

The Cocodona is one of the toughest ultramarathons in the U.S., featuring a course that rises more than a mile in elevation — twice — while passing through Sedona from its start in Black Canyon City.

This year’s race started on May 4 before dawn, and the overall winner, Rachel Entrekin, finished on the afternoon of May 6 to a roaring crowd in Flagstaff while setting a course record.

Aid stations provide opportunities to eat, hydrate and adjust equipment, with a team of medical professional stationed across the course, Snyder said. Racers often nap on the ground along the way in a race that can last five days.