US to focus bison recovery on expanding tribal herds

DENVER — U.S. officials work to return larger bison herds to Native American lands under a March 3 order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. American West.

Harland also announced $25 million in federal spending for bison conservation. Funding from last year’s climate change bill will create new herds, move more bison from the Commonwealth to tribal lands, and forge new bison management agreements with tribes, officials said.

The American bison, also known as the buffalo, recovered from near extinction due to commercial hunting in the 1800s. However, they are still absent from most of the grasslands they once occupied, and many tribes are struggling to regain their deep historical connections with the animals.

As many as 60 million bison once roamed North America, migrating in vast herds, and were the center of culture and survival for many Native American groups.

Bison came to the brink of extinction more than a century ago when hunters, the U.S. military and tourists shot thousands of them to feed a growing commercial market that used bison parts for machinery, fertilizer and clothing. I was driven away. By 1889 there were only a few hundred bison left.

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

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

Utah

Governor says he plans to sign ban on abortion clinics

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Governor Spencer Cox said on March 3 that he plans to sign a bill that would effectively ban the operation of abortion clinics in the state.

After passing the state Senate with minor amendments a day earlier, it returned to the Utah House of Representatives on March 3, where it was approved and sent to the governor for final approval. less than a year after overturning Roe v. Wade and returning abortion-regulating powers to the states.

Cox told reporters he would sign the bill. The bill also clarifies the definition of abortion to address liability concerns expressed by health care providers about the wording of exceptions in state law, a provision he and Republicans called a compromise. .

The bill is one of several bills passed this year by members of Utah’s Republican-majority legislature, but abortion restrictions approved over the past few years have been put on hold by state court injunctions. It has been. It faces fierce opposition from business, civil liberties, and abortion rights groups, including the Utah Planned Parenthood Association, which operates three of the state’s four abortion clinics.

Rep. Carianne Lisomby’s proposal to provide all medical or surgical abortions in hospitals by not allowing new clinics to be licensed after May 2 and not allowing surgeries after licenses expire is needed. It could affect the operations of her four clinics that provide abortions in Utah. Three are operated by Planned Parenthood and another is operated by She Wasatch Women’s Center, an independent clinic in Salt Lake City.

Arizona

Governor does not continue court-set enforcement

PHOENIX — Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said on March 3 that her administration would not carry out executions, even though the state Supreme Court was planning to do so over objections from the state’s new attorney general. swore

The Democratic governor’s pledge not to execute Aaron Ganchez, who was convicted in the 2002 murders, on April 6th, is a condition that the state Supreme Court must grant a writ of execution if certain appeals proceedings are concluded. It was delivered the next day as stated. ‘ case.

Last week, Hobbes appointed former U.S. magistrate David Duncan to investigate the state’s procurement of lethal injection drugs and other capital punishment procedures because of the state’s history of failing execution controls.

Attorney General Chris Mays’ office said it would not seek a court order to carry out enforcement while the Hobbes review is ongoing.

Mays, a Democrat who took office in January, tried to drop a warrant request for Gantz by his Republican predecessor, Mark Brunovich. The court refused to withdraw the request on Thursday.

Hobbs argues that the court authorized Gunches’ execution, but that the order did not require the state to carry it out.

Arizona, which has 110 inmates on death row, held three executions last year after an almost eight-year hiatus due to criticism that the 2014 execution failed and the difficulty of obtaining execution drugs. was done.

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

new mexico

19 wild cattle killed in aerial shooting operation

ALBUQUERQUE — A dedicated team of wildlife managers has killed 19 wild cattle as part of a contested project to exterminate unauthorized animals in the Gila Wilderness of southwestern New Mexico. rice field.

The three-day operation uses helicopters and high-powered rifles to allow cattle to trample riverbanks, destroy habitat for other species and degrade water quality, federal officials and environmentalists say. I took out cattle in the area.

The US Forest Service estimated that there were as many as 150 unlicensed cattle in the area along the Gila River.

Officials said on February 28 that the search was done by naked eye and thermal imaging. The crew found a good number of elk, deer, javelinas and even rabbits, but no additional cattle were found after the operation.

The corpse was left in the woods to decompose, and the Forest Service plans to monitor the area.

Ranchers opposed the project, saying that collecting and removing animals was a more humane way of wiping out wildlife. They accused the Forest Service of violating its own policy, but a federal judge said the cows were in fact wild and the Forest Service had the authority to kill them, citing the project as aside. refused their request.

American Gila Forestry Manager Camille Howes said a combination of ground and air removal operations since October 2021 has significantly reduced feral cattle populations.

Voters can decide whether state legislators receive salaries

ALBUQUERQUE — The state House of Representatives has approved a plan calling on voters to end New Mexico’s status as the only state without a salaried legislature.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that the plan was approved on March 4th. This is largely along party lines favored by Democrats. The paper said the plan would amend the New Mexico constitution and establish a citizens’ commission to set the salaries of the state’s 112 legislators.

If the Senate approves the plan in the final two weeks of this year’s session, which ends March 18, the bill will be before voters next year.