Becky Kramer

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter ordered state wildlife managers Monday to stop arresting poachers and investigating illegal killings of wolves, saying the state is getting out of wolf management. Without the ability to stage a public wolf hunt this fall, there’s little benefit for Idaho to act as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “designated agent” for managing wolves in the state, the governor said in a terse letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

An Arizona developer wants to swap a Boise Foothills ranch for 9,000 acres of federal timberland in the Idaho Panhandle. The proposed trade enjoys strong support in Southern Idaho, where it would secure public ownership of elk winter range and create nearly 36 contiguous miles of public lands in the foothills, an important wildlife and recreation corridor. But the proposal is attracting criticism in the north, where opponents say the swap would benefit Boise residents at North Idaho’s expense.

A longtime advocacy group for Idaho’s timber industry will close at the end of the year. Members recently decided to disband the Intermountain Forest Association at the end of December, when the two remaining employees will lose their jobs.

Officials at the Washington Department of Ecology have developed a plan to reduce temperatures and improve water quality in the Pend Oreille River.

State, federal and tribal leaders pledged support Thursday for restoring Columbia River watersheds through programs that reduce toxic compounds in the water. The nation’s fourth-largest river basin contains mercury, PCBs, DDT and other compounds at levels that pose health risks for people and the environment, officials said.

Idaho man jailed for poaching bull moose

Wolverine habitat could prevent a local company from operating a backcountry ski business in North Idaho’s St. Joe Mountains. Wolverines are elusive carnivores that look like small bears. They build their winter dens under downed logs on snowy ridgetops – the same type of high-elevation terrain that’s attractive to Peak Adventures.

Avista Corp. is making temporary changes to its power line operations as a result of dry conditions and wildfire risk.

KELLOGG – Too far-reaching, too costly. Another knock for the Silver Valley. That was the consensus of public testimony Monday evening at a town hall meeting on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s $1.3 billion plan to clean up mining waste in the upper Coeur d’Alene River Basin over the next 50 to 100 years.