James Hagengruber

It's no secret that Idaho's grizzly bears, caribou and bull trout are struggling to survive. But few have heard about the plight of the state's northern bog lemmings, western pearlshell mussels, Pacific lamprey, cave obligate mite or dozens of other native species that are declining because of lost habitat and human disturbance. A new state report attempts to identify each and every creature that could be at risk of extinction. A draft version of the massive document, called the "Idaho Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy," was posted last month on the Idaho Fish and Game Department's Web site. The agency is asking for public input, which it will use to prioritize how conservation dollars will be spent.

Bonner County sheriff's deputies will cross Idaho this week collecting supplies for their exhausted colleagues in southern Louisiana. After criss-crossing the state, the officers will lead a convoy of squad cars and at least one moving van directly to St. Charles Parish, where they will deliver the supplies and report for up to two weeks of police duty.

A watchdog group is accusing the Washington Department of Ecology of suppressing a mercury pollution study. The group, Washington Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, also claims the agency's study was deeply flawed.

Despite reports of gas shortages and calls from some political leaders to limit travel, there appeared to be no shortage of campers, boat trailers, big trucks or tourists in Coeur d'Alene and surrounding North Idaho on Friday, the eve of one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year. Some hotel clerks reported cancellations, but many business owners said they expect no hurricane-related slowdown because of the high gas prices.

A group of Idaho conservationists is accusing the U.S. Forest Service and two Shoshone County commissioners of violating the state's open meeting law during a session in Coeur d'Alene on Monday focused on proposed changes to the management of Idaho's roadless forests. Mike Richardson, a board member of the Idaho Conservation League, said he wanted to sit in on the meeting between Idaho Panhandle National Forests Supervisor Ranotta McNair and Shoshone County commissioners Jon Cantamessa and Sherry Krulitz.

Business opportunity: guaranteed income operating popular bike trail in one of America's prettiest spots. You provide the workers. Federal agency handles major upkeep. Estimated revenues of $200,000 or more. That's the gist of a 77-page prospectus issued recently by the U.S. Forest Service in its quest for bids to operate and maintain the Route of the Hiawatha bicycle trail, which follows the old Milwaukee Road rail line crossing the Montana-Idaho border. Every five years the agency is required by law to open up the trail contract for new bids, said Dave O'Brien, spokesman for the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

ST. REGIS, Mont. – When accused murderer and kidnapper Joseph Duncan needed a place to hide, investigators say he found the perfect spot in the Lolo National Forest, near the Montana-Idaho border. There, he is believed to have camped for weeks with the two children he kidnapped from a Coeur d'Alene home. One of the sites where Duncan allegedly camped – and where investigators suspect he killed one of the children – is perched on a ridge with an eagle-eye view of the Two Mile Creek Valley. Duncan could have spotted possible intruders or law officers from miles away.

The annual burning of bluegrass stubble on Rathdrum Prairie could begin at 11 a.m. today, sending smoke skyward while preparing the fields for next season's crop of grass seed. On the eve of burning, clean-air activists are demanding the state of Idaho share the precise locations of the burns "so people have a chance to run for their lives," said Patti Gora, director of the Sandpoint-based group Safe Air For Everyone.

POMEROY, Wash. – Doug Parker remembers the time when he prepared for a day of fighting forest fires with "a cigarette, a cup of coffee and a doughnut."Nowadays, every firefighter starts off with a federally mandated breakfast of at least four ounces of sausage or bacon, two fresh eggs, pancakes or toast, coffee, fresh fruit, milk and juice. Trash from breakfast is separated and recycled. Before leaving for the fire line, crews are given pinpoint weather forecasts from on-site meteorologists and maps created only hours earlier.

Silver Mountain resort manager Brian Rhodes said he is reviewing gondola maintenance logs in light of claims by a former mechanic at the ski area that the resort's system is unsafe. The parent company of Silver Mountain, Jeld-Wen, issued a brief statement Thursday from Rhodes in response to allegations by the former mechanic.

All that spring rain bought the region some time, but the long-expected drought has finally hit. Wildland firefighters are on edge with the forecast calling for continued heat and wind, combined with the prospect of hundreds of campfires this weekend in Inland Northwest forests. On Wednesday, the Idaho Department of Lands increased the wildfire danger rating to high and the National Weather Service issued a "red flag" wildfire warning for southeast Washington.

BNSF Railway is demanding $18 million from the Spokane construction company and the Illinois-based engineering firm hired by the railroad to build a high-speed refueling depot atop the Spokane Valley/Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer. A series of fuel leaks discovered at the depot threatened the purity of the drinking water for 500,000 people in the region and prompted an Idaho judge to issue an emergency shutdown order in February. The refueling depot reopened May 10.

HAYDEN, Idaho – A man involved in an apparent domestic dispute with his estranged wife fired a handgun at Kootenai County Sheriff's deputies approaching his house Tuesday afternoon, nearly wounding one of the officers and causing evacuation of some neighboring homes, authorities said. Shot at close range, the bullet glanced off the protective vest of one of the deputies, said Sheriff's Capt. Ben Wolfinger. The deputy, who was not identified, was not hospitalized.

A massive federal cleanup plan for mine waste in Idaho's Silver Valley is based on "generally sound" scientific and technical principles, according to a report released Thursday by the National Academy of Sciences. If anything, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ought to expand its efforts to protect residents and wildlife in the Coeur d'Alene and Spokane river basins from the toxic legacy of 100 years of mining, according to the review conducted by 17 scientists. The panel even called for mandatory blood testing for lead in every child aged 1 to 4 in the Coeur d'Alene Basin, which stretches from the Montana border to Spokane.

The public has a right to read the full contents of hundreds of e-mail exchanges between Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas and Marina Kalani, the former coordinator of a now-defunct juvenile court program, according to a ruling issued Friday by Idaho District Judge John R. Stegner. Although the ruling was clear in its determination that the 889 e-mail messages in question are open records and not protected by privacy laws, none of the messages will be released until the Idaho Supreme Court weighs in on the issue.