BILLINGS, Montana (AP) — Communications towers proposed for a historic fire lookout and popular hiking destination in Yellowstone National Park would detract from its views, park officials have determined.

The finding has triggered consultations with Wyoming preservation officials to look for ways to minimize the impact.

Yellowstone is proposing to erect a three-sided mounting structure with 40-foot towers for cellular antennae and other equipment around the Mt. Washburn Fire Lookout.

It’s part of a broader effort to improve Yellowstone’s wireless infrastructure and cell service in developed areas — changes that have sparked debate over how much connectivity is appropriate in a park that for many visitors offers an escape from an increasingly linked-in world.

The determination that the Mt. Washburn proposal would have an “adverse” visual effect was included in a letter from Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk to preservation officials that was obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Park officials will consult with Wyoming’s historic preservation office on ways to minimize or offset the equipment’s visual impact, said Yellowstone spokeswoman Morgan Warthin.

The new towers and mounting structure would allow for the removal of telecommunications equipment that’s been installed on the lookout tower over the course of decades, park officials have said.

Wyoming Historic Preservation Officer Mary Hopkins said that would benefit the structure itself but there still would be visual impacts.

“I don’t think it’s going to look any worse,” Hopkins said. “Our concern is the historic structure and the effect on that only — not whether there’s cell service.”

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility executive director Jeff Ruch said the park was making a bad situation worse.

“It was ugly and it’s about to get ugly squared,” Ruch said. “Given the nature of what they’re proposing, we’re not sure how you can eliminate the adverse impact other than by putting a cloak of invisibility on the whole structure.”

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — An early shot of winter weather depressed recreational visits in Yellowstone National Park during the month of September.

The National Park Service reports just over 640,000 people visited Yellowstone in September.

The visitation was down about 8.8 percent from September 2016, when the park recorded more than 700,000 recreational visits.

Snowy weather during the middle of last month closed some roads within and just outside the park for days.

Still, the Park Service says Yellowstone saw its third busiest September on record in the park.

So far this year, the park has hosted more than 3.8 million recreational visitors, down about 2.5 percent from the same period in 2016.

BUFFALO, Wyo. (AP) — A 62-year-old Kentucky woman who had been on a backcountry hiking trip has been found dead in the Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says Carol Hunchette, of Louisville, died from hypothermia.

Authorities say she and a 67-year-old Richard Cornelius, of Billings, Montana, entered a wilderness area last Friday and made camp. While hiking Saturday, they separated when Cornelius decided to head back to camp on his own.

However, he became lost and never reached the camp. He eventually found his way out late Monday afternoon and met others who contacted authorities.

A search for Hunchette began Monday evening.

Her body was found late Tuesday morning. She had left the camp apparently to seek help and was hiking out with her gear in a snow storm.

SUMPTER, Oregon (AP) — A woman in Oregon forgot to latch her front door and awoke to find a 160-pound bear in her living room.

The Baker City Herald reports that the bear knocked over a bookshelf but didn’t harm the 78-year-old woman.

The 3-year-old male bear was trapped and euthanized late last week by state wildlife officials.

Authorities have determined it was the same bear that was shot in the face last month by another startled resident who found it on his front porch.

It’s the third bear trapped and killed around Sumpter — population 204 — since Sept. 23.

Brian Ratliff, a wildlife biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, says bears may be coming into more contact with humans because a dry summer limited their supply of berries.

JACKSON, Wyoming (AP) — Grand Teton National Park rangers are investigating a traffic accident that left four bison dead in northwest Wyoming.

The accident occurred Oct. 2 in the park on a foggy night on U.S. 26/89/191 when a pickup truck hit one bison on the highway, rolled and then struck and killed three more nearby bison.

The National Park Service says the Casper woman who was driving alone escaped with minor injuries. Her name hasn’t been released.

Park spokesman Andrew White tells the Jackson Hole News & Guide that a citation has not been issued but isn’t out of the question if it’s determined the motorist was traveling too fast for the conditions.

Wildlife-vehicle collisions are common on the highway, which has posted speed limit of 45 mph at night.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State wildlife authorities are trying to find out who poached a mule deer near the town of Melba.

Idaho Fish and Game conservation officer Joey Ishida found the headless carcass of the large buck last weekend. Though the head was missing, no meat had been removed from the carcass.

Evidence suggests the deer was poached somewhere else, and then dumped along the road.

The department asks anyone who has information to call Fish and Game or the Idaho State Police.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal wildlife officials say a cat-sized predator that lives in old-growth forests of the Northern Rockies is not in danger of extinction despite worries about habitat loss and accidental trapping.

The Trump administration on Wednesday included the Northern Rockies fisher among 25 species that officials said do not merit protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Northern Rockies fishers once ranged across at least five states. They’re now limited to a smaller area straddling the Montana-Idaho border.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year agreed to consider new protections after wildlife advocates documented at least 66 fishers accidentally killed by trappers in Idaho. The agency says a months-long review found no evidence fisher populations were in decline because of trapping, climate change, logging or other potential threats.

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (AP) — The three-month long wolf hunting season is underway in Wyoming.

The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports a dozen wolves were legally harvested in the first 40 hours of the season, over a quarter of the total wolves that can be killed in the state’s managed hunt area.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department carnivore manager Ken Mills attributed the considerable success to the opener falling on a weekend, winter weather pushing lots of sportsmen into the field, and also a species that may temporarily have lost its fear of mankind.

Mills says it has been three years since the last hunting season. He says because of this, “there’s almost a whole new generation of wolves out there and they’re naive to human hunters.”

GREAT FALLS, Montana (AP) — Wildlife officials say they euthanized a grizzly bear after more than 10 large calves and a 1,400-pound cow were found dead with signs of grizzly depredation.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services and the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks determined the adult male grizzly euthanized Monday was responsible for killing the animals.

Grizzly Bear Management Specialist Mike Madel says cameras were set up after the adult cow was reported dead a few weeks ago.

Madel says the euthanized bear looked very similar to the bear in the images captured by the cameras.

After the bear was captured west of Dupuyer, the two wildlife agencies determined the grizzly was not a good candidate for relocation.

Madel says the bear’s body will most likely be used for educational purposes.

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park biologists say bison numbers are down from last year after its largest cull in nearly a decade.

Parks spokesman Jonathan Shafer said in an email that biologists’ surveys counted about 4,800 bison that live in the park, 700 less than last year.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/2xUNA5e ) state, federal and tribal government agencies are working to lower to the bison population at the park down to 3,000. More 1,200 were killed earlier this year through hunting and ship-to-slaughter operations.

Officials say a population report will be released later than usual because counts were not completed until August. Shafer says a full report should be out in a few days.

___

Information from: Bozeman Daily Chronicle, http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com