Rescue turns into recovery effort for teen in Yellowstone River

LIVINGSTON, Mont. (AP) — A boating accident on Montana’s Yellowstone River that killed a woman took another grim turn as the search for her teenage son shifted from a rescue operation to an effort to recover his body.

The search for James Anderson, 15, after his family’s boat capsized near Livingston led to a two-day rescue effort that included nearly 150 people searching from the water, the shoreline and the air. A stretch of the river from Livingston to Columbus that had been closed to boat traffic over the weekend reopened Sunday night, Gallatin County sheriff’s officials said in a statement.

Gallatin County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Anderson, his wife Angie, son James and a daughter were floating the river on a drift boat Friday night when it capsized, authorities said. Jim Anderson and his daughter were able to make it to shore safely, but Angie died and James couldn’t be found.

“As the search shifts into recovery, we will be reducing the size of the search teams but the search will continue,” the sheriff’s office statement said.

Five counties and state officials sent search and rescue crews that included boats, divers, search dogs and a helicopter. The search continued after dark using thermal cameras.

The sheriff’s office said Jim Anderson thanked the rescuers for their efforts.

“Family is everything, it’s why we do what we do and it’s also why it hurts that much more when it’s our family,” Sheriff Brian Gootkin said in a statement. “We hurt for Jim and his family. They have a long, difficult road ahead but they are not alone. We will help and support them no matter what they need or how long it takes.”

Man arrested after allegedly assaulting two people with bear spray in Yellowstone bathroom

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A 29-year-old man has been charged with assaulting a man and woman in a Yellowstone National Park restroom with bear spray.

Federal prosecutors charged Jackson Coombs with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. No hometown for Coombs was provided.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports that court documents state the incident occurred July 18 when the woman and her boyfriend went to use community restrooms near Mammoth Hot Springs.

The woman told rangers that a man with toilet paper wrapped around his neck and lower face attacked her. The woman’s boyfriend heard her screams and started fighting with the man, who discharged bear spray.

An attorney for Coombs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Coombs waived a preliminary hearing on Tuesday and was being held without bond.

Health advisories issued for 2 South Idaho reservoirs

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Public health advisories have been issued for two south-central Idaho reservoirs due to harmful algae blooms.

The Times-News reports that the South Central Public Health District and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality on Friday issued the advisories for Mormon Reservoir and Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir.

Officials say a toxin produced by the algae is at unhealthy levels, and that children and pets are particularly susceptible.

Officials say they will monitor water quality until the algae bloom dissipates.

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Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com

Yellowstone effort to eradicate lake trout shows progress

JACKSON, Wyoming (AP) — An extensive effort to capture and kill non-native lake trout in Yellowstone Lake is showing progress with fewer of the invasive fish being found.

“In 2018 so far, we’ve caught basically 155,000 lake trout, and that’s 63,000 less than this time last year,” Yellowstone National Park fisheries chief Todd Koel told the Jackson Hole News & Guide. “That’s huge. It’s a real signal that this population is finally crashing. It’s what our science has predicted and the population modeling has predicted, and now we’ve finally started seeing it on the ground, which is great.”

The effort against the lake trout is the centerpiece of a long-term fight to help Yellowstone’s native cutthroat trout. Lake trout feed on cutthroats, causing the native fish population to decline.

The decline in lake trout is showing up in the size of the fish being caught, Koel said.

“There have been less and less large lake trout out there for many, many years,” he told the newspaper. “Now we’re seeing declines in the smaller fish.”

The lack of 2- and 3-year-old lake trout showing up in gill nets suggests that the slaying of larger lake trout slowed down reproduction several years ago.

The National Park Service had been predicting the crash of Yellowstone’s lake trout population for several years. Entirely eliminating lake trout in the 136-square-mile lake is believed to be impossible, and so the suppression efforts, in some form, will likely continue in perpetuity.

A 2015 Montana State University dissertation predicted that it would take another 14 years of intensive lake trout killing to rebound native cutthroat trout to conservation goals sought by managers.

“We have no intention of letting off on the netting pressure at all,” Koel said. “In fact, we’ve been talking about increasing it more. We want to put the nail in the coffin of these lake trout.”

Yellowstone’s netting program costs about $2 million a year.

Large grizzly that killed calf in eastern Idaho relocated

KILGORE (AP) — Authorities say a 530-pound male grizzly bear that killed a calf in eastern Idaho has been captured and relocated to a remote area.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game in a news release Tuesday says the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services on Friday investigated the death of the domestic calf near Kilgore and determined a grizzly bear killed it.

Fish and Game says workers with the state agency and Wildlife Services set a culvert trap that day and captured the bear estimated to be 10 to 12 years old.

Officials say the bear was immobilized, given a health assessment, fitted with a GPS tracking collar and released in the Fish Creek drainage on U.S. Forest Service land.

Fish and Game says it will monitor the bear’s movements.

Boat inspections stopping invasive mussels at Idaho border

COEUR D’ALENE (AP) — Idaho officials say more boats carrying invasive mussels have been intercepted at inspection stations so far this year than for the entire boating seasons in each of the last five years.

Nick Zurfluh of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture says 41,000 inspections have found 36 watercraft with mussels.

Quagga and zebra mussels can clog water pipes, damage boat motors and affect other aquatic life.

Zurfluh tells the Coeur d’Alene Press in a story on Thursday that so far there have been no confirmed mussel infestations in Idaho.

State officials say it could cost the state $100 million annually in damage and lost revenue if mussels infest Idaho’s water.

Idaho Fish and Game: South Idaho man cited for poaching sturgeon

BOISE (AP) — A Boise man authorities say poached a sturgeon from the Snake River below Swan Falls Dam has been cited.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game in a news release Thursday says 32-year-old Michael Melton received the citation on June 17 after conservation officers found Melton with a 2-foot sturgeon at a Meridian residence.

Authorities say another angler saw Melton place the sturgeon in his vehicle and told Melton that sturgeon had to be released.

Officials say Melton ignored the other angler, who called the Citizens Against Poaching hotline and reported the incident.

Authorities say Melton admitted keeping the sturgeon when confronted by the conservation officers and was cited for possession of a white sturgeon during a closed season.

If found guilty, Melton faces a mandatory fishing license suspension.

Advocates look to buy up grizzly bear hunting licenses

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming’s planned grizzly bear hunt this fall is structured in a way that allows the possibility of disruption by those opposed to the hunt.

And wildlife activist Lisa Robertson says that is what she plans to do by applying for one of the limited number of tags although she has no intention of hunting a bear.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that the maneuver amounts to a form of legal protest against the state’s planned grizzly bear hunt this fall.

The 22 tags up for sale cost $600 for residents and $6,000 for nonresidents.

State game managers say there’s nothing illegal about applying with no intention of hunting.

Idaho has approved hunting one grizzly this fall, while Montana has decided for now not to allow grizzly hunting.

Man rescued after falling, causing avalanche on Mount Borah

CHALLIS, Idaho (AP) — Officials in central Idaho say a Pennsylvania man had to be rescued after falling on Idaho’s tallest mountain, triggering a small avalanche.

According to the Custer County Sheriff’s office, 23-year-old Hao Yan of Devin, Pennsylvania, fell Saturday while climbing the north face of Mount Borah — which summits at 12,657 feet and attracts climbers from all over the world annually.

Dispatchers say Yan called 911 with his cellphone around 9:30 p.m. while lying partially buried in the snow.

Rescue crews then called a Montana helicopter team to help in the retrieval effort. The helicopter team spotted Yan early Sunday morning, where he was flown to an ambulance and treated for severe hypothermia.

Yan told rescue crews he was climbing alone and fell, injuring his back.

Officials seek cause of die-off at stocked fishing pond in South Idaho

BURLEY, Idaho (AP) — Officials in south-central Idaho are trying to figure out what caused most, if not all, of the fish in a fishing pond to die.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game tells The Times-News in a story on Thursday that the die-off at Freedom Park Pond in Burley occurred between Saturday morning and Sunday evening.

Doug Megargle of Idaho Fish and Game says that about 4,300 fish were planted in the past six weeks for anglers, but the agency doesn’t think there are any fish left to catch in the pond.

Megargle says results from tests on water samples are pending.

He says that if people caught fish from the pond, they can delay eating them until the cause of the fish kill is determined.