BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge says lawsuits from environmentalists and American Indians who want to restore protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears can move forward.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen on Tuesday denied a request by the Interior Department to put the lawsuits on hold.

Attorneys for the agency had argued they needed time to review last year’s decision to lift protections for the animals.

Advocates for restoring protections said a delay would have hurt their efforts to stop a proposed grizzly hunt in Wyoming this fall.

The hunt would allow up to 24 bears to be killed. It would be the first legal grizzly harvest in the Lower 48 in more than 40 years.

About 700 grizzlies live in Yellowstone National Park and surrounding areas of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (AP) — Wyoming will seek an agreement with U.S. Interior Department and National Park Service officials about collecting a fee at Yellowstone National Park to fund wildlife conservation efforts in the states surrounding the park.

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead on Monday signed a joint resolution passed the state Legislature earlier calling for discussions about the fees.

Proponents say the idea is to generate money for Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to deal with issues like wildlife collisions, disease and migration routes.

The Wyoming resolution, which also involves Grand Teton National Park, does not specify how the fee would be assessed or what the amount would be.

Because only the federal government oversees fees in national parks, the resolution seeks to start a conversation between the three states and the federal agencies.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The first grizzly bear hunting in the lower 48 states in more than 40 years could happen in Wyoming this fall.

Yellowstone-region grizzlies haven’t been hunted since they were put on the federal endangered species list in 1975. Wyoming officials released a plan Friday that would allow up to 24 grizzlies to be killed this fall.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission will vote on the plan May 23.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports up to 12 bears could be killed in an area immediately surrounding Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks. Another 12 could be killed on farms, ranches and other areas not considered typical grizzly habitat.

Idaho and Montana are not planning their own hunts since the government removed Yellowstone-region grizzlies from federal protection in 2017.

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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Concerns over aquatic invasive species have led Yellowstone National Park officials to ban the use of felt sole boots or waders and to set a boating season during which watercraft inspections will be available.

Park officials say rubber sole boots will be allowed because they trap fewer organisms and can be cleaned with water and a scrub brush.

The boating season will run from May 26 through Nov. 4.

All watercraft entering the park must have a boat permit and a Yellowstone aquatic invasive species inspection before launching in the park.

Watercraft subject to inspection include boats, canoes, kayaks and float tubes. Inspections will be available seven days a week at various locations in the park.

MAMMOTH HOT SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Concerns over aquatic invasive species have led Yellowstone National Park officials to ban the use of felt sole boots or waders and to set a boating season during which watercraft inspections will be available.

Park officials say rubber sole boots will be allowed because they trap fewer organisms and can be cleaned with water and a scrub brush.

The boating season will run from May 26 through Nov. 4.

All watercraft entering the park must have a boat permit and a Yellowstone aquatic invasive species inspection before launching in the park.

Watercraft subject to inspection include boats, canoes, kayaks and float tubes. Inspections will be available seven days a week at various locations in the park.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Legislature has passed a proposal to collect a fee at Yellowstone National Park to fund wildlife conservation efforts in the states surrounding the park.

The measure, which also involves neighboring Grand Teton National Park, was approved Thursday and now goes to Gov. Matt Mead for his consideration.

Proponents say the idea is to generate money for Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to deal with issues like wildlife collisions, disease and migration routes.

The Wyoming resolution does not specify how the fee would be assessed or what the amount would be.

Since only the federal government can impose fees in national parks, the resolution seeks to start a conversation between the three states and federal officials.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A judge has ordered three bison activists arrested in Yellowstone National Park to be detained until at least Monday.

Thomas Brown of Hardwick, Vermont; Cody J. Cyson of Minnetonka, Minnesota; and Hanna Ponder of Donnelly, Idaho, appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman at the Yellowstone Justice Center.

All three have been cited for entering a closed area, which is a misdemeanor. Brown and Cyson were also cited for interfering with agency functions after park officials said they chained themselves to a corral used to hold bison early Tuesday.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports Carman granted a federal prosecutor’s request to delay court proceedings until Monday and to detain the three defendants until then.

The three are affiliated with an advocacy group called Wild Buffalo Defense that seeks to draw attention to the slaughter of bison.

LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — Fisheries managers should shut down steelhead fishing in the Columbia and Snake river basins to protect a wild run that returns to Idaho’s Clearwater River, according to a conservation group.

The Conservation Angler told The Lewiston Tribune in a story on Saturday that even catch-and-release regulations threaten the survival of B-run steelhead.

In a letter to Idaho Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore, Executive Director David Moskowitz said steelhead fishing should be closed to allow the wild fish to spawn.

“The ongoing fishery will cause mortalities to the wild B-run return now in Idaho rivers,” Moskowitz wrote. “Please close the fisheries in order to allow wild B-runs to spawn in their natal rivers and put some more wild fish ‘in the bank’ — so to speak — of Idaho’s great rivers.”

Fish and Game Fisheries Bureau Chief Jim Fredericks said precautions are in place. He also said there are so few fish to catch, that fewer anglers are out trying to catch them.

“Encounter rates go up and down with the number of fish out there to encounter,” he said. “When populations are low, fewer wild fish are handled. Angler effort has been about a third of what it would be in a normal year, so encounter rates are even lower than they would be in our typical calculations.”

He said most of the fishing pressure is aimed at places holding hatchery fish, not wild fish.

When it comes to steelhead regulations, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Program Manager Chris Donley said his agency will likely defer to Idaho on Idaho fish.

“If Idaho is not concerned about fish endemic to their river, we are probably not going to be concerned in Washington,” he said.

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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — A plan appears to be advancing to clean up cleanup of toxic waters at a former open pit copper mine where at least 3,000 migrating snow geese died when they landed in metal-laden water in 2016.

Montana Resources on Monday announced the plan that will eventually discharge treated water from the Berkeley Pit in Butte into Silver Bow Creek, The Montana Standard reports .

Atlantic Richfield officials say the goal is to slow down and eventually stop the rise of the water level in Berkeley Pit, which was declared a Superfund site in 1983.

Currently, the Horseshoe Bend Water Treatment plant is treating water that would otherwise seep into the pit, which holds about 50 billion gallons of heavily acidic, metal laden water. Montana Resources uses the treated water in its nearby copper mine’s milling operations and discharges it into a tailings pond.

Mark Thompson, Montana Resources’ vice president for environmental affairs, said a pilot project to start within the next year will divert the seep water directly to the tailings pond.

About 3 million gallons of water per day will be pulled from the pit into MR’s precipitation plant, which uses iron to recover copper from the water. The mine expects to recover 100,000 pounds of copper per month from the water, Thompson said.

After the copper is removed, the water will be run through the Horseshoe Bend plant to remove other contaminants and neutralize its acidity. That treated water will be used in Montana Resources milling operations before also being discharged into the tailings pond to settle out.

A temporary polishing plant will be built near the tailings pond to further treat at least 7 million gallons of water each day from the pond. The water will be discharged into nearby Silver Bow Creek.

Thompson said the project will run for 3 or 4 years and then reviewed to determine if it should be made permanent.

Montana Department of Environmental Quality Project Manager Joel Chavez, who spent 16 years rebuilding lower Silver Bow Creek, said he planned for the additional flow when the state began removing metals from the lower stretch of the creek. He doesn’t anticipate the additional water would create problems, such as erosion, downstream.

Matt Moore, Butte-Silver Bow Metro Sewer operations manager, said the additional water will benefit aquatic life and “make a nicer, more robust creek in the middle of our town.”

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Information from: The Montana Standard, http://www.mtstandard.com

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A proposal to collect a fee at Yellowstone National Park to fund wildlife conservation efforts in the states surrounding the park has passed the Wyoming House of Representatives.

The measure, which also applies to neighboring Grand Teton National Park, was approved Tuesday and now heads to the state Senate for more debate.

Proponents say the idea is to generate money for Wyoming, Montana and Idaho to deal with issues like wildlife collisions, disease and migration routes.

The Wyoming resolution does not specify how the fee would be assessed or what the amount would be.

Since only the federal government can impose fees in national parks, the resolution seeks to start a conversation about the idea between the three states and the U.S. Interior Department and the National Park Service.