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.

The Portneuf Greenway Foundation issued the following press release:

POCATELLO – The Portnuef Greenway Foundation is excited to announce the next major expansion of the Portnuef Greenway trail system has been advertised for construction in the spring of this year.

This section is the first build of what is generally known as the “I-15 Corridor,” which will eventually connect ISU to the Wellness Complex and beyond.

The Marshal reach of the Portnuef Greenway will extend south for almost a mile from the Monte Vista Overpass, parallel to I-15, to Farm Bureau Insurance. This paved multi-use non-motorized trail will be ten feet wide and will be built to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. The construction is funded by grants from the Idaho Department of Transportation and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. Matching funds for the State grants are coming from the Portnuef Greenway Foundation. Bids for construction will be accepted through the City of Pocatello through mid-March and construction will begin as soon as it can be scheduled.

Rory Erchul, President of the Portnuef Greenway Foundation, said “This very significant expansion of the Greenway was only possible because of our partners in this community and I cannot put into words how much I appreciate their support. The City of Pocatello sponsored this project and helped secure funding from the Idaho Transportation Department and the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation. The Marshall and Racine Families granted easements across their property for the trail and there have been numerous community members who have contributed matching funds to help make this project a reality.”

Donners who contributed matching funds or made other significant contributions include the Ifft Foundation, Keller Engineering, Idaho Community Bank, Idaho Central Credit Union, Farm Bureau Insurance, Paul Link, and several others who wished to remain anonymous.

“It’s been the intent of the Greenway Foundation for many years to develop trail along I-15. With the help and coordination of so many interested parties, the intent becomes reality this year,” said Dan Harelson, Projects Manager for the Portneuf Greenway Foundation. “This is the first step in creating trail that will connect the Highland Area and the Wellness Complex, south to ISU and the Edson Ficther Nature Area.”

The mission of the Portneuf Greenway Foundation is to create a network of bicycle and pedestrian trails throughout the greater Pocatello area to enhance the quality of life for residents of the area by establishing and improving the Portneuf Greenway as a community resource. The foundation is a 503c organization established in 1992 and is governed by a volunteer board of directors and receives no direct funding from the City of Pocatello or Chubbuck for public facilities. Development of the Portneuf Greenway is guided by the Portneuf Greenway Master Plan and a supporting Capital Investment Plan. Though the Greenway Foundation focused on establishing trails along the Portneuf River initially, the broader vision is to connect a comprehensive trail system throughout the Pocatello and Chubbuck communities.

JACKSON, Wyo. — To celebrate spring break, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is producing a free concert series at the resort base and town square. Snowboard slopestyle Olympian Red Gerard will also perform in an exhibition.

The Jackson Hole Rendezvous Spring Festival, a four-day, spring lifestyle and music festival is scheduled March 15 to 18 with musicians and bands performing country, blues, reggae, and pop.

“Rendezvous, now in its fifth year, has quickly become one of the most popular winter spring festivals in the West, so we’re anticipating a great crowd,” said Anna Cole, JHMR communications director.

“After hosting two years of Rendezvous with a paid concert model, we wanted to scale the festival back a bit to make it more accessible to our guests and locals,” Cole said. “This year’s lineup has a wide variety of acts, and there is something for everyone.”

The headliner band is ‘Portugal. The Man.’

Proud of their small-town roots and inspiration for their music coming from their hometown of Wasilla, Alaska, band members recently won a Grammy for best pop duo/group performance for the song “Feel It Still.” The band will perform at 3 p.m. on March 17 at the JHMR stage in Teton Village.

Cole said another special event on March 17 will be a two-hour exhibition from 10 a.m. to noon of Olympian Red Gerard performing his snowboarding tricks at the top of the gondola.

The 17-year-old from Silverthorne, Colo., is the first U.S. gold medalist in snowboard slopestyle. After his exhibition, he will be signing autographs in the village at the mountain base.

Other bands performing during the festival are Michael Franti and the Spearhead, the Mavericks, Frankie Ballard, Devon Allman with Special Guest Duane Betts and the Chanman Roots Band.

Throughout March and April, Music Under the Tram is a free concert series starting at 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

With record snowfall of more than 400 inches at the resort, the winter season is transitioning to spring skiing. The resort has brought back its Golden Ticket Promotion, Cole said. Lift tickets are discounted at 40 percent from April 2 to 8 to anyone with a season pass from anywhere in the world.

Vouchers for discount tickets to ski at the resort any day are also available by joining the Pocatello Ski and Snowboard Association, with forms and coupon book at Barrie’s Ski & Sports at 624 Yellowstone Ave in Pocatello. 

More information about the festival and other spring break events may be found at https://www.jacksonhole.com/rendezvous.html.

I met Bill Olson, editor of Texas Outdoor Journal, at the Dallas Safari Convention & Expo years ago. One thing led to another, and we’ve become friends. I write a monthly column for him. So when he called and asked if I wanted to go on a Texas hog hunt with him, of course the answer was yes.

The plan was to fly into Austin and he’d pick me up at the airport. I have a niece and nephew in Austin so that would work great. I got to meet them for coffee.

I hugged them bye and we took off for the Reveille Ranch near Burnet, Texas. There we met up with Murray and Clint Choate, owners of Slow Glow. Right off I liked them. They were some gung-ho hog hunters. The plan was to grab a bite in town and then head to the ranch and get situated. Those plans were soon thrown out the window and Clint started drawing up a night hog hunt. Forget the group hugs and getting comfortable the first evening.

They explained to us how their product worked. Murray is an inventor and to help his hog hunting addiction be more successful, he invented an LED motion-activated system.

Here’s how it works — it is pointed toward a feeding area. When hogs come in it starts slowly illuminating over a two-minute period. If it fired up right away the hogs would spook, so it lights up slowly so they don’t even know it is getting lighter.

It sounded unique. Now to go test it out. They were sure excited to show it to us. At the first stalk, Clint was to shoot one with his bow. Great, maybe I could get multiple articles on hog hunting with the Benjamin Pioneer airbow, the Mossberg Patriot Revere rifle, archery and pistol hunting. That’d make it a productive albeit busy hunt.

We drove down a pasture road and soon parked and unloaded to begin our stalk. As we came over a rise, you could see the eerie green glow of the Slow Glow at full power. Great, that meant we had hogs on the spot (or it could just be coons, deer or cows).

As we got closer, you could hear hogs grunting, squealing and rooting around. Clint nocked an arrow and his dad ran the camera. I didn’t have very high hopes of getting close enough for a shot because there were four of us. We lined up behind each other and stalked in behind the light.

Oh my gosh, there was a good group of hogs fading in and out of the light. There was at least one good-sized boar. When a little pig would get too close, the boar would root them with his snout and send them flying. They’d squeal and hustle off only to be back in a few seconds sneaking in for another bite of corn.

At 11 paces, we stopped. The boar was in back of a couple of sows. We waited a bit and then a shooting lane cleared. Clint drew back, then another hog moved in the field of shot. After what seemed like an eternity, the lane opened and Clint threaded in an arrow. We could see the illuminated nock zip in and strike home.

At the sound of the bow, snapping hogs squealed and shot off every which way. We walked to where the hogs had been and picked up the arrow. Something was wrong! There was no blood. Upon closer inspection we could see that the expandable broadhead had some hair/fat on it but it had been driven back into the shaft. We finally figured it out. The arrow had hit the hard shoulder plate and bounced off.

Wow! Big boars are as tough as you hear. I made up my mind then that I favored my Wasp broadheads for the airbow. It appeared to me that with the 2-inch wide expandable broadhead that it’s just too likely to hit a bone and deflect or slow/stop it.

The next night, eight-time NHRA Champion (drag racer) Tony Schumacher showed up to hunt with us. We had a great time taking him while Bill and Murray took his girlfriend, Summer Penland, with them on a pistol hog hunt.

Tony was going to use his AR but Clint and I talked him into using my airbow. Tony shot it a few times in camp and got comfortable with it. His girlfriend then shot it freehand and got a Robin Hood. Everyone was impressed with the Pioneer airbow.

Well, we are out of room for this week. Next week, we’ll see how the hunts went.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

Telemark diehards will descend on Pebble Creek this Sunday to take part in its Telemark Festival. Until recently, the annual event was in jeopardy of having to move the course for its main event.

In past years, Pebble moved the race course for the Classic Terrain Race, the festival’s main event, farther up the mountain because there wasn’t enough snow at the mountain’s base to set gates. 

For most of February, Pebble had snow depths in the 30s. But last weekend’s massive snowstorm dumped close to 34 inches on the resort, which bumped the snow depth on the mid-mountain to 72 inches, allowing the festival to hold the race at the bottom of the mountain.

“It was a pretty mellow winter through February,” said Tim Arrington, who is in charge of setting the course for the Classic Terrain Race. “I was running out there running dry dirt in shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt for most of February. I was pretty sure we were done.”

Telemark skiing is a combination of both alpine and cross-county skiing. The race is mostly downhill and the ski design allows for tight and quick turns down the mountain, but skiers don’t have anything attached to their heel, giving it a cross country-like design in the back.

“The thing we struggle the most with every year is the uphill gates,” Arrington said. “Even the experienced skiers can ski into those.”

Competitors will race down Pebble’s Rock Garden run, a blue run that skirts down the middle of the resort ending at the lodge, allowing spectators to sit on the deck while watching the racers. The race is set to begin at 1 p.m. Registration begins at 10:30 a.m. and there’s a $25 fee. A long-sleeved t-shirt, race entry and access to the post-race party are included in the fees. Entrants must have a valid lift ticket or season pass.

“The telemark skiers compete throughout the day and then have a party,” said Mary Reichman, general manager of Pebble Creek.

Arrington partners with Pebble’s ski school instructor to design the course. The struggle is finding a balance between a course that is challenging enough to attract the diehards, but still easy enough to encourage beginners to compete.

“I would like to see a little bit of air under their skies,” Arrington said. “Nothing too major. They would be small. We want to welcome everybody.”

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.

ISLAND PARK – Island Park Hospitality hopes to build a 115-room Marriott SpringHill Suites Hotel at the current Mack’s Inn site. The company reported on its webpage the facility would open spring of 2019.

Island Park Hospitality official Kirk Barker says plans call to tear down various buildings and add commercial buildings and a boat house. A restaurant is also planned for the new hotel, he said.

While under the name Marriott, an independent owner would run the facility.

“We affiliate with premium brands and go into a premium location. We customize the building. It will not be a prototypical building, but one that fits into the scenic beauty that surrounds Island Park,” he said.

Before anything is built, 1.9 of the five acres the hospitality organization owns needs to be annexed into Island Park from neighboring Fremont County. The city council plans to consider doing so during its upcoming meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 22, at city hall located at 3753 Highway 20 and is adjacent to Pond’s Lodge.

During the meeting, the city council will also review the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation that the property in question remains commercially zoned — should it be annexed into Island Park.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Board met on Thursday where they agreed to suggest that the city council continue with the property’s current zoning designation.

Much of the property in and around Mack’s Inn is partially in the county, said Island Park’s Planning and Zoning official Jeff Patlovich.

“In order to proceed with any kind of development — whatever that may be – it’s got to be in one jurisdiction,” he said.

Patlovich also emphasized that the P&Z Board has nothing to do with the city’s possible annexation decision. The board only suggested what the property should be zoned as should the city opt to annex it.

“If it’s annexed, what should it be zoned?” he asked.

In the meantime, Patlovich has yet to receive any building permit requests from Island Park Hospitality.

“They have not applied for a permit. They have applied for an annexation,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to think there’s an application for a permit to be building anything.”

While Patlovich hasn’t received any building permit requests, he has been shown preliminary plans for the proposed SpringHill Suits Hotel.

“I’ve seen some really preliminary ones as far back as August of last year. They were sketches,” he said.

Island Park Hospitality is an entity of the Utah-based Ensign Hospitality organization. According to its webpage, the company currently owns hotels in Logan, Springdale and Salt Lake City, Utah.

For more information on the upcoming city council meeting, call city hall at 208-558-7687.

ISLAND PARK – Island Park Hospitality hopes to build a 115-room Marriott SpringHill Suites Hotel at the current Mack’s Inn site. The company reported on its webpage the facility would open spring of 2019.

Island Park Hospitality official Kirk Barker says plans call to tear down various buildings and add commercial buildings and a boat house. A restaurant is also planned for the new hotel, he said.

While under the name Marriott, an independent owner would run the facility.

“We affiliate with premium brands and go into a premium location. We customize the building. It will not be a prototypical building, but one that fits into the scenic beauty that surrounds Island Park,” he said.

Before anything is built, 1.9 of the five acres the hospitality organization owns needs to be annexed into Island Park from neighboring Fremont County. The city council plans to consider doing so during its upcoming meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 22, at city hall located at 3753 Highway 20 and is adjacent to Pond’s Lodge.

During the meeting, the city council will also review the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation that the property in question remains commercially zoned — should it be annexed into Island Park.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Board met on Thursday where they agreed to suggest that the city council continue with the property’s current zoning designation.

Much of the property in and around Mack’s Inn is partially in the county, said Island Park’s Planning and Zoning official Jeff Patlovich.

“In order to proceed with any kind of development — whatever that may be – it’s got to be in one jurisdiction,” he said.

Patlovich also emphasized that the P&Z Board has nothing to do with the city’s possible annexation decision. The board only suggested what the property should be zoned as should the city opt to annex it.

“If it’s annexed, what should it be zoned?” he asked.

In the meantime, Patlovich has yet to receive any building permit requests from Island Park Hospitality.

“They have not applied for a permit. They have applied for an annexation,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to think there’s an application for a permit to be building anything.”

While Patlovich hasn’t received any building permit requests, he has been shown preliminary plans for the proposed SpringHill Suits Hotel.

“I’ve seen some really preliminary ones as far back as August of last year. They were sketches,” he said.

Island Park Hospitality is an entity of the Utah-based Ensign Hospitality organization. According to its webpage, the company currently owns hotels in Logan, Springdale and Salt Lake City, Utah.

For more information on the upcoming city council meeting, call city hall at 208-558-7687.

BOISE — A revised version of a controversial trespassing bill will go to the House floor with the support of two Magic Valley lawmakers on the Agricultural Affairs Committee.

The legislation, HB 658, would change private property posting requirements for land owners while implementing harsher punishments for trespassers. The bill is an updated version of HB 536, which easily cleared the same committee three weeks earlier despite questions about its constitutionality and opposition from sheriffs around the state.

If passed, HB 658 would get rid of the requirement that private land owners mark their property with orange paint or signs every 660 feet. Instead, the land would need to be marked with signs or paint or enclosed with a fence or other boundary to the extent that “a reasonable person” would realize that he or she is on private property.

Both versions of the legislation have drawn criticism from sportsmen and outdoorsmen groups, who say loosening posting requirements will increase the chances that a hunter unknowingly trespasses on private property.

HB 658 is also opposed by the Idaho Sheriffs Association on the grounds that it would over-criminalize conduct that was previously benign, said spokesman Michael Kane.

An analysis of the earlier bill by the Attorney General’s office found that it may have violated the U.S. Constitution by turning “many innocent acts” into criminal offenses. The legislation was also opposed by the Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

“The way it’s written, it makes it almost a per se trespassing crime if you happen to be on somebody else’s land,” Twin Falls Prosecutor Grant Loebs said at the time.

The updated bill, HB 658, addresses some of the legal concerns raised by the prosecutors and the Attorney General’s office by adjusting some of the language in the legislation and providing a list of people who would be excluded from the law, including someone who knocks on a stranger’s front door.

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The Idaho Prosecuting Attorneys Association no longer opposes the bill, Loebs said.

Rep. Maxine Bell of Jerome and Rep. Steve Miller of Fairfield, both Republicans, voted along with nine other lawmakers Tuesday to send HB 658 to the full House chamber with a do-pass recommendation.

“You have to be very careful that you don’t let the perfect be the enemy to the good,” Bell said, adding that lawmakers could work out any problems with the law during the next legislative session.

Rep. Sally Toone of Gooding, one of the panel’s two Democrats, voted to hold the bill in committee, along with Rep. Matt Erpelding, a Boise Democrat, and Rep. Randy Armstrong, a Republican from Inkom.

“I’d like to see us go to that next level of perfect,” Toone said.

The following press release from Predator Defense, Western Watersheds Project and International Fund for Animal Welfare details an upcoming memorial for Kasey, a yellow lab who was killed last year from an unmarked M-44.

The statement says:

POCATELLO — The public is invited to watch the award-winning film, “EXPOSED: USDA’s Secret War on Wildlife,” at a special screening in memory of Kasey, the yellow lab from Pocatello who was killed in March 2017 by an unmarked M-44 “cyanide bomb.”

Fourteen-year-old Canyon Mansfield accidentally set off the device while walking his dog Kasey on a hill behind his house. Canyon was covered in cyanide, but he was upwind. His dog was not. And so Canyon watched his best friend die an agonizing death from cyanide poisoning. Canyon himself has suffered terrible side effects from the poisoning. He and his family headed to D.C. in 2017 to urge Congress to prevent other families from suffering similar tragedies by passing legislation to ban M-44 “cyanide bombs.” Their work is ongoing.

In the film “EXPOSED” three former federal agents and a Congressman take on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s taxpayer-funded “Wildlife Services” program, which has killed, maimed, and poisoned millions of wild animals with M-44 “cyanide bombs” and other deadly devices. The agency’s traps and poisons also harm humans and have killed countless pets. “EXPOSED” is a film Jane Goodall said she wants millions to see. It also won Best Short Film in the 2015 Animal Film Festival and Best Wildlife Activism Film at the 2014 Wildlife Conservation Film Festival New York.

The free memorial screening will be held: Thursday, March 15, 7 p.m. Bengal Theater 14 E. Humboldt St., Pocatello, ID

The screening will be followed by a question and answer session featuring prominent voices in the movement to ban wildlife poisons, including the Mansfield family, who are Pocatello residents and M-44 victims; Brooks Fahy, filmmaker and executive director of the national wildlife advocacy group Predator Defense; along with a former government wildlife trapper and key representatives from sponsor organizations. Event sponsors include Predator Defense, Western Watersheds Project, Advocates for the West, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Friends of the Clearwater.