Ryan Zinke

Conservation groups have said they are “weighing options” about what to do next. Ranching and cattle groups applauded the decision, saying more predators present challenges for their members.

Around 450 people filed into the AgriComplex building at the Okanogan County Fairgrounds Monday night. They wanted to voice their opinions on a draft plan to relocate grizzlies to the North Cascades.

U.S. Judge Michael H. Simon issued a temporary restraining order, blocking the grazing permits issued to Dwight and Steven Hammond by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke before he left the Trump administration at the beginning of this year.

Environmental groups sued this week over a federal decision allowing two Eastern Oregon ranchers to graze cattle on the same land they were convicted of burning in 2012. Prison sentences for ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond sparked protests, leading to the 2016 standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

During a testy confirmation hearing on Thursday, President Donald Trump's pick to be the nation's largest land steward told senators that he would take steps to prevent conflicts of interest and to improve ethics guidelines at the Interior Department.

Park Superintendent Christine Lehnertz has been cleared of allegations of creating a hostile work environment in a report by the Inspector General of the Interior Department.

A new rule proposed by Interior in December appears designed to make it harder for public interest groups like Western Values Project to get public records. The rule would give the agency greater discretion over how it handles public records requests.

Since being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, grizzly bear populations in northwest Montana and the Greater Yellowstone Area have more than tripled in size. That tolerance, scientists and wildlife officials say, is key to the grizzly bears' future as the effects of climate change harden, the West gets more crowded, and bears spreads into areas they haven't been in more than 100 years.

As Ryan Zinke steps down amid a string of ethics investigations, his deputy David Bernhardt — a former oil-industry lobbyist and a polarizing figure — will take over at the Department of the Interior.

A controversial plan to reintroduce grizzly bears to Washington’s North Cascades will not be finished by the end of the year. Federal officials had pushed to bring grizzlies back to wilder parts of the state. Those efforts have stalled.