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Letterman Honeybee crisis to audition pets Save up to $29 Critical part Coupons in today’s Tribune of ecosystem, in Great Falls ag struggles Fur Ball coverage /1M to survive /1B www.greatfallstribune.com No. 344 — 122nd Year SUNDAY April 22, 2007 Great Falls, Montana — $1.50 Today’s question Lack of transmission Senate bill could Would the new More inside Should hybrid wolves be illegal? Inside capacity is why we are affect Montana power line affect z Astronauts enjoy unique Question details are on 1M. on 5A behind in wind energy. Alberta Tie project. our electricity bills? appreciation of Earth /10A z Reusable grocery bags gain popularity /Business section z Thirteen easy ways to help Hybrid the Earth /USA Weekend wolves Billion-dollar boon Havre scientist key Montana Alberta Tie to landmark ruling still in would open door to the wild flood of wind projects on global warming By KIM SKORNOGOSKI cluded that global warming By KARL PUCKETT giant wind turbines, Tribune Staff Writer is happening and people are „ Pair of escaped Tribune Staff Writer each putting out to blame. enough electricity for at On April 2, the U.S. She also convinced John animals roams Front, The open country least 300 homes. Supreme Court ruled that Michael Wallace, a Universi- may have been seen north of Great Falls The line itself and the the government is required ty of Washington atmos- stretching to the Cana- nearby wind farms to regulate greenhouse gas- pheric sciences professor dian border — long would require $1 billion es such as the car- and one of the By MICHAEL BABCOCK known for its wheat — in capital investment, bon dioxide emitted world’s leading Tribune Outdoor Editor may be about to see an according to the devel- by cars, trucks and global warming ex- explosion of a new opers. power plants. perts, to sign on, and Two of three wolf hybrids crop. Local government The decision consequently sever- that escaped in November Harvested from tow- officials, who would could change na- al other scientists from a Wolf Creek residence ers twice as tall as the reap up to $4 million a tional policy for followed suit. remain loose on the Rocky old Milwaukee Depot, year in property taxes decades to come “It made me a lit- Mountain Front and may with blades that reach from the transmission and one of the key tle nervous to wade have been spotted by game nearly 400 feet into the line alone, are on scientists behind it Russell into the political end wardens earlier this month. sky, that crop is wind. board. So are many is a former Havre of the pool,” Russell The hybrids were among The growth hinges landowners. woman and emerging star in said. “This seemed too im- four brought to Montana by on regulatory approval “I think it’s really the global warming field. portant to pass up. You can’t a Florida woman who died and construction of the going to benefit the Joellen Russell, 36, is the in good conscious allow the along with her boyfriend in Montana Alberta Tie, a small communities that youngest of 14 scientists be- (Environmental Protection a Christmas Eve car wreck 203-mile-long transmis- are just dying out here,” hind a report that influenced Agency) to use bad science near Cascade. sion line that would tie said Larry McCormick, the Supreme Court decision. TRIBUNE PHOTO/STUART S. WHITE That accident also killed into the U.S. power grid who owns land The scientific report con- See SCIENTIST, 6A one of the wolf hybrids that at Great Falls and the between Cut Bank and Much of Montana’s existing transmission sys- was riding in the vehicle. Canadian grid in Leth- Shelby where a major tem, such as these lines near Dutton, is booked, The fourth wolf hybrid was bridge, Alberta. wind farm is planned. destroyed after it was cap- but new capacity would become available if a Three wind power Other landowners new line were constructed between Great Falls tured in the Lincoln area. developers have signed have serious reserva- Bruce Auchly, Fish, up to use the line, tions, mostly because and Lethbridge, Alberta. The line, if constructed, Wildlife & Parks informa- which would move is expected to prompt the construction of wind tion officer in Great Falls, power from up to 400 See TIE, 5A farms along it. said game wardens are sure that the wolf killed by a car on April 13 along Highway 200 west of Fort Shaw was not one of the hybrids. That animal was silver and didn’t match pho- tos of the black hy- TRIBUNE PHOTO/ STUART S. WHITE brids. Terry Johnson, chief analyst in the Legislative Fiscal Divi- Auchly sion, displays end-of-session humor on his office door. said game Sime wardens have seen two canines recently that could be wolves or wolf hy- Grueling ’07 session brids. One sighting was April 2 just south of Wolf Creek. Another sighting on April 4 leaving staff frayed was just southeast of the Birdtail Road near the Cas- cade/Lewis and Clark coun- By GWEN FLORIO ty line about 12 miles from Tribune Capitol Bureau the previous sighting. Messy ending But Carolyn Sime, Mon- HELENA — The sign on Pitched battle of wills tana wolf coordinator for Terry Johnson’s door says it Fish, Wildlife & Parks, says all: leaves major questions as she thinks the game war- “EXTREME DANGER. session nears end /1M dens might have seen wild Entry to this area would sub- wolves. ject you to great peril! You “I have no doubt that they may be mauled and rolled in has gone, it’s a wonder he saw large canids,” said to HB 820.” can remember the latter. Sime. “The uncertainty is Johnson is the Legisla- With only five days to go, whether they saw one of ture’s principal fiscal ana- lawmakers are tired, even these hybrids or a wild lyst, and House Bill 820 cranky at times. wolf.” funds the governor’s office But the walking dead can A wolf hybrid is “some and several other state agen- be found among the legisla- sort of large canid that has a TRIBUNE PHOTO/KARL PUCKETT cies. tive staff, whose resources mixture of domestic dog and At this point in the legisla- have been sorely taxed by wild wolf in its lineage,” Larry and Denise McCormick say the state needs new transmission lines to kick start the state’s wind tive session, Johnson proba- the demands of multiple Sime said. power industry. Land they own south of Ethridge between Cut Bank and Shelby would be part of a bly knows the bill better budget bills, and the hun- 300-megawatt wind farm along the proposed Montana Alberta Tie Line. than he knows his shoe size. See HYBRID, 7A In fact, the way the session See SESSION, 6A U.S. walls off Baghdad neighborhoods; residents uneasy By SHASHANK BENGALI wide-ranging Baghdad secu- or mercenaries — will have not to form sectarian en- McClatchy Newspapers rity crackdown launched no more qualms. … They claves,” said Lt. Col. Scott nine weeks ago. Inside on 3A: will bomb each other to Bleichwehl, a U.S. military BAGHDAD — The U.S. Officials said the walls z New pragmatism emerging kingdom come.” spokesman. “There’s no military has begun sealing would help create islands of from U.S. command team. U.S. officials acknowl- long-term strategy to divide off Baghdad neighborhoods security by controlling the z Fallujah government official edged that the gated com- up the entire city.” with concrete walls in a new flow of people and vehicles assassinated. munities would wall sects Baghdad already is segre- strategy intended to calm in some of the city’s most vi- off from one another, but gated beyond recognition, Baghdad’s sectarian flash- olent neighborhoods and by they said they were a tempo- with Shiites and Sunnis points, but residents fear the keeping armed groups from borhoods become either rary measure. The barriers huddling among their own barriers could deepen divi- using the areas as launching Sunni or Shiite, they will be- are being built in consulta- in once-mixed neighbor- sions between Sunni and pads or targets for attacks. come even more vulnera- tion with Iraqi security hoods, often relying for pro- Shiite Muslims. But residents say the bar- ble?” said Yassir Ismail, a forces and community lead- tection on whichever armed Seven so-called “gated riers increase their feelings 34-year-old Sunni resident ers, officials said. group dominates the area. communities” have been or of isolation and make them of Adhamiyah, one of the ar- “Some of these enclaves Much of the city’s devastat- are being built, according to feel like targets. eas where the United States will be more heavily ethnic ing violence originates from military officials, and more “Don’t they realize that is putting up barriers. “Ex- in one respect, but the intent these heavily militarized re- might be coming under the when the Baghdad neigh- tremists from both sides — is to protect the population, doubts.

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