President Bush has selected his nominee to head the Department of Interior, which manages about one-fifth of all the land in the United States and determines which portions of it should be available for resource extraction. As promised, he “looked to the West” and plucked Republican governor of Idaho and former Senator Dirk Kempthorne. The nominee is somewhat less controversial than others who were in the running for this position, and widely expected to be swiftly confirmed. But greens are hardly jumping for joy: Kempthorne is also widely expected to stay the course of the agency's industry-friendly policies under Bush.

Grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park might soon make it off the endangered species list—which is either great or terrible, depending on your point of view. Bears in the park, a powerful symbol of the “wild” American West, are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act; their numbers have more than tripled since the early 1980s, from roughly 200 to over 600. The Bush Administration has submitted a proposal to de-list the bears, meaning they would lose many federal protections. Limited hunting of grizzlies in the Yellowstone region would likely be allowed.