The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a petition by the state of Wyoming and the Colorado Mining Association to overturn the 2001 roadless rule, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The rule has been the subject of regular legal wrangling in the years since it was put in place, but the Supreme Court's decision on October 1 puts to rest one of the last two remaining legal battles about the controversial rule.

On October 9, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar signed the Record of Decision (ROD) authorizing the largest wind farm in North America to be developed in southeast Wyoming, reports the Wildlife Management Institute. The project also received approval by the Carbon County Commission on October 2.

While it remains to be seen whether the 112th Congress will pass a new Farm Bill before the end of the session, it is clear that direct federal payments to farmers that have been in effect since the mid-1990's will very likely become a thing of the past. In lieu of direct payments, many in the agricultural community are championing a stronger federal subsidy program for crop insurance, according to the Wildlife Management Institute.

The Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC) Steering Committee and Science Committee met recently in Lubbock, Texas to build on the GPLCC's efforts to provide science in support of conservation in the region. In previous meetings, the Steering Committee identified lesser prairie-chickens, prairie rivers and streams, and playa lakes as the highest priorities for additional information. Earlier this year, the GPLCC Science Committee used those priorities to outline specific science needs related to lesser prairie-chickens and prairie fish ecology.

With the country holding it's collective breath (or blowing hard for their preferred candidates) and awaiting the upcoming election, there is a stillness in the policy arena that is at once frustrating and refreshing. It also leads to a lack of pithy stories for our October edition of the Outdoor News Bulletin. So, in keeping with the masterful command of literature and language by former ONB editor, Dick McCabe, this month we're reinstating a periodic column of McCabe's that spotlighted a book that had attracted (or distracted) him that was worth sharing with our readers.