City Desk
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PNS - Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - 2024 Presidential candidates speak at CPAC, public service officials try to restore trust in government, and the Biden Administration might reverse course on detaining families.
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PNS - Tuesday, March 7, 2023 - Closing the primary care gap for Tennesseans, the focus on fish and the NW energy grid in DC, and debunking the non-traditional higher-education stigma.
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Big Sky Connection - The pygmy rabbit lives in sagebrush habitat across the West but is under threat. Groups in the region have filed a petition to protect the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act. Comments from Erik Molvar, executive director, Western Watersheds Project; Vera Smith, senior federal lands policy analyst, Defenders of Wildlife.
Eric Tegethoff
March 7, 2023 - Advocates have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save the smallest rabbit species in North America, the pygmy rabbit. It lives in the so-called Sagebrush Sea of the Intermountain West, which stretches from Oregon to Wyoming. At less than a pound, the rabbit relies on sagebrush to hide from predators and for food.
Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project and also a wildlife biologist, said wildlife agencies are neglecting this species.
"There's not a lot of current research that's happening over the last several years because there hasn't been that possibility of endangered species listing looming on the horizon. We're hoping to step up the research and step up the monitoring of pygmy rabbits and learn a lot more about this disappearing species before it's too late," Molvar said.
Groups across the West filed a petition on Monday to list the pygmy rabbit under the Endangered Species Act.
Vera Smith, senior federal lands policy analyst with Defenders of Wildlife, said because the pygmy rabbit relies on sagebrush, a threat to its habitat is a threat to the species, and added wildfires are a growing problem.
"Fire's a natural part of our western habitats and ecosystems, but with climate change fires are becoming bigger and more frequent," she said. "In the past 40 years, we've seen about 26-million acres in the pygmy habitat range burn. That's about 15%."
Smith noted invasive species like cheatgrass also increase the risk from wildfires, and a contagious and deadly virus is threatening pygmy rabbits as well.
Molvar said the species also faces threat from oil and gas development and added protecting sagebrush habitat is key.
"You can't have healthy pygmy rabbit populations without having healthy sagebrush ecosystems," he said.
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After a long absence of nearly four years, the Pipes and Drums Band of the Edmonton Police Service will return to perform at venues around “Ireland’s Fifth Province” and to march in the annual parade to help the city celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will include the Pipes and Drums Band of the Edmonton Police Service, a group that has been coming to Butte to perform and help celebrate Butte’s Celtic heritage since 1984, 39 years ago.
They will perform at locations throughout Butte for their March visit, including --
Wednesday, March 15th
7:00 pm, Irish in Me, 401 S, Wyoming St.
Thursday, March 16th
10:30 am, Head Start, 1000 S. Arizona St.
11:30 am, Big Sky Senior Living, 3701 Elizabeth Warren Ave.
12:30 pm, Headframe Spirits, 21 S. Montana St.
2:30 pm, Northwestern Energy GOB, 11 E. Park St.
3:30 pm, Butte Plaza Mall 3100 Harrison Ave.
4:30 pm, BSB Courthouse Rotunda, 155 W, Granite St.
5:30 pm, Crazee Carol’s, 2702 Walnut St.
6:30 pm, Butte Brewery, 465 E. Galena St.
8:00 pm, 51 Below, 51 W. Park St.
9:00 pm, Cavalier Lounge, Hotel Finlen, 100 E, Broadway
Friday, March 17th
9:00 am, West Elementary, 1000 Steel St.
10:00 am, The Springs, 300 Mt. Highland Drive
12:00 pm, Parade, Uptown Butte streets
1:00 pm, Metals Sports Bar & Grill, 8 W. Park St,
2:30 pm, Shenanigans Bar and Casino, 1000 S. Excelsior Ave.
3:30 pm, Sam’s Place, 905 N. Excelsior Ave.
5:00 pm, Pair-A-Dice Bar, 1653 Harrison Ave.
6:00 pm, The Depot, 818 S. Arizona St.
7:45 pm, Handing Down the Heritage, Butte Civic Center, 1340 Harrison Ave.
9:00 pm, M&M Bar & Grill, 17 N. Main St.
Contributions large and small are gratefully accepted and acknowledged to help defray the expenses of the Pipers while they are in Butte for expenses such as lodging and travel.
Donations can be sent directly to Mainstreet Uptown Butte, P.O Box 696, Butte, MT 59703 with a notation that the donation is for the Friends of the Pipers Fund.
For more details, call Mainstreet Uptown Butte at 497-6464 or send email to
