Outdoor Briefs

• Group sues to reclassify Montana bear population

HELENA, Mont. - A conservation group is suing the federal government for failing to reclassify a small population of grizzly bears as endangered.

The estimated 42 Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bears in northwestern Montana are considered a threatened species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year issued a decision that said changing the bears' status from threatened to endangered was warranted but precluded by higher-priority species.

The Alliance for the Wild Rockies says in its lawsuit filed Tuesday the population needs to be at least 100 to be considered viable.

The group says an endangered species classification would require federal officials to designate critical habitat for the bears to aid with their recovery.

The lawsuit argues the "endangered-but-precluded" designation is a loophole that allows federal officials to delay their obligations.

• Director of Idaho state parks retiring in July

BOISE - The director of the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation is retiring.

Nancy Merrill says she will leave the post in the middle of July.

The 66-year-old Merrill became the director in 2009 just as the state was cutting the agency's budget from 17.7 million in 2008 down to $1.3 million this year.

Merrill says the agency worked hard the past few years to reinvent itself to keep parks open. The state has 30 of them.

Lawmakers this year approved a $3.5 million budget for state parks.

State officials say a national search is being launched to replace her.

• Fairbanks hatchery opens to the public

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The public will get its first opportunity to see inside a $50 million fish hatchery in Fairbanks this weekend.

The Ruth Burnett Sport Fish Hatchery actually opened 18 months ago, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game didn't have funding to staff the visitors center, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.

Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins urged the assembly to give $20,000 to the fish and game department to kick start the opening of the Tanana Valley Fisheries Center, the name given to the visitors center.

The building in downtown Fairbanks is owned by the borough, which leases it for $1 per year to the fish and game department. A visitors center was part of the lease agreement.

The center will officially open this weekend in conjunction with the annual Fairbanks Outdoor Show, which also starts Friday at the nearby Carlson Center.

The hatchery will offer visitors the opportunity to see where fish tens of thousands of fish are grown annually for sport anglers.

A 5,000-gallon aquarium with hatchery-raised fish inside will greet visitors entering the building.

There is no admission charge.

- The Associated Press