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Just a few more tidbits before that steak dinner :)

9 more elk reported dead today- now they are suspecting toxic lichen, and are feeding it to healthy elk to see what happens to them.

And- this from about a week age, re: Yellowstone:

Yellowstone County bathing in federal security money

By The Associated Press - 3/08/04

BILLINGS (AP) — Montana has received about $42 million in federal homeland security money over the past four years, and Yellowstone County's share of that leaves officials here astonished.

‘‘This kind of equipment funding — never before in the 28 years I've been here have I seen anything like this,'' said Jim Kraft, emergency services director for the county, which encompasses Montana's largest city.

The Billings Police Department is awaiting delivery of more than $400,000 worth of equipment, include a bomb robot and trailer and a fiber-optic camera. The fire department here soon will have a new hazardous-materials trailer stuffed with emergency gear, including decontamination equipment, various kinds of monitors and special suits to protect workers.

Fire Chief Marv Jochems said the federal government traditionally has provided some money for emergency-response needs, but the focus on fighting terrorism has ‘‘just expanded that to an unbelievable amount of money.''

‘‘All of a sudden there are opportunities at every turn,'' he said.

In the event of a security emergency, Yellowstone County's responsibility would not end at the county line but would extend across a vast area of eastern Montana.

The cash flow accelerated soon after the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 and has been reinforced by the Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency created in the wake of those attacks.

This month, money from the department will cover the cost of a 1½-day disaster drill that may be Yellowstone County's largest ever. The drill will start March 21 with a simulated gas leak at the Rimrock Mall and continue the next day with other simulated incidents, including a bomb explosion at an oil refinery.

Kraft said that over the past few years the federal government provided $90,000 to assess the Billings water plant's vulnerability to terrorism; $360,000 for the City-County Health Department to train people and develop plans for responding to bioterrorism; and $100,000 to help create a corps of medical volunteers, such as retired doctors and nurses, able to go to work in an emergency.

Eligible agencies in the county have until this spring to request more than $900,000 in new funding that will be available from the federal Office of Domestic Preparedness.

Department of Homeland Security money sent to Montana goes to the state Disaster and Emergency Services Division, then is channeled through Local Emergency Planning Committees in each county and on each Indian reservation.

Montana's homeland security funding for the current fiscal year rose to $20.8 million, up from $17.4 million in fiscal 2003.

Not all of the money relates directly to security or terrorism. Some is for traditional disaster and emergency projects and purchases, such as the use of $178,000 for flood-prevention efforts in Billings' west end last year.

But bracing for terrorism consumes vast sums of the money, and the outlays take many forms.

Last fall, the St. Vincent Healthcare Foundation received a two-year, $1.9 million grant to strengthen bioterrorism training and education for medical workers in Montana and northern Wyoming.

Officials here welcome the money but have concerns, as well.

Although the new hazard-materials equipment would be useful in an emergency, ‘‘really, the need for most jurisdictions is people,'' Jochems said. ‘‘It takes a lot of people to respond to one of these things.''

Expensive equipment won't do much good if the city does not have the personnel to use it, said Billings City Administrator Kristoff Bauer.

Copyright © Helena Independent Record

Interesting timing- running a huge disaster drill on a Sunday?