The Bush administration has backed off plans to drill for gas in an environmentally sensitive area of Montana.

Environmental groups fought development in the Rocky Mountain Front, home to dozens of big game species. But it was sport hunters -- usually wealthy, white and Republican -- that made the White House listen, said observers.

"We listen when they talk to us," Rebecca W. Watson, assistant interior secretary for land and minerals management, was quoted as saying.

The Rocky Mountain Front includes areas sacred to the Blackfeet Nation. The tribe has opposed development in the Badger-Two Medicine portion of the Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Get the Story:
Drilling on the Front still a back-burner issue (The Billings Gazette 10/6)
Far-reaching BLM study puts Front drilling on hold (The Great Falls Tribune 10/6)
Interior wants Front gas/oil drilling EIS (The Helena Independent Record 10/6)
U.S. Backs Off Mont. Gas Drilling (The Washington Post 10/6)
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U..S. Suspends Plan to Allow Gas Exploration in Montana (The New York Times 10/6)
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Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Move to Conserve Wildlife along Rocky Mountain Front (DOI 10/5)