A subcommittee of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee is recommending lifting federal protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone National Park area.
    
The subcommittee made its conditional recommendation Thursday during a meeting in Bozeman. The recommendation was based on data from a nearly complete report on whitebark pine. Pine nuts are a key food source for grizzlies.
    
The recommendation is expected to be presented to the full committee next month in Missoula. The committee can then pass it on to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

MORE>>>KTVM

Winner of several film festival awards, this video explores the wolverine, one of nature's most elusive and mysterious mammals.

Flathead Police Reports

6:59 a.m. Runnaway horses were spotted on Sheepherder Hill.

7:30 a.m. A Pepsi dispenser was abused on Highway 35 in Bigfork.

8:08 a.m. More loose horses were seen on Columbia Falls Stage.

8:15 a.m. A Rabe Road man is concerned that stray dogs will get into his bear traps.

9:22 a.m. A barking dog was heard on Forest Drive.

9:33 a.m. Someone reported that a reckless woman in a gold Oldsmobile darted in front of a semi-truck and maneuvered through traffic to make it into a turn lane.

MORE>>>Flathead Beacon

The state is about 147,000 square miles, and encompasses vast mountains, sweeping valleys, placid lakes, and roiling rivers. The scenery is, in a word, spectacular.

The state is covered in gorgeous mountains. In fact, it's named for it: Montana comes from the Spanish word montaña, meaning mountain. Some of the mountain ranges, like the Bitterroot, Absaroka, and Beartooth ranges, are part of the Rockies.

9 MORE REASONS>>>Business Insider

Yellowstone National park is the largest super-volcano on the continent and possibly the world.

It's an underground boiling cauldron of lava, but just how likely is it to erupt or do scientists have other concerns?

"It's been 640,000 since the last eruption," says Jake Lowenstern, a scientist with the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

The lava pool beneath Yellowstone National Park is more than twice as big as scientists previously believed, that's according to new research from the Geological Society of America.

Scientists from the University of Utah say the lake of molten lava is nearly 50 miles long and 12 miles wide.

Jake Lowenstern, a scientist with the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, says even a small eruption could cause a minor disaster.

"It could cause damage to the rivers, some flooding, it's going to put some ash into the air and the ash could certainly get out to the communities out here."

The park is known for the lava lake that fuels all the hot springs.

Scientists don't think the super-volcano will erupt, but the real risk to the region comes from earthquakes.

MORE>>>KULR8