Shell gives to wildlife effort

ROCK SPRINGS - Shell Oil Co. is contributing $500,000 to the Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Fund to help conserve wildlife habitat in southwest Wyoming.

The money will support the multiple uses of natural resources across some 200,000 acres.

Russ Ford of Shell said the company is proud to help enhance the state's wildlife and agricultural heritage as part of the federal Healthy Lands Initiative.

The U.S. Department of the Interior's Healthy Lands Initiative is a federal program to manage natural resources that support multiple uses, including livestock grazing, farming, recreation, oil and gas production, historic values and wildlife habitat.

The Wyoming project is a cooperative effort involving landowners and conservation and grazing organizations.

BBC puts Powell on map

POWELL - A crew contracted by the British Broadcast Corp. is producing a historical series that will include film documenting the Shoshone Irrigation District in northern Wyoming.

The documentary is tentatively scheduled for airing on the Public Broadcast System in October, producer Matt Hill of Oxford Films in London said.

Hill said the film will chronicle America's western expansion and the role that irrigation and Powell's founder, John Wesley Powell, played.

Hill and his crew were in Powell and the surrounding area last week to shoot some footage for the project. They took footage of district employee Don Eden going about his job, which included pulling soggy weeds from an irrigation grate. For folks in England, where precipitation is plentiful, an everyday process that locals take for granted is unique.

Hill said he has been to U.S. cities such as Boston, New York City and San Francisco, but this is his first trip to middle America, as he calls it.

"I really enjoy coming here," he said with his precise English.

The crew members drove up from Casper and were impressed with the vastness of Wyoming.

"It feels like the real United States here," Hill said.

Officials warn of IRS e-mail scam

CODY - Law enforcement agencies in Wyoming say fake Internal Revenue Service e-mails are circulating online that promise to help people get their economic stimulus tax refunds quicker.

Authorities say the phishing e-mails claim to come from the IRS and ask for personal information. They say people should not fall for the scam and provide bank account or other personal information.

The FBI says the IRS doesn't request taxpayers' personal information by e-mail.

Paper seeks veterans, families

The Casper Star-Tribune is seeking military men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan to share their stories about returning home.

We're also looking for military family members who can talk about how the return of their loved ones is affecting them and their families.

Please contact capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or jared.miller@trib.com.