February 2010
-
Privatization of Public Bison On 2/2/10 Montana’s wildlife agency, Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) announced their decision to send all 88 quarantined Yellowstone bison to the private lands of billionaire Ted Turner. The Yellowstone bison were part of a state-federal Quarantine Feasibility Study, which had the stated goal of placing brucellosis-free bison on public or…
-
Obama’s supposed list of new national monuments was just a DOI brainstorming session- Last week Fox News reported with bells and whistles that the President might create a large number of new national monuments on federal land in Western States. I didn’t bother to link to the story because the leaked document clearly looked some…
-
Judges buys Idaho Fish and Game argument that agency only wants valuable data- It’s a high bar to get a judge to rule against an agency that claims expertise and say “this is ridiculous.” That is my first take. I think, the U.S. Forest Service needs to be told to revise their general regulations for…
-
REINTRODUCTION PLANNED AS EARLY AS THIS MONTH This story appeared last week while I was gone and there was a little discussion about it on the open thread but I think it deserves its own thread. The significance of this story is not so much that wolves are being released into the wild but that…
-
This is the official state report on wolf management for January- This report has a fair amount of news — numbers for 2009, etc. It is the first time I have seen any real description of their Lolo wolf/elk study with numbers and a bit about methods. I think it’s worthwhile read. Idaho-wolf-news-Jan2010
-
Are we one step closer to removal of the Snake River Dams? Judge finds fault with federal salmon plan. Conservation groups optimistic about order. By Jon Duval. Idaho Mountain Express. These dams are on the lower Snake River. That’s in the state of Washington, but they greatly harm salmon and steelhead migration to and from…
-
Todd Wilkinson profiles Laurie Lyman- Those of you who know Kathie Lynch will probably know Laurie Lyman, and vice versa. Lyman has amazing talent for spotting wolves and getting that data. She Runs With The Wolves. A tale of devotion from Yellowstone National Park. By Todd Wilkinson.
-
George Wuerthner updates his arguments about need to have cows to prevent sprawl- A long time ago I tended to be the kind of conservationist who grudgingly thought we had to give all kinds of perks to livestock interests so they wouldn’t sell and subdivide the West. I was becoming disillusioned with the results of…