March 2014
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What happened to wolves ate all the elk? Wyoming Game and Fish Department has announced that their 2013 elk hunting season produced a “near record” elk harvest. They estimate that 25,968 were taken, a near record. However the number one year was 2012 when the hunt saw 26,365 elk reported killed. In a news release, the…
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Friends of the Clearwater announces the 3-month countdown to the national event, Speak for Wolves: Yellowstone 2014. It is set for June 28-29 at Arch Park in Gardiner, Montana. Organizers say, “It’s an exciting time. We are recruiting speakers, gaining event sponsors, creating educational materials and designing logos, etc. The event website has been launched…
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17 groups call law unconstitutional- It’s still hard to figure out why this sweeping bill criminalizing almost all public oversight of agriculture swept the Idaho legislature. At any rate, 17 plaintiffs are taking it on, perhaps because Idaho’s new ag gag statute is such a fat target (update, see their brief at the bottom) The…
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On the last day of the Idaho Legislature, HB470, the Wolf Control Board bill, jumped its final hurdle before going to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law. The board will be funded with $400,000 from the general fund and $110,000 from the livestock industry and $110,000 from the Idaho Department of Fish and…
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The Idaho Department of Fish and Game will hold a Commissioner’s meeting tonight in Boise. At 7:00 pm they will take public testimony about issues important to the public. Tomorrow the Commission will set seasons for Deer, Elk, Pronghorn, Bear, Mountain Lion and Wolves. You can see a full agenda for the meeting here. Public…
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Washington, D.C. – Today, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee Peter DeFazio (D-OR) released a bipartisan letter co-signed by 73 House members urging Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell to continue critical protections for endangered gray wolves. The letter comes on the heels of an independent peer review that found the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service…
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The Idaho Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC) has just appropriated $400,000 for the Wolf Control Board created by HB470. Instead of receiving a one time $2 million appropriation as requested by the Governor, the Board will have to return to JFAC for funding in the following years. Yesterday the bill was amended by the Senate to…
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The rare big freeze probably did not help struggling Isle Royale wolf population- Everyone knows that Lake Superior froze hard this year, providing an increasingly rare opportunity for the inbred wolves on Isle Royale to gain fresh recruits from the mainland. All of the the present wolf pack is the product of wolves that wandered…