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Fatal ungulate disease advances as Wyoming game managers continue on in denial-
Our recent story on chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Wisconsin now has a followup in the treasured Greater Yellowstone country. In both places, wildlife managers and politicians continue to take a heedless attitude [...]
Continue Reading →Anti-bison mania seizes legislature, Governor Bullock helps beat off the attack on a national symbol-
Helena, MT. Montana’s new legislature, elected in 2012, was a hotbed of anti-bison activity. Ten or so bills to hurt the bison in one way or another were introduced and a number passed and were sent to Montana’s new governor [...]
Continue Reading →A few incidents and some grizzly expansion onto the Montana plains-
Now that the grizzly (and black) bears are mostly out into what has been a generally cold Rocky Mountain spring, there is, as always, grizzly bear news.
First a minor mauling. A college student in Pablo, Montana was mauled by a griz during the [...]
Continue Reading →Salmon-Challis National Forest said to not enforce grazing laws-
Boise. ID. When you drive or hike into this east central Idaho high country (Idaho’s highest mountains), you would expect to see pristine creeks. On the Salmon-Challis NF, however, one is usually disappointed. The creeks are sacrificed to appease local ranchers with tiny amounts of extra grass [...]
Continue Reading →Luckless wolf that went to California is back in Oregon-
The world’s currently most famous wolf, OR-7, born in NE Oregon, seems to have abandoned California and returned to Oregon.
He spent over a year looking for a female wolf, but there are probably no California girl wolves. During his search, he explored a [...]
Continue Reading →I attended the Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolverine listing hearings in Helena. Opponents, including a number of Montana state legislators as well as MDFWP, argued that wolverine populations were “stable” or even “increasing” and therefore did not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act.
While the ill-informed state legislators who testified could be forgiven for [...]
Continue Reading →One of the five is a large parcel of natural land in New Mexico-
Almost every President since Theodore Roosevelt has declared national monuments. The three greatest have been T.R. himself, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. George W. Bush finally declared a very large national monument in the ocean — the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, [...]
Continue Reading →On the mornings of Monday and Tuesday I attended the hearing in the House State Affairs Committee on HCR 21 and HCR 22. Testimony on the resolutions was interrupted when testimony for two other bills went longer than expected and the committee members were scheduled to be in the House chambers. The two resolutions involve [...]
Continue Reading →Big donations followed by big returns in policy and Utah government dollars-
The Salt Lake Tribune has been following the Utah legislature’s big payout (or payback) to Don Peay and his hunting organizations. The stories presented by the Tribune are breathtaking in the showing close correspondence between him personally or his organizations giving a large contributions [...]
Continue Reading →In yesterday’s post about the Owyhee “Group 1″ grazing decision we discussed the NRCS Ecological Site Descriptions for Juniper Mountain that inaccurately describe the vegetation and magically discount the native juniper forests that exist there. In the Environmental Assessment the BLM states: “Ecological site descriptions for Castlehead-Lambert allotment do not identify the presence [...]
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