Low Flows Due to Irrigation Destroying Deschutes River

On August 22, 2020 By

The recent article “Low Flows On Deschutes” highlights why irrigation is a significant threat to our river’s ecological integrity. https://www.bendbulletin.com/localstate/environment/sudden-drops-in-deschutes-river-worries-biologists/article_c0f8df66-e3df-11ea-8d00-53d8f511683c.html

The majority of water removed from the Deschutes is used to grow irrigated pasture and hay for livestock not crops consumed directly by humans.  Photo by George Wuerthner

 

According to […]

Continue Reading →

Concerns about Blackfeet and Badger-Two Medicine Co-Management

On August 21, 2020 By

The rugged peaks of the Badger-Two Medicine area on the Helena and Clark National Forest, Montana. Photo by George Wuerthner

The recent article in High Country News on legislation to protect the Badger-Two Medicine area on the Helena Lewis and Clark National Forest with co-management by the Blackfeet tribe has significant factual […]

Continue Reading →

June 2020, New Mexico: One ranch, nine dead cattle, and six very strange wolf investigations 

On August 21, 2020 By

Anyone who has been following this blog lately knows that I’ve been writing  a bit and a bit more  about Wildlife Services’ depredation reports that indict Mexican wolves for livestock deaths under suspicious circumstances, often with very scant or inconsistent evidence. It’s been a long, strange trip that started with our questions about […]

Continue Reading →

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf

On August 18, 2020 By

Textual Manipulations in Anti-wolf Rhetoric

Less than three months from now Colorado will decide whether to support Initiative 107, otherwise known as the Gray Wolf Reintroduction Initiative.  Polling done as recently as August of 2019 by Colorado State University found that 84% of Coloradans support reintroduction and suggests that the initiative will almost certainly pass.  […]

Continue Reading →

Eastside Forest Scam–The Proposed Removal of the 21-inch Rule.

On August 13, 2020 By

 

 

Old-growth grand fir on the Ochoco National Forest could be logged if the proposed removal of the 21-inch rule is adopted. Photo by George Wuerthner

 

The Forest Service has begun a 30 day comment period on its proposal to eliminate the 21-inch rule or what is known as […]

Continue Reading →

More on Wildlife Services’ sketchy depredation reports blaming Mexican wolves for livestock kills

On August 12, 2020 By

Mexican gray wolves are blamed for all kinds of livestock deaths in Catron County, and so we wanted to see for ourselves, by reviewing depredation reports, how USDA Wildlife Services is investigating dead livestock and arriving at determinations that Mexican wolves are to blame. Spoiler alert: It’s not particularly convincing. (I’ve written about this […]

Continue Reading →

Daines and Feinstein Fire Legisation Misguided

On August 11, 2020 By

 

 

Far more ignitions start by roads than in the backcountry. Ironically thinning forests will create more roads, hence more ignitions. Photo by George Wuerthner

Like zombies rising from the dead, legislators continue to push the flawed notion that logging can preclude large wildfires and protect communities.

The “Emergency Wildfire and […]

Continue Reading →

Advocates want answers about depredation investigations in New Mexico

On July 31, 2020 By

Late in May 2020, the Arizona Daily Star ran an article titled, “Advocates question investigations used to target ‘problem’ wolves,” detailing some of the work that Western Watersheds Project has been doing to review and assess Wildlife Services’ work on livestock killed by Mexican wolves in New Mexico. Together with my colleague – WWP’s […]

Continue Reading →

PERC and Elk Report on Paradise Valley

On July 31, 2020 By

Paradise Valley, Montana. Photo by George Wuerthner

 

Paradise Valley, Montana, is aptly named. The Yellowstone River flows north to Livingston, Montana, framed by the Absaroka Mountains on the east and the Gallatin Range on the West. It’s one of the most stunning landscapes in the entire West.

Due to its location […]

Continue Reading →

Helena Lewis and Clark Plan Failures

On July 31, 2020 By

 

Smith River, Little Belt Mountains,  Helena Lewis and Clark NF. The FS could not find a single acre in the Little Belt Mountains worthy of wilderness recommendation. Photo by George Wuerthner

The recently released Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest Service (HLCNF) plan is a huge disappointment by recommending only 153,000 acres out […]

Continue Reading →

Calendar

October 2020
S M T W T F S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Quote

‎"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour."

~ Edward Abbey