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For those of us who still read, we got a suggestion from a reader, triggered by the comments of Ken Brower regarding the paradigm shift from bio-centric to anthropocentric in US conservation over the last 40 years. When change is not cataclysmic but takes place over a number of years, humans tend to lose track…
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Editor’s Note: For those of you not in Montana, you may not be familiar with the editorials of George Ochenski. George Ochenski was an environmental and tribal lobbyist at the Montana legislature for 22 years and and wrote, funded and passed many of the significant environmental bills in Montana during those decades. He is Montana’s…
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I recently received a comment on my The Wildlife News article, Audubon Society Embraces Ranching. The commentator suggested if we don’t accept ranching, we will have subdivisions everywhere. I’ve written a lot about this. It is one of the oldest arguments from livestock proponents and most mainstream conservation groups like The Nature Conservancy and others…
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Some years back one supposed expert named Allan Savory did a TED Talk [the ultra-processed McDonald’s of information] claiming that he was able to make deserts verdant and reverse climate change through livestock grazing. His absurd claims racked up nearly 6 million views and was enthusiastically welcomed by both livestock industry supporters and people who…
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The National Audubon Society has a program called “Conservation Ranching,” which promotes individual ranchers who practice what Audubon calls “bird-friendly” ranching. One must assume that Audubon is garnering some big bucks from individual wealthy landowners by promoting ranching or is just brain-dead. Livestock production is the most significant factor in Species Endangerment in the West.While…
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The Aspen Decline What will our forests in the west be like in fall without those golden yellow leaves shining in the sun? Aspen forests in the Intermountain West support levels of biodiversity only exceeded by riparian (stream) communities. In this time of Climate Breakdown, aspen have been declining due to drought and temperature stress,…
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Chaparral is one of the least appreciated natural communities in the West. Yet this shrubland assemblage occupies 9-10% of California’s land area and is one of the most abundant vegetative communities in the state. Wildfire is a significant feature of this community. High-severity fire is the dominant fire regime. However, there are substantial myths about…
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A phrase attributed to labor organizer Joe Hill is fitting for this moment: “Don’t Mourn. Organize.” Or in the words of writer Ed Abbey,: “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul.” During the last Trump Administration our small, gritty organization, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, sued the Trump Administration 18 times to…
