I posted this article as part of a comment yesterday, but it deserves its own post. The natural gas industry is the major threat to elk and deer in Wyoming (and, of course, chronic wasting disease). I have always thought the state’s anti-wolf rhetoric was mostly designed to divert attention away from the industialization of much of the state’s ungulate winter range.
Jackson Hole News and Guide. “Feds want more wells even as deer decline. BLM eyes increase in drilling as study links Snow King deer to Sublette County habitat.” By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.
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Non illegitimus carborundum.
200 miles south, in NW Colorado, interest in drilling for gas is escalating. So much so, that the BLM is revising its resource management planto deal with drilling and production. There is a group of folks that are wildlife habitat advocates that are developing methods of persuading the BLM to follow its own rules. Specifically, to get the BLM to enforce its drilling stipulations. We are not successful as yet, but we are still working at it. With a new governor, perhaps the Colorado Division of Wildlife will be a little less “drilling friendly.”