Last week I posted an article how the Idaho National Guard was taking incoming fire at its training grounds at the Birds of Prey area near Boise. A lot of people read the article probably because we figure incoming fire comes from hostile military units. There was also the odd statement from the rancher who didn’t seem minding losing a cow to recreational shooters every so often.
The Idaho Statesman today called for an expanded ban on shooting in the Birds of Prey Area, which was created by Secretary of Interior Cecil Andrus to protect a unique area for raptors in, and adjacent too, the Snake River Canyon.
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
I’ve got great memories of visiting the Canyon via the Swan Falls Road and then floating the river, with a group of fellow birders, in the early 90s. You really get a sense for just how important the canyon is for raptors (at least a half-dozen species) from the river.