News Release
Western Watersheds Efforts In Washington State stop Cattle Turn-out on the Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area and bring an Early Stop to Cattle Grazing Already Underway on Pintler Creek In The Asotin Wildlife Area.
Western Watersheds Project’s efforts in Washington State to influence the grazing of cattle in Washington State Department of Wildlife owned Wildlife Areas has proved successful, at least for the moment. The Whiskey Dick Wildlife area near Ellensburg now will not have cattle grazing on it in 2007 after work carried out by WWP members Dr. Steve Herman, Dr. Don Johnson and Bob Tuck as well as WWP’s biodiversity director, Katie Fite who traveled to Ellensburg and Asotin in the last ten days. In addition the Pintler Creek watershed in the Asotin Wildlife Area has had cattle removed after Dr. Don Johnson and Katie Fite visited the watershed and documented damage by cattle already grazing on the land.For follow-up stories on this effort please review these articles by Scott Sandsberry from the Yakima Herald-Republic:
http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/38601081475902
http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/353802183429321
Readers will also be able to review photos of both Whiskey Dick and Pintler creek in the Asotin Wildlife Area on the WWP web site on a new Washington State page to be posted shortly.
Here is my earlier story on the Whiskey Dick Wildlife area situation.
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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 past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
big kudos to those involved ~
Asotin drainages including Pintler Creek are supposed to be Steelhead recovery streams. There is no rational or scientific basis for imposing grazing there.
At the same time that Washington state Congressmen http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17080404.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation
are introducing legislation to KILL sea lions because they eat some salmon, anadromous fish habitat in the Asotin country was thrown open to cattle destruction.
This isn’t over yet, by any means. Political appointee higher level Managers at WDFW, while retreating a bit on one front, continue to pursue a path of Cowing OTHER important streams. Cows are to be imminently turned out on Smoothing Iron Country, purchased with YOUR tax dollars for salmon and steelhead mitigation.
Here we have the state Government under Gregoire, a Democrat, acting as anti-science as the Bushies …
What political deal is really riding on this?