July 2007
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Barker blogs about the history of the general area burned in the giant Murphy Fire complex and the personalities involved. He has written a lot about fires, beginning with his coverage of 1988 Yellowstone Park fires and living through the firestorm that blew through Old Faithful that year. In 2005 his book Scorched Earth: How…
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I posted a story earlier about this energy generating bacteria that lives in Old Faithful and nearby thermal features. It was a short story. I have deleted it in favor of this longer story. Surprising New Species Of Light-harvesting Bacterium Discovered In Yellowstone. Science Daily. post 1379
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To sum it up, President Clinton issued an executive order that the Forest Service would keep all the non-wilderness, but yet roadless areas on the national forests, free of new permanent roads. There were a number of court challenges filled to this by states like Wyoming and Idaho. They had mixed success. Then, new President…
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This is on Idaho’s deep, deep drought from the Idaho Mountain Express. By Jason Kaufmann. The last week, the flow of monsoonal moisture coming up from the south (typical of August) has begun with thunderstorms, some quite wet. These have dampened some of the fires, but have little effect on the dry forests. These heavy…
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This video shows some of the rangefire damage, and they talk about damage to sage grouse leks and big game habitat. The best is at the end when they indirectly counter Larry Craig and the ranchers with quotes such as “Fuel moisture was at an all-time low…. fire burned right through grazed areas …” 76…
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“U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that he’ll do everything I can to stop construction of three major coal-fired power plants in his home state of Nevada and will push for more alternative energy development.” Reid had seemed to be neutral to leaning toward the coal plants. They are being proposed not because…
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This is from the Western Watersheds Project blog. I’m not a great enthusiast for feral horses, although they are lovely to watch . . . prettier than cows. The horses can lead to overgrazing, but they are usually not the real culprit because the BLM does keep their numbers down, a minor factor compared to…
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Although the nomination of Jim Caswell, aide to former Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne has now passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Colorado’s U.S. Senator Ken Salazar (Democrat) says he will keep “a hold” on the nomination and not let it come to a vote before the full Senate. The hold is there because…