Nez Perce National Forest will write a new EIS to reconsider sheep grazing in the Salmon River Canyon.
The Allison-Berg Allotment, which lies east of Riggins, is in occupied bighorn sheep habitat where disease is a real concern. It appears that the Nez Perce Forest may follow the Payette National Forest’s lead on how to deal with domestic sheep allotments in bighorn sheep habitat.
The allotment has not been used since a federal judge ruled in favor of protecting bighorn sheep in 2007.
Officials to reconsider sheep grazing
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Ken Cole
Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He is the interim Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project. We do not accept unsolicited “guest” authors or advertising.
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The hand-writing is on the wall. No matter how many meetings in the Governor’s office, how many bullying hissy-fits the Woolgrowers throw, how many disease and contagion-denying Bills Siddoway and the Woolgrowers come up with, or how much more money is wasted in Idaho on lies coming out of the U of I/Caine Vet Center, the rest of the world is moving on.
OH – but maybe Idaho wants to follow in what appears to be the national Republican model towards diseases: Let the microbes rampage and mingle!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/27/gop-stripped-flu-pandemic_n_191732.html
When is Idaho BLM going to do something? Like BLM removing Butch Otter’s University of Idaho domestic sheep from the public lands of the Bernice allotment? Or closing the very small Bear allotment in the Upper Pahsimeroi?
What will rancher Ken Salazar do here?
Nevada BLM is in the Dark Ages too. The state has its very own University of Nevada-Reno disease denying “scientist”/Woolgrower Enabler just like the University of Idaho. Pathetic. Funded with public funds, too.
And in Nevada, guess who now holds many of the domestic sheep grazing permits? All the old El Tejon domestic sheep permits across very large land areas of the Great Basin are now held by Las Vegas’s SNWA under Pat Mulroy– the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Will SNWA try to get mutton and wool subsidies, too? Will they abuse herders and make them live under horrid conditions? The Las Vegas water aquifer miners in their quest to acquire water rights on private land and pipe the water south to Vegas bought out and control permits putting bighorns at risk, and preventing bighorns from inhabiting otherwise suitable lands. Part of the national disgrace of welfare public lands ranching. Some of those permits may be going away. Others need to.
Unrelated but of interest is this newspaper account, from the small New York state city of Plattsburgh (just south of Montreal) about a wolf-hybrid being captured.
http://www.pressrepublican.com/archivesearch/local_story_091225541.html
We were up the Salmon River Canyon this weekend, and the Allison Berg allotment appears to be a mecca for wildlife right now. Probably saw 75-100 elk, I guess no one told the elk they were decimated from the wolves. Also a number of mule deer.
Closing this allotment to the thousands of domestic sheep authorized to graze it absent the recent litigation will be crucial for bighorn protection, but will also benefit many other species. Good to see the FS officials being proactive.