From the monthly archives: December 2009

Judge Winmill largely rules in favor of plaintiffs on the Nickel Creek case-

From Western Watersheds Project v. Department of Interior:

“For the reasons explained below, the Court will grant WWP’s motion in part, finding that the decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals is arbitrary and capricious, and remanding the matter […]

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Continuing fight by Idaho snowmobile interests to keep a small area in Montana out of Senator’s Tester’s Wilderness bill-

We have covered this battle before. Dec. 13, 2009. Idaho Senators try to pressure Tester to remove an area from his “wilderness bill”

Photo of Mt. Jefferson from the Montana side. It is the […]

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Alpha female’s body retrieved

Last week I received a fundraising email from Living With Wolves, a 501c3 non-profit group run by Jim and Jamie Dutcher, who’s mission is “dedicated to raising awareness about the social nature of wolves, their importance to healthy ecosystems, threats to their survival and the essential actions people can take to […]

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Todd Wilkinson remembers how far we’ve come . . . not all that far-

Looking Back Two Decades On Managing The Greater Yellowstone Ecoystem. By Todd Wilkinson. National Parks Traveler.

I was at that meeting in Jackson in 1983 to form the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. It is such a struggle against the entrenched bureaucracy […]

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Here is a detailed report. Will Idaho do the same?

Montana FWP just released a detailed summary of their wolf hunt with a lot of numeric data — good.  I hope Idaho has a report with this much information, but it probably won’t come until June when it might be too late to be used […]

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This should so much not be news!

Park City, Utah (up in the mountains). Cougar shot after killing Utah family’s dog. AP.

This event is so common. People build in cougar habitat and stock their yards with tasty morsels.

There is a similar story in the Bitterroot Valley […]

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Harmed by the effects of the Libby Dam, the Kootenai River sturgeon haven’t spawned for 35 years now-

North America’s biggest fish slips toward extinction. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press.

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BLM roundup of wild horses in Nevada is heated-

Los Angeles Times on the Nevada “roundup

My view on wild or “feral” horses and burros is that they are non-natives species that, like cattle, damage the range and harm native wildlife. The BLM’s preoccupation with them, rather than […]

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Hope for the future with plans to reduce “controls” for livestock depredations?

High mortality for the small population of Mexican wolves continued this year with the population again ending at about 50 wolves. Under new management plans it is hoped that government wolf removal for killing livestock will abate.

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Increased mortality brings an end to wolf population growth at about 1650 wolves-

Sean Ellis of the Idaho State Journal deserves some credit for digging out the information.

Wolves resilient: Total number in region stable despite hunting. By Sean Ellis.

Now perhaps all sides should just call it even? Doesn’t look like it.

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Quote

‎"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour."

~ Edward Abbey