October 2012
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Did non-violent protest work here? The news is that Tim de Christopher is getting out of a California federal prison a bit early, after 18 months instead of 2 years. He will serve out the last 6 months in a Salt Lake City halfway house. Presumably there in work release they will try to have…
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Washington race for governor echoes typical Republican/Democrat gap on the environment- In the late 1960s to the the late 70s, there wasn’t much difference between the two parties on “environmental” issues, as that set of issues had become known. Both parties generally supported strong policies, especially when it came to cleaning the air, water, and…
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Big old cougar toms keep “law and order” in the woods- The finding of this study might surprise many people, but it only confirms what a number of small studies have shown. Young sexually active cougar toms strike fear in cougar moms. Adolescent male cougars kill the kittens, and they are more likely to attack…
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Wolves now under Wyoming control and they are already being shot in state’s first wolf hunting season- Mike Jimenez, who has managed wolves in Wyoming for U.S. government for years now with a slowly growing wolf population and minimal livestock depredations, has written his last wolf news report. Here it is converted to a PDF…
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Badly managed cattle devastate the most remote public lands- “Till the cows come home” . . . that phase usually means a long time. That’s how it is on most of public lands of the Western United States. The cattle are put out before the grass and forbs (perennial flowers) are sturdy and ready for…
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Big public Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday- California Advances Wolf to a Candidate Endangered Species- The killing of the Wedge Pack continues to stir Washington State. Here is a sample of the stories as of a day ago. OPB Earthfix: Alpha Male Wolf In Wedge Pack Killed, Ending State Hunt Cascadia Blog: WDFW and…
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A big victory for conservation after years of political then legal wrangling- For many years U.S. national forest users battled over development of those areas with no roads (“roadless areas”). As the more economically valuable roadless area were developed first, those that remained were usually developed only because of ever increasing federal subsidies. Roads in…
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SAGE GROUSE: PROXIMATE AND ULTIMATE CAUSES When I was in college, one of my favorite courses was animal behavior. One of the more memorable lessons I learned was the difference between proximate and ultimate causes of behavior. Proximate and ultimate causes of events are important to distinguish. For instance, say a researcher finds that sedimentation…