July 2013
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Bozeman, Montana. Last Sunday the Bozeman Chronicle ran an editorial about wolves based on the standard barroom biology that informs so much of the state’s policy on wolf management. Today MSU’s noted wolf biologist, Dr. Scott Creel corrected them on their most fundamental fact, which they got flatout wrong — the wolf population in Montana…
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In early June, Katie Fite and I visited southeast Nevada to examine the results of past vegetation treatments meant to “restore” sage grouse habitat in the Schell Field Office of the Ely District BLM. What we found was quite astonishing. Rather than restoring sage grouse habitat, the BLM targeted the best sage grouse habitat, near…
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Revisiting Fire History Studies One of the cornerstones of current forest policy is the assumption that western forests are outside of their “normal” density and appearance or what is termed “historic variability” due a hundred years of mismanagement that included logging of old growth, fire suppression, and livestock grazing. This idea has been used to…
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Kathie Lynch’s latest report on observations of Yellowstone Park wolves- By Kathie Lynch July 9, 2013 Copyrighted material A silver fox slips into the forest by the light of the supermoon; river otter pups slide off a grassy log and chirp to their mother for a fish; a bighorn sheep lamb strikes a pose…
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Yes, indeed it is from cats that roam outside- We won’t belabor this because we have discussed the dangers of the parasites in cat scat many times here. It is good to have CNN discuss it, however. The next time you step in it, after the standard “Oh S__t!” think “toxoplasmosis.” Disinfect your shoes. The…
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What did the anti-wolf entrepreneurs do with the Utah taxpayer money? During the recent Utah legislative session, a big controversy blew up about giving the Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife spinoff group, Big Game Forever, the second of two grants to fight the introduction of wolves into Utah. Despite the fact that wolf reintroduction to Utah…
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Reality squashes the call of the right-winged goldbug- In recent years the siren call of the goldbug, mostly that of the right winged sub-species, has been heard throughout much of the world. Infestation by this bug, this pest, is known to create fear of hyperinflation despite an actual condition of deflation, It also produces a…
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Channel Island fox population grows from 50 to over 2000 in just 9 years- There are many species of fox around the world — 37 or so. Those fox with a naturally limited geographic range are likely to become the most quickly threatened by extinction. So it was with the (California) Channel Island Fox, which…