July 2015
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NEWS RELEASE Western Watersheds Project Lander, WY – The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has revised the state’s water quality standards on 76 percent of the state’s stream mileage to allow five times more fecal coliform bacteria in the water. The new standards allow 630 colony-forming units of Escherichia coli (“E. coli”) per 100 milliliters of…
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Wyoming government continues its quest to make the state’s creeks legally safe for unlimited amounts of pathogenic cow flops. With no notice to the general public or to nonagricultural or nonindustrial special publics, the DEQ has adopted new rules permitting 5 times more e. coli in almost 90,000 miles of Wyoming headwaters creeks. This is…
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Another new study titled “Does wildfire likelihood increase following insect outbreaks in conifer forests?” by Garrent Meigs and co authors concludes that bark beetles outbreaks do not lead to greater likelihood of fires. This research joins a growing list of studies, all using different methods of evaluation, that finds that bark beetles are not a driving…
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Hope you can join us on August 7-9, 2015 at the historic Union Pacific Dining Lodge in West Yellowstone, Montana for Speak for Wolves! Friday August 7 6:00pm doors open with music by Neil Haverstick. 7:00pm Screening of OR-7 the Journey with filmmaker Clemens Schenk. Amaroq Weiss of the Center for Biological Diversity will be…
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One of the justifications for logging by the Forest Service around the West is the idea that fire suppression has led to fewer fires, and thus greater fuel build up than historically occurred. Therefore, mechanically reducing fuels—i.e. logging—is reasonable because otherwise we will see large wildfires. However, both assumptions—namely there is fuel build up…
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Republican congressionals advance bill that bars public review and lawsuits over logging in our national forests- One version, Resilient Federal Forests Act, has passed the House and now the U. S. Senate takes up legislation that supporters, overwhelmingly Republican, say will reduce catastrophic wildfires and “streamline” environmental review of logging projects. The legislation will also…
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Recently GOP Presidential Candidate Scott Walker suggested he might be ready to begin war on his first day of office, presumably against Iran. Walker’s bellicose chest-beating is in response to the recent agreement the Obama administration brokered with Iran to limit its nuclear capabilities. But Walker’s rhetoric also demonstrates a failure to understand what really…
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Public meetings slated for July 27-30 and comments due Aug.29- With the all but certain demise of the Isle Royale wolves just ahead and moose population already expanding, the National Park Service says it is working on a plan to deal with the situation. While the wolf population might not yet be entirely gone, the outcome is…