March 2018
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There is a huge difference between the Industrial Forestry worldview and an ecological perspective. Many people assume that foresters understand forest ecosystems, but what you learn in forestry school is how to produce wood fiber to sell to the wood products industry. I know because I attended a forestry school as an undergraduate in college.…
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In a March 26th Times News article, Karen Launchbaugh, a University of Idaho range professor, propagandized misleading ideas about livestock grazing. Like nearly all range professor, Ms. Launchbaugh, sees her job as promoting livestock grazing. I know because I studied range management both as an undergraduate and in grad school, so familiar with the emphasis…
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With both Senator Daines and Congressman Gianforte sponsoring legislation to remove wilderness study designation for some Montana Forest Service and BLM lands, it behooves us to consider what is at stake. These lands are some of the finest wildlands left in the Nation. Protecting Montana’s wildlands is good for the ecology and economy of the…
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Here’s a piece by Senator Bob Packwood from the Eugene Register-Guard remembering the efforts to protect French Pete as part of the Three Sisters Wilderness.http://registerguard.com/rg/opinion/36532738-78/french-pete-birth-of-a-wilderness.html.csp Probably most people visiting the Three Sisters Wilderness in Oregon today are unaware of the significance of the French Pete valley and its role in the overall wilderness preservation effort.…
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All the early western stockman wanted from the federal government in Washington DC was the free use of public lands, high tariffs on any meat coming from outside, the building and maintenance of public roads, the control of predators, the provision of free education, a good mail service with free delivery to the ranch gate,…
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Wild bighorn sheep once were found throughout the West. Roaming high alpine ridges of the Rockies to the badlands of the Dakotas to the deserts of Arizona and California, bighorns were adapted to a wide variety of climates and terrain and some estimate they numbered in two million or more animals. But these iconic western…
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Donald Trump is in California, and reviewing pro-types for his border wall. He still maintains that Mexico will pay for it, but that seems unlikely. One of the only good things about the failure of Congress to agree upon the future of DACA recipients (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is that Trump’s fantasy about a…
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The Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) are conspiring to weaken the 1964 Wilderness Act. They propose to use helicopters to capture and radio-collar exotic mountain goats which inhibit a few of the Wasatch Range wilderness areas like Lone Peak, Mount Timpanogos, Twin Peaks Wilderness Areas. In total, they will make at…