A Project of Sage Steppe Wild
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire is rumored to be a front-runner for nomination as Secretary of the Interior, where she would oversee millions of acres of public land. But a livestock “pilot” program she instituted in Washington, which fast-tracked the introduction of livestock grazing on Washington Wildlife Areas free of charge to ranchers, while running roughshod…
Washington state’s governor Christine Gregoire (Democrat) open up critical wildlife lands purchased by the state to cattle grazing as a political deal — an effort to strengthen her reelection chances in a part of the state where she is a weak. This much needed article in the Seattle Times makes that very clear. What the…
The Wildlife News is trying something new. We read a number of interesting, wildlife related news stories each day that we don’t have time to comment on. Here is a list of those we found interesting. Some of them may come up as a separate post later. Misfires | News | Missoula Independent. An interesting story about…
Yesterday the Desert Independent reported that on Election Day, after being asked about the treatment of wild horses and allegations made in a recent ProPublica article about the illegal sale of wild horses to a slaughter facility in Mexico, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar turned to the reporter and said “If you set me up like this again,…
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently purchased private checkerboard land intermingled with Forest Service lands in the Rock Creek watershed north of Yakima. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation combined forces and purchased 16 square miles of lands…
No grazing on the Whisky Dick and Quilomene wildlife areas in Washington State The State of Washington has spent a lot of money trying to justify cattle grazing on wildlife management areas in the state which are comprised of lands purchased using Federal money specifically intended for wildlife habitat. The lands in the Whisky Dick…
Mimulus patulus Occurence & Habitat Springs and seeps are unique habitats that occur where subterranean water emerges from an aquifer. In the semi-arid and arid west, these unique sources of water are particularly important ‘oasis’ habitats for wildlife, especially during drought and heat. Their relatively consistent temperatures and chemistry provides for “hotspots” of biological diversity – many of the more fragile…
Thurston County Superior Court has ruled in favor of Dr. Steve Herman and Western Watersheds Project deciding that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) violated the State Environmental Protection Act when issuing grazing permits on its state wildlife areas without undergoing environmental analysis. The state and Washington Cattleman’s Association had claimed that such…