Jonathan Ratner
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Bighorn Sheep vs. Domestic Sheep
As many of you know, domestic sheep are the primary impediment to bighorn sheep recovery because the domestic sheep transmit disease to the bighorn sheep. PBS did a decent video on the issue: What the video fails to mention is that livestock permits on our public lands are a privilege, not a right, and can…
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USGS Webinar Series on Sagebrush Ecosystem and Rangeland Fire Science
For sagebrush and science geeks, USGS is hosting a series of webinars on sagebrush issues starting at the end of January Dates and Topics: 1/30 – Greater sage-grouse 2/6 – Invasive species, restoration effectiveness, and monitoring 2/20 – Monitoring, pinyon-juniper, and fuels management 2/27 – Fire, fuels management, invasive species 3/6 – Climate, carbon, and more…
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Overshoot – The Biggest Risk to Humanity
From our friends at Population Balance comes a new episode of their podcast with Mathis Wackernagel, co-founder of the Global Footprint Network To listen and for links to the resources mentioned in the podcast, click on the image above or here.
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How to Starve an Ecosystem
Here is an interesting opportunity for folks. WWP is putting on a seminar about new research regarding how livestock disrupt the normal nitrogen flows. We’re excited to invite you to the first installment of our 2025 Webinar Series! Join us for a compelling presentation that uncovers how human activities are reshaping the sagebrush steppe ecosystem—and…
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The Truth Behind Forest Management: Dr. Chad Hanson on The Deception of Thinning and Fire Prevention
Chad Hanson is a research ecologist and the director of the John Muir Project of Earth Island Institute, located in Big Bear City, California. Dr. Hanson has a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California at Davis, with a research focus on fire ecology in conifer forest ecosystems, and he is the author of…
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The Failures of the Biden Administration
I won’t go into the most disastrous of Biden’s mistakes, the appointment of the jellyfish-like Merrick Garland as Attorney General, instead focusing on public lands issues. Looking at the trajectory of public lands and wildlife issues over the last half century, what I have found consistently is that when there is a Republican administration, strong…
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Yellowstone Wolf Reintroduction – 30 Years On
Thirty years ago, this month, wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park. The writers at WyoFile and Montana Free Press teamed up on an excellent review of the history of the event up through the present. The article has interviews with many of the people involved. Check it out at The Year of the Wolves.…
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Wyoming research challenges benefits, highlights pitfalls of mowing and spraying sagebrush
Longtime habitat management techniques don’t stimulate vegetation growth in one sagebrush subspecies and may have detrimental effects on sage grouse and sagebrush-reliant songbirds, several studies show. The subtitle could be “No Sh#t Sherlock”. ts always nice when science is heard. For decades virtually all sage grouse experts were against killing sagebrush for sage grouse. The…