Advocacy
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If you pay attention to livestock grazing issues on public lands, you invariably will see research promoting cattle grazing as the magic elixir that can repair damaged riparian areas, eliminate cheatgrass and other weeds, reduce wildfires, increase soil carbon storage, and improve habitat for endangered species like sage grouse. If you think this is too…
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The Gold Butterfly logging and burning project, east of Corvallis, Montana, is in wolverine and grizzly bear habitat and bull trout critical habitat in the Sapphire Mountains on the Bitterroot National Forest. The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Native Ecosystems Council filed a lawsuit on September 9th against the Bitterroot National Forest seeking to stop the Gold Butterfly logging and…
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I just finished watching the film Crown Jewels. Many conservation groups are promoting the movie, but few are willing to critique some of the flawed premises in the video. It is admirable that the filmmakers want people to appreciate old-growth forests. But their message is confusing. On the one hand, they promote the idea that…
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On August 30, 2024, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MDFWP) closed the Big Hole River to fishing due to high water temperatures. When water temperatures rise, cold-water fish like trout are stressed and more susceptible to disease and even being caught due to low water concentrating fish in the remaining holes. One…
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“The idea of wilderness needs no defense. It only needs defenders.” Ed Abbey Abbey was right. There have been a number of books and articles over the last twenty or thirty years that have critically examined the ever-diminishing conservation ethics of those who work for environmental groups, both nationally and regionally. One early critic I…
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Impacts are Equal to Population multiplied by Tools multiplied by Energy available to drive those Tools Editors Note: The Wildlife News has a history of tackling difficult and sometimes uncomfortable or disturbing topics. This may be one for you… For those of us who care about our public lands and wildlife, we need to pull…
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I studied geography in grad school. One of the basic premises of geography is that maps can show graphical concepts and ideas that might not be obvious with other forms of communication. The map of roads in Greater Yellowstone serves as a powerful tool, revealing a reality that many fail to grasp. Despite the protection…
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Yellowstone National Park recently released its Final Bison Management Plan. It arbitrarily limits bison numbers through tribal hunting outside of the park and the transfer of public Yellowstone bison to Indian reservations. The NPS Preferred Alternative 2 is better than the existing bison management but will continue the degradation of wild bison. Alt. 3 is…
