Currently viewing the category: "Montana"

The northern end of the Bridger Range is proposed as wilderness by some organizations like the Gallatin Yellowstone Wilderness Alliance. Photo George Wuerthner

I recently visited the North Bridger Timber sale (euphemistically called the North Bridger Forest Health Project)  on the Custer Gallatin NF outside of Bozeman, Montana. Like so many timber […]

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By Jocelyn Leroux, Washington and Montana Director, Western Watersheds Project

 

This year has proven deadly for many of Montana’s wildlife species. From outrageously regressive rules governing gray wolf management to opening numerous Wildlife Management Areas (WMAs) to livestock operations free of charge, the priorities of Montana’s decision makers have been on full display. Wildlife […]

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Chapter 3:
Rewilding on a Global Scale: a
Crucial Element in Addressing
the Biodiversity Crisis
George Wuerthner
30
Rewilding on a Global Scale
According to the report, the average abundance of native species
has declined by 20% since 1900. Other groups have suffered
significant declines, including […]

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Fleecer Mountain Wildlife Management Area is one of the places MDFWP proposes “emergency livestock grazing.” 

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) announced that due to the extreme drought conditions across Montana, it would open up some wildlife management areas (WMA) to livestock grazing and haying. And it will keep […]

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Restoration of wild bison will require large landscapes. Photo George Wuerthner

Bison were critical ecosystem influences on grasslands of North America, particularly in the Great Plains “bison belt.” They provided prey or carrion for wolves, grizzlies, other smaller predators and scavengers, and food for humans. In addition, bison grazing patterns influenced vegetation […]

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The North Bridger Range is a proposed wilderness. Photo George Wuerthner 

In an article in the Bozeman Chronicle about the North Bridger Timber sale, the Forest Service justifies logging the forests based on what it calls “forest health”. The agency claims logging will “restore” resiliency.  But few ask what exactly constitutes a […]

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Bison herd. Photo George Wuerthner

Many authors today suggest that Indigenous people somehow behaved differently from other humans, particularly western culture that now dominates the globe in their relationship and exploitation of natural lands.

The general theme is that while the human influence pre-European contact was significant, human exploitation was tempered […]

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The aftermath of the Las Conchas  Blaze in 2011 in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. Photo George Wuerthner 

 

An excellent overview of wildfire issues was published in the Revelator. https://therevelator.org/wildfire-archive/

I encourage folks to review it.

I especially appreciate the linkage of recent large fires to drought and […]

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Thinned lodgepole pine forest on Oregon’s Deschutes National Forest. As often is the case, thinning puts more “fine” fuels on the ground which can promote fire spread. Photo George Wuerthner 

Montana Senator Daines announced that he intends to reintroduce wildfire legislation co-sponsored by California Senator Diane Feinstein that, among other things, would […]

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The Centennial Range straddles the Montana-Idaho border forming a natural migration corridor for wildlife. Photo George Wuerthner

Due to a recent court decision, the Centennial Range, which lies along the Idaho-Montana border to the west of Yellowstone National Park, is that much closer to becoming a “safe zone” for wildlife.

For decades, […]

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Quote

‎"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour."

~ Edward Abbey