Wildlife
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INTRODUCTION Throughout this report, I will refer to livestock grazing and production. The inclusion of production is critical because many livestock operations’ impacts involve more than cattle grazing grasslands. For instance, predator control is one consequence of livestock production, as is the production of forage crops such as alfalfa, which does not directly affect grasslands.…
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George Wuerthner and Michael Kellett The Cabinet-Yaak region of northwest Montana along the Idaho border is little known outside of the region. The area contains the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness, plus numerous proposed wilderness areas like Scotchman’s Peak, Cube Iron Silcox, Roderick Mountain, and Northwest Peaks, among others. The Cabinet Mountains are quite spectacular. Elevations…
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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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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 sagebrush steppe dominates the drier parts of the West, including parts of Southeast Oregon, much of Nevada, southern Idaho, western Wyoming, western Colorado, western Utah, and parts of New Mexico. Sagebrush steppe covers 165 million acres of the West. Due to many factors, including farming, ranching, subdivisions, and, most importantly, range fires, sagebrush vegetation…
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Paper from University of Wyoming PHd student sheds fresh light on a question that’s vexed biologists for decades. By Christine Peterson, WyoFile.com Wandering through the rolling foothills of the Wind River Range near Dubois, lives a bighorn sheep herd famous for both its abundance and scarcity. A herd that once helped reseed bighorn sheep populations…
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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…
