The Wildlife News

A Project of Sage Steppe Wild

B.L.M.

  • Livestock Grazing in the West–A full accounting of costs

    George Wuerthner

    Attached is a Zoom talk I gave to the Massachusetts Sierra Club on the ecological costs of livestock grazing in the West, but I also provide evidence that livestock production has a serious global impact.  

  • Pygmy Rabbit Proposed For Listing Under Endangered Species Act

    George Wuerthner

      Prime pygmy rabbit sagebrush habitat along the Big Lost River where I lived while working for the Challis National Forest. Photo George Wuerthner  Years ago, I worked on the Challis National Forest and lived along the Big Lost River in Central Idaho. One of my favorite winter activities was skiing through the big sagebrush…

  • The Dept of Interior Bans M-44s or Cyanide Bombs On BLM Lands

    George Wuerthner

    Coyotes are the prime target of M-44s, but numerous other wildlife and pets are also killed by these devices. Photo George Wuerthner Today, the Biden Administration’s Department of Interior has formally banned M-44 or what are known as cyanide bombs, from 245 million acres of Bureau of Land Management federal lands. M-44 are spring-loaded ejectors…

  • Voluntary Grazing Permit Retirement Act

    George Wuerthner

    Cattle grazing in the Blue Range Wilderness of New Mexico. Photo George Wuerthner Anyone who has ever worked on public lands livestock issues knows that modifying the negative impacts of ranching operations, much less eliminating them, is nearly impossible. Domestic livestock grazing even occurs in national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, and other public lands…

  • Juniper and grasslands–How Cattle Grazing Impacts Ecosystems

    George Wuerthner

    Ungrazed juniper and grass in Sutton Mountain Proposed Wilderness, Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner  One of the most common assertions from the livestock industry and range managers is that juniper is “invading” landscapes, sucking up water that would sustain grasses, and harming wildlife. Of course, these assertions are seldom challenged. Given that grass seems absent from…

  • The Social Carbon Cost of Public Land Livestock Grazing

    George Wuerthner

    Public land livestock grazing has a significant social cost in terms of carbon emissions contributing to climate warming. Grand Staircase-Escalante NM Utah.  Photo George Wuerthner  An important paper was published in Environmental Management about the social carbon costs of public land livestock grazing. The paper Climate, Ecological, and Social Costs of Livestock Grazing on Western…

  • Another Self Serving Livestock Study Championing Targeted Grazing To Reduce Wildfire

    George Wuerthner

    Livestock grazing in the Great Basin has increased cheatgrass, a highly flammable annual grass. Livestock advocates allege targeted grazing can reduce large wildfires. Photo George Wuerthner A recent publication in the Journal of Rangeland Ecology and Management, “Evaluating the efficacy of targeted cattle grazing for fuel break creation and maintenance,” perpetuates the myth that livestock…

  • More Hype On Fuel Breaks

    George Wuerthner

      Targeted grazing seeks to create vegetation free zones, which advocates suggest will assist firefighters in controlling blazes. However, the collateral damage from grazing vastly exceeds any benefits. Photo George Wuerthner  A recent article in the Post Register described the research that the University of Idaho Range Department conducted on fuel breaks, especially those resulting…

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‎”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

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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