Domestic sheep grazing in the Gravelly Range, Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner
A recent article on the Helle family and their domestic sheep grazing operations on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest was published In a November Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
The piece was a puff piece on the sheep grazing practices […]
Continue Reading →Hoback Peak in the Wyoming Range, Bridger Teton NF, Wyoming. Photo George Wuerthner
A recent proposal by the Bridger Teton National Forest threatens the ability to retire grazing allotments on public lands through permit buyout.
Grazing on public lands is a privilege, not a right. Nevertheless, the political power of the livestock […]
Continue Reading →Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Ram. Photo George Wuerthner
Bighorn sheep acquired their name for the large circular horns of the mature rams. They are strongly associated with mountain terrain, particularly steep hills and cliffs, which protect them against predators. They graze upon grasses and other plants. In general, bighorns are associated with […]
Continue Reading →Wild bighorn sheep once were found throughout the West. Roaming high alpine ridges of the Rockies to the badlands of the Dakotas to the deserts of Arizona and California, bighorns were adapted to a wide variety of climates and terrain and some estimate they numbered in two million or more animals.
But these iconic western […]
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Boise, IDAHO – Conservation groups voluntarily dismissed their lawsuit against high-elevation domestic sheep grazing in the “Summer West Range of Centennial Mountains because the government has agreed not to graze again until it completes a full environmental review of the potential impacts of the activity. It has previously committed not to grazing in Summer East Range or […]
Continue Reading →Wasteful Government Grazing Program to Continue
Hailey, Idaho—Last month’s effort to end wasteful government programs at the Agricultural Research Station’s U.S. Sheep Experiment Station by closing it in the fall of 2014 has been thwarted by political interference from Idaho Representative Mike Simpson. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack claimed that the station had become a […]
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Bozeman, MT. Today five conservation groups Cottonwood Environmental Law Center, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Gallatin Wildlife Association and Yellowstone Buffalo Foundation sent the U.S. Department of Agriculture a notice of intent to sue for its failure to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the effects of sheep grazing on the U.S. Sheep Experiment […]
Continue Reading →A fight is brewing over domestic sheep grazing in bighorn sheep habitat in Wyoming. The Biodiversity Conservation Alliance filed a lawsuit last year to protect the small Encampment herd of bighorn sheep from coming into contact with disease ridden domestic sheep which would likely kill the entire herd if contact between the two species were […]
Continue Reading →A notice published by the Department of Labor in the January 8th Federal Register requires woolgrowers in several states to increase the wages of immigrant workers who are hired under the H2A program. In some states the wages have increased significantly from a measly $750/month plus room and board to a measly $1422.52/month to match […]
Continue Reading →Do grizzly bears threaten chickens or do chicken owners threaten grizzly bears?
Earlier today we wrote an article about people putting up a lot of new chicken coops in well known NW Montana grizzly bear country. The result of this is dead grizzly bears when bear “mangers” have the bears put down for eating a […]
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