October 2007
-
Time Magazine sounds the alarm! The headline is misleading because Yellowstone National Park’s wolves are not embattled except indirectly by gradual deterioration of their genetics if adjacent non-Park wolf packs are eliminated. Nevertheless, the article makes it clear the 1200 or so wolves outside the Park are probably threatened with a large reduction in their…
-
This is a report in New West on NREPA, which is getting its first ever hearing in Congress. Opponents have always argued that the grand Northern Rockies Ecosystem Projection Act isn’t’ politically feasible, but bills that are commonly hailed as “feasible” have not been enacted either. There are a few exceptions in greener places like…
-
Folks might recall when Dan Brister was injured and arrested last winter while videoing the Montana DOL haze bison north of West Yellowstone, Montana. He is project director for the Buffalo Field Campaign. He had a jury trial and was convicted of obstructing a peace officer after a one-day trial in Gallatin County Justice Court.…
-
The Senate Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee is holding a hearing in Las Vegas today ~ Thursday, October 11 ~ to discuss threats to the Great Basin. From what I gather, fire and cheatgrass will be highlighted on the agenda. Subscription only article from E & E : The Senate Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee…
-
Global Warming, Western Ranching, and the Bovine Curtain. This is from the WWP blog linking to an opinion by George Wuerthner as to how cattle contribute mightily to global climate change. Just like the old Iron Curtain that squelched any critical discussion of Communism’s failures, we in the West live behind a “Bovine Curtain.” The…
-
The Northern Continental Divide ecosystem in northwest central Montana is the second largest grizzly population in the lower 48 states. It consists of Glacier National Park, the Great Bear, Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Mission Mountains wilderness areas and several million acres of adjacent roaded and unroaded, public and private land. A sophisticated population size study…
-
This story appeared Oct. 6 and is fairly moderate in tone, despite the headline — “their struggle” isn’t much compared to the multitude of other things that kill cattle and sheep. Montana’s Department of Fish and Wildife and Parks, which does just about all on-the-ground decision making about wolves today, is also moderate. Montana’s Department…
-
George Wuerthner has a good piece how metaphors affect the way we perceive our natural resources. Working Wilderness and Other Code Words. New West. By George Wuerthner. In fact my use of the term “natural resources” implies a point of view, namely that elements of the natural world exist just for our use and have…