February 2012
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I just got out of the Idaho Senate and Resources Committee meeting where they discussed S1305 which allows ranchers to kill wolves in many different ways. They voted to send the bill to the floor with a do pass recommendation. One interesting comment was made by Republican Senator Tippets who said that he had dinner…
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Editors note 5:30 PM MST 2/22/2012: we have learned that this “wolf kill bill” will probably move no further in the Oregon Legislature — it is probably dead for the year, though it is possible that legislative “tricks” could possibly push it further. Full release: Activists Take Over OCA Meeting and Call Attention to Anti-Wolf…
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The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently purchased private checkerboard land intermingled with Forest Service lands in the Rock Creek watershed north of Yakima. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation combined forces and purchased 16 square miles of lands…
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Brooks Fahy, of Predator Defense in Eugene, Oregon, has put together an account of Robert Norie, the owner of Bella the husky, and the ordeal they went through after Bella was caught in an unmarked USDA Wildlife Services snare set for wolves in Idaho’s Boise National Forest in August 2010. Wildlife Services has been implicated…
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Increased Fees to Graze On Public Land Still Doesn’t Cover Costs President Obama’s proposed 2013 budget for the Department of the Interior includes a tiny bit of good news for western public lands: a $1 increase in the fee charged for livestock grazing on Bureau of Land Management lands. The fee, which is required of each public…
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The Montana FWP Commission has decided not to extend the wolf hunt in the Bitterroot area. While many claim that the elk declines seen there have been due to wolves but a recent study implicates cougars and a quick look at the historic numbers shows that poor hunting management has also contributed to the declines…
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Final figure to be about 163 166 wolves, 75% of quota- Montana’s once extended, second wolf hunting season ends today. As of noon today, Feb. 15, 166 wolves had been reported killed in the hunt. Statewide this is about 75% of the quota set by Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners. Three hunting units closed before…