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A quiet victory in defense of three of California’s rare amphibians.
Sometimes a “win” is the fight you don’t have to have. Instead of victories proclaimed from the steps of the courthouse, some wins are the quiet kind which involve not having to go back to court at all. Western Watersheds Project and our allies recently had such a win, in a case over Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs, the…
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Wolf Killer Should Be Charged with Animal Cruelty
Co-authored by Jessica Johnson, chief legislative officer, Animal Protection of New Mexico; and Greta Anderson, deputy director, Western Watersheds Project — Last year, the American public learned about the brutal killing of an endangered Mexican gray wolf—identified as Mexican wolf number #1385 of the Willow Springs pack, and named “Mia Tuk” by an Albuquerque schoolchild—by a…
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Bison: Still Not Back From The Brink (Reposted from Mountain Journal)
THE RESCUE OF AMERICA’S NATIONAL LAND MAMMAL IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREATEST CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORIES EVER AND YET IT’S HARD TO FIND MANY WILD HERDS ON THE MAP by Jim Bailey During the 20th century, Montana took pride in bringing several species of large mammals, especially big game, back from the brink of extinction. But…
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Griz Expert Says ‘Mountain Bikes Are A Grave Threat To Bears’
WHEN IT COMES TO SAFEGUARDING BEARS, SCIENTISTS SAY WILDERNESS-CALIBER LANDS, FREE OF RIDERS, ARE IMPORTANT TO BRUIN PERSISTENCE Reposted from Mountain Journal with permission of the author, Todd Wilkinson (click at original link for photos) — Does mountain biking impact wildlife, any more than hikers and horseback riders do? More specifically: could rapidly-growing numbers of…
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Social Carrying Capacity Politspeak Bamboozle
by DAVID MATTSON Reprinted from Counterpunch with permission of the author — As a scholar and social scientist I get annoyed when concepts are deployed for partisan purposes without regard for intellectual integrity. Having said that, I suspect that most politicians would find my distress silly, which is to be expected of a breed that exists…
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Political shell game imperils iconic bird of the American West
Reprinted from Waco Tribune-Herald March 9, 2019 By Steve Holmer, American Bird Conservancy Wildlife experts concluded in 2015 that the Greater Sage-Grouse, an iconic bird of the West, did not require listing under the Endangered Species Act, thanks to then-new federal management plans with added conservation requirements. Many conservation groups, including American Bird Conservancy, supported…
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Transbasin diversions are bad for wildlife, and cattle are even worse
By Laura Cunningham, California Director, Western Watersheds Project A controversy has irrupted in a volcanic caldera used for livestock grazing in the scenic Eastern Sierra region of California. Ditch irrigation is a common use of wet meadows along the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada, where snowmelt streams pour into basins and connect to rivers…
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Federal court rules against Wyoming’s ag-gag laws
By Erik Molvar Credit: Photo by Steve Stevens courtesy Flickr Creative Commons A federal court has ruled that a Wyoming statutes designed to suppress the collection of “resource data” by nonprofit environmental groups and other members of the public violates constitutional free speech rights, and consequently the court struck down the two state laws. sources…