George Wuerthner
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A group of individuals known as the Gallatin Partnership has colluded to propose a future division of the Gallatin Range into different recreational zones to the detriment of wildlife and wildlands. http://missoulian.com/lifestyles/recreation/bozeman-group-proposes-forest-consider-more-wilderness-wildlife-management-areas/article_1fda14fc-d78c-536f-9688-25225fb21899.html?utm_source=Conservation+News+-+January+31%2C+2018&utm_campaign=CN+17+Jan%2F18&utm_medium=email The Gallatin Range is the largest unprotected wildlands left in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Stretching south 50 miles from Bozeman to Yellowstone National Park,…
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The Custer Gallatin National Forest is revising its Forest Plan, and among other things, is reexamining its roadless lands and making recommendations for future wilderness. This is critical because lands deemed worthy of the potential wilderness by the Forest are managed to retain their wilderness qualities. Not surprisingly the Forest has produced an anemic recommendation given…
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The Challis Messenger carried an article about the voluntary retirement of grazing privileges on the Wildhorse allotment of the Challis National Forest. http://www.challismessenger.com/articles/2018/01/18/another-livestock-grazing-permit-relinquished The article quotes County Commissioner Randy Corgatelli who said: “We can’t keep losing AUMs” (animal unit months), Corgatelli said. “It hurts the economy of Custer County.” Corgatelli’s statement is more hyperbole than…
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Most of environmental/conservation groups in the West are participants in various public land collaboratives. The majority are forest-oriented like the Northwest Forestry Collaborative https://www.conservationnw.org/our-work/wildlands/forest-collaboration/ or the Deschutes Forest Collaborative in Oregon http://deschutescollaborativeforest.org/ or the Southwest Crown Collaborative in Montana https://www.swcrown.org/. Though there are others like the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative https://wcca.wygisc.org/wpli/homepage/index.html which focuses primarily…
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The Pinedale Ranger District on the Bridger Teton National Forest (FS) just came out with its Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Upper Green Grazing Allotment. This allotment covers 170,00 acres and is the largest FS grazing allotment in the country. The FEIS is a huge Christmas present for the ranchers grazing this area…
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Oregon Public Radio had a story about the Deschutes River and its water flow problems. The Deschutes River which historically had one of the most constant flows of any river in the United States due to the abundance of springs that form its headwaters. The annual difference in high and low flows was about 6…
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With the final recommendations by Secretary Zinke and Congressional Greg Walden asking Donald Trump to reduce the size of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument to facilitate more logging, it behooves Oregonians to work towards increasing the protection of this unique area. It is well established that many national monuments designated by Presidential proclamation eventually…
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Among the many threats to our public lands now before Congress is House Bill HR 1349 which would amend the Wilderness Act to allow mountain biking throughout the nation’s wilderness preservation system. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate. The legislation is being promoted by a mountain biking group with the happy sound inclusive…