George Wuerthner
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Wyoming counties are currently involved the Public Lands Initiative. Ostensibly the purpose is to determine which Wilderness Study Areas (WSA) should be designated as wilderness and which areas will be released to other land exploitation. Across Wyoming, there are 42 WSAs on BLM lands and three WSAs on Forest Service lands, totaling over 700,000 acres.…
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For thousands of years, humans have been reliant and aware that we are all dependent upon other life to support us. If the caribou or bison herd didn’t come near the village or the salmon failed to materialize in the streams, people starved. We humans intuitively understood that we had an obligation and responsibility to…
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One of the only good things about the failure of Congress to agree upon the future of DACA recipients (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is that Trump’s fantasy about a border wall was not funded yet (which you may remember Mexico was going to pay for). Many see the Border Wall controversy as a humanitarian…
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The Idaho BLM is proposing to remove juniper from over 600,000 acres of land in the Owyhee River area of southern Idaho ostensibly to benefit nesting sage grouse. Sage grouse avoid treed areas, so the idea is to cut down juniper to increase sage grouse habitat quality. While there is no doubt from the literature…
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Across the country, the growing popularity of mountain biking is increasingly a threat to our wildlands, even in designated wilderness. Some mountain biking advocates promote the idea that their sport is compatible with the goals, and even the legal obligations of federal land management agencies that manage wilderness. Yet my feeling is that mountain bikers and…
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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…