George Wuerthner
-
Wildlife Services Challenged In early June environmental groups filed a law suit against the euphemistically named “Wildlife Services” WS (formerly Animal Damage Control) to halt its killing of wolves in Idaho. Last year the federal agency killed 72 Idaho wolves at the behest of ranchers, and sometimes hunters as well. In the past decade, WS…
-
When one read papers about the effectiveness of fuel reductions to limit or control wildfires, there are several points to keep in mind. Many papers suggest that fuel treatments are effective–but under what conditions is critical. See comments below. First, keep in mind that most researchers are looking for success. So they tend to focus…
-
I attended a legislative hearing in Salem on proposed wilderness and/or national monument status for the Owyhee Canyonlands. While my motivation for protecting land has little to do with economic growth, the major rationale given for opposing increased land protections is that it will harm the local economy, particularly the livestock industry. But the reality is…
-
Whenever there is discussion about the impacts of livestock production that has been imposed on native predators, someone almost always brings up “predator friendly” livestock operations. It is a way to have your beef and eat it too. For some people giving up meat eating is something they can’t imagine, despite the many health and…
-
See update at bottom Currently Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is proposing to increase the annual quota of wolves that can be killed near Gardiner, Montana adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. I don’t believe upping the quota from 2-6 wolves is likely to cause wolves to disappear from Yellowstone. That is not the…
-
Recently it was reported in the Livingston Enterprise that visitors to Yellowstone National Park contributed $493.6 million in spending in communities near the park. That spending supported 7,737 jobs. And this research does not include all the jobs and income resulting from those with footloose businesses and/or retirement that they bring to communities like Livingston, in…
-
Republican Presidential candidate, Donald Trump, likes to suggest there are “winners” like him and “losers” like most everyone else. And if you want to be on the winning team, you should vote for Trump. Trump has suggested that he is willing to state the truth, and is not inhibited by political correctness. But one truth…
-
The Forest Service solution to large wildfires is more logging, but this prescription ignores the growing body of scientific research that suggests that logging/thinning/prescribed burning does not work under severe fire conditions. Why is this important? Because the vast majority of all fires self-extinguish whether we do anything or not. However, all large fires —…