Conservation
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Bruce Babbit knows all about the difficulty of confronting entrenched anti-environmental interests, but Obama’s capitulation seems to go beyond “bad negotiating”. The White House has made a conscious decision to sell-out America’s environmental heritage to placate the House of Representatives. Babbit has had enough: Former Interior secretary calls out Obama on the environment – L.A. Times It’s…
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“Reduced grazing saves carbon” A few years ago we discussed a Wohlfahrt study in the Mojave Desert which strongly suggested that desert ecosystems may play a significant role in sequestering carbon out of the atmosphere and sinking it into the soil. Studies in Germany likewise demonstrated that human impact to soils both decreases the amount of…
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Obama and Salazar take back the crumbs they kicked Wilderness advocates ‘Wild lands’ order revoked – BLM can no longer grant wilderness-like protection – Idaho Mountain Express Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar wrote a memo to bureau Director Bob Abbey on Wednesday confirming that the BLM is not authorized to designate any of its land…
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For those looking for a laugh, the Idaho Statesman‘s relentless infatuation with Cowboy Custom & Culture never fails to disappoint: Documenting the Idaho buckaroo way of life – The Idaho Statesman Owyhee County rancher Paul Nettleton adds that “cowboys dance in bars and ride in rodeos. Buckaroos herd cows day in and day out. They’re…
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Turf War or Legitimate Concern ? Earlier, we took a look at a recent settlement struck between the Interior Department and WildEarth Guardians that seeks to clear the logjam with species listings under the Endangered Species Act. The settlement would ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make up or down determinations on a…
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Study: There exists enough already-disturbed land in the U.S. suitable for wind to produce 3,500 gigawatts of power – more power than is consumed by the entire U.S. A new study is confirming what many have been suggesting all along; We don’t need to sacrifice wild-lands and pristine wildlife habitat to facilitate renewable energy, it’s…
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On February 28, 2011 Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the United States District Court for Idaho agreed with Western Watersheds Project and reimposed an injunction stopping livestock grazing on 17 grazing allotments covering over 450,000 acres of public land in the Jarbidge Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management in southern Idaho. The…
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“I can assure you there will be a protracted legal fight using all legal means available to stop the project” Some of the really great things I enjoy about living in the west are the obscure landscapes/mountain ranges. Unlike national parks, ‘W‘ilderness areas, National Monuments and other landscapes prominently highlighted on any western map, there…