Endangered Species Act
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In their December 29th editorial in the Billings Gazette, Scott Talbott of the Wyoming Game and Fish and Harv Forsgren of the U.S. Forest Service wrote that hunting was another step towards grizzly bear recovery. To read their editorial, go to this link: Guest opinion: Hunting another step toward grizzly bear recovery. Specifically, the authors…
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Wyoming’s Wolf Plan Lethal for Wolves Denver, CO. A coalition of grassroots conservation organizations filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today for removing gray wolves in Wyoming from the federal threatened and endangered species list. The Service approved the State’s management of wolves in September, and the Wyoming Game and Fish…
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SAGE GROUSE: PROXIMATE AND ULTIMATE CAUSES When I was in college, one of my favorite courses was animal behavior. One of the more memorable lessons I learned was the difference between proximate and ultimate causes of behavior. Proximate and ultimate causes of events are important to distinguish. For instance, say a researcher finds that sedimentation…
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can’t let the rare carnivore just languish as a candidate endangered species- Dana Christensen, a Montana federal district court judge has denied the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s (“the Service”) motion to dismiss a conservationist lawsuit that asks for a prompt decision to give endangered species protection for the…
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Today, several groups filed a notice of intent (NOI) to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) over its decision to delist wolves in Wyoming. Delisting comes after USFWS accepted the minor changes made to the Wyoming wolf management plan which allows wolves to be killed by anyone, for any reason, and by any method…
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Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks maintains wolverine trapping. At their August 2, 2012 Commission meeting, the Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) commissioners voted to continue trapping wolverine, despite a petition from eight environmental groups and one individual George Wuerthner (me) to halt trapping. The groups– which included Friends of the…
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Understanding Montana’s Wolf Policy Decision George Wuerthner On July 12, 2012, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) Commissioners voted 4-0 to increase wolf hunting in the state, expanding the hunting season and permitting the trapping of wolves for the first time as well. The goal is to reduce wolf numbers across the…
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I recently attended the wolf hearings held by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in Helena. The commission is considering initiation of a trapping season, as well as eliminating quotas on the number of wolves that may be killed. The goal is to significantly reduce the state’s wolf population which currently numbers…