Law
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The Fish and Wildlife Service will soon be reviewing a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for Oregon’s Deschutes River written by contractors working for the Central Oregon irrigators. The HCP will dictate the future of the river. The goal of the irrigators is to obtain a “get out of jail free” pass for their impacts on…
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The five long versions of everything the agency did wrong with the Final Environmental Impact Statements “amending” the existing Obama-era sage-grouse land use plans can be found by state on WWP’s website: Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. The short version is this: The agency didn’t just take away over 200,000 acres of protected areas (mostly in Wyoming) and rearrange…
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On Friday afternoon, this came across my desk: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan, Region 2, intends to issue a sole source award utilizing Simplified Acquisition Procedures to William Bennett Nelson dba Bill Nelson Wildlife Control (DUNS# 117125795) Datil, New Mexico for trapping, capturing and radio collaring of wolves. The contract…
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Sometimes a “win” is the fight you don’t have to have. Instead of victories proclaimed from the steps of the courthouse, some wins are the quiet kind which involve not having to go back to court at all. Western Watersheds Project and our allies recently had such a win, in a case over Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs, the…
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Western Watersheds Project (the organization that I am the Executive Director of), WildEarth Guardians and the Center for Biological Diversity are fighting the reinstatement of grazing on four allotments in eastern Oregon that are permitted to Hammond Ranches. In part, we argue that the Hammonds don’t have a great track record and are thus undeserving…
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I wrote this review of the potential for wolf restoration in Oregon back in 1998. It is interesting to see that many of the predictions I made have materialized. Author: George Wuerthner ABSTRACT: Wolves (Canis lupus) were native to Oregon, and reported from throughout the state. Like much of the West, wolves were persecuted and…
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The Oregon spotted frog was originally found throughout wetlands in Oregon and Washington. It is the most aquatic of all native frogs. It is always located near perennial water sources. Draining of these wetlands, livestock grazing, and dams have significantly reduced its habitat. For instance, 95% of the wetlands in the Willamette Valley and Klamath…
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I sometimes feel like I am going back in time when I visit Idaho. The attitudes of Idaho lawmakers and some citizens seems like a time warp. A step backward to the “good old days” is represented by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission who voted to spend $23,069 to help fund a $1000 wolf…
