Advocacy
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Channel Island fox population grows from 50 to over 2000 in just 9 years- There are many species of fox around the world — 37 or so. Those fox with a naturally limited geographic range are likely to become the most quickly threatened by extinction. So it was with the (California) Channel Island Fox, which…
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I recently had encounters with three state wildlife agency biologists. All of them were quite open with their criticisms of their agencies predator policies. I can’t reveal their names and I will change a few details to hide their identities. The first biologist told me there was no reason to kill predators. He said…
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Bozeman, Mont.—Conservationists are offering a $6,500 reward for information leading to the arrestand conviction of the person(s) responsible for killing a grizzly bear in the Centennial Mountains ofsouthwest Montana last fall. The collar of “Grizzly #726” was recovered from a stream on USDA Sheep Experiment Stationproperty on September 12, 2012. He had been fitted with…
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Interior Secretary Sally Jewell received two letters today from conservation scientists criticizing a draft Rule that would remove protections for wolves across the lower 48 states. One letter came from the American Society of Mammalogists, the other from 16 conservation scientists. Signatories include several scientists who conducted the research the government relied upon in the…
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I recently visited Yellowstone National Park and, while there, my father and I used a friend’s place as a base camp in Gardiner, Montana. From there we would drive about 10 miles to the Park where we watched wildlife, took photographs, and just enjoyed some of the solitude that Yellowstone provides during this part of…
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Salmon-Challis National Forest said to not enforce grazing laws- Boise. ID. When you drive or hike into this east central Idaho high country (Idaho’s highest mountains), you would expect to see pristine creeks. On the Salmon-Challis NF, however, one is usually disappointed. The creeks are sacrificed to appease local ranchers with tiny amounts of extra grass…
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I attended the Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolverine listing hearings in Helena. Opponents, including a number of Montana state legislators as well as MDFWP, argued that wolverine populations were “stable” or even “increasing” and therefore did not warrant listing under the Endangered Species Act. While the ill-informed state legislators who testified could be forgiven for…
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The Supreme Court recently ruled in an 7-1 vote (Justice Stephen Breyer recused himself) that the EPA regulations about water pollution as mandated by the Clean Water Act did not apply to sediment and other pollution from logging operations. The timber industry is rejoicing over the ruling. But citizens should be less sanguine than industry.…