Politics

  • Legislative moves to give public lands to the states advance despite little evidence of public support

    Ralph Maughan

    Montana is the exception by killing bill to create a land transfer task force- All of the Western states now entertain bills to take the public lands from the United States and give, transfer or take them for the individual states. Some Republicans in Congress are trying to get the proposed redistribution of land going by…

  • Southwest Crown of Continent Collaborative Fails Restoration Goals

    George Wuerthner

    The Forest Service (FS), the timber industry and some environmental groups formed a collaborative groups several years ago known as the Southwest Crown of the Continent (SWCC). The goal ostensibly is to promote healthy ecosystems, but the real goal is to increase logging in the Seeley-Swan and Lincoln areas. The SWCC “restoration” objectives appear to…

  • Timber myths reemerge to plague Montana

    Ralph Maughan

    Senate Tester dissembles.- Senators Tester and Daines plot suppression of challenges to timber sales- Timber sales and timber harvest declined on the national forests in the Rocky Mountains during the Clinton Administration. The reason was the withdrawal of subsidies that supported higher levels of timbering. Unlike the Southern national forests and those west of the…

  • Wyoming Legislature would terminate bighorn sheep herd in reprisal for Forest Service protection

    Ralph Maughan

    “We’re basically playing chicken with the feds. It’s basically more like extortion, . . .” Rep. Dan Zwonitzer (R-Cheyenne)- This session of the Wyoming legislature has been one to nurse grudges when it comes to livestock and efforts to curb its harmful side effects. The legislature passed a bill to criminalize the gathering of data…

  • Controversy in Idaho Legislature over the threat posed by the meningeal worm to elk, mule deer, and moose

    Ralph Maughan

    Elk breeders push to relax rules. Legislature close to rejecting the breeders- White-tailed deer and the parasitic meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) coexist fairly well. They have fought each other to a near standstill in evolutionary conflict spanning perhaps a million years. The whitetails rarely get sick from these adult nematode type worms that live in…

  • About Montana Republicans’ public lands transfer effort

    Ralph Maughan

    Here is current news and notes- On Feb 9, there was a contentious first hearing on the bills by Senator Jennifer Fielder of Thompson Falls, a leader in the effort for Montana to gain ownership of the U. S. public lands. It was on SB 215 (see next paragraph). Contentious hearing on first of several federal land transfer…

  • Taking our public lands: what about donated lands?

    Ralph Maughan

    If states grab federal lands, what happens to donated private lands? What do the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, and hundreds of other organizations have in common? Their gifts of acquired private land given to the federal government would be at risk if states got hold of the national…

  • Speak for Wolves August 7-9, 2015 West Yellowstone, Montana

    Brett Haverstick

    Wildlife management reform objective one- Speak for Wolves is an opportunity for the American people to unite and demand wildlife management reform and restore our national heritage. This year’s event is set to take place in the Union Pacific Dining Lodge on August 7-9, 2015 in West Yellowstone, Montana. Here is the first objective in reforming…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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