Forest Service
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Let’s talk a bit about the public lands grazing fee that Cliven Bundy refused to pay. The Forest Service (FS) has been charging fees to graze private livestock on federal lands since 1906 and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been charging fees since 1936. In 1978, Congress established a fee formula in the…
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Wilderness Act of 1964 was the beginning of statutory protection of wild country- It took seven years to move the Wilderness Act through Congress, but finally in 1964 it passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed the bill into law. While some Forest Service lands had already been administratively protected as a kind of backcountry called…
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Just a week and a half after hearing arguments in a case brought by Idaho Wool Growers Association; American Sheep Industry Association; Public Lands Council; Wyoming Wool Growers Association; Carlson Company, Inc.; Shirts Brothers Sheep; and Colorado Wool Growers Association, against the Payette National Forest’s decision to close 70% of the domestic sheep grazing on the…
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With all of the horrible things happening in Idaho’s wolf management, it is hard to focus on other, perhaps more, important issues facing Idaho wildlife. With a deadline of 2015 bearing down for the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to make a decision about whether the greater sage grouse should receive protection under the…
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Some of the checkerboard landscape(s) across the western US can be attributed to the Congressional land grants made to the railroad barons in the 1800’s. While some lands were eventually developed for railroads, others never were. Unfortunately, instead of these unused lands being returned to the public domain, some were sold off to timber barons,…
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Faced with looming court challenge, Idaho halts unprecedented program POCATELLO, ID — Faced with a looming deadline to defend its actions before a federal appeals court, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) announced this afternoon that it is halting its wolf extermination program in the Middle Fork region of the Frank Church-River of…
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A rundown on the anti-wildlife, pro livestock things sneaked into the new U.S. budget just signed into law- By now, everyone has heard about yesterday’s passage of a $1.1 trillion budget bill. But it’s unlikely that many people have heard about anti-wildlife, pro-grazing details that are hiding there. Special interests always seem to get their…
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Plaintiffs in the case against the wolf killing plan for the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in Idaho have learned that at least 7 wolves have been killed by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game hired trapper as of January 2nd. It is possible that more have been killed but communication with the…
