National Parks

  • Three incidents of illegal drone operation in Yellowstone

    Ralph Maughan

    Three men face charges of operating drones and more- Yellowstone National Park. At first, the Park Service took an “educational” stance as they informed people about the new ban on drones in the Park. Now, however, there have been three “egregious violations of this ban.” Three men face criminal charges in these separate incidents. The…

  • First ticket given to a drone user in Grand Teton National Park

    Ralph Maughan

    Other drone users just warned- What rangers saw as a bad attitude by an illegal drone user in Grand Teton National Park resulted in the first ticket for drone use in that national park. According to the Jackson Hole News the man had got his drone stuck in a tree in the Gros Ventre Campground.…

  • Montana’s hostility to free roaming bison not shared by Wyoming

    Ralph Maughan

    Bison allowed to wander Jackson Hole, WY at will- We have written about bison in Wyoming versus inside Montana a number of times, but not for a couple years. Because of the constant public hostility of Montana’s Department of Livestock (the DOL) and the less-than-in-depth reporting by Montana traditional media, folks probably forget that Montana’s…

  • Park Service bans private drones

    Ralph Maughan

    Action taken to nip the drone problem in the bud- Yesterday the National Park Service banned the use of private drones in all the parks. The ban is temporary while a permanent policy is set in place, but there is little reason to think the ban will be reversed. Earlier we did a story on…

  • Federal public land equals freedom to roam

    Ralph Maughan

    Land transfer to states would mean less land access for typical American- The idea that the states are really the constitutional, legal, rightful owner of the U.S. public lands is without merit. Origin of U.S. public lands The United States owns 650-million acres of land. That is about 30 per cent of the land area of…

  • A Brief History of the public lands, the BLM and grazing

    Ralph Maughan

    With the confusion over Bundy, a book by Dennis McLane is suddenly very relevant- Below is a history of grazing and the BLM the public needs to know. When Bundy cattle trespass situation came to a head this month, there was great media interest and a mass of confusion too. Now the situation is clearing a bit. More…

  • The year 2014 marks 50th Anniversary of Wilderness Act

    Ralph Maughan

    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…

  • BLM plans to roundup Bundy’s trespass cattle (Updated on 3-31)

    Ralph Maughan

    Popular Lake Mead/BLM desert area to be closed in portions to secure cattle of scofflaw rancher- See updates at the bottom of the article. “Public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Clark County, Nevada, within the Gold Butte, Mormon Mesa, Bunkerville Flats Areas will see temporary closures to the public beginning…

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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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