The Wildlife News

Public Lands

  • The Fictions of Onaqui expose Fatal Flaws in BLM’s Wild Horse Program

    Ralph Maughan

    In July, the Bureau of Land Management rounded up the vast majority of Utah’s Onaqui wild horse herd. Pressed by a lawsuit, the Bureau’s Salt Lake Field Manager testified under oath that an emergency roundup was necessary because wild horses were in poor and declining health and would need to be euthanized if left in…

  • Guest Post: BLM IS BROKEN AND HOW TO FIX IT

    ** Guest post by Richard Spotts**   An open letter from a former Bureau of Land Management employee to Secretary Deb Haaland.  Dear Secretary Haaland: The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in your Interior Department is broken and I know how you can and should fix it. BLM’s dominant management culture has long been (and…

  • Good Fire/ Bad Fire False Paradigm

    George Wuerthner

    Active forest management on private timberland just west of Chester, CA which was overrun by the Dixie Fire. Photo George Wuerthner There has been a spate of pronouncements from politicians as different politically as Montana Republican Senator Steve Daines to California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsome arguing that we need more “active forest management” to reduce…

  • Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Proposes to Sell Out Wildlife During Drought

    George Wuerthner

    Fleecer Mountain Wildlife Management Area is one of the places MDFWP proposes “emergency livestock grazing.”  The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) announced that due to the extreme drought conditions across Montana, it would open up some wildlife management areas (WMA) to livestock grazing and haying. And it will keep any WMA currently…

  • Wild Bison Restoration

    George Wuerthner

    Restoration of wild bison will require large landscapes. Photo George Wuerthner Bison were critical ecosystem influences on grasslands of North America, particularly in the Great Plains “bison belt.” They provided prey or carrion for wolves, grizzlies, other smaller predators and scavengers, and food for humans. In addition, bison grazing patterns influenced vegetation growth and distribution…

  • BTNF Plans To Expand Livestock Grazing In Upper Green River Vacant Allotments.

    George Wuerthner

    The Upper Green River Valley and Wind River Range from the Elk Ridge grazing complex in the Gros Ventre Range. Photo George Wuerthner.  In a breach of trust and faith, the Bridger Teton National Forest (BTNF) proposes to stock 30,577 acres with cattle in the Elk Ridge area of the Gros Ventre Range, including the…

  • Open Letter: Cliven Bundy’s chronic trespass grazing must end and how to do it

    A letter from Richard Spotts, retired Bureau of Land Management employee RE:  Cliven Bundy’s chronic trespass grazing must end and how to do it   Dear Secretary Haaland and other DOI officials:   Cliven Bundy’s more than a quarter century of blatant and destructive trespass livestock grazing on federal lands must come to an end.  Enough…

  • Thinning Nuance

    George Wuerthner

      Thinning is often justified on the assumption that reducing “fuels” will slow or stop large blazes, but there is more nuance to the issue than just fuels. Photo George Wuerthner One frequently hears from proponents of thinning that active forest management can reduce fire intensity and thus is a beneficial policy to reduce large…

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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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