Public Lands
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The major national monuments of the last 20 years on the chopping block President Trump has just signed a much-predicted executive order that mandates a review of all the national monuments established since 1996 that are larger than 100,000 acres. National monuments are established under the Antiquities Act of 1906 that gives Presidents the power…
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Pocatello, Idaho. Last week 14-year-old Canyon Mansfield watched his yellow lab Casey die from the effects of an explosive cyanide device set out by the federal government agency named Wildlife Services (WS). This happened near his home but on public land (BLM) just east of Pocatello. The device, named an M-44, explosively releases a powder…
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National Forests across the West are facing dire threats from politicians, the timber industry and the Forest Service. The public is currently being misled into thinking that our forests are “unhealthy”, and that they need to be “restored” due to “beetle infestations” and “insect and disease.” All of this is euphemism to drastically ramp up…
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On February 27th, Judge Gloria Navarro of the U.S. District Court of Nevada handed down a ruling with major implications for Cliven Bundy and his allies in the land-seizure movement. The ruling assessed $587,294.28 in penalties against rancher Wayne N. Hage who, like Cliven Bundy, was trespassing his livestock on federal public lands for at…
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The announcement by Senator John Tester that he would be introducing legislation to protect approximately 80,000 acres in the Blackfoot Clearwater area adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness is to be commended. I have personally hiked all the areas included in this legislation and can attest to its important to the ecological integrity of the…
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LARAMIE, Wyo. – The public lands management agencies announced the grazing fee for federal allotments today, which the federal government has decreased to a mere $1.87 per cow and her calf (or 5 sheep) per month, known as an Animal Unit Month, or AUM. “This has got to be the cheapest all-you-can-eat buffet deal in the…
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I regularly hear or read arguments from agencies compromising our natural heritage that such and such studies support their management decisions. However, often the agencies overlook or ignore contrary science that does not support the policy or management decision. To give them a break, the average district ranger or even specialists like wildlife biologists,…
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I recently attended a talk on biomass energy at the Bend City Club. The Bend City Club presentation on biomass was another example of a juggernaut premised on unexamined assumptions without question. At every step of the way there are assumptions that are given and accepted. However, if any of these assumptions is incorrect than…
