Public Lands
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Livestock grazing harm to the imperiled bird ignored- The U. S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) just released the final environmental reviews for proposed land use plans. These, it says, “will help conserve greater sage-grouse habitat and support sustainable economic development on portions of public lands in 10 states across the…
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More danger now than getting stuck, broken leg or lack of water- Many people in the West like to explore its vast open country by 4 x 4, SUV, ATV, motorbike, and on foot and bicycle. They stay away from the crowded national parks and famous recreation and scenic sites. The lure of the roads…
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Finally, the story gets out of the confines of Wyoming- While it was in its making, The Wildlife News was one of the few media sources outside Wyoming that covered the now well known data trespass bill, which is now a Wyoming state law. Several months later the story finally went national when law professor,…
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Both the article Range of Possibilities by Kelly Cash, followed up by the pro-livestock piece Public Lands Need Cattle to Meet Conservation Goals by Sheila Barry which appeared in Bay Nature Magazine imply that livestock production is an overall positive activity for California public lands and wildlife. The pro livestock articles can be found here: https://baynature.org/articles/pro-public-lands-need-cattle-to-meet-conservation-goals/ and…
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This past week, Public Broadcasting’s Nature film series featured the Sagebrush Sea. The film’s main focus was on the Greater Sage Grouse which is the emblematic creature found in this vast landscape that covers the bulk of many western states including substantial parts of New Mexico Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, California, Montana and Idaho.…
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Lander, WY – Yesterday, Western Watersheds Project asked a Wyoming judge to dismiss a retaliatory lawsuit aimed at hiding poor water quality on public lands. The conservation organization is defending itself against a legal action brought last summer by the Wyoming livestock industry to shut down citizen oversight of environmental impacts on public land. “WWP…
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A growing debate has serious consequences for our collective relationship to Nature. Beginning perhaps twenty years ago, a number of academics in disciplines such as history, anthropology, and geography, began to question whether there was any tangible wilderness or wild lands left on Earth. These academics, and others, have argued that humans have so completely…
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The paper Commentary: A critical assessment of the policy endorsement for holistic management published by David Briske and colleagues challenges proponents of Holistic Management advocated by Allan Savory. You can find the paper at this link. This paper by Briske et al. 2014 confirms and reiterates many of the observations and conclusions I’ve made about Savory…