Public Lands
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Koch Bros. will smile at his attempt to auction off our lands- Ted Cruz has jumped on the billionaire’s land grab wagon by offering a bill requiring the federal government to give away or sell off what he terms “excess lands,” whether they be our national parks, national forests, national wildlife refuges or BLM lands.…
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This article is full of misinformation, untested assumptions, and pejorative language It is so typical of the way the timber industry and U.S. Forest Service have “framed” the issue of wildfire to justify more logging. I added my comments afterwards highlighted in bold – – Grant will fund work to reduce wildfire risk in northeast Washington…
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Western Watersheds and Sierra Club say the ‘incidental take’ of 4 bears is wrongly based on an “arbitrary and capricious” analysis by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service- News Release Washington, DC – Conservation groups have filed a legal challenge against two federal agencies for approving the killing of four grizzly bears, a threatened species,…
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Bill on interstate compact on federal lands transfer dies in committee in Senate. Spokesman-Review. By Betsy Z. Russell. Earlier . . . Critical vote in state senate committee probably on April Fool’s- It has already passed the Idaho House with plenty of room to spare. April Fool’s Day is the likely day the Idaho State…
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Is arrogant ranching to blame? After many articles here in TWN this year, and elsewhere, about the growing pneumonia epidemic in the bighorn sheep herd just north of Yellowstone Park continues, now 40% of the bighorn are dead. More bighorn are sick. Details in Yellowstone Gate. Now, there is little to stop the disease from…
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This is a very good overview by Vickery Eckhoff on how wealthy Americans enjoy the largess of the American taxpayer by grazing at subsidized rates on public lands. The welfare does not just include low grazing fees, but many other services provided by the government like predator control, weed control (created by livestock grazing in…
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Wildlife management reform objective two- Recently we discussed the first objective in reforming the broken system of wildlife management we see in America today. That was to restructure the state fish and game departments. Here is the second: 2. Remove Grazing From All Federal Public Lands Grazing is the most ecologically damaging form of land…
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This is a provocative essay by Michael Vandeman written almost two decades ago, but given the increasing demand that various recreationalists as well as industry is demanding of our wildlands, it is worth considering some of the ideas that he articulates. Wildlife Need Habitat Off-Limits to Humans! Michael J. Vandeman, Ph.D. October 12, 1997“Of what…