Public Lands
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Importance of fighting to keep the public land public grows with likely Republican Senate win in November- Even though most of the public opinion in the West does not favor giving the national parks, forests, BLM lands and wildlife refuges to the states, this is a priority among conservative elites in the West. The polls…
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Only Utah shows majority in favor of states getting hold of U.S. public lands- A public opinion poll of 200 people in each of the eight Intermountain western states has shown a majority (52 to 42 %) are against transferring the federal lands to the Western states. In total, 1600 were interviewed. A slight majority of Utahans…
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If the public really understood the illogic behind Forest Service management, including those endorsed by forest collaboratives, I am certain there would be more opposition to current Forest Service policies. First, most FS timber sales lose money. They are a net loss to taxpayers. After the costs of road construction, sale layout and environmental analyses,…
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About the time Cliven Bundy and his supporters were making the BLM fold and sneak way, southern Utah malcontents were staging an illegal ATV ride through a closed-to-motor-vehicles trail in southern Utah. The place was Recapture Canyon on May 10. Off-road vehicle interests were irritated about the closure of the archeologically rich canyon and other…
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In an ongoing effort to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, Friends of the Clearwater released a report today that critically examines the Clearwater Basin Collaborative (CBC) Agreement and Work Plan. If enacted by Congress, the agreement would put into place provisions that are incompatible with the Wilderness Act, potentially causing a ripple…
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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…
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Politicians claim states will make money managing federal lands. They conveniently avoid the “elephant in the room” The renewed effort to move the national forests, BLM lands, and maybe national parks and monuments into state management or ownership likes to talk about economics. However, these people don’t use hard economic figures in their quips to…
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Roast bird record at Mojave solar plant even worse than predicted? Plant workers call them “streamers.” Birds that fly through the beams of concentrated sunlight at the massive Ivanpah solar plant near Primm, Nevada catch fire and fall from the sky, leaving a smoky trail as they burn and die. This solar plant is not…