Public Lands
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They have a right to trample your property rights. Some say they take even more than that- Urban folks have rarely heard of open range laws, but people who own land outside town in “open range” areas certainly have. It is a long time and contentious issue that is heating up as more people own…
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Some Republican members of House Natural Resources Committee gather to attack ESA and EAJA- Congressional hearings are held in theory to help gather information to write legislation. Every standing committee of Congress has members of both parties in proportion to their numbers in the full House or Senate. Many congressional hearings are not attended by…
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One of the often repeated remarks used to explain the large fires we are experiencing around the West is that a hundred years of fire suppression has led to unnatural accumulations of fuels. Yet such assertions assume that fire suppression was always efficient and effective—a questionable assumption especially in the early days of the Forest…
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As large fires have spread across the West in recent decades, we hear increasing demands to reduce fuels—typically through logging. But logging won’t reduce the large fires we are experiencing because fuels do not drive large fires. You can have tons of fuel per acre as occurs in Oregon’s Coast Range or the Olympic Mountains…
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The recently released Department of Interior Fiscal Year 2012 Economic Report shows that Grazing on BLM Public Lands Accounts for only 0.41% of the nation’s livestock receipts and only 17,000 jobs. In contrast, recreation accounts for 372,000 jobs and contributes $45 billion to the economy. According to the report, the BLM permits 12.4 million animal unit…
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The Spectrum is reporting (be sure to read both pages) that Cliven Bundy has appealed the order to remove his trespass cattle from Federal lands in southern Nevada. Bundy says he intends to “keep on ranching, like [he’s] always done.” He claims that the federal government has no jurisdiction over federal lands because they really aren’t…
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Forest Service failed to enforce their regulations on megaloads- News release- BOISE — Idaho Rivers United and the Nez Perce Tribe filed a joint lawsuit in federal court in Boise late this afternoon in order to stop the movement of megaloads along U.S. Highway 12 through tribal lands and the Clearwater-Lochsa Wild and Scenic River…
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Idaho State Police hold up traffic to get megaload ahead of protesters- U.S. Highway 12, Idaho. “Fighing Goliath” is an organization of local Highway 12 citizens trying to protect their property, lives, and beautiful outdoors from “Corporate Canada” and its enablers in Idaho government. They have a blog detailing what is going on. We took…