The Wildlife News

Wilderness/Roadless

  • Storm damage was tremendous at Mt. Rainier NP

    Ralph Maughan

    I posted a story on this in November when 18 inches of rain fell. Since then the weather has continued very wet, and the full extent of the damage to the infrastructure is immense. I can already see one political issue emerging. A large portion of the main entrance road washed away and is now…

  • USDA accepts Idaho's roadless area plan

    Ralph Maughan

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Secretary has accepted Gov. Jim Risch’s plan for the 9.3 milion acres of national forest roadless area in Idaho. It is now slated to be become part of the Code of Federal Regulations. While such a regulation is not as hard to change as a law passed by Congress (as designated…

  • Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson to take new route on wilderness bill (CIEDRA)

    Ralph Maughan

    Here is an analysis of what it may take to get the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Area bill through the new Democratic congress. They are worrying that Custer County might jump ship, but I’d say for every bit given to Custer County (unless it is money) more needs to be given to conservationists.…

  • Montana wilderness bill still elusive despite Democratic takeover

    Ralph Maughan

    Back in the 1980s almost every state with U.S. Forest Service land got a statewide Wilderness bill. Two states that did not were Idaho and Montana. Idaho had, and still has, more unprotected roadless national forest land than any other state. Montana has less, but it has a lot. A statewide wilderness bill for Montana…

  • Wild Bill says Rocky Mountain Front has not been saved

    Ralph Maughan

    Stopping the oil and gas leasing is not enough,  Bill Schneider. New West. The Forest Service is not protecting the area from off-road vehicles and parts of the Front could fill up with trophy homes. An ominus sign on the Rocky Mountain Front. Montanans will recognize that is not “Buffalo Hill,” but famous landmark Haystack…

  • CIEDRA is dead, fails to get attached to last minute congressional bill

    Ralph Maughan

    Unlike protection for the Rocky Mountain Front and the dubious Nevada Lands Bill, the Central Idaho Economic Development and Recreation Act, or CIEDRA, which would protect parts of Idaho’s White Cloud and Boulder Mountains as Wilderness, and make side payments to anti-wilderness interests, failed. It was not attached to “Tax Relief and Health Care Act…

  • Montana guv not convinced mine won't drain scenic lakes

    Ralph Maughan

    Just when it looked like the long fight (20 years) over the Rock Creek mine under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in NW Montana (grizzly bear habitat) would finally end with the mines’ approval, Governor Brian Schweitzer stepped in. He said Montana will not issue a permit for the mines unless they can prove the underground…

  • Denver Post says "Wrangling over roadless areas is endless."

    Ralph Maughan

    Editorial on roadless areas by the Denver Post. This is a fairly good editorial, but I want to point out that battling over these areas will never really end because the bastards keep coming back with their subsidized, destructive, nature-hating proposals. These people just have bad values. Keeping the outdoors in intact will always require…

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‎”At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour.”

Edward Abbey

“The continued existence of wildlife and wilderness is important to the quality of life of humans.”

Jim Fowler

“Our forests offer much more than just beautiful landscapes and wildlife. Each one has a different story to tell.”

Raveena Tandon

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