Montana
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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…
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There might be an unusual amount of wolf/mountain lion conflict along the Idaho-Montana border- Liz Bradley, a wolf manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has found an unusually high number of wolves killed by cougar in the Bitterroot Mountains near the Montana-Idaho border from Lolo on the north to near the Idaho border on…
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Bipartisan coalition in U.S. Senate supports “national mammal” status- S. 3248, the Bison Legacy Act, was introduced in the U.S. Senate May 24 by two senators, a Republican from Wyoming (Mike Enzi) and a Democrat from South Dakota (Tim Johnson). This might seem surprising because so much of the bison news is about hatred of…
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In today’s Buffalo Field Campaign Update from the Field the depths that Montana’s livestock barons will stoop to protect livestock interests is revealed. Because the Montana Department of Livestock is limited by a temporary restraining order issued on Monday by a federal judge, they have decided to explicitly violate the property rights of a landowner who…
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I recently attended the wolf hearings held by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission in Helena. The commission is considering initiation of a trapping season, as well as eliminating quotas on the number of wolves that may be killed. The goal is to significantly reduce the state’s wolf population which currently numbers…
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Large public turnout. Many opinions. General support for plan about 3 to 2- The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission heard testimony yesterday on their plan to have a longer wolf hunt with no quota and many new ways of killing wolves, including trapping. There will be a quota around Yellowstone Park, however, to prevent…
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Typical recent rancher activities underscores their extremism- Recently we reported on Arizona/Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy who thinks he doesn’t have to pay grazing fees because he thinks the federal government does not own the U.S. public lands where his grazing allotment (now rescinded) lies. He threatens force to prevent his illegal cattle from being impounded.…
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Ranchers reflexively oppose moving healthy Yellowstone bison onto lands of people who welcome them- Recently we did the story “Untrustworthy: the history of Montana cattle ranchers and Yellowstone bison.” It pointed to George Ochenski’s chronicle of the deceit and obstructiveness by Montana ranchers toward protecting the genetics of Yellowstone bison by moving some bison of…