Grazing and Livestock
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A recent article in Wood River Journal titled Wolf Project Enters 10th year detailed how private livestock producers have successfully harassed public wildlife on public lands to reduce losses to native predators. http://www.mtexpress.com/news/environment/wood-river-wolf-project-enters-th-year/article_1b4d8faa-629e-11e7-85c6-4339db44b9f9.html It details how Defenders of Wildlife, working with wealthy millionaire ranchers like the Lava Lake and Land Company, have joined together to…
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by Greta Anderson and Sandy Bahr The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has just released a recovery plan for the lobo that will remove federal Endangered Species Act protections long before a stable, functional, and recovered population is achieved. The draft criteria for down-listing or delisting Mexican wolves in this new document is woefully short…
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Whenever I am driving around Central Oregon in summer, I see the Deschutes River being sprayed in the air by thousands of sprinklers used by farmers and ranchers primarily to grow forage for livestock like irrigated pasture, alfalfa, and hay. Because of these water withdrawals for irrigation, the aquatic ecosystem of the Deschutes River…
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On February 27th, Judge Gloria Navarro of the U.S. District Court of Nevada handed down a ruling with major implications for Cliven Bundy and his allies in the land-seizure movement. The ruling assessed $587,294.28 in penalties against rancher Wayne N. Hage who, like Cliven Bundy, was trespassing his livestock on federal public lands for at…
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The Louvre Museum in France houses some of the most famous art works in the world, including paintings by such well-known artists as Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. What would you think if you heard the famous Louvre Museum began to throw out and burn in the streets these priceless masterpieces saying…
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LARAMIE, Wyo. – The public lands management agencies announced the grazing fee for federal allotments today, which the federal government has decreased to a mere $1.87 per cow and her calf (or 5 sheep) per month, known as an Animal Unit Month, or AUM. “This has got to be the cheapest all-you-can-eat buffet deal in the…
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I regularly hear or read arguments from agencies compromising our natural heritage that such and such studies support their management decisions. However, often the agencies overlook or ignore contrary science that does not support the policy or management decision. To give them a break, the average district ranger or even specialists like wildlife biologists,…
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In Victory for Conservation Groups, Court Orders Better Protections Before Reinstating Grazing Permits PORTLAND, Ore.— Conservation groups scored a victory in federal court Tuesday on behalf of the Oregon spotted frog, which is protected as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. The court found that the U.S. Forest Service’s allowance of grazing on the 68,000-acre Chemult Pasture,…