Grazing and Livestock
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On September 1, 2013, The Sagebrush Habitat Conservation Fund completed the permanent retirement from livestock grazing of over 130,000 acres of public land in the former 45 and Tent Creek grazing allotments in Owyhee County, Idaho. This permanently closes over 200 square miles of public lands to livestock grazing, ensuring habitat improvements for sage-grouse, California bighorn sheep,…
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A second case of brucellosis has been found in cattle in the brucellosis surveillance zone near the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in Montana. This has prompted Texas to ask for further testing of cattle that are exported from the area to be tested once they arrive in the the state. It’s not as big of…
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Bighorn sheep in the Mojave Desert of California and Nevada have been dying of pneumonia for some months now but, as with many of these outbreaks, the original source of infection hasn’t been conclusively identified. Some reports noted that an angora goat had been shot by a hunter and that it may have been the…
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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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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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There is a lot in the news about the potential listing of sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Western politicians are using heated rhetoric about how a listing would destroy their economies, and the “western way of life” (read death and destruction to native wildlife). And in good western tradition, they blame the federal…