Grazing and Livestock
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Salazar Strikes Again, Denying Meaningful Protection for Imperiled Tiny Bunny of the Sagebrush Sea The declining condition of the Sagebrush Sea has been highlighted on a couple of occasions over the past couple of weeks. In recent Washington state news we learned that jackrabbits in sagebrush habitats are diminishing. Pygmy rabbits were rejected ESA protections…
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Western Watersheds Project’s litigation and recent scientific studies changing the playing field. Across the West domestic sheep operations threaten the viability of bighorn sheep populations and have caused serious declines because of the diseases they carry. Last winter there were ten populations that suffered from pneumonia outbreaks and many more are suffering the lingering effects…
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“The solution to stop the livestock killings by wolves is simple: A $50,000 fine given to each livestock owner who allows wolves to kill their livestock.” Every once in awhile you come across a Letter to the Editor that just really hits it out of the park: Wolves: Only lazy ranchers blame predator – Missoulian…
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A new study in the Journal of Wildlife Diseases confirms, unequivocally, that the domestic sheep disease Mannheimia haemolytica kills bighorn sheep after the two species co-mingle. This paper has been rumored for the last several months and was cited in the recent Payette National Forest decision to close 60% of sheep grazing allotments on the…
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I posted this at the end of August. It’s time to get your comments in. Don’t color outside the lines The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has released its Draft Bighorn Sheep Management Plan which essentially draws lines around existing bighorn sheep populations and prevents recovery to historical habitat. This is a big problem…
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Dust from livestock grazing in the southwest reduces water runoff in the Colorado River Basin by 5% An interesting study has been released by the Center for Snow and Avalanche Studies which explains that spring runoff from the Colorado Rockies has been compressed into a shorter period of time due to high levels of dust…
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Preemptive killing didn’t stop the outbreak. After wildlife officials killed many bighorn sheep last winter, in the Yakima River Canyon, to prevent the spread of deadly pneumonia, the outbreak continues to kill most of the newborn lambs. Deadly illness spreading among bighorn sheep . Seattle Times
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Grazing and slaughter threaten the viability of bison and other sensitive species- The US Forest Service and the National Park Service are violating the law by not allowing bison the use of public lands. The grazing allotments provide the excuse the Montana Department of Livestock wants for their annual abuse of buffalo inside and outside…