Grazing and Livestock
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Earlier I linked to the WWP blog story “Bighorn Sheep Threaten Western Way of Life?” Now the Boise Weekly has reprinted an article from High Country News giving more background into the controversy that led to the successful lawsuit this spring that kept the Payette National Forest from ignoring its court ordered duty to keep…
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Over at the Western Watersheds blog, there is an important story how sheep growers are organizing to hit back at the slow recovery of bighorn sheep. Oh! Not to speed it up, but to stop it and reverse it. Domestic sheep are lethal to bighorns because domestic sheep are full of diseases. Bighorn are also…
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The Missoulian has this: Brucellosis plan divides state’s cattle groups. The Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Cattlemen’s Association are split on Schweitzer’s thoughts of breaking the Yellowstone region from the rest of the state with regard to brucellosis-free status. Brucellosis has been used to stir up the annual slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo by…
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Large feedlots, a.k.a. CAFOs, have become the bane of southern Idaho, polluting the water (as told by this story) and the air. . . . hold your nose as you travel about 150 miles of Interstate 80 across southern Idaho. Feedlot agrees to pay fine to settle Clean Water Act violations. Idaho Statesman. Oh, for…
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Video of the condition of Current Creek in the Owyhee.
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Cows or Condos? Neither! By George Wuerthner. New West. It must have been 15 years ago when I was visiting Wuerthner at his place in Livingston that he outlined to me the argument he makes in the New West guest opinion above. I’ve been thinking about it ever since, especially when I am out on…
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It seems that this year produced a growing agreement on most sides of the issue that cheatgrass is just plain awful and is responsible in part for the range fires, small and large, that swept Idaho, Utah and Nevada beginning in late May. Some ranchers and too many politicians have pushed, and are still pushing…
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This is from the WWP blog about a range inspection tour we went on back in early October on the Lost River Ranger District. That is in the Lost River Mountains. We looked at conditions at the end of the grazing season in Pass Creek, Pine Creek, and Wet Creek. The Forest Service district ranger…