Invasive Species
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In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance By Jim Robbins. New York Times. This is really about the spread in the Lamar Valley of what is usually regarded as a noxious weed (I certainly hate it) — the Canada thistle. It seems grizzly bears and pocket gophers love it, and the griz, ever…
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Pythons could squeeze lower third of USA. USA Today. By Elizabeth Weise
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The supposed highly negative effect of wolves on the elk populations in the upper Clearwater River area of North Central Idaho has long been a talking point by Idaho Fish and Game and a number of local hunting organizations and public officials. I predicted wolves would be blamed when the elk population dropped off in…
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Otter, other governors declare war on cheatgrass. They want 500 volunteers to help collect native seeds, so threatened areas can be replanted. Idaho Statesman. By Rocky Barker. Controlling cheatgrass is absolutely critical. If they don’t have enough native seed, they need to encourage the production of native grass and forbs for seed as an agricultural…
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Salmon Farming May Doom Wild Populations, Study Says. By Juliet Eilperin and Marc Kaufman. Washington Post Staff Writers. Salmon farms spread disease and sea lice among wild populations.
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Montana knapweed researcher sees work paying off. By Perry Backus. Missoulian. Aside from cheatgrass, the spread of the knapweeds: spotted knapweed, diffuse knapweed, Russian knapweed, and yellow starthistle, is probably the biggest exotic noxious plant problem in the West. Like cheatgrass, its adverse effects are often unappreciated by the casual observer of wildlife or those…
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Federal wildlife agents killed 1.6 million animals in ’06. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press. The federal agency Wildlife Services “serviced” 1.6 million animals last year. Numerically most of them were birds, but a lot of them were animals that many, perhaps most Americans, would rather not see killed to fatten the bottom line for ranchers…
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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…