Invasive Species
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Some time ago, this web site posted the opinion of public lands rancher and state legislator Bert Brackett on the Murphy fire complex. Here again is Brackett’s opinion. Failed policy based on flawed science has gotten us here. Guest opinion in the Idaho Statesman. Brackett blamed the Western Watersheds Project because it won a lawsuit…
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Gonzaga University biology professors Julie Beckstead and David L. Boose were recently awarded $247,000 in federal grants for a three-year study on pyrenophora semeniperda, a fungus that attacks the seeds of cheatgrass. Something like this could save the rangelands of the West. Story in the New York Times. Associated Press.
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While cheatgrass arrived in the West as an accident, African Buffelgrass was deliberately planted. It has changed the fire ecology of the Sonorian desert and has even become a severe fire threat inside cities such as Tuscon, AZ. “Buffelgrass is like taking a kiddie pool, filling it with gas, and putting it in your front…
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2007 fire conditions are off the charts Officials are finding it difficult to predict fire behavior because this year’s data don’t fit any model. Experts say climate change is a big part of this season’s extremes. By Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman. Busy Week for Fires in Northern Rockies. Record-Breaking Fire Season? New West. By David…
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Western Governors yesterday held a press conference to declare war on cheatgrass. I can’t help but think back to an article on NewWest describing the importance of words when considering conservation politics – politics in general. We’ve got a good idea how politicians in cowboy suits conduct their perpetual wars. Now it’s been declared in…
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Here is the story in the West Yellowstone News. By Carol Hoffman. When I was in YNP last week I pulled up some of this from along the Madison River (at “the Barns”) and also along the north part of the Grand Loop. I saw some on the edge of the road in Lamar Valley,…