Threats
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Oh, what a comparison! Last October a number of us visited the Lost River Ranger District in an area called Pine Creek. We went with the district ranger and the Supervisory Range Conservationist. It was pretty embarrassing. Some of the awful photos went up on Google Earth. End of 2007 grazing season in an unnamed…
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Representative Sali says no human caused climate change- Democrat Walt Minnick is challenging one-term Republican U.S. Representative in Idaho’s first congressional district. Polls show the race to be close. Rocky Barker has a report this morning on a clear difference (there are many differences, but this applies to the topics commonly discussed on this forum).…
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It’s all those golf courses, green lawns, and fountains wasting water in an arid region; right? No! A brief look at the statistics on water use in the West tell that it is agriculture, not western cities that consume the water. Within agriculture one water use stands out. Growing feed for cattle! Cattle are the…
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Scenic Montana county with exploding population seeks $10-million from voters- Whenever I visit the area, I try to take a few photos of the disappearing rural countryside. Story: Flathead open space bond on ballot. By Michael Jamison of the Missoulian
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The blowout has been stopped but more repairs are needed- On Sept. 1 this blog was the first to report on the big blowout on August 31. It was finally stopped in September and a Bozeman Daily Chronicle article says the excess flow is stopped for now. However, the cause is still not known. Repairs…
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Formerly polluted creek near Butte, Montana now has trout- Few creeks were as polluted by mining as Silver Bow Creek near Butte, but after about a century trout, some as big as 18 inches are back. Associated Press story. After a century, trout return to Silver Bow Creek, Montana
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Protection for the Snake River and the Wyoming Range mountains still coming? This popular bill to keep the drilling rigs out of the steep, unstable, scenic Wyoming Range, south of Jackson Hole has stalled due to the election campaign. It looks like there’s going to be a lame duck session of Congress. Harry Reid says…
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Wind turbines and birds- “A recent study has concluded that wind turbines pose less of a risk to farmland birds than previously thought.” Birds Not At Risk From Wind Turbines [misleading headline]. Red Orbit. While the study on European farmland birds shows small effect — good news — the headline above overgeneralizes.