Threats
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Federal Court Decision Holds That Protecting Sage-Grouse Must Take Priority Over Livestock Grazing in Owyhee Canyonlands and beyond in Southwest Idaho Early last week the federal district court of Idaho affirmed Western Watersheds Project’s challenge to five Bureau of Land Management (BLM) grazing decisions in southwest Idaho’s Owyhee Canyonlands that harmed Greater sage-grouse. Judge rules…
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Senator Jeff Siddoway also pushes amendment to turn Land Owner Appreciation bill into a no access gravy train- Idaho rancher and State Senator Jeff Siddoway has introduced a bill (S1305) in the Idaho statehouse that would authorize the slaughter of wolves involved in molesting or killing livestock by any number of creative ways. Senator Siddoway…
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Simplot Company report to justify lower water quality standards provokes big controversy- Anglers don’t like pulling fish off their lure that look like mutant monsters. The accusation that selenium poisoning from the Smoky Canyon phosphate mine is killing fish, creating awful deformities, and being picked up into the ecosystem in general has greeted a 700-page draft…
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More effort, DNA analysis thrown into battle- Poachers love winter when deer, elk and other animals become visible, but in Utah and elsewhere modern science is allowing officials to track even a piece of venison. Utah is also putting more enforcement in the field this winter, and they have reportedly made some significant arrests. Although…
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NCBA complains about the use of “best available science” and the mandate to protect sensitive species. In a news release published yesterday, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) complained that the new proposed US Forest Planning Rule is too onerous to public lands ranching. In their press release they imply that science does not support…
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If you listened to President Obama’s State of the Union Address you may have noticed that the President had some things to say about how this administration values public land: […] I’m directing my administration to allow the development of clean energy on enough public lands to power 3 million homes. For groups working to…
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The effort to list the Greater Sage-grouse via the Endangered Species Act (ESA) has been an uphill battle. However, even as the end-game has yet to be realized, the effort itself has been remarkably successful at prompting bureaucratic backflips and a whole lot of paper-shuffling to accommodate consideration of the species. Unfortunately, many of the existing and developing…
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The next bloody bag of “mystery meat” from overseas could contain a virus that will ravage our native wildlife population or indeed ravage us- “Bush meat” is the name euphemistically given for things killed in the (generally African) “bush,” and consumed by hard pressed natives who either don’t care or can’t be choosy about what…