Privatization
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I can hardly believe this to be a real initiative, if only because the politics of any real push for this would be just devastating to the Democratic Party. Nevertheless PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, has issued this news release. As a side note, does anyone know about this controversy over the National Bison…
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As Logging Fades, Rich Carve Up Open Land in West. New York Times. By Kirk Johnson. This is something that needs to be slowed or stopped if possible. Hardly any existing residents seem to like this trend, but hardly anyone suggests anything effective in stopping it. Repealing regulations protecting the environment from logging and grazing…
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For a conservation organization, the Nature Conservancy often seems not be very nature friendly, although usually have a political explanation. Here is the story from the Hays Daily News. It decribes how they poisoned prairie dogs in Logan County, Kansas. Prairie dogs are a species most groups are trying desperately to conserve. Phostoxin was used…
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Ted Williams wrote this. It’s in Read It Here Magazine. The fees are on other folk’s minds too. The Forest for the Fees. By Brian Park and Joshua Zaffos. Rocky Mountain Chronicle.
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The Salt Lake Tribune has an editorial today against the 1872 general mining law, which has endured attempts to reform it since the 19th century. Its harmful consequences to our public lands is increasing because of the recent rush to stake new uranium and other “hard rocks” claims. These minerals are basically given away free…
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The WWP blog has a good take on a fairly recent, and continuing development. Conservation groups are buying ranches and assuming the grazing permits on adjacent public land, and in their words showing how running livestock can be done right. Wrong. The lands of the Western United States did not evolve with cattle grazing them,…
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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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The winter before last, emboldened by their power, California’s Representative from the Tracy area area, Richard Pombo, teamed up with Jim Gibbons of Nevada and hatch a scheme to steal the public lands under the disguise of mining reform. In a move surprising to many, Westerners rallied against them, and before long Western Republicans who’d…