Fish
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Twin Falls Ranger District’s Trout Creek, habitat for the Yellowstone cutthroat trout, was among the locations found damaged by livestock grazing when Don Oman became the district ranger in 1986. In this video, Mr. Oman describes the dramatic environmental improvement that occurred after livestock were excluded from a short segment of the creek. Don Oman…
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Tiny radio transmitters attached to lake trout may allow managers find and destroy their spawning beds- The illegal or accidental introduction of lake trout to Yellowstone Lake has heavily damaged the native Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Fishery in the Lake, and more importantly in the spawning streams where they used to provide food for many kinds…
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Federal judge rejects federal salmon plan once again as he did with Obama’s predecessors- The judge said Obama’s plan sucks too, and he raises the specter of breaching the pork barrel dams on the lower Snake River (in Washington State). This judicial fight has gone on for a decade. Redden plays the game carefully, however.…
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A cement plant in a sparsely inhabited part of Oregon produces massive amounts of neurotoxic mercury. Idaho’s Simpson wants to give them a free pass to pollute Idaho- Mercury is not an unavoidable contaminant of cement. However, the deposit near Durkee, Oregon contains a very high level. Durkee, Oregon itself is a bit of nothing…
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Human evolutionary pressure has favored species that have short lifespans, begin to reproduce early, and are small- The findings detailed in the article below are entirely predictable. By selectively killing (overfishing) the largest fish (and biggest animals) humans unintentionally guide the course of evolution to favor the small, quick reproducers. While human caused, this result…
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Recently, Western Watersheds Project won a court victory halting corporate livestock ranching on 450,000 acres on the Jarbidge Field Office, BLM in southern Idaho. It was a sweet victory for sage grouse, wildlife, and other environmental values in southern Idaho – but it may or may not be short-lived. Later this month, the Idaho U.S.…
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Utah’s Kennecott pit shocks Native Alaskans contemplating the proposed giant Pebble Mine- Kennecott’s pit on the edge of Salt Lake City has been a fixture of the area for many years. It polluted the ground water and the smelter poisoned the air, but it did not threaten a way of life, nor the larger area.…
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A good blog on the delisting, relisting, and delisting of the wolf in the Northern Rockies- Huffing and Puffing. By Kevin Taylor. The Pacific Northwest Inlander. Among other things, I like the discussion of the snail darter from back in the 1970s when Congress decided to build a real white elephant of a dam and…