Wildlife
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You probably remember this photo from last year when Cody Roberts brought a wolf he had run over with his snowmobile into the bar in Daniel, WY. The story and photo went around the world and generated nearly universal disgust. Now, more than a year later, it is still legal. The new legislative session has…
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As many of you know, domestic sheep are the primary impediment to bighorn sheep recovery because the domestic sheep transmit disease to the bighorn sheep. PBS did a decent video on the issue: What the video fails to mention is that livestock permits on our public lands are a privilege, not a right, and can…
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One of the first Executive Orders from the Trump Whitehouse is to reverse environmental protections for federal lands in Alaska and hasten, expand, and encourage resource development. Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States to: (a) fully avail itself of Alaska’s vast lands and resources for the benefit of the Nation…
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Let’s be clear: Gianforte’s lawsuit doesn’t represent Montanans, but rather Montana livestock interests. The vast majority of Montanans want wild, migratory buffalo restored in our state. The brucellosis boogey-man argument is old and is full of holes. The disease was brought to North America through invasive cattle. Brucellosis entered the Yellowstone buffalo herds by erroneous…
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A recent article in the Bozeman Chronicle described the Yellowstone “Bison Conservation” Transfer Program. The federal government is transferring public bison that belong to all Americans to tribal reservations, which is essentially a privatization of public wildlife. In the process, they are accelerating the domestication of wild bison from Yellowstone National Park. Restoration and conservation…
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Longtime habitat management techniques don’t stimulate vegetation growth in one sagebrush subspecies and may have detrimental effects on sage grouse and sagebrush-reliant songbirds, several studies show. The subtitle could be “No Sh#t Sherlock”. ts always nice when science is heard. For decades virtually all sage grouse experts were against killing sagebrush for sage grouse. The…
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After Donald Trump’s election, many wildlands advocates have become depressed and disheartened and feel that conservation efforts are over. The Trump administration will no doubt try to eliminate, thwart, or dismantle conservation laws and policies. It is important to remember this is nothing new. The old phrase “two steps forward and one step back” often…
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Part 1 – History and Importance The sage steppe country of Nevada had always been a comfortable place for me because as children we were brought up to visit relatives in an old mining town in Elko County. A great place for kids to run around wild while the adults sat inside and talked. But…
