Wildlife Habitat
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The BLM has pulled 8 of ten lease offerings on a key wildlife migration route in Sublette County, WY after protests by local citizens and many groups. The BLM is trying to claim the areas they planned to offer were really a mistake. Yeh right! Story. BLM pulls Sublette lease parcels after glitch. By Whitney…
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In response to a past lawsuit, the National Elk Refuge at Jackson, Wyoming has announced it will feed fewer elk, probably, therefore, reducing the size of the Jackson Hole Elk Herd. The plan is to also reduce the Jackson Hole bison herd by half, a good idea because, unlike Yellowstone Park bison, the Jackson bison…
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Various pine beetles are attacking pines all over North America with an extraordinary vengeance. In Yellowstone the high valued whitebark pine, which grows, and grows but slowly, at high elevations continues under attack. This pine is especially valuable to grizzly bears who eat its fat rich nuts in the fall to fatten up. In years…
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A giant open pit coal mine is proposed in British Columbia just north of Montana close to Glacier National Park. I have linked to articles about this proposal for years, but now the reality of the mine is much more solid. The coal would be shipped to China. There are already similiar mines to the…
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Purchase of “working” ranches by wealthy outsiders is spreading far beyond the scenic hotspots near the National Parks and Wilderness areas of the Rockies. It is spilling out onto the plains where there has been a great depopulation as the economics of traditional ranching has collapsed. Many places in Eastern Montana and the Dakotas now…
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With powerful off-road vehicles able to rip and tear almost anywhere, the establishment of a national forest’s travel plan has become a critical matter, especially when it is a forest like the Bridger-Teton, contained some of the best scenery and wildlife in America. The travel plan for the “Teton” portion of the Bridger-Teton is moving…
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There are too many bison in Jackson Hole, and the rate of infection with brucellosis is far higher than the much persecuted (by Montana) bison of Yellowstone Park. The problem is the winter feeding of the bison at the National Elk Refuge. The presence of the bison only complicates the already grave problem of feeding…
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Idaho is generally thought to be safe from the onslaught of the natural gas drillers, but in fact a portion of Eastern Idaho has the same geological structure as part of gas-rich Wyoming. The “Overthrust Belt” ranges of the Rocky Mountains run along the Idaho/Wyoming border. This intensely folded and even overturned area of thrust-faulting…