Wildlife News
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The Custer Gallatin NF plan that so-called big green groups are cheering reduces wilderness protection for the Gallatin Range. The Forest plan recommended wilderness consists of high alpine terrain while promoting less protection for the best lower elevation wildlife habitat. Photo George Wuerthner The following link to an editorial by Winter Wildlands appeared in the…
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Biocrusts are important in arid ecosystems. Photo George Wuerthner Biological soil crusts, known as biocrusts, are lichens, algae, mosses, fungi, and cyanobacteria common on the soil surface.[i]They are critical to arid ecosystems, where they help to reduce soil erosion and maintain stability. They assist in water retention and act like soil mulch. They also create…
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George Wuerthner and Jon Marvel in Hailey, Idaho. Western Watersheds Project is the only NGO whose mission is to educate the public about the numerous environmental impacts of livestock production and works to reduce livestock grazing on public lands. WWP is one of the most influential environmental groups because it successfully uses the courts…
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Hike on the crest of the Gallatin Range looking down on the Porcupine drainage. Photo George Wuerthner Many conservation groups are heralding the recently released Final Custer Gallatin National Forest Plan as a “win” for the environment. At least in my initial review, I am less sanguine and enthusiastic about the outcome. The CGNF proposes…
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A BLM (U.S. Bureau of Land Management) decision to allow livestock grazing to grow up to three times in the Owyhee Country of southwest Idaho has been blocked for now by a Dept. of Interior judge. Dickshooter Cattle Company, owned by J.R. Simplot an Idaho-based agricultural conglomerate, asked to increase cattle grazing by up to…
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Thinning/logging at Newberry Crater National Monument, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon. Photo George Wuerthner One of the arguments alleged by proponents of thinning or logging forests is that it will reduce the size of wildfires and hence carbon emissions from blazes. Proponents argue that more trees survive a fire if there has been “active forest management.”…
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In May, 2021 I happened to be traveling through northern California on my way to Lassen National Park. When I drove out of Chester, California, I encountered a number of forest thinning projects along the highway. So I photographed some of them, in part, because in many cases large fire-resistant trees were being removed. Then…