Wildlife News
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According to the FS and many others with a financial interest in logging and firefighting, prior to the settlement of the West, wildfires were more frequent than today. These frequent fires kept fuels low, and therefore, reduced fire severity of wildfires. Since its inception, the Forest Service has had a policy of putting out…
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Bighorn sheep, named for the large curling horns of rams, are one of the West’s most iconic animals. Once found from North Dakota to Washington and south to California to New Mexico, they were among the most plentiful of the West’s large mammals, numbering more than 2 million animals. Today, in most western states their…
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One of Alaska’s most treasured bear-viewing sites is about to be turned into a destination theme park, sacrificing grizzly bear habitat on the altar of commercial development. After a decade of development planning, EIS and public input, once aimed at major improvements in resource protection, the National Park Service has aborted earlier plans for removal…
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Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) have introduced legislation that is an extreme and irresponsible attack on your public lands and the wildlife they support. This bill has the Orwellian title of the “Greater Sage Grouse Protection and Recovery Act,” (S.273, H.R.527). These bills would do the opposite of what their…
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A recent modeling study that looked at livestock grazing and sage grouse has been getting a lot of play in the media with headlines like “Livestock Grazing Can Benefit Sage Grouse, Study Says.” http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/study-says-some-livestock-grazing-could-benefit-struggling-sage-grouse/article_1d49f8a5-6e59-5954-9a55-9026961a44cf.html And not surprisingly, representatives of the livestock industry are quick to pounce on the study as evidence that livestock grazing is…
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National Forests across the West are facing dire threats from politicians, the timber industry and the Forest Service. The public is currently being misled into thinking that our forests are “unhealthy”, and that they need to be “restored” due to “beetle infestations” and “insect and disease.” All of this is euphemism to drastically ramp up…
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It is time to create a new page of “Interesting Wildlife News.” It has been a long time since we have had a new page. The page and comment loading time has become very slow. Please put your wildlife news in the comments below. Do not post copyrighted material. Here is the link to the…
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The Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to delist grizzlies from the protection of the Endangered Species Act in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The basic rationale for delisting is that the geographical distribution of bears has increased, particularly in areas south and east of Yellowstone Park, as well as population growth. But there is a…
