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Tribal leaders shoved aside by police leading the megaloads upriver- It was thought the megaloads issue on U.S Highway 12 across north central Idaho was finally settled by Federal Judge Lynn Winmill. Early this year he wrote a decision that the U.S. Forest Service has jurisdiction over any megaload seeking to traverse the Highway 12…
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There is a lot in the news about the potential listing of sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. Western politicians are using heated rhetoric about how a listing would destroy their economies, and the “western way of life” (read death and destruction to native wildlife). And in good western tradition, they blame the federal…
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State’s first wolf hunt will no longer include any trapping- Michigan plans to have its first wolf hunt this fall. It will be in three parts (units) of the state’s Upper Peninsula (the U.P.). The original wolf hunt plan approved included trapping as well as shooting the wolves, but that has now been dropped. Hunt…
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The long running battle between southern Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and the BLM may be coming to an end soon. On July 9th, Nevada District Judge Lloyd D. George ordered Bundy to remove his cattle from BLM and National Park System lands in the Gold Butte and Overton Arm areas of southern Nevada. He was…
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Pocatello, Idaho. Thirteen months ago residents at the south end of Pocatello suffered from the Charlotte Fire, just off of Mink Creek. Sixty-six homes burned. On 27th this year, smoke erupted from near the same area, causing some brief concern. It turned out instead to be a burn in Lead Draw. Lead Draw is in the…
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A new study by Dr. Bill Ripple and his colleagues, “Trophic cascades from wolves to grizzly bears in Yellowstone” in the Journal of Animal Ecology suggests a second way the return of wolves has helped the Yellowstone grizzly bears. Grizzlies have thrived in Yellowstone Park in recent years despite the destruction of the cutthroat trout fishery,…
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Montana Wilderness Study areas finally protected from vehicles until Congress acts- The Montana Wilderness Study Act passed in 1977. It required that the Forest Service protect the “wilderness quality” of a number of roadless areas in Western Montana until Congress decided to make a final decision as to whether the areas should be designed as…
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Early wildfire starts in central Idaho bode for fire until October- Stanley, ID. Forest fire season in Idaho used to be August and September with many years with no forest fires of note. Now the fires begin in mid-July and burn until mid-October. Like last year, fires have already broken out, such as the Road…