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Hypothesis points to how profound indirect effects of human caused ecological changes can be- For a generation now lake trout (mackinaw) have greatly reduced the formerly hugely abundant Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone Lake and in its tributary streams. This decline was made worse by the emergence of whirling disease, a parasite carried by people…
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News on wind and solar farms keeps getting worse- It doesn’t have to be that solar and wind power alternative energy has to be hard on people and animals. However, the way they are being rolled out is damaging. For example, the SW desert solar farms seem to be spreading the debilitating fungal disease, coccidioidomycosis…
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Will this program stem the decline of grizzlies in SW Alberta? Grizzlies are on the decline in Alberta. The province has far fewer bears than adjacent British Columbia and even fewer than the state of Montana to its south. Resource development such as tar sands, natural gas exploration and development all along the Rocky Mountain…
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Anti-bison mania seizes legislature, Governor Bullock helps beat off the attack on a national symbol- Helena, MT. Montana’s new legislature, elected in 2012, was a hotbed of anti-bison activity. Ten or so bills to hurt the bison in one way or another were introduced and a number passed and were sent to Montana’s new governor…
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In an op-ed published in the New York Times yesterday, researchers from Michigan Technological University and Oregon State University advocated for the genetic rescue of the island’s wolf population: As the lead researchers in the study of wolves and moose, we favor conservation or reintroduction. But more important than our view is the reasoning behind…
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Human activities tearing up the Mojave and Sonoran deserts set loose potentially lethal spores- Residents of the desert areas of Arizona, California, Utah and New Mexico generally become aware that they could get a nasty fungal disease called coccidioidomycosis (kok-sid-e-oy-doh-my-KOH-sis). 99% of the cases come from these 4 states. It is informally called Valley Fever, which…
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On the 1st of May, Drs. John Vucetich and Rolf Peterson submitted written testimony in opposition to Michigan’s plan for a public harvest of gray wolves. I was asked to provide feedback on early versions of this text, and received permission to post the final version here. My hope is that it will generate some…
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With no predators, high reproduction rate, millions of hungry hogs tear up American landscape- Like most omnivores, pigs are smart. In addition, they are big, requiring a lot of food, and are physiologically similar enough to humans to share and transmit many of our diseases. Pigs have been escaping from farms for a very long…