Why does this economically modest and destructive economic activity get so much priority? A recent report published by the Department of Interior demonstrates what conservation advocates have been arguing for years: Recreational use of public lands creates many more jobs and much more economic value than public lands ranching. Department of the Interior’s Economic Contributions…
“Reduced grazing saves carbon” A few years ago we discussed a Wohlfahrt study in the Mojave Desert which strongly suggested that desert ecosystems may play a significant role in sequestering carbon out of the atmosphere and sinking it into the soil. Studies in Germany likewise demonstrated that human impact to soils both decreases the amount of…
On February 28, 2011 Chief Judge B. Lynn Winmill of the United States District Court for Idaho agreed with Western Watersheds Project and reimposed an injunction stopping livestock grazing on 17 grazing allotments covering over 450,000 acres of public land in the Jarbidge Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management in southern Idaho. The…
Public land ranchers concerned about candidate’s position that public lands ought be managed to preserve Idaho’s wildlife heritage Idaho’s Gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred, challenger to “Butch” Otter, recently drew a distinction between wildlife management on public versus private land, standing behind Idaho sportsmen on the bighorn sheep issue : Candidate’s Comments Cause for Concern –…
No more hush, hush on who has grazing permits on your public lands- Most people are amazed that the BLM won’t tell them who holds the almost free grazing permits they issue on the public land of the United States, but Western Watersheds and Wild Earth Guardians, represented by Advocates for the West have just…
It took a long time, but Western Watersheds and Advocates for the West seem to have a final victory As a note, I am pleased to have been a plaintiff for the National Wildlife Federation in fighting this Bush era effort to exclude the public from having influence in grazing decisions, improperly grant property rights…
BOISE — The Department of Interior’s Office of Hearings and Appeals has granted Western Watersheds Project (WWP) a stay of a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decision to cancel Valley Sun, LLC’s (Valley Sun) grazing permit on public lands along the East Fork and main Salmon Rivers in central Idaho. BLM had attempted to cancel…
Information is needed to understand who the program benefits and how many livestock are grazing public lands The program that is heavily subsidized by the public to the tune of $123 million annually is veiled in secrecy. Welfare ranching of public lands, simply put, is the subsidized destruction of our public lands for the benefit…
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan’s Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of “Hiking Idaho.” He also wrote “Beyond the Tetons” and “Backpacking Wyoming’s Teton and Washakie Wilderness.” He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.