• The usual biggest Idaho wildfire month does not disappoint- Pocatello, ID. As we reported earlier, more and more wildfires are breaking out in Idaho. It is August and most are due to lightning torching the dry forests and brushlands.  The smoke generally blows eastward across the state over into Wyoming, Montana, and northern Utah. Here…

  • Dr. Smith takes makes 17 year retrospective on wolf restoration- There haven’t been as many stories quoting the tall, affable Yellowstone Park wolf manager in the last several years, but on Aug. 2 at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyoming, he give a talk that was covered quite well by the Cody Enterprise. Here…

  • Six of America’s symbolic bird and four wolves fall to poison in vicinity of the Big Prairie Ranger Station- Last May six bald eagles and four wolves were found dead in the general area of the Big Prairie Ranger Station inside the Bob Marshall Wilderness of NW Montana. This is far up the South Fork…

  • Earlier restrictions had been lifted, but renewed hot, dry weather raises probability of fires- Due to renewed hot, dry weather after a brief rainy and cooler respite, Yellowstone Park has done the following. Closures:  Astringent Creek Trail at the junction of the Lower Pelican Creek Trail. – Upper Pelican Creek Trail at the junction of the…

  • Has there ever been such a craven case? There are grizzly ears in Kitty Creek, six miles east of Yellowstone Park, and one killed Erwin Evert in 2010.  Evert was an expert on the plants of Yellowstone and familiar with the area, but that summer he came upon a grizzly bear that was just coming…

  • Halstead Fire continues 25 year pattern of burning in or near the southern boundary of the Frank- Although Idaho had some large range fires in June, they did not get much attention because they mostly burned rangeland  that was already severely degraded with cheatgrass, BLM-planted crested wheatgrass and related cultivars, and overgrazed.  This is, of…

  • Drought, heat, and West Nile outbreaks seem to go together- You would think mosquito borne West Nile virus and floods from wet, wet summers go together.  This is not so.  Early on it was recognized that West Nile peaks in the dryest, hottest time of the year — August. Not only that, it is worse…

  • Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks maintains wolverine trapping. At their August 2, 2012 Commission meeting, the Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) commissioners voted to continue trapping wolverine, despite a petition from eight environmental groups and one individual George Wuerthner (me) to halt trapping. The groups– which included Friends of the…

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