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A number of environmental organizations, Western Watersheds Project, The Buffalo Field Campaign, and Friends of Animals, have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the Yellowstone bison under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Some may be baffled why any bison deserve listing under the ESA when there are at least 500,000 bison found…
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Last week a Associated Press article proclaimed that the rehabilitation taking place after the Soda Fire, which burned 225,953 acres along highway 95 on the Oregon/Idaho border in August, was going well. Not so fast. According to a report from Roger Rosentreter, a retired PhD botanist who worked for the BLM for 38 years, things aren’t going so…
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Land and Water Conservation Fund reauthorized- Wildlife and Earth-trashing riders were deleted- There is some good news in the massive spending bill to fund the government. A months long battle to prevent a rider that would delist wolves in the Great Lakes and Wyoming was successful. The wolves will remain on the endangered species list…
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Recently Yellowstone National Park announced the intentions of culling (read kill) as many as a thousand of the park’s genetically unique and only continuously wild herd of bison. The annual slaughter has no basis in science, and is ethically bankrupt and corrupted management precipitated by ranching interests. The slaying of bison is an annual event.…
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Both the article Range of Possibilities by Kelly Cash, followed up by the pro-livestock piece Public Lands Need Cattle to Meet Conservation Goals by Sheila Barry which appeared in Bay Nature Magazine imply that livestock production is an overall positive activity for California public lands and wildlife. The pro livestock articles can be found here: https://baynature.org/articles/pro-public-lands-need-cattle-to-meet-conservation-goals/ and…
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The art of land and wildlife management has fallen into the hands of political actors who are beholden to powerful interests who only care about how much money they can squeeze out of our wildlife and public lands. When faced with making tough decisions, these professional bureaucrats have learned special skills to move up through…
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In 2008 at a Bureau of Land Management Oil and Gas lease auction Tim DeChristopher bid on 14 parcels of land (totaling 22,500 acres) for $1.8 million that he had no intention of buying. The FBI arrested him and charged him with a two-count felony indictment. DeChristopher was branded an “eco-terrorist.” Even though the very…
Author
George Wuerthner is an ecologist and writer who has published 38 books on various topics related to environmental and natural history. He has visited over 400 designated wilderness areas and over 200 national park units.