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WWP wants bill to fail due to a rider that would lead to lawless grazing on public lands- The National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA) set for a Senate vote this week contains language that will forever change the West. Renewal of many grazing permits would be exempted from public oversight and environmental review by being tucked in with a sprawling…
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PEER creates a BLM Rangelands Health map- Grazing activists are going to cheer an interactive map created by PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility). As they sent their comments on the Greater sage grouse to the US. Fish and Wildlife Service, PEER wrote: The comments are based on analysis of data available for viewing on PEER’s…
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OVERLOOKING THE ROLE OF LIVESTOCK IN THE DEMISE OF THE GREATER SAGE-GROUSE & ITS HABITAT A report by Western Watersheds Project DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE:WWP Sagegrouse and livestock report An enormous land management planning effort is underway in the American West, involving ten states and 60 million acres of what remains of sagebrush habitats on…
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President Obama could do a lot here- Here are my suggestions for new national monuments which Obama could designate. I have visited every site I recommend here, so I’m personally familiar with the areas. I have tried to put together a list that I think deserve protection, but also have some substantial political momentum in…
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Environmental assessment not done in time- After a big outcry against the Idaho Fish and Game plan to poison 4000 ravens in Idaho so to help the struggling sage grouse, the operation has been delayed for a year. The actual poisoning would be done by the federal agency USDA’s Wildlife Services. This federal agency needed…
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The Idaho Fish and Game Department’s plan to poison or shoot up to 4,000 ravens in the state is appalling. It’s a preposterous proposal to kill native wildlife under the guise of protecting sage-grouse from raven’s eating their eggs. With the blessing of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Idaho will spend over $100,000 dollars…
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A lightning storm that passed through the foothills of southern Idaho ignited a series of fires that have burned 298,384 acres of forest and sagebrush steppe. The McCan (23,860 acres), Beaver Creek (32,211 acres), Pony Complex (143,900 acres), and Elk Complex (98,413 acres) fires all started on Thursday, August 8 and quickly grew. They burned structures, closed Highway 20…
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In early June, Katie Fite and I visited southeast Nevada to examine the results of past vegetation treatments meant to “restore” sage grouse habitat in the Schell Field Office of the Ely District BLM. What we found was quite astonishing. Rather than restoring sage grouse habitat, the BLM targeted the best sage grouse habitat, near…
Author
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.