Famed former Baca Ranch could emerge as national park after failed “free market” experiment- I have never been to this famous New Mexico supervolcano area with its scenic, but degraded grasslands and forests. The area is notable for its elk, but the herd is much smaller than it could be due to the competition with…
Ranchers complain about losing control while accepting government handouts. The Buffalo Gap National Grassland of South Dakota doesn’t have buffalo any more but it certainly has a handful of ranchers with a strong sense of entitlement. They are worrying that wilderness designation will “steal” control that they seem to believe they should have over these…
No grazing on the Whisky Dick and Quilomene wildlife areas in Washington State The State of Washington has spent a lot of money trying to justify cattle grazing on wildlife management areas in the state which are comprised of lands purchased using Federal money specifically intended for wildlife habitat. The lands in the Whisky Dick…
But they continue to ignore the biggest threat to their habitat……….. GRAZING. $16 million in handouts for this year alone. The NRCS is handing out more money to ranchers for “habitat conservation” or “habitat improvement” projects that maintain grazing on public lands. There are some projects such as fence removal that will be funded but…
~ Jon Marvel Friends, Today, in response to successful litigation brought by Western Watersheds Project and our attorneys at Advocates For The West, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Greater Sage Grouse would not be protected by listing the species under the protections of the Endangered Species Act. The Secretary did acknowledge that listing…
400 dead this winter in an “unprecedented” series of events Populations of bighorn sheep are struggling with pneumonia throughout the west. Washington, Nevada, Montana, and most recently Utah are having outbreaks of pneumonia which have resulted in the deaths of 400 or more bighorn sheep. Statements like the following are often made about the outbreaks. “While…
Leaked memo shows massive effort coming to kill off Idaho wolves- The memo below from Cal Groen, Director of the Idaho Fish and Game Department confirms my call about six months ago that the Department was working with, or told to work with livestock interests to devise a method for a massive wolf reduction program.…
Updated September 23, 2012. This has been a very popular post. I first posted it about 5 years ago, and now I have enlarged and updated it. Ralph Maughan Ah the Tetons, Wind Rivers, Sawtooths and White Clouds, Wallowas, Bitterroots, Beartooth, and Unitas! I love all the mountains. I decided to do a major photo…
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.