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…
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…
Idaho Water Board probably ends 10 year battle over Oneida Narrows dam- Oneida Narrows is a scenic canyon on the Bear River in SE Idaho. It is already partially filled with a dam and reservoir, but its lower reaches are free, popular for recreation, and has a population of rare Bonneville Cutthroat Trout. Over its…
Presence of wolves helps survival of pronghorn fawn, normally a major prey item for coyotes- Wolves have a complicated relationship to their prey and to competing carnivores and omnivores such as bears. Simple statements such as every animal a wolf kills is one less for a hunter are fantasy. In reality wolves can directly or…
Wildlife Services has high average non-lethal record for all animals, but not for large carnivores- Lately there has been a lot of media critical of USDA-Wildlife Services; often called by its critics something like “the federal government’s wildlife killers.” In an effort to mount a defense the Service has pointed out that 80% of its…
Do grizzly bears threaten chickens or do chicken owners threaten grizzly bears? Earlier today we wrote an article about people putting up a lot of new chicken coops in well known NW Montana grizzly bear country. The result of this is dead grizzly bears when bear “mangers” have the bears put down for eating a…
Montana becomes the state with biggest and largest number of wildlfires- The Fontenelle Fire smokes up Western Wyoming recreation country- Utah suffers from an amazing number of fires started by target shooting- Wildfires are now on the decline in New Mexico and Arizona with one new exception, Horse Canyon Fire. However, they are on the…
4-year old sow is captured- The Great Falls Tribune said that a sow griz killed 70 sheep “at three ranches in two weeks — including 58 at one ranch — in an unprecedented killing spree. . . [emphasis ours]. We can picture a drawing in a sensational magazine with a giant grizzly throwing hapless sheep…
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.