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“Rather than alarming, a lack of conifer regeneration allows other vegetation its “moment in the sun” so to speak, and provides for a much more diverse forest ecosystem” . . . . George Wuerthner – – – – – – Recently researchers at UC Davis and the US Forest Service presented a new scientific study that suggested…
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The recent designation of Bears Ear National Monument in southern Utah by President Obama engendered a predictable storm of rhetorical protest from Utah’s politicians. Yet a review of their comments and those made historically by western politicians when earlier Presidents had unilaterally created public reserves shows surprisingly consistent responses. In 1887, two weeks before leaving…
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In response to a guest editorial I published in the Missoulian on the shameful slaughter of Yellowstone’s bison, a group of three retired USDA range managers wrote a commentary that was published in the Missoulian on December 30th on Yellowstone’s bison. They argue that bison numbers must be reduced, and thus implicitly supporting the Dept.…
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Bears Ears in SE Utah and Gold Butte near Mesquite, Nevada declared to be national monuments Gold Butte National Monument is near where Cliven Bundy ran his illegal cattle. I’ve been there. It is scenic and historical, and has obviously been abused by local troublemakers and general lack of recreational management. I see it is…
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Several years ago, I published a book on motorized recreation and its impacts on public lands. In doing the research for that book, one of the statistics that I found interesting is the demographic profile of the “average” motorized ORV user. They tended to be male, between the ages of 20 and 40, and had…
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The proposal to kill another 900-1000 of Yellowstone Park’s bison this winter is a national disgrace and tragedy. The continued butchery of Yellowstone’s genetically unique wild bison is a crime against the world’s global heritage. It reflects badly on the people of Montana that tolerate and allow this annual killing to go on. It also…
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McMorris Rodgers pick for Interior Secretary Raises Major Environmental Red Flags Contact: Erik Molvar, Executive Director, Western Watersheds Project, (307) 399-7910 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today’s announcement that President-elect Donald Trump may tap Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) to lead the Department of the Interior has fed conservationists’ concerns that the next administration is likely…
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The recent blazes that have consumed more than a thousand structures in Gatlinburg, Tennessee offers yet another lesson about wildfire. The inferno that roared across Gatlinburg was driven by extreme drought and 80 mile-an-hour winds which blew embers miles beyond the fire front. There several important lessons. First, rural sprawl contributed to the massive fires…