A notice published by the Department of Labor in the January 8th Federal Register requires woolgrowers in several states to increase the wages of immigrant workers who are hired under the H2A program. In some states the wages have increased significantly from a measly $750/month plus room and board to a measly $1422.52/month to match…
Ken Salazar is reportedly leaving his post as Secretary of Interior in March of this year. His legacy includes a failed delisting of wolves in Idaho and Montana, which was legislatively pushed through, delisting of wolves in Wyoming where wolves are treated as vermin, approval of the Deepwater Horizon using a categorical exclusion from National…
Hailey, ID. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed an Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing rule and critical habitat designation for the Gunnison sage-grouse that will designate the species as Endangered and provide 1.7 million acres of critical habitat in Colorado and Utah. Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) has a more restricted range than the closely-related…
Ten photos of jaguar near at site of 6,990-acre Rosemont mine project area- Arizona is pockmarked with abandoned copper pit after pit and associated toxic tailings. There are also some active pits and old ones starting back up. Finally there are plans for another new giant pit on the north end of the Santa Rita Mountains…
The idea that wolves and other large carnivores cause a “trophic cascade” through their impact on elk has been challenged by a number of recent publications. Last week another study was released that puts a dent in the notion– it suggests human activities, not large predators, are primarily responsible for elk vigilance in human-dominated landscapes.…
A petition started on the Whitehouse.gov website yesterday is urging President Obama to appoint Congressman Raul Grijalva as the next Secretary of Interior. As of this writing there are 704 signatures on the petition but the petition needs to receive 25,000 signatures by December 31st, 2012 before it will merit an official response by the…
Project has a successful sixth year- In Idaho when a wolf kills a lamb or is even suspected of doing so, the solution today is nearly the same as a hundred years ago — kill the wolf and maybe all the wolves you can find in the area with the costs of operation be damned.…
by George Wuerthner Introduction Livestock production is a contributing factor in the decline of many western species, including birds (Wuerthner and Matteson 2002). This is not surprising given the amount of land utilized for animal agriculture, including public and private lands. Approximately 578 million out of 1.9 billion acres in the West are grassland pasture…
Ken Cole is a 5th generation Idahoan, an avid fly fisherman, wildlife enthusiast, and photographer. He is the interim Idaho Director for Western Watersheds Project.
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