Montana
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Rare Fish Still Threatened by Massive Water Diversions from Big Hole River BUTTE, Mont.— The Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, Butte resident Pat Munday and former Montana fishing guide George Wuerthner today filed a formal notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s latest decision to deny protection to a…
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This August the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reversed an earlier 2010 ruling that Arctic Grayling in the Upper Missouri River system of Montana were endangered (but precluded from listing under the Endangered Species Act due to higher priority species). Instead the Service decided that as a result of cooperative efforts by ranchers in…
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Black Angus standing under crab apple trees felled by a single bolt- Last week a mixture of 45 cows and calves were killed near Darby, Montana by a lightning strike. When hit, they were standing close together under some crab apple trees. While this is a fairly large loss, especially from a relatively small herd,…
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A few days ago I wrote a column about a funding proposal to create a “wolf stamp” the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission (MDFWP) recently approved. The basic idea is for non-hunters and anglers to support the operation of the MDFWP by purchasing the stamp with the money to be devoted to…
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A second case of brucellosis has been found in cattle in the brucellosis surveillance zone near the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in Montana. This has prompted Texas to ask for further testing of cattle that are exported from the area to be tested once they arrive in the the state. It’s not as big of…
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Today Montana Judge E. Wayne Phillips shot down a lawsuit brought by powerful livestock interests to stop the State of Montana from allowing bison to use areas of Montana outside of Yellowstone National Park. In the spring of 2011, after many years of unsuccessfully trying to keep bison from leaving the northern boundary of Yellowstone…
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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…
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Continuing enlightenment from state in this long controversy- Final outcome will depend on 2012 election- The state of Montana continues to lessen restrictions on the movements of Yellowstone Park bison that try to live outside the Park. Now they will be allowed to live there year-round in two areas, the Gardiner Basin just north of…