Politics
-
Extractive Industry Determines the Fate of Sage Grouse in Idaho. On Monday, March 12, 2011, the Idaho Governor Butch Otter’s Sage Grouse Task Force had its first formal meeting. Originally the meeting was to be organized by the Idaho Governor’s Office of Species Conservation (OSC) but something happened and rather than have OSC organize the…
-
Senator Jeff Siddoway’s Wolf Kill Bill S1305 has been sent back to committee which effectively kills it. The bill would have allowed ranchers to kill wolves by various methods including use of live bait and even aerial gunning. Yesterday the USFWS told the Idaho Statesman that the bill could threaten the wolf delisting plan and…
-
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently purchased private checkerboard land intermingled with Forest Service lands in the Rock Creek watershed north of Yakima. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation combined forces and purchased 16 square miles of lands…
-
This morning the Idaho Statesman published the view of Margaret Soulen-Hinson, the President of the American Sheep Industry Association. The letter was a response to a letter submitted to the Idaho Statesman co-signed by John Gale, National Wildlife Federation; Rob Fraser, Idaho Wildlife Federation; Craig Gehrke, The Wilderness Society; John Robison, Idaho Conservation League; and…
-
The Wallowa County Chieftain has issued an editorial which echos my sentiments on the controversy unfolding over whether the Hunter’s should be allowed to expand their Bed and Breakfast business to a parcel of land that they bought for the purpose. Rather than discussing the relevant issues relating to the B&B the discussion at the…
-
In the most recent issue of the journal, Science my colleagues and I argue that the wildlife trust doctrine (a branch of the broader public trust doctrine) may provide a legal means for interested citizens to compel states to conserve controversial species such as wolves. We argue that this common law doctrine fills the gap…
-
Politicians scramble to find cuts. Now said to be chance to gut widely reviled program- Using federal dollars to kill our native wildlife. Economic hard times would say stop that kind of funding. But will it be stopped? Predator Defense knows these federal poisoners and gunners have nine lives, unlike the bobcats and cougar they…
-
Bruce Babbit knows all about the difficulty of confronting entrenched anti-environmental interests, but Obama’s capitulation seems to go beyond “bad negotiating”. The White House has made a conscious decision to sell-out America’s environmental heritage to placate the House of Representatives. Babbit has had enough: Former Interior secretary calls out Obama on the environment – L.A. Times It’s…