Yellowstone
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The Forest Service spends billions of dollars fighting fires and implementing fuel treatments like logging and prescribed burns to reduce large wildfires. A further problem with the emphasis on logging the forest is that a significant acreage charred each year is in non-forested landscapes like sagebrush, grasslands, and chaparral where “fuel reductions” by logging have…
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We do not want those whose first impulse is to compromise. We want no straddlers, for, in the past, they have surrendered too much good wilderness and primeval areas which should never have been lost. – Bob Marshall on the founding of the Wilderness Society There is an unfortunate tendency on the part of conservationists…
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Roberts Fire near Glacier National Park, Montana. Photo George Wuerthner A few weeks ago, I attended a panel discussion about wildfires. All the panelists and the moderator suggested that large mega fires resulted from fuels that had attained unnatural levels due to a “hundred years of fire suppression.” The idea that fire suppression is responsible…
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The Stillwater River is one of the numerous river segements in the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act. Photo George Wuerthner On November 16th, Senator John Tester reintroduced the Montana Headwaters Legacy Act that would designate 384 miles of rivers and streams under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act in the northern portion of the Greater…
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Bison migrate from Yellowstone National Park to access snow-free areas where they can obtain forage. Photo George Wuerthner This winter, more than a thousand bison were killed by tribal members after leaving Yellowstone National Park’s protection. Last week, I found some recent carcasses killed by the tribes, but the good news is that most of…
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When Deb Haaland was nominated for the position of Secretary of Interior, I received dozens of emails from nearly every large conservation organization to support her nomination. She was appointed without having any particular experience or background in public lands issues and limited executive experience in running major federal land management agencies such as…
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The Swan Range is adjacent to the Bob Marshall Wilderness and part of the Greater Glacier/Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem that would receive additional protection if NREPA is enacted. Photo George Wuerthner The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act (NREPA) is bold and visionary legislation that, if enacted by Congress, would help ensure functioning ecosystems…
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Yellowstone National Park brings out the best in society. Photo George Wuerthner I spent the past week in Yellowstone National Park. I was grateful to the people who had the courage and foresight to establish Yellowstone in 1872. It was with gratitude that I watched grizzly bears playing among the meadows. Gratitude that I got…
