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Western Book Roundup

As the folks over at the Wyoming Arts blog recently noted, a few weeks ago Publisher's Weekly featured Torrie Rice’s Wheatland Mercantile Book Nook in Claire Kirch's article, "Wild West Bookseller." Kirch writes:

"This being Wyoming, where a Wild West mentality still thrives, Rice sells the 4,000 titles in her inventory alongside products made and sold by her husband, Jef Rice: custom-built handguns and rifles."

Also in the Roundup: El Centro Su Teatro's upcoming events, news about the High Plains Book Award, and the Boulder Book Store hosts a book club event. [more]

THE COWBOY STATE CAUCUSES SATURDAY

Normally, members of the Wyoming Democratic Party can grimly joke about holding party meetings in phone booths. Here, in the reddest of fire-engine-red Republican states, Democrats are still the minority party by a 2.3:1 ratio. But today, party officials and members are being courted by the Hillary Clinton and the Barack Obama campaigns, prior to Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday.

Although Wyoming has only 12 national delegates up for grabs, those dozen delegates are hyper-critical to both the Clinton and Obama campaigns that are running neck and neck for the party’s nomination. [more]

TURN ONE DOLLAR INTO THREE

Sad but true, you're going to see a lot of these type of stories in future years, articles about concerned citizens and companies stepping up to undo irresponsible if not illegal environmental damage. Witness The Orvis Company teaming up with local conservationists to restore illegally channelized Teton Creek near Driggs, Idaho.

In addition to dishing out a $30,000 challenge grant, the premier supplier of quality fly fishing and other sporting gear has featured Friends of the Teton River (FTR), a local watershed nonprofit trying to restore Yellowstone cutthroat habitat on Teton Creek, in a full page in its spring and summer fishing catalogs and prominently on its website.

James Hathaway, Communications and Conservation Manager at Orvis, told NewWest.Net that the Teton Creek project is part of the company's normal policy of donating 5 percent of its profits to conservation efforts. [more]

GIVE US A MEANINGFUL, VETO-PROOF BILL

Last November, I wrote about mining law reform being a no brainer and that the U.S. House of Representatives had just passed a bill spiking the most uncivilized sections of the 135-year-old law. The House bill ends the archaic policy of giving way our public land to mining conglomerates with billions in assets and actually makes them pay royalties for taking public resources, like everybody else does.

Now, the Senate is working on its version of mining law reform, and newly elected Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is in a position to be the leader in correcting a century-old injustice and getting the Mining Law of 1872 off the books. [more]

Draft EA Due in April

In an effort to flush out “any other broad issues” related to the experimental bison hunt in Montana, the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) is offering a public scoping period on the hunt before a draft revised Environmental Assessment (EA) is released some time in April. The two-week scoping period ends on March 7, 2008.

The already complicated issue of bison hunting is set to become even more so as Idaho’s Nez Perce seek a larger harvest of bison under treaty rights allowing the Nez Perce to hunt in “open and unclaimed land” around Yellowstone National Park. The Nez Perce claim they are able to harvest 70 to 110 bison, but MFWP contends they are limited to 41.

The Nez Perce assertion comes as the Montana Department of Livestock (DOL) and the Yellowstone National Park Service continue to capture and slaughter bison to prevent the spread of the disease brucellosis from bison to cattle, though there is no evidence of this ever occurring. The agencies have captured 661 bison so far this winter. The DOL contends the loss of Montana’s brucellosis-free status would cause significant economic harm to ranchers, who would then have to test cattle before sending them out of state to slaughter. [more]

Birthing of a new tram

Jackson Hole may not have its new tram yet, but we do have “Tram-formation.com,” a new Web site for tracking all things tram. The new site provides regular updates on what’s going on with construction of the new tram. Local writer Lauren Whaley is on task and has been in touch with those in charge of getting this new lift on line in time for the ’08 season. So far she’s keeping monthly construction updates to keep us all in tune with the progress. [more]

WILL STATE MANAGEMENT PLANS WORK?

This week, thirteen years since reintroduction into the northern Rockies, the federal government says the Big Dog, the wolf, is no longer an endangered species, which means the state wildlife agencies take over wolf management. The state agencies are already in the starting blocks to give us something we've never, ever had here in the New West, regulated sport hunting for wolves.

Regardless of the agency readiness, though, wolf managers expect delays as conservation groups drag delisting through the court system. But regardless when seasons open, will sport hunting accomplish the goal of reducing wolf numbers to target levels? [more]

LOADED FOR POLITICS, NOT BEARS OR CRIMINALS

You've probably heard about pending legislation to allow visitors to our national parks to carry loaded and accessible firearms. The cover story is the concern that people must be able to protect their families from perverts and wild animals infesting out national parks.

To this overused assertion, I must ask why doesn't the gun lobby get out front with the real reason it does these things?

Footnote: Click here to read more NewWest.Net articles on the NRA. [more]

resort development

On Monday, February 4, Grand Targhee Resort owners received long-awaited approval for expansion. After more than three years of planning and public input, the Teton County, Wyoming, board of commissioners voted 4-1 in favor to allow the resort to expand in an area at 8,000 feet on the west side of the Teton Range, just above Alta, Wyoming.

The dissenting commissioner, Leland Christiansen, is from Alta, and according to an article in the February 5 issue of the Jackson Hole Daily, “tried in earnest to persuade the board to vote down the expansion proposal.” He was not alone in his pleas; for weeks local papers have included many impassioned letters about the folly of allowing such a large expansion within the delicate forest ecosystem in which Targhee sits without adequate mitigation measures. The final planning meeting included nearly three hours of public comment, nearly all of which was against the proposal. [more]

WILL THE FWP COMMISSION STAND UP FOR HUNTERS?

In January, I posted a column about the most expensive deer in the world, which happen to be running around my house in Helena, Montana. I concluded, conservatively, that killing these deer might cost $2,000 or more per animal. Out of the comment section came the question: What would be a more cost-effective option?

Since then, I've been checking around on what's happening in other cities, and I have the answer. [more]

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