Herd Horrors

Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge on Ten Most Imperiled List

A grim future is predicted for the 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge in Wyoming unless the sprawling home to elk and bison gets an infusion of new policies and resources, according to a new report from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group ranks the wildlife sanctuary -- which has one of the largest concentrations of elk in the world -- as one of America's Ten Most Imperiled Refuges.

The refuge was established in 1912 in the wilderness south of Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks in an effort to resuscitate elk herds, which had faced mass starvation after bitterly cold winters and human encroachment, PEER notes. The results have not been good.

PLANNING IN THE WEST CONFERENCE, JUNE 17-18 IN BOISE

Adjusted Development: Saving the World with Sustainable Growth

Why should towns in the West change the way they grow? And why should planners design healthier, greener communities?

Because if they don’t, they’ll suffer and fail.

Dire as that answer sounds, it's sparked something worth celebrating: a planning revolution and a move to sustainability across the West, according to land-use and green planning expert Christopher Duerksen.

The Fire This Time

Firefighting Needs Major Overhaul, Study Shows

Wildfire prevention efforts should focus far more on homeowners and key ecosystems -- and far less on random fires deep in the wilderness, according to a new study by the University of Montana, University of Colorado and Colorado State University.

The study -- which calls for an overhaul of the National Fire Plan --takes a hard look at federal efforts to prevent wildfires that are increasingly scorching the West and threatening homes near forests and wilderness. Only 11 percent of National Fire Plan wildfire-mitigation efforts in the last five years have occurred near people’s homes or offices, where it's critically needed, the researchers conclude.

Factory Farming’s Long Reach

The impact of factory farming upon the American land and native biodiversity is seldom discussed, but animal protein production has a significant impact upon the Nation’s land and water. The direct environmental problems like air or water pollution associated with large factory farming operations may be clear, but less obvious are the environmental impacts associated with the agricultural production of feed crops and other consequences associated with large factory farming operations.

2009 Montana State Legislature

Conservationists: Montana’s Legislative Session Has Been ‘Rotten’ on Environment

There’s only a short time left in a legislative session that one environmentalist says has been just plain “rotten.”

“There really is very little good coming out of this session,” Anne Hedges, program director for the Montana Environmental Information Center, said.

Headwater Summit, Sept. 15-17

Local Conference Begins with Author David James Duncan

Local author David James Duncan will speak about what you can do about climate change in his keynote address for the free two-day Headwaters Summit in Missoula, hosted by the Clark Fork Coalition, Western Progress and the National Wildlife Federation.

Duncan's talk will be (did I mention that it will be free?) Monday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at the University Theater at the University of Montana campus. Afterward, the Clark Fork Coalition will hold a cocktail reception at its office, 140 S. 4th St. W. (The nonprofit, in my experience, does a great job hosting parties.)

“Low Flows, Hot Trout"

Report Details Climate Change in Clark Fork Watershed

A new report by the Missoula-based nonprofit Clark Fork Coalition provides a comprehensive view of how global climate change has affected - and will likely affect - western Montana and north Idaho.

"We view this as a starting point for discussion and a motivator for action," said Clark Fork Coalition director Karen Knudsen. Temperatures in the report's coverage area increased, on average by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 50 years and may well continue to warm, over the next 100 years, by another 5.4 degrees.

Idaho Politics: Senate

Craig, Crapo Critical of Climate Security Act

Idaho Republican Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo both had something to say today about the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, on which the Senate voted to continue debate.

Who Cares About Global Warming Anyway?
by: Senator Larry Craig

If you remember Al Gore’s Oscar-winning movie and his visit to Boise, you might be shocked to learn how the Democrat-led Congress actually handled an issue some say is the most important crisis of our time. You may not even have known this debate was going on, considering how disorganized, brief and superficial the debate was.

Water, Wind and Climate Change

Energy Future of the West: Half Empty or Half Full?

Colorado House Majority Leader Alice Madden put up a slide of Lake Mead with the rhetorical question: Half empty or half full?

Madden’s immediate subject at the University of Colorado’s Natural Resource Law Center’s Annual Summer Conference was water, but the question echoed around a wide variety of subjects: energy, climate, renewable resources.