FOLLOWING MY SHOTS 2

Kids, Road Rage, Gun Laws, Union Conservationists, and More

I used to play basketball, but not too much since the day my coach took me aside, patted me on the head, and said, “Bill, you’re short, but you’re slow, and you really need to follow your shots.”

Well, that was a long time ago, and I admit to never doing anything about the shortness or the slowness, but I have learned to follow my shots. And sometimes, they’re worth following. When I write my columns, I frequently hope something happens, and guess what sometimes it does. Check out these updates to past columns.

Montana Wolf Hunt

Montana Wolf Hunt is Over: Quotas Filled Early

A half-hour after sunset tonight, Montana’s first official wolf hunt—arguably the most controversial hunting season in recent history—will be over. Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks department announced the shut-down after reports came in that 72 wolves had been killed as of Sunday evening, meaning that hunters were fast closing in on the state quota of 75 wolves, according to the Billings Gazette.

JUNK FOOD FOR FISH

Pollution Altering Alpine Lakes

What seem to be pristine alpine lakes high in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park are getting greener, and not in a good way.

A report in the current edition of Science finds that those lakes are being swamped with nitrogen from the atmosphere, caused by pollution from cars, factories, feed lots and fertilizer. The nitrogen is essentially fertilizing lakes that aren’t used to being fertilized, causing a growth of algae and threatening to harm the fish at the top of the food chain.

In addition to our carbon footprint, researchers say, human activity leaves a more subtle nitrogen footprint that is affecting natural systems around the world, even in some of the most remote places.

NEW PROGRAM NEEDS MORE PRIORITY

“Open Fields” Hunting Access Program Needs a Push

Open Fields was a “major victory” for hunters and wildlife conservation, according to the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) and many other green groups that lobbied for it. It passed back in December 2008, but almost a year later, this innovative hunter access program is still mired in the administrative rule making process.

Now, predictably, conservationists who struggled mightily for the program are asking Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for a little more priority.

FOLLOWING MY SHOTS

Tester’s Wilderness Bill, Updates

UPDATED 10/27/09. See end of column.

Anybody who reads NewWest.Net regularly might be getting a little weary of reading about Senator Jon Tester’s “Jobs and Recreation Act,” S. 1470. So far, by last count, we’ve posted twenty-two articles and columns on the bill and its impact. This includes our own coverage and several guest columns, as we’ve tried to give each major stakeholder a forum to voice their point of view, including one from the senator himself. (Click here to read them all.)

But this bill keeps on giving out stories, it seems, such as these updates and follow-ups to earlier postings.

GUEST COMMENTARY

The First American President to Win the Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama isn’t the first American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  The first President, as well as the first American, to receive that coveted honor was a one-time member of the Montana Stock Grower’s Association. Theodore Roosevelt was also the first and only future President to win the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Roosevelt was awarded the peace prize for successfully mediating the end to the bloody Russo–Japanese War. He received the Medal of Honor for leading his Rough Rider’s in their hell-for-leather assault on San Juan Hill.

In my opinion Theodore Roosevelt (he disliked the moniker “Teddy”) was the most remarkable American who ever lived.  His portrait has been on my office wall for three decades. I have over 60 volumes by him or about him.

LET'S GET OVER THE BIG PISTOL SYNDROME

Hunters, Use Bear Spray, Help Save Your Sport

General big game hunting seasons are opening soon, and legions of stealthy hunters will be silently stalking around grizzly country in pre-dawn darkness, but only after they’ve sprayed themselves with human scent blocker, “buck scent” or stale elk pee. As sure as the seasons will open, some of them will have a close encounter with a grizzly, often resulting in a dead bear.

Much has been written about this subject. Every wildlife expert out there has encouraged hunters to carry bear pepper spray instead of a big handgun for self-defense, but clearly, a lot of hunters ignore this advice, even though it’s all for their own safety and the future of hunting.

Whither the Salmon?

Bracing Lessons for Northwest Fisheries…from the Northeast

I stand on the rocky shore of Jensen Point near a beached snag, the cold salt water of Quartermaster Harbor lapping at my ankles. The point, which divides inner and outer Qurtermaster Harbor, is the site of a Vashon Island park. People launch kayaks, rowing shells, canoes, motorboats here. Swimmers start the Heart of the Sound Triathlon here, too. Swimming out into the deeper water of the channel, virtually all of us wear wetsuits. I once ran into a young woman wearing a Heart of the Sound Triathlon T-shirt and made a casual comment about the race. I’m never doing that again, she said. That water is so cold!

Be that as it may, people have been coming to Jensen Point for centuries. In 1996, archaeologist Julie Stein, now director of the University of Washington’s Burke Museum, led a dig here into a shell midden that has been carbon dated at up to 1,000 years old. Across the harbor, to the south, you can see sailboat masts at another park and marina; it’s all very bucolic, but a century ago you might have seen masts clustered there around a big floating dry dock, Puget Sound’s first, which opened in 1892. There was already a shipway on the site when the dock arrived, and a big mill nearby. People built and repaired boats along that curve of shore into the 1920s. Right after World War I, the Martinolich yard launched a vessel 250 feet long. In 1929, the yard launched the fishing vessel Janet G., from which a local family seined Alaska salmon for generations. 

Missoula Notebook

Tester’s Wilderness Bill: Q & A With Sun Mountain’s Tony Colter

I was curious about the potential effects of Sen. Tester’s act on businesses like Sun Mountain, so—after touring the sawmill—I interviewed Tony Colter, the company’s plant manager and vice president. He told me that Sun Mountain’s mill and logging operations combined could potentially employ up to 300 people, but times have been tough lately. Today, only 120 people work in the mill and finger-joint plant, and about 50 people work in logging. Sun Mountain hopes Tester’s bill could help turn things around.