My Page: Peter Metcalf

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wilderness issues lecture series

When it comes to the hot topic of climate change, the news media needs to do a better job of clarifying the science and shifting the conversation toward solutions, a trio of panelists agreed Tuesday night as part of the ongoing Wilderness Issues Lecture Series at the University of Montana.

The challenge for the media in providing sufficient and accurate coverage of environmental news, particularly climate change, is partly due to its nature, the panelists said.

The media likes breaking stories, or at least stories that have a clear sequence of events, “but stories like those on climate and the environment don’t break, they ooze. They ooze over time,” said panelist Frank Allen. [more]

Hellgate Group's Event focuses on Access, habitat

Antelope jerky, duck jambalaya, elk liver pate, Mule deer pasties. These were just a small sample of the wild game appetizers from last fall’s hunts featured at the Hellgate Hunters and Anglers second annual Wild Night for Wildlife fundraising event Saturday night.

But while the taste and stories of last fall’s hunt lingered, the evening focused on current threats to wildlife habitat, public access and the need to protect Montana’s hunting and fishing heritage for future generations.

In the evening's featured address, Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., said that a number of "big issues," including rampant oil and gas development, global climate change, and restricted public hunting and fishing access to private land all threaten Montana’s hunting and fishing heritage.

He criticized the Bureau of Land Management for a lack of safeguards to protect wildlife species and their habitat in their procedures for leasing oil and gas development across the West.

"Irresponsible development is jeopardizing some of the most pristine areas of this nation," Tester said to loud applause from the nearly 200 people gathered at Fort Missoula’s Heritage Hall. [more]

lawsuits assured

The Department of the Interior officially announced this morning the removal of the Northern Rocky Mountains population of gray wolves from the Endangered Species List.

“The wolf population in the Northern Rockies has far exceeded its recovery goals and continues to expand its size and range,” Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett said in a statement.

The latest population counts show more than 1,500 wolves and 100 breeding pairs in the tri-state region, well above the established recovery minimums of 300 wolves and 30 breeding pairs. [more]

wilderness issues lecture series

The government’s failure to protect the atmosphere from climate change is a violation of its “fiduciary duties” as guardian of the nation’s natural resources, distinguished University of Oregon Law Professor Mary Wood said in a Wilderness Issues Lecture Series address to the University of Montana campus Tuesday night.

Citing common law and a variety of other statutory frameworks like the Clean Air Act, Wood argued the atmosphere, like all natural resources, belongs to the people as a natural trust administered by the government. The government then has a legal responsibility as trustee to maintain these resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

“Our imperiled atmosphere is the most vital asset of the trust,” Wood said. “A government that fails to protect its natural resources sentences its people to misery.” [more]

wilderness lecture series

Thanks to a changing climate, not only may Glacier National Park need a new name, but eventually a new mascot. The park’s iconic mountain goats are already feeling the impacts of climate change, said Dan Fagre, a research ecologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center in Glacier National Park.

“This is ironic because the mountain goat is the icon of Glacier National Park,” Fagre told a mixed crowd of students and community members at the University of Montana Tuesday night.

Mountain goats are not the only species impacted by a changing climate. Rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns will provide some species opportunity expand their range, while others will shrink or die out altogether. [more]

THE DETAILS OF DELISTING

State proposals for wolf hunts this fall continue to move forward in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho in advance of the anticipated removal of gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act later this month, and all three states include public hunting as an integral component of their federally approved wolf management plans.

But hunters might not want to make plans to hunt wolves anytime soon.

"We fully anticipate litigation over delisting that could last several years," Ed Bangs, Wolf Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says. [more]

local solutions to a global crisis

Naming global climate change as the most pressing issue facing the nation, Gov. Brian Schweitzer called for swift and decisive action by individuals, industry and government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a speech at the University of Montana Thursday night.

“The fastest way to decrease our carbon footprint is to decrease our consumption of energy,” Schweitzer said in his keynote address before a panel discussion by state and local leaders on climate change policy.

Schweitzer emphasized his office’s commitment to significantly reduce the state government’s greenhouse gas emissions over the near term and to improve the state’s production of renewable energy to 25 percent of its portfolio by the year 2025. [more]

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