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wildfire

A new lawsuit has been filed against the Forest Service and its use of chemical fire retardant to combat wildfires.

The Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics filed their second lawsuit in Missoula’s US District Court Wednesday, claiming the Forest Service is in violation of the Endangered Species Act and other laws because the chemical retardant does in fact significantly harm wildlife in lakes and rivers.

“Our goal all along, from day one, is to end the war on fire and turn it into a management, a police action, an armistice,” said FSEEE Executive Director Andy Stahl.

The FSEEE is a private, nonprofit organization based in Eugene, Oregon. Stahl says the Forest Service has nearly bankrupted itself by fighting fire -- about half of the agency's budget is spent on fighting fire -- and the time has come to change that. [more]

endangered species act

Gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains will be officially removed from the endangered species list and responsibility for their management turned over to the states today.

“Overall this is a real positive step for wolf recovery and wolf management,” said Steve Nadeau, large carnivore coordinator for the Idaho department of fish and game. “The Endangered Species Act is designed to delist wolves. You don’t put them there to keep them there.”

Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will assume full management responsibility from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the wolves in their states under federally approved management plans, and all three states’ plans include wolf hunting. The first wolf hunting season could come as early as this fall. [more]

Bison Management

Yellowstone Park and the Montana Department of Livestock sent this winter’s 991st bison to slaughter on Tuesday morning, and as the Billings Gazette reported, that number paired with the 166 killed in state and tribal hunts means nearly one quarter of the park’s 4,700 bison have been killed this winter. This year’s tally is the largest number of bison killed in a single winter, but not the highest percentage, which occurred in the 1996-97 winter when nearly one-third of the park’s 3,500 bison were killed. Park spokesman Al Nash said the park’s bison management strategies ensure genetic diversity and described the park’s bison population as “robust.”

Meanwhile, 69 landowners in the Horse Butte area filed a letter with Earthjustice addressed to four Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP) signatories demanding all haze and slaughter operations in the Horse Butte area cease until an Environmental Impact Statement addresses the changing nature of the now cattle-free peninsula.

And if bison weren’t in the news enough, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle is reporting the Animal Health and Inspection Service (APHIS) doesn’t have the federal funds to complete a grazing lease on the Royal Teton Ranch, which would allow bison to access about 7,500 acres of winter habitat north of Gardiner. [more]

wilderness issues lecture series

Ecologist Tom DeLuca, during his lecture Tuesday night at the University of Montana, made the case for an adaptive approach to wildlands management in order to help the West’s ecosystems adjust to a changing climate.

DeLuca, a Senior Forest Ecologist with the Wilderness Society and former UM professor speaking as part of the Wilderness Issues Lecture Series, acknowledged that there may be no way to avoid climate change, but the region’s forests and wildlands have evolved under changing climates and possess a measure of resilience to variations.

“One thing that is constant in nature is change...resistance to change may prove to be a catastrophic failure,” he said. [more]

new west news brief

In Yellowstone National Park's Lamar Valley there's a "cascade of ecological changes under way," writes Jim Robbins of the New York Times, particularly the spread of the invasive plant Canadian thistle supported by a warming climate, and the plant in turn supports larger numbers of grizzly bears and gophers.

“It’s the early stages of a new ecosystem,” says Robert L. Crabtree, chief scientist with the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center in Bozeman, “one that hasn’t been seen here before.”

Robbins writes that areas along the Lamar River that were once marshy have dried out and increased the thistle's range. Pocket gophers love the abundant, starchy thistle roots and burrow to harvest the tubers. As they do they churn surface soil and create a perfect habitat for more thistle -- a rapid positive-feedback loop. And bears, naturally, eat both gophers and their stashes of thistle.

Click here for the full story.

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]

fire retardant lawsuit

U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey, overseer of the Forest Service, calmly walked out of the U.S. District Court in Missoula Wednesday evening cleared of contempt charges.

District Court Judge Donald W. Molloy ruled that although the Forest Service dragged its feet in completing environmental analyses on the effects of fire retardant on fish, his previous court order was eventually complied with.

Judge Molloy said the issue of contempt was unfortunate, but it at least got the government agency moving. [more]

Bison Reintroduction Discussed

Officials from the Lewistown-based U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) held a public meeting in Bozeman on Thursday, answering questions and taking comments on the formation of a 15-year comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Montana’s treasured Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (CMR), the second largest national refuge in the lower 48. The previous plan was written in 1986.

The 1.1 million acre refuge along the Missouri River and Fort Peck Reservoir in northeastern Montana is home to well over 200 species of birds and a host of mammals including bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn antelope, swift fox and the endangered black-footed ferret. The CMR is also a major recreational use area for hunters and fishermen.

The FWS extended the public scoping comment deadline to February 29, 2008. There will be two more public comment periods after plan alternatives and a draft are formed. The FWS hopes to have a final plan finished by Fall 2011. [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]

When do we shake hands?

Neighbors need each other, just as agriculture and urban areas need each other. “When they don’t get along, it threatens the security of everyone,” says Susan Duncan. In this column, she discusses our imminent dependence on local resources where rural and urban areas will be looking to each other for products and needs. Where does this leave cooperation?

So far, the efforts to control "growth" have been based on competition. Why didn't those measures work? One side wants to control the behavior of the other, and only dollar values count. The result is conflict between "good guys" and "bad guys." The rancor produces lots of heat, little enlightenment and not nearly enough progress.

Let’s look at it another way. Think of urban and rural land uses as indispensable, complementary halves of one — a whole community structure. Agriculture thrives on urban markets and expertise: Urban areas thrive on the amenities offered by agriculture. Through integration, urban and rural land uses build a strong foundation of interdependence and a stable community.
[more]

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