From the Missoulian

The new Chief of the U.S. Forest Service will be Tom Tidwell, the Region 1 Forest Supervisor, according to a Missoulian news story by reporter Rob Chaney.

In February 2007, the U.S. Forest Service promoted Tidwell to regional forester for the Northern Region, which includes more than 25 million acres of public land in Montana, Idaho and North Dakota. Prior to the promotion, Tidwell had been deputy regional forester in the Pacific Southwest Region.


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A new report on the effectiveness of thinning forests under the National Fire Plan shows that most logging occurs far from communities, thus questioning their effectiveness. Plus the majority of lands that should be treated lie not on federal lands, but private lands. The report gives new credence to critics such as myself who maintain that most fuel reduction logging operations are wasting tax dollars and causing more harm than good. [more]

The Fire This Time

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.



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Movie Q and A

If life is a highway, we’re in trouble--unless we start making highways safer for wildlife, wildlands and the planet. Simply put, America’s ever-expanding web of streets and freeways is a noxious force that threatens to "pave over the landscape.”

So says Division Street, a beautifully filmed and notable new documentary premiering Thursday, June 11, at the Roxy Theater in Missoula. The 7 p.m. showing will be followed by a panel discussion featuring filmmaker-producer Eric Bendick and officials from Transportation for America and American Wildlands.


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From the Flathead Beacon

The Backcountry Horsemen of the Flathead, a group devoted to safe horse packing practices, have spent years educating the public -- and long, laborious hours improving trails and facilities in the Bob Marshall and beyond. As a result, proposals that could have restricted horses on public land have quietly faded away. And the group has spread from Montana into a national organization boasting 16,000 members, with chapters in 25 states, from Alabama to Alaska.

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from timberlands to subdivisions

The dust kicked up by closed-door negotiations between the U.S. Forest Service and Plum Creek Timber Company to amend forest road easements brought Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey to Missoula Monday, where he apologized for keeping western Montana counties in the dark but did little to ease concerns that local communities will increasingly bear the burden of Plum Creek's transition into residential real estate.

Rey, a Bush Administration appointee and overseer of the Forest Service, said he's "extremely sensitive" to the effects the development of Plum Creek's timber lands could have -- increased firefighting in the wildland-urban interface, road maintenance and other public service costs, plus environmental impacts -- "but that sensitivity does not empower me to write new laws," he said, and in the end Plum Creek can do whatever it wants with its land.

"You ought to think harder about executing these responsibilities yourselves," he said, whether through zoning or other means. [more]

New West News Brief

With more than half of the Yellowstone National Park bison population removed this season due to slaughter, winter weather and hunting, the Interagency Bison Management has halted all additional deaths and are holding 255 cows and calves until the grass greens.

Meanwhile, an estimated 600,000 pounds of meat from the slaughtered 1,700 bison is currently being distributed to Montana tribes and food banks, reports the Billings Gazette. An additional 700 are estimated dead due to weather.

The Montana Food Bank network recently purchased 15,000 pounds of bison meat that will be distributed to 189 banks throughout the state, perfect timing with the February recall of 143 million pounds of Californian beef. [more]

A Little More Room to Breathe

For the first time in a decade, wild bison will be allowed to legally roam outside of Yellowstone National Park.

The purchase of the cattle grazing rights from the Church Universal and Triumphant’s Royal Teton Ranch will provide an approximate 5,000-acre “zone” where bison can roam outside of the park boundary while having little-to-no risk of possible interaction and transmission of brucellosis to Montana’s cattle.

Although too small in landmass to provide the title “Free-ranging Yellowstone bison," the range is released through a pact agreement and collaboration between three federal agencies, two Montana agencies, one private landowner and a coalition of four non-profit organizations.
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Bison Update

As changing land use and attitudes toward bison open the possibility for reduced conflict between bison, cattle and humans on the west side of Yellowstone National Parl, a potential deal on the north side of the park could allow bison to follow a traditional migration corridor for the first time in a long time. But the deal is short some $1.5 million from the federal government, and it is also not without criticism from bison advocates. [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]