Land & Water
Bison Management
Bison Slaughter, Funding Woes and Landowner Demands at Horse Butte
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.
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Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter
Pharmaceutical Report Begs the Question ‘What’s in Your Water?’
A few weeks ago I wrote on the always hot-button issue of water politics in the West, and a framework developed by Western Progress for divvying up the precious resource. They need to go back to the drawing board and figure in a new problem in the whole configuration -- how to make that water safe.
Editor's note: Joan McCarter's weekly blogs are part of NewWest.Net/Politics' "Diary of a Mad Voter" feature, a group blog, published in partnership with the Denver Post's Politics WestFor more columns check in with www.newwest.net/madvoter.
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guest column
The True Cost of BrucellosisDuring a recent call-in program on Montana's Yellowstone Public Radio, at time marker 22.30 minutes, I posed the following question to Senator John Tester:
"It has been shown that in Wyoming, loss of brucellosis-free status between 2004 and 2006 only cost livestock producers one percent of total production costs. Given that brucellosis clearly is not a serious economic threat to Western livestock producers, why do you continue to support the extravagantly wasteful Interagency Bison Management Plan?"
Senator Tester's answer clearly danced to a tune he didn't know well. We got the same awkward dance from retired Billings Gazette agricultural reporter Jim Gransbery, who appeared on the show with Senator Tester.
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Swallowing Elephants
Montana’s Gallatin County Moves Ahead with Countywide Zoning
Gallatin County inched closer to county-wide zoning Tuesday as commissioners took public comment and helped assist the planning department in the drafting of zoning regulations.
As the communities of Four Corners, Amsterdam-Churchill and Gallatin Gateway endeavor to form neighborhood plans, the Gallatin County Commissioners and Planning Department are tasked with establishing zoning outside those communities in a county that has never been too keen on the idea. Now, as citizens have seen what rampant growth looks like firsthand, they are pressuring the county to do something about it. And soon.
Though unanimity didn’t hold the day, the commissioners did agree to move forward with several policy decisions on zoning. The commission and the planning department both acknowledged finalizing the regulations would be a slow, complicated endeavor. By moving slowly, however, they hope to engage a more meaningful public process. Still, planner Sean O’Callaghan described said process as “swallowing the elephant one bite at a time.”
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fire retardant lawsuit
Judge Clears Mark Rey and Forest Service of Contempt
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.
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Guest Commentary: George Wuerthner's "On the Range"
Rethinking Forest HealthI just read through a portion of the Beaverhead Deerlodge National Forest (BDNF) revised plan. Among the major components of the plan is support for “vegetation management,” a euphemism for logging. The BDNF plan calls for “treating” its forests by logging to “restore” its ecological health. It has become commonplace for the Forest Service to justify logging for forest health reasons instead of timber production. We no longer log just to get the raw material for lumber and profits for timber companies. We log the forest to restore ecological health, or so the agency suggests. [more]
commentary
The Skinny on Streamside Setbacks in Western Montana
Would you set up a tent on an empty highway?
Paul Hansen, a former University of Montana professor, asked this question at a February streamside setbacks workshop in Kalispell. Though the answer may be a simple one for many folks, a similar question has generated extensive public comment across several western Montana counties: would you build a house in the flood plain?
Hansen reminded Flathead County residents that just because you might not see cars coming when your tent goes up doesn’t mean you won’t get run over when the traffic starts. And the same holds true for building a house right on the banks of a beautiful creek or river: though that land is dry at the time, streams tend to roam over time, which might include a wet side-trip right into your living room.
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Bison Reintroduction Discussed
Revamping the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge Conservation Plan
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.
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Power to the People
Energy Expansion Across the West
Resort communities require a lot of kilowatts, and bustling Big Sky, Montana is no exception to this rule; between 1996 and 2005 there were 660 new residential units built in Big Sky – a dramatic 8.2 percent increase. And this does not include the Moonlight Basin and Yellowstone Club ski resorts.
In order to meet the energy needs of Big Sky, Northwestern Energy is planning to upgrade the existing 69-kV power line from Four Corners to Big Sky with a 161-kV line. Northwestern is also seeking to bypass state and public review through right-of-way agreements with private landowners to build the 35-mile, $20-$30 million line.
In order to serve a slightly larger growing population, the West Wide Energy Corridor federal plan is buzzing right along with a public comment period closing on Thursday, February 14, 2008. The corridor could affect nearly 3 million acres in 11 Western states.
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wilderness lecture series
Climate Change Impacts More Than Glacier’s Glaciers
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.
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