Delisting the Gray Wolf

With the federal government inching toward removing the gray wolf from the Endangered Species List, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (MFWP) is allowing the public until February 13, 2008 to comment on the proposed wolf season.

According to MFWP, there were a minimum of 316 wolves in Montana at the end of 2006. There are approximately 1,500 wolves in the Northern Rockies.

Among the three Northern Rockies wolf states (Idaho, Montana and Wyoming), Montana is leading the way in an effort to manage the wolf as any other wildlife species. In 2001, a broad-based, citizen-led Wolf Management Advisory Council released a report followed by the MFWP’s draft Montana Wolf Conservation Management Planning Document in 2002. This process laid the framework for Montana's current management plan.

Montana’s process stands in contrast to Wyoming’s wolf management plan, which the federal government rejected in 2004. Federal delisting is currently stalled pending a lawsuit over the new Wyoming plan. [more]

Drivers slow down to avoid vehicle-elk collisions, please

Herds of elk and deer are foraging for food along the main artery through Boise: Interstate 84. Just northeast of Boise, they are also very close to Highway 21, which is the road to Idaho City and the Sawtooths.

These particular elk and deer are hungry, and they are very, very close to the highways. News cameras out last night caught them just yards away from cars whizzing by. Here at NewWest/Boise, we've tried to report on elk news as often as possible, but this...gets right down to an actual request on behalf of the creatures: Please do not poke at, disturb, whack, smack or smash the elk.

[more]

Documentary Looks at Wolf Reintroduction

No wildlife species is as iconic and controversial as the wolf. Canis Lupus is a symbol of wildness and healthy ecosystems to some, but to others it is a callous killer and an economic threat.

Loathed and loved, the American Gray Wolf has gone through a tumultuous history in the West. They were hunted as vermin to virtual extinction by the early 20th Century, reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, and now are around 1,500-strong across the Northern Rockies. Biologists say wolves are officially recovered in the West and should be removed from the Endangered Species List, but – true to form – disagreements over wolf management between pro-wolf and anti-wolf groups has delisting at a standstill.

In 1999, journalist William Campbell began a documentary film to tell the story of what wolf reintroduction meant for people living in wolf territory. The result, “Wolves in Paradise,” sheds invaluable light on this story, giving a face and a voice to the many people trying to live with this species. [more]

Introducing...

The best way to check out The New West magazine is to subscribe. We want to know who’s interested in The New West, so we have made the magazine available free to qualified subscribers who answer a short questionnaire.

• Click here for the questionnaire for a free subscription.
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In the Spring Issue and online here:

• Montana’s Cash Cowboy
• Real Ranch Living: Not Everyone is Selling Out
• Essay: The Family Farm, Version 2.0
• Essay: Tracks Across A Landscape
• Have Your Ranch & Develop It, Too
• Design Showcase: The Big and Little of Western Building
• Stuff It: Can Wolf Hunting Help Conserve the Species?
• Traffic Perplexes New Western Communities
• Boise in Its Own Little Bubble
• Revenge of the Resource Economy
• Spotlight North Idaho: On the Agenda: Youth, Growth & Silver
• Spotlight North Idaho: Players of the Panhandle
• Spotlight North Idaho: Coeur d’Alene Tribe Rides the Idaho Boom

[more]

By Robert Struckman, 2-01-08 | comments (23) | email story | print story

 

Bison families are no different from mine and yours

Bob Jackson is a member of the bison family — that is if more viewed a bison herd as a family unit.

Many NewWest.Net readers may be familiar with Bob Jackson from the five part series Todd Wilkinson wrote late last year. (Read the series here.) From this series, a local Livingston organization, Bison Vision, found Jackson’s views and perspectives — as a former Yellowstone Park ranger turned bison rancher — to be viable source for developing alternatives and sustainable practices in bison ranching.

Bob Jackson is the only rancher in the world who raises bison and sells them as a family unit. “Yellowstone is why I started raising bison the way I do,” he said. “I have more feelings for what is happening here.”

He will be hosting a presentation tonight in Livingston on the structure of the bison herds in Yellowstone National Park, how they live as an extended family network and social order (similar to the social structure of indigenous people and elephants) and how ranchers or families can raise bison practicing this idea. [more]

Last meeting was packed, heated

The Bitterroot National Forest's second public meeting on its Travel Management Plan -- which governs motorized use on the forest in southwestern Montana -- is scheduled for tomorrow, January 15th and this time, it will have a more open-house like format, said forest spokeswoman Nan Christianson.

The meeting Tuesday comes on the heels of a rather contentious first meeting in Darby last week that sparked an investigation into an alleged threat directed at a conservationist at the meeting. (Click here for the full story on last week's meeting.) Forest officials canceled a meeting scheduled for the following day, citing space concerns. The first meeting brought out more than 200 people. [more]

Bitterroot Dispute

A public meeting Wednesday night on the Bitterroot National Forest's travel management plan -- which governs motorized use -- got heated enough that local Darby law enforcement is now investigating a threat overheard against one conservationist.

"It was pretty contentious -- a lot of tension between the people of the Bitterroot Valley and the Forest Service," said Shawn Woods, a deputy marshal for the town of Darby.

Woods said when a woman spoke in favor of conservation "there were some boos and things like that," but he didn't hear the alleged threat. "If there were threats made we definitely did not hear or witness those," he said. "We will be doing an investigation."

After the meeting, word traveled quickly of the alleged threat, which several people at the meeting said involved something to the effect of "put a bullet in her head." [more]

Popular trailhead transferring from private to public property

It may only be about four acres, but the land that encompasses and surrounds the west side of the Bozeman Creek Trailhead is the base of one of the most popular recreational destination points in the valley, and now, that land is guaranteed to be protected in perpetuity.

Landowners, Michael Delaney and Ileana Indreland, decided to give a parcel of their land to the Gallatin Valley Land Trust instead of pursuing potential development. This donation will ensure public access to one of Bozeman’s most used, and loved, trails for both winter and summer recreation. This donation also marks the first time the Land Trust has taken outright ownership of property. [more]

Red Light, Green Light

Avalanche-prone Sylvan Pass, which connects Cody, Wyoming to the interior of Yellowstone National Park, is currently open for oversnow travel. Wait, no, it's closed. Nope, open. Closed. Wait, it's definitely open. For now.

Between December 29, 2007 and New Year's Day, Park Service officials have closed the pass twice due to avalanche conditions. Using howitzers and helicopters for avalanche mitigation, the Park Service reopened the pass on the same days of closures, but the troubled recreation travel corridor continues to claim the time of Park Service staff and precious, limited federal dollars.

"It is a challenging place for us to work," Yellowstone National Park Spokesman Al Nash admits. "It's a challenging job that we've been doing for a long time."

Since 1973, to be precise, and despite a draft Environmental Impact Statement by the Yellowstone National Park Service in 2006 with a preferred alternative of closing the pass in the winter, Park Service employees continue to open the dangerous pass to the tune of roughly $200,000 each winter. [more]

Holidays in the Grand Canyon

My down coat and flip-flops are packed. I placed my toothbrush in a plastic bag and an 11-book, 2-map library into a waterproof container. I've sorted and organized food and my daily life for a departure and descent into the Grand Canyon for a 23-day river trip over Christmas and New Years.

My fear and excitement both stem from the same place: turning the power button to "Off" for 23 days. For someone who reads the newspaper religiously every morning, it's a challenge to tune-out for such an extended period of time. But also thrilling to tune-in to nature's pace, which I especially appreciate after working as an Outward Bound instructor spending three-seasons a year in the wilderness.

I just need to remind myself that my steaming morning coffee will be spent reading the geologic history eroded into the canyon walls — and the world will still be turning when I return. [more]