Wildlife
Rely on State plans, not federal protection
A New Path for Wolf Management
As the dust settles on a federal court’s reinstatement of Endangered Species protections for gray wolves, one thing is clear: we need to find a new path to achieve balanced, science-based wolf management by the states. At the moment we seem mired in endless conflict that is serving no one’s interests particularly well — not wolves, conservationists, state wildlife managers, landowners or anyone else with a concern for wolves.
So, where do we, as a region, go from here?
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the great outdoors
When Animals Attack, and Also When They Don’t
Let's look at animal trends in the Great Nearby for the summer of '08, including attacks, newly observed behaviors, and the menace of new species invading our turf and surf.
To begin, I recommend reading the overview of wildlife dangers provided by the Salt Lake Tribune, a handy guide to animal attacks for anyone in the West. It covers mauling critters from bears to skunks. One valuable tip: "If a bison looks like it might attack you, try to put something between you and the animal. Try to get to a place where you can avoid the head." Gee, who would have thought of trying to hide behind something when faced with an enraged buffalo?
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NEED A GOOD LAUGH THAT ISN'T FUNNY?
The Elk Vaccination Follies
It has been depressing lately, don't you think? At the ORG (Old Retired Guys) table at the coffee shop morning after morning, it has been nothing but despair -- the war, the economy, the cost of gas, the steadily shrinking IRAs, the smoke, the aches and pains and health care crisis that makes them worse, and our political leaders unable to do anything about these and most other issues that really matter, at least to the ORGs. Nowadays, it's so hard to lighten up and wear a smiley face.
But alas, thanks to the Montana Stockgrowers Association and Montana Farm Bureau I had a great laugh this week when I read about their proposal to capture, test, vaccinate and release all the elk from coming out of Yellowstone National Park.
Are they serious? Or just trying to brighten our day?
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Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter
An $8,500 Ticket to Yellowstone
The east entrance to Yellowstone National Park is about 53 miles west of Cody, Wyoming, on a road running through the steep-sided Sylvan Pass, an avalanche waiting to happen most winters, given that there are 20 or so avalanche chutes in the pass. The National Park service has been having an ongoing dispute for years with Cody recreational business owners over keeping that pass open during high avalanche season, December through February.
Last November, the Park Service had been set to issue a final decision, based on a variety of impact studies including environmental and occupational safety and risk management, to keep the pass closed three months out of the year. Then an all too familiar thing happened.
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the montana legacy project
A Small Town’s Questions on A Big Land Deal
"We don't know these 320,000 acres. You do," said Caroline Byrd of The Nature Conservancy.
Which is why TNC and the Trust for Public Lands held a public meeting in Evaro Wednesday evening, the first of many to be held in communities around Western Montana.
About 20 people lined the wooden benches of the Evaro Community Center to learn about the nuts and bolts of the Montana Legacy Project. And, more importantly, to convey their thoughts and concerns and on-the-ground knowledge as the two non-profits buy swaths of nearby land from Plum Creek Timber Co. to conserve for perpetuity.
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IT'S TOUGH BEING GREEN, BUT WE CAN DO IT
A Wolf Plan that Works
Anybody who follows the endlessly volatile wolf issue--and it's hard not to follow it with all the news coverage--knows the greens won a big victory last week. Judge Donald Molloy of the U.S. District Court sided with Earthjustice and 12 conservation organizations and essentially relisted, albeit temporarily, the wolf as an endangered species.
So, what now? That's the question I've been asking people on both sides of the debate this week, and I might have the answer, a way to quickly get the wolf debate behind us. Does that sound good?
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book review
A Perspective on the Russian Experience with Wolves
In 1965 an American working for the National Security Agency as a Russian linguist picked up a copy of Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf. Instead of a new found appreciation for the contentious canids, as Mowat’s book generated for so many of his generation, Will Graves found the book didn’t mesh with what he knew from 14 years of reading about wolves in Russia.
“His book is fiction,” Graves said Thursday over coffee in Missoula, taking particular aim at Mowat’s claim that in the far north rodents and small game comprise substantial parts of a wolf’s diet.
Alarmed by not just Mowat’s book, but what Graves perceived to be a trend of often inaccurate and misleading pro-wolf Western literature, Graves decided to set the record straight with a book of his own. Over the next 42 years, he meticulously clipped Russian-language news reports, translated popular and scientific articles, joined preeminent Russian biologists at international conferences on wolves, and traveled and talked with Russian biologists, game managers and hunters about the Russian experience with wolves.
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relisted
Wolf Protections Restored in Northern Rockies, Hunting Halted
A federal judge in Missoula ordered today that gray wolves in the Northern Rockies be returned to the endangered species list, effectively halting planned fall wolf hunts in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.
U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted the preliminary injunction to reinstate Endangered Species Act protections for the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf, as requested by the twelve conservation organizations that filed suit in April to reverse the delisting.
"It's an incredibly important first step," said Suzanne Asha Stone of Defenders of Wildlife, one of the plaintiffs. "It's literally the difference between life and death for hundreds of wolves in the region."
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guest commentary
Severely Burned Forests: One of Nature’s Best-Kept Secrets
As summer wildfire season begins in earnest throughout much of the West, it's important for the public and policymakers to recognize the important role that severely burned forests play in maintaining wildlife populations and healthy forests. Severely burned forests are neither "destroyed" nor "lifeless."
From my perspective as an ecologist, I have become aware of one of nature's best-kept secrets -- there are some plant and animal species that one is hard-pressed to see anywhere outside a severely burned forest.
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From The New West Blog
Bush Administration Fights Wolf Kill Compensation
The Bush administration is objecting to legislation that would ask the federal government to help compensate livestock owners whose animals are killed by wolves, the AP reports.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming sponsored the bill.
"I think it's terrible," said Tester, who chastised the Interior Department for not sending someone more senior to the hearing. "It's the right thing to do, and for the department to wash its hands of it and say, 'No, it's a state problem now,' is absolutely ridiculous."
Click here for more.
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