THE LEGACY OF KENTON CARNEGIE

What Could Make the Wolf Even More Controversial?

Anything wolf makes big headlines--and, it seems, is never old news.

For fourteen years since conservationists and the federal government brought the wolf back to the northern Rockies (plus several years leading up to the reintroduction), anything and everything about the Big Dog has been, to say the least, controversial.

But something hasn't happened yet that could make it much more contentious.

And Here We Have Idaho

The High Mountain Pleasures of an Idaho Family Hike

Hiking to Shirts Lake, accessible from West Mountain Road around Cascade Reservoir in Idaho’s beautiful Valley County, was a part of our kids’ childhoods. The fishing, camping, swimming and messing around in the mountains turned them both into lovers of nature and the earth. Son is a hiker and mountain biker, and Daughter, close to finishing a degree in environmental science, wants to spend her life trying to save the planet. Getting kids outdoors really does help them stay rooted in what’s real.

The lake, no doubt named after somebody named Shirts, rises from the town of Cascade’s 4,760 foot elevation to 7,700 in Idaho’s beautiful Valley County, where it is no longer early spring but not quite mid-spring.

That means wildflowers and songbirds, and a weekend family hike to Shirts took us through meadows and mountainsides grinning with both.

Let There Be Dark

AMA Links Light Pollution to Cancer, Health Woes

The American Medical Association this month passed a resolution that recognizes a host of problems with light pollution, including health issues -- such as breast cancer -- that are "associated with human eye exposure to light at night."

The AMA resolution (view it in full here) explains that the increasing amount of light in the world, including streetlight glare and intrusive light that "trespasses" into bedroom windows and homes, is linked to higher rates of cancer and other health woes. It harms wildlife as well, the medical group says.

As the AMA puts it: "Light trespass has been implicated in disruption of the human and animal circadian rhythm, and strongly suspected as an etiology of suppressed melatonin production, depressed immune systems, and increase in cancer rates such as breast cancers." In addition, it "disrupts nocturnal animal activity and results in diminished various animal populations’ survival and health," the group says.

Herd Horrors

Wyoming’s National Elk Refuge on Ten Most Imperiled List

A grim future is predicted for the 25,000-acre National Elk Refuge in Wyoming unless the sprawling home to elk and bison gets an infusion of new policies and resources, according to a new report from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The group ranks the wildlife sanctuary -- which has one of the largest concentrations of elk in the world -- as one of America's Ten Most Imperiled Refuges.

The refuge was established in 1912 in the wilderness south of Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks in an effort to resuscitate elk herds, which had faced mass starvation after bitterly cold winters and human encroachment, PEER notes. The results have not been good.

Buzz Off

Crews to Dig Up Radioactive Wasp Nests at Hanford

Workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington this month are going to dig up scores of radioactive wasp nests spread out over six acres, according to Tri-City Herald reporter Annette Cary.
The newspaper says the, ahem, sting operation involves some heavy lifting. “There are so many radioactive nests spread over six acres by H Reactor in northern Hanford that six to 12 inches of top soil are being dug up to remove the nests,” Cary reports.

The Fire This Time

Firefighting Needs Major Overhaul, Study Shows

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.

Sage Grouse Offers Opportunity for Compromise in Wyoming’s Land Use Battles

I consider myself pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to contemplating energy-development issues in Wyoming. I'm certain that some of my fellow citizens would refer to me as one of those "enviros," a label I willingly accept. However, I'm not naive enough to expect that the energy industry will ever view Wyoming's sagebrush flats as anything more than an all-you-can-eat buffet. With an encouraging nod from the party once in power, these companies have been fattening their coffers over the past eight years. Now it's high time that a cooperative effort was made to assess the costs.

Movie Q and A

The Travel Less Roaded

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.

SEE CHANGE COMING FOR THE FOREST SERVICE THIS AFTERNOON

Vilsack Takes Over Roadless Rule

Anybody who has even casually followed the on-and-off legal and political battle over the Clinton Era Roadless Rule meant to protect 58.5 million acres of unroaded national forest until its permanent future is decided knows there has been a problem. The Forest Service keeps approving developments that destroy the roadless nature of the land and foreclose future options to keep it roadless forever.

That is going to change this afternoon.