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$11,000 now the offer for info on poaching of huge MT grizzly

This is a brief, but important update on the story we ran earlier this year on the 800 pound grizzly poached on the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana.

Reward now $11,000 for information about grizzly poaching. Great Falls Tribune staff.
Here is the original story from the blog. Giant, 800 pound grizzly illegally killed on the Rocky Mountain Front

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Editor’s comment on poaching stories.

On another thread, some are arguing that there is a rash of poaching going on. I don’t know that this is true. Simply reporting more poaching stories can create this impression. The number of stories on a subject and the amount of trouble actually going on are loosely related at best.

It is well known that the American media’s focus on reporting crime stories led to a public perception of a crime wave for a decade or longer after actual crime in the U.S.  had peaked and gone into steady decline. In the meantime politicians jumped on the bandwagon. They passed a number of draconian laws after the problem was getting under control. We now live we some of these laws at great expense. An example is  “three strikes and you’re out.”

Montana: Trophy bull moose poached near Cardwell

Moose was well known to local residents-

The moose was left to rot/be scavenged

Cardwell is on the Jefferson River east of Whitehall.

Story. Moose poached.

Wolf quota reached west of Glacier National Park after Monday morning kill at Big Creek

Quota of 2 wolves has been reached in North Fork of Flathead area-

The quota was only two, but three wolves were poached in the during the hunt.

Story: Wolf hunt closed west of Glacier. Missoulian.

Federal judge in Montana asked to end Yellowstone bison kills

Suit asks federal judge to stop Forest Service and Park Service from participating in Montana’s annual bison slaughter-

As winter comes, Montana Department of Livestock and 4 other agencies are again gearing up to kill bison that wander from the confines of Yellowstone Park under the discredited argument these will spread brucellosis.

This year they are being hit with a big fat lawsuit. Federal judge asked to end Yellowstone bison kills. AP. By Matthew Brown in the Billings Gazette. Please notice the excellent links attached to the story in the Billings Gazette.

The plaintiffs bringing the suit are Western Watersheds Project, Buffalo Field Campaign, Tatanka Oyate, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Native Ecosystems Council, Yellowstone Buffalo Foundation, Meghan Gill, Charles Irestone, And Daniel Brister.

More Media on suit.

Groups file lawsuit over Yellowstone-area bison. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole Daily.

Putting wind and solar on formerly contaminated sites

Could the use of  “brownfields” reduce the conflicts over the placement of these land-expansive uses?

Contamination transformation. Contaminated sites being used to house wind farms, solar arrays and geothermal power plants. Mother Nature Network. By Jessica A. Knoblauch

It appears there is a lot of land in this category and many are near existing transmission lines.

More on Interior Appropriations as it applies to Montana

There are numerous items. The largest goes for complicated land transactions near the Blackfoot River-

One of the items we need to find more about is Jon Tester’s addition of $1-million to pay livestock owners for livestock killed for wolves. It also provides funds for  projects keeping wolves away from livestock. The later could be of great benefit, but is it just window dressing?

Story:  $8.4 million appropriated for Blackfoot Community Project, finalizing purchase of 89,000 acres. By Rob Chaney, Missoulian.

Several days ago. Stories on “goodies” in the Interior Appropriations bill

Second Idaho wolf hunting zone meets quota, closes

Fifteen wolves shot in McCall-Weiser zone in western Idaho-

First the Snake Rive zone in Eastern Idaho closed. The quota was five. Now the more wolf abundant McCall-Weiser zone on the other side of the state has met its quota of fifteen. In total 97 Idaho wolves have been tagged. 123 out of the total of 220 remain to be filled.

Another grizzly shot in Montana

Hunter shoots a rare Cabinet Mountains grizzly bear-

Man shoots Cabinet Mountains grizzly. Montana FWP says it was self-defense. AP

Bighorns, domestic sheep don’t mix [in Washington State either]

Domestic Sheep/bighorn conflict is not limited to Idaho-

Most of our news on this issue has been in Idaho where the Payette National Forest is about to come out with an environmental impact statement on how to protect the bighorn. This will have national effects such as described in this story about the two animals in Washington state.

Bighorns, domestic sheep don’t mix. By Scott Sandsberry. Yakima Herald-Republic in the Casper Star Tribune.

Two close encounters with cougars in Montana in a month

Florence, MT man rescues dad from mountain lion. By Brett French. Billings Gazette. 64 year old father probably saved when his 41 year old son shot the cougar.

Earlier this month the Montana Standard reported a cougar stalking an adolescent boy who was hunting with his father southwest of Butte. The 14-year old boy shot the cougar. Story from the Montana Standard.