Woman’s dog has run-in with wolves on South Fork of the Boise, survives!

This is a good article because for once it makes clear the wolves were interested in the dog, not the person.

I’m amazed that a small dog could chase a wolf and survive.

Story by Jason Kaufman in the Idaho Mountain Express.

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Big Hole River has already dropped to just 13% of normal

Story. Big Hole drops. By Nick Gevock of The Montana Standard.

A small snowpack last winter plus ranchers drawing out water to grow hay is drying up the river, the home of the river-dwelling grayling in the lower U.S.

Recently the Bush Administration refused to put the Big Hole River grayling on the endangered species list.

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Earlier.

More on Big Hole River grayling. Montana Standard.

Rancher loses BLM fight in the US Supreme Court

Frank Robbins isn’t just any rancher. He moved to Wyoming from the South and purchased a large ranch north of Thermopolis. There has been controversy ever since. His lawsuit against BLM employees as individuals, rather than as agents of the government, was unprecedented. A different outcome would have made the BLM an even weaker agency than it already is when is comes to protecting the land from overgrazing and other abuses.

Story. Wilkie v. Robbins, rancher loses in high court. AP

Analysis June 27, by Brodie Farquhar. Rancher’s tactics didn’t fly. Casper Star Tribune.
p.s. The attorney from Advocates for the West and Western Watersheds Project is Laird Lucas, not Blair Lucas, as printed in the article.

Pinedale drilling plans draw 100,000 comments

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM)  got 100,000 public comments on their plan to guide oil and gas development in the upper Green River Basin. This is a wildlife rich and highly scenic area. People care about it in Wyoming and outside as well.

Story. Most favor conservation for Pinedale management area. By Whitner Royster. Casper Star-Tribune environmental reporter

Governor Freudenthal  wrote that he was “not confident” the preferred alternative will assure long term protection of the area’s resources. Wyoming Game and Fish was also critical of the plan’s “preferred alternative.”

The final plan and final environmental impact statement are due in December.

Grand Teton fights fire in NE corner of Park

The Uhl Hill fire inside Grand Teton National Park is burning near where the Teton wolf pack of days gone by used to den.

Meanwhile, outside Grand Teton, the Horse Creek fire in the Wyoming Range has grown from 800 to 1200 acres. The Nylander Creek Fire, south of the Horse Creek Fire, is 100 percent contained.

The illegal use of fireworks on the 4th of July could bigger challenge than usual this year.