Idaho: Zena-Loon Fire Progression Map – July 15 to August 31, 2007.

Map. Oh my !!

The Zena-Loon is the bulk of the “East Fork Fire Complex” which is now 217, 263 acres. Here is a color coded fire progression map. They seem to update it daily.

Another map I would like to see someone produce is how much of the country surrounding this fire progression map has already burned between 2000 – 2006. I imagine it is a lot, maybe even the majority.

On top of this, the Cascade Fire Complex (Boise National Forest to the south) has burned 242,709 acres. The Rattlesnake Fire to the north (Nez Perce National Forest) has burned 102,212 acres. The Showerbath Complex in the Frank Church Wilderness NW of Challis has burned 130,784 acres.

Much later. Well, unfortunately, as time went by the URLs to the maps disappeared. Webmaster.

Citizen testimony strongly against Idaho joining mercury emission “cap and trade” program

Idaho has no coal-fired power plants, notorious spewers of the toxic element mercury (which is a natural “contaminant” of coal). The emissions cap and trade program is a pollution control method designed for states with sources of atmospheric mercury (mostly coal plants). If Idaho were to opt into the program, that is basically saying “build coal plants in Idaho.”

One might ask, why shouldn’t Idaho help bear the burden of mercury emissions? The primary reason is that Idaho is already suffering greatly from mercury blowing north from the Canadian owned gold pits in Nevada, which in total produce mercury emissions equivalent to scores of coal plants, according to some estimates.

Story in the Magic Valley Times News. By Nate Poppino

Enviros: northern Arizona could be home to jaguars.

Enviros: northern Arizona could be home to jaguars. By Cyndy Cole. Arizona Sun Staff Reporter.

This certainly makes sense from the perspective of climate change, as the topics extend further and further north.

Rocky Barker’s blog: Craig’s departure would fundamentally change salmon debate in Congress

Craig has been just about enemy number one of preventing extinction of salmon runs in Idaho. Barker doesn’t say “enemy of salmon.” He takes the lighter, “leading defender of the BPA” (Bonneville Power Administration, which “wheels” the electricity from many of the salmon-killing dams on the Columbia River and the Snake River (both in the state of Washington).

Barker’s blog in the Idaho Statesman.

“He’s consistently made a nuisance of himself on every environmental issue since he’s been there,” said Janine Blaeloch of the Seattle-based Western Lands Project. “The legislation he’s supported has left public lands policy in the Dark Ages.” This is from another article on Craig. Craig fallout: Idaho will lose millions, influence. By John Miller. Associated Press Writer.

And here is another column about Craig’s hostility to conservation, plus a good history of things he has done over the years, which we remember, but the public has forgotten (assuming they every became aware of them). Craig no friend of ‘greens’ in the Northwest. By Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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Wildlife copes with threat of [Castle Rock] fire

No doubt similiar situations are taking place all over the burning parts of Idaho (the Castle Rock fire is not nearly as large as the East Zone fire complex, east of McCall, for example).

No doubt many wolf packs have moved too, out of the necessity of avoiding the flames and to follow the elk and deer. We will probably hear more about that in the future with the wolves killing a few more sheep and cattle than usual, with headlines as big as those about the fires.

Story: Wildlife Copes, By Jason Kauffman. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer

Castle Rock Fire on YouTube (great time lapse video).

Castle Rock Fire battle ends where it began

Castle Rock Fire battle ends where it began. Majority of remaining fire activity is along Warm Springs Creek. By Jason Kauffman. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer.

The fire began in Warm Springs Creek, burned all over the place, and now the last major flames are back in Warm Springs Creek.

Castle Rock Fire Perimeter Map. Updated at noon. August 31, 2007.

Wolfwatching on Dunraven

Salle Englehart, WRF’s Vice President, was kind enough to email me this report from Aug. 27 (or 28?). People are seeing the Agates. Kathie Lynch told me the same.

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Wolfwatching on Dunraven
by Salle Engelhardt

Yesterday I was given the day off and decided to take my brand new 10×42 binoculars out and see how well they work for my needs in the Park. They were as good as any spotting scope I have used.

I originally wanted to go see the now famous grizzly sow with the four cubs again but was not able to catch up with her while I was on the mountain. There were also four black nears near the Dunraven Trailhead but I never saw them either. I concluded that it was a wolf watching day instead so I went down the northern slope and parked about halfway down.

Within minutes I spotted a big black wolf on the eastern edge of the floodplain on the valley floor. Moments later there was a large gray that emerged from the deep creek bed, wandered over to the shady spot where the black wolf lay, they “talked” a moment and the gray went off in a northwesterly direction.A few minutes later a French couple showed up and wondered at what I was watching. As we sat on the edge of the grass and talked about the wolves, sharing my bino’s, I decided that I didn’t really know enough about this pack so I cheated, I called Ralph from a cell phone and asked him about the pack. While I was speaking to Ralph, several other wolves emerged from the creek bed until there were seven of them visible. Three blacks, four grays. One gray is so light that its whiter parts look alabaster in the sunlight, another is so dark that it looks like it has light dappling on a dark, almost black, background. the other grays look silvery in the sun.

Invasive weed (cheat grass) a fuel for West’s wildfires

Invasive weed a fuel for West’s wildfires. By Patrick O’Driscoll, USA Today.

This is a fine and an easy-to-understand article on the role cheatgrass plays in the range fires of today’s West.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way — conservationists were to be held to blame for the fires and Larry Craig was to roll onto an easy reelection victory. Instead we have USA Today explaining cheatgrass and fires to the masses, and Larry Craig not going to be reelected, and maybe gone from the Senate before the end of 2007.

Bears wandering into Jackson, WY

Scarcity of wild food and ample food in town, led 3 bears into Jackson on Aug. 28 (at least I guess because the story is written in an unusual tense).

Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide.  By Corey Hatch.

U.S. Senate Environment Committee Member Fined for Lewd Behavior

Senator Larry Craig’s predicament is hardly news, so most of this story is now old news. U.S. Senate Environment Committee Member Fined for Lewd Behavior. ENS. However, the story describes some of the recent actions the Senator has taken against protecting our environment. This and the WWP blog have also chronicled his attempt to use the big range fires to advance an agenda that would not heal the land, but continue old practices of grazing that have played a major role leading us to their extremely flammable condition.

The ENS story only mentions his recent assaults against good conservation practices, but the Senator has boosted welfare ranching, the timber industry, oil and gas, and numerous polluters for a generation and a half. The latest news is that he is now resigning from his Senate Committees, places where he plotted midnight riders to sweep aside laws that benefited wildlife, clean air, and regulation of natural resource industries.

Many suspected until just the other day that Craig would force through some measure to guarantee that the awful grazing status quo would remain in force in the area swept by the giant Murphy Fire. Now with his Republican colleagues telling him to step down, there is more hope for our native wildlife, vegetation and land.

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Note: more specifically, Craig was asked and agreed to temporarily step down as the ranking (top) Republican on the Veteran Affairs Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, and Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests. The last two are critically important for management of our public lands.

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