Mollies kills Hayden alpha pair

Mollies Pack has killed the well known alpha pair of the Hayden Valley Pack.

I don’t have the details as to how it happened yet, but the Hayden Pack was being increasingly pressed by the larger Gibbon Pack from the SW and west and Mollies Pack from the SE.

Remaining, but with their fate not bright, are the pack’s two sub-adults and the 5 pups.

In the past, Mollies has had numerous rumbles with other packs, including the Druids. Folks might recall they killed the long time Druid alpha female 42F.

The five Hayden pups-of-the-year. Photo copyright Kim Kaiser

Greater Yellowstone grizzly sow deaths close to upper limit

While it’s too soon to blame this on state management, the first year of state-run Greater Yellowstone grizzly management has seen too many deaths of grizzly sows, a very important parameter in keeping the delisted bear population from a relisting.

Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Grizzly sow deaths close to upper limit. Though the population is thriving, a key indicator worries biologists. By Cory Hatch.

Is it a bear or Bigfoot?

Today’s blog by Rocky Barker in the Idaho Statesman. Is it a bear or Bigfoot?

It is about an odd photo from Pennsylvania, said to be a “bigfoot.” Yet bigfoot has been called a creature (real or not) of the Pacific Northwest.

Interest the Sasquatch is on the rise, and a biologist at Idaho State University has written a scientific book about the evidence. Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. By Dr. Jeff Meldrum. Forge Books. 2006.

There is also a layer on Google Earth that gives the location and description of sightings, footprints, etc. If there is such an animal, it clearly lives not just in the Pacific Northwest, but also the Northern and Middle Rocky Mountains, judging from the location of the reports on Google Earth, of which there are many.

For example. 

Wyoming’s wolf plan draws negative comments

Those who commented on Wyoming’s wolf plan didn’t like it.

The analysis of the comments has been released. Whether they lived in Wyoming or elsewhere, a majority was against it. Inside Wyoming, those inside and outside Teton County (Jackson) opposed it.

Opposition was greater from those who did not live in Wyoming. Inside Wyoming, opposition was the greatest from Teton County; but even those in Fremont, Hot Springs, Lincoln, Park and Sublette counties expressed majority opposition.

Here is the story. Wyoming’s wolf plan draws negative comments. Associated Press in the Billings Gazette.

Here is the link to Wyoming Game and Fish’s page on the matter. It is a detailed analysis. You can read the individual comments, and I found doing so was quite informative.

Upcoming TV specials on Yellowstone and Paradise Valley wolves

Here is the info on when the two documentaries we have been discussing will appear on television.

I want to thank skyrim for gathering it. He emailed the following to me:

Excerpt from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. . .

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/10/19/news/30movie.txt

“Wolves in Paradise” will be aired on Montana PBS at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1 and on other public broadcasting stations afterward.

And . . .

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2007/10/29/news/50wolf.txt

Three days later, at 6 p.m. Sunday, Montana PBS will air the national premiere of another wolf documentary, “In the Valley of the Wolves,” by Gardiner-based producer Bob Landis.

The film will appear on the “Nature” program.

Landis spent more than three years tracking the Druid pack, and his film “is an intimate record of their lives and their great battles with rival wolf packs in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone.”

From http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/wolves/index.html

NATURE’s In the Valley of the Wolves premieres Sunday, November 4 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check your local listings).

Brucellosis plan divides [Montana] state’s cattle groups

The Missoulian has this: Brucellosis plan divides state’s cattle groups. The Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Cattlemen’s Association are split on Schweitzer’s thoughts of breaking the Yellowstone region from the rest of the state with regard to brucellosis-free status. Brucellosis has been used to stir up the annual slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo by Montana’s Department of Livestock.

One thing everyone seems to agree on is the need for a permanent solution to the Yellowstone Park brucellosis problem. The disease has been purged from Montana’s cattle herd for more than 20 years. The only reason it persists as a threat today is because bison and elk in Yellowstone Park carry the disease.“A lot of folks would like to see ranch practices applied to Yellowstone,” Seidlitz said.

I’d prefer to see wild buffalo and elk in America’s first national park.

Owyhee County feedlot gets large fine to settle Clean Water Act violation charges

Large feedlots, a.k.a. CAFOs, have become the bane of southern Idaho, polluting the water (as told by this story) and the air. . . . hold your nose as you travel about 150 miles of Interstate 80 across southern Idaho.

Feedlot agrees to pay fine to settle Clean Water Act violations. Idaho Statesman.

Oh, for identification purposes, Eric Davis, is the owner of the feedlot. He is a former president of the National Cattlemen’s Association.

New documentary out, “Wolves in Paradise”

Paradise Valley, Montana, that is.

Story:  By Martin J. Kidston. Helena Independent Record

Given to Texas as a Gift, the State wants to sell off the Christmas Mountains to highest bidder

The Dallas News doesn’t like the idea. Keep Mountains Public. Dallas News.

Neither does the San Antonio Express. Christmas Mountains sale should be delayed.

Proponents of the sale have drummed up a phony Second Amendment argument to justify not selling the mountains to the National Park Service to add to Big Bend National Park. Of course, if the mountains are private property they won’t be able to take their guns there because their person can’t go there.

Many in Boise, Idaho area hoping for mining reform to reduce local mining threat

The U.S. House of Representative may be close to passing long overdue reforms to the 1872 mining law. Many in the Boise, Idaho area [Treasure Valley] are hoping for changes that will stop the proposed pit mines Canadian mining companies want to excavate upstream at Atlanta, Idaho and other places in the central Idaho mountains.

“Atlanta Gold is the most unpopular proposal in Idaho,” said John Robison, who is leading the Idaho Conservation League’s campaign to stop the gold mine. “It’s even more unpopular than the nuclear power plant near Bruneau.”

Under 1872 mining law, mining is always the number one land use on public land. Other land uses and the waters have to give way.

Story in the Idaho Statesman. Valley’s eyes are on mining reform bill. As the House prepares for a vote, some see bill as a chance to protect Idaho’s water from toxins. By Rocky Barker

Update: The vote on the bill in the full House comes on Wednesday — Halloween.