Idaho wolf update Sept. 13– Sept. 26, 2008

As most of you are aware, this is produced by Idaho Fish and Game Dept. There is more actual news in this one, including a new population estimate that shows Idaho’s wolf population up slightly compared to last year’s “end of the year” — official — report.

In this report and others, it is becoming clear the department is concerned about the connectivity of the Idaho wolf population to the Greater Yellowstone, the key to Judge Molloy’s injunction on the delisting. Idaho Fish and Game may be gearing up to let wolves flourish along the Idaho-Montana border, not just between Salmon, Idaho and Missoula, Montana and north, as they have, but although the Continental Divide (Idaho/Montana border) from Salmon to the Park area. In the past the wolves in this area have suffered heavy “control.”

The research component is interesting, and the our organization, the Wolf Recovery Foundation, is putting considerable financial resources into it.

In the report below, the boldface was added by me.

Ralph Maughan

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IDAHO WOLF MANAGEMENT
BI-WEEKLY PROGRESS REPORT

To: Idaho Fish and Game Staff and Cooperators

From: IDFG Wolf Program Coordinator, Steve Nadeau

Subject: Status of Gray Wolf Management, Weeks of Sept. 13– Sept. 26, 2008.

New: FWS – Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Status (WY, MT, ID): The U.S. Federal District Court in Missoula, Montana, issued a preliminary injunction on Friday, July 18, 2008, that immediately reinstated temporary Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain DPS pending final resolution of the case. This includes all of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the eastern one-third of

Great Lakes Wolves Win in Federal Court ! Keep ESA protection !

Good news for wolves keeps rolling out.

The Great Lakes wolves have won reprieve in federal court, preventing the Bush’s Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) attempt to delist:

Court rules against U.S. in Great Lakes wolf case - AP

Clean coal is an oxymoron

On TV news tonight I see Sarah Palin is getting ready to blast Joe Biden and Barrick Obama for opposing “clean coal,” although I noted Obama has said he does support it. He shouldn’t.

Coal is inherently dirty. “Clean coal” is simply use of coal in a way that is not so dirty as other ways. Even then, some “clean coal” technologies really are as dirty or worse than conventional coal when we look at the entire process. For example, carbon sequestration of CO2 emissions from coal will take (or waste) a lot of energy. Synthetic gasoline from coal is very inefficient.

The West is going to bear the brunt of the burden (aside from the world climate) from these clean coal technologies.

Greg Gorden writes about this in “Writers on the Range” in High Country News. Clean coal is an oxymoron

How ID-WY-MT lost their “coveted” wolf delisting

Wyoming’s wolf free-fire, “wolves-are-vermin” zone killed delisting-

We can’t say this for certainty, but Judge Molloy’s decision which caused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to throw in the towel for the time being on wolf delisting, had its origins in orgy of wolf killing in Wyoming immediately after the wolf was delisted.

This is the argument made 9-28 in the poorly headlined article by Julie Cart in the LA TImes. Delisting Endangers Wolves.

My opinion is the tip-off that wolf 253M (“Limpy”) had been shot was event that led the media to cover the suddenly legal, lethal assualt on wolves near Daniel, Wyoming and vicinity. He truly was one of the most important wolves to live . . . and especially to die.

Palin’s Stand on Mining Initiative [Bristol Bay] Leaves Many Feeling Burned

Palin and the gold mine above Bristol Bay-

Salah Palin may have violated state law when she tried to divorce herself from the fact that she was governor to register her opposition to a ballot referendum designed to kill the Pebble Mine.

She basically endorsed the controversial Pebble mine that could destroy the world class sport and commercial  fisheries of the Bristol Bay area (including lakes and streams). The damage is due to its massive size and utilization of low grade ore. The result is huge amounts of waste

This forum has covered this awful mine proposal several times before.

It good to see the national media pick up on this.

Palin’s Stand on Mining Initiative Leaves Many Feeling Burned. By Alec MacGillis. Washington Post Staff Writer

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Resources for more information ↓

• Pebble Mine. (Opposition to the mine)
• Alaskans against the mining shutdown. (Againt the ballot initiative Palin helped defeat).
• Aerial photos of the mine area and projected pits, etc.. (From Skytruth)
• A Google search will bring you much more.

With new court ruling, YNP snowmobile season is ??

Where do we go from here (on YNP snowmobiles)?

About 2 weeks ago, we reported that a federal judge had voided YNP’s winter use plan, bringing yet another change, and a big one, in this 7-year old studying, planning, commenting, and legal battle over the use and number, if any, of snowmobiles allowed inside Yellowstone Park.

Now plan’s are being made for the winter season, but the Park and the area businesses are not sure what will be legal.

Story: Where do we go from here? By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle.

Wolves capable of as much sensitivity to humans as pet dogs?

Wolves show scientists are barking up the wrong tree

It’s believed that dogs are more sensitive to human gestures and desires than wolves due to their genetic adaptation during thousands of years of domestication.

One recent study indicates this might not be strictly true.

Story: Wolves show scientists are barking up the wrong tree

Colorado wolf supporters push Flat Tops Wilderness area as reintroduction site

Wolves for Colorado in the Flat Tops?

WildEarth Guardians is petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore wolves to four Colorado areas with the most emphasis on the Flat Tops area north of Glenwood Springs (part of it is a Wilderness area).

The other areas in the petition are “the Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre-Gunnison national forests near Pitkin County’s western border, the San Juan Mountains and Wemenuche Wilderness in southwestern Colorado, and southern Colorado’s Vermeso Park Ranch and Carson National Forest.”

Story: Wolf reintroduction plan targets Flat Tops. By David Frey, Aspen Daily News Correspondent

9th Circuit: Risch can be tried for federal civil rights violations

The MSM has now noticed this decision. There is a long AP article today (9-29) in the Idaho Statesman.  Civil rights case over Idaho grazing can advance. By John Miller – Associated Press Writer

The 9th Circuit has affirmed an Idaho federal district judge’s decision that individuals of the 5 member Idaho Land Board, including then Land Board member and current candidate for the U.S. Senate Jim Risch, can be tried and held personally liable for violating the civil rights (Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act of 1871, also know as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871) of Lazy Y Ranch.

The alleged discriminatory denial of Lazy Y’s high bids on state endowment lands calls into question the Land Board members’ willingness to short Idaho’s school children money for their endowment and Idaho citizens the sustainable stewardship of their state lands – apparently to benefit the politically connected special interest in the state.

Early Fall Float on North Fork of the Flathead (my conservation commentary w/photos)

An Early Fall Float on the North Fork of the Flathead

This New West article with great photos describes floating the beautiful North Fork of the Flathead from its origin in British Columbia downstream to the US border??

I linked to it because I was just there in BC to investigate, and a lot is unsaid in the article.

The North Fork of the Flathead is often described as the wildest of the 3 forks of the Flathead. It isn’t, although it is very beautiful. The Middle Fork of the Flathead in Montana is completely contained inside of designated Wildernesses or roadless areas.

The North Fork, however, is completely unprotected. A number of timber sales can be seen on nearby, and especially more distant slopes, and a number of dirt or gravel roads penetrate the area, leading to the poor and deteriorating road along the North Fork itself.