British Columbia pine beetle infestation impacting salmon runs

Pine beetle infestation impacting salmon runs. Derrick Penner, Vancouver Sun.

Just a reminder to those politicians and others who say we need a rapid plan to save the pines in Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, etc. The pine beetle infestation covers the pine forests from Alaska south to northern New Mexico. It will have varying impacts such as the salmon story above throughout the entire Rocky Mountains and many adjacent mountain ranges. No statewide or local program can save them, and in many places most are dead already.

Note: I am not speaking of pine in a generic sense (not to mean conifer). I mean lodgepole pine, white pine, whitebark pine, etc.

In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance

In a Warmer Yellowstone Park, a Shifting Environmental Balance By Jim Robbins. New York Times.

This is really about the spread in the Lamar Valley of what is usually regarded as a noxious weed (I certainly hate it) — the Canada thistle. It seems grizzly bears and pocket gophers love it, and the griz, ever in search of new sources of food, have learned to love Canada thistle. They eat it both fresh and stored (with the industrious pocket gophers mixed in for a little extra protein and fat).

With global warming, pythons! could squeeze lower third of USA

Pythons could squeeze lower third of USA. USA Today. By Elizabeth Weise

Idaho’s Governor Otter, other governors declare war on cheatgrass

Otter, other governors declare war on cheatgrass. They want 500 volunteers to help collect native seeds, so threatened areas can be replanted. Idaho Statesman. By Rocky Barker.

Controlling cheatgrass is absolutely critical. If they don’t have enough native seed, they need to encourage the production of native grass and forbs for seed as an agricultural crop. This could be a new agricultural activity for these states and one relatively benign.

The dangers are that the cheatgrass fire cycle is already too advanced, and, probably more likely, is that the objectives will always be in danger for being changed into cow welfare rather than wildfire reduction — planting the wrong species (including exotics and cultivars), grazing the new growth too early, keeping cattle on areas that will always be unsuitable for cattle grazing, building fences that hinder or stop wildlife migration.

Cattle grazing could disappear on much of this cheatgrass country with no macroeconomic impact. In fact, it is already much reduced because of the unsuitability of cheatgrass as forage except for the short period before it starts to develop seeds.

Photo: cheatgrass monoculture

Salmon Farming May Doom Wild Populations, Study Says

Salmon Farming May Doom Wild Populations, Study Says. By Juliet Eilperin and Marc Kaufman. Washington Post Staff Writers.

Salmon farms spread disease and sea lice among wild populations.

Montana knapweed researcher sees work paying off

Montana knapweed researcher sees work paying off. By Perry Backus. Missoulian.

Aside from cheatgrass, the spread of the knapweeds: spotted knapweed, diffuse knapweed, Russian knapweed, and yellow starthistle, is probably the biggest exotic noxious plant problem in the West.

Like cheatgrass, its adverse effects are often unappreciated by the casual observer of wildlife or those into mono-causal explanations of wildlife population sizes.

So good news except that cheatgrass often replaces the dead knapweed because the seeds of native perennial plants have decayed away.
Image of spotted knapweed.

Image of yellow starthistle

Wildlife Services, the misnamed federal agency killed 1.6 million animals in 2006

Federal wildlife agents killed 1.6 million animals in ’06. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press.

The federal agency Wildlife Services “serviced” 1.6 million animals last year. Numerically most of them were birds, but a lot of them were animals that many, perhaps most Americans, would rather not see killed to fatten the bottom line for ranchers and aggies.

This agency needs to be abolished and an Invasive Species Control Department created to deal with the plants and animals that really are a threat.

Next year’s cheatgrass is growing rapidly right now

It seems that this year produced a growing agreement on most sides of the issue that cheatgrass is just plain awful and is responsible in part for the range fires, small and large, that swept Idaho, Utah and Nevada beginning in late May.

Some ranchers and too many politicians have pushed, and are still pushing the notion that putting in cows early to eat the cheatgrass while it is still green and lacks the sharp seed heads, is much of the solution.

I took the photo below on Oct. 20 on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in SE Idaho, but it could have been taken anywhere in perhaps a hundred million acres of the Western United States.

Dry and new green cheatgrass near Pauline, Idaho. Oct. 20,2007. Copyright © Ralph Maughan

As you can see, this pure stand of cheatgrass did not burn, but green cheatgrass from the seeds dropped in June and July are already sprouted and growing rapidly. They will continue to grow for a few more weeks, lie semi-dormant during the winter, and begin to grow rapidly again about March 1. After mid-April, it will be difficult for cattle to eat it because the sharp seeds form.