Arizona starts building wildlife-friendly roads

State starts building wildlife-friendly roads. Sheep overpasses, elk collars: Call it road ecology. By Glen Creno. The Arizona Republic.

There have been quite a few similar stories in recent years. What I’d like to see is a study (other than Banff National Park where there have been a number) showing the magnitude of these improvements overall and the degree of success.

Bush executive order to promote hunting might result in stricter rules on off-road vehicle use

This story is in PEER. Bush Order To Promote Hunting May Spark New Off-Road Curbs — Rangers Want Agencies to Help Hunting & Fishing by Ending Reckless Off-Roading.

Project on I-90 has reduced wildlife slaughter near Bozeman Pass

For years, this is something I hoped they’d do. It seems to be a success and the cost has been amazingly low.

Project prevents wildlife casualties. By Christine Uthoff. Bozeman Chronicle City Editor

Blaine County ORV enthusiasts blame wolves to prevent BLM closures in wintering habitat

Off-road ‘enthusiasts’ (snowmobiles) expressed their disdain for a “Blaine County Cooperative Conservation Recreation and Travel Plan” which would close BLM and state big game wintering habitat to both motorized and non-motorized recreationists on either side of the Wood River Valley “only when harsh winter conditions warrant.”

Motorized users express outrage over BLM travel plan
Snowmobiles don’t harm wintering big game, they claim :

On Wednesday, many of these speakers said the only negative impact on wintering deer and elk is the area’s growing gray wolf population. They claimed snowmobiles do not harm deer or elk in any way.

This ‘wolves as whipping-boy’ phenomenon is growing.

I’ve got extended family in West Yellowstone that compelled me to write this personal anecdotal account of snowmobiles’ general affect on me last year. Whatever a person’s take on snowmachines is, to say that they don’t disturb wildlife is … less than honest …

Climate change threatens wolverines. Glacier NP is a refuge

As snow depth diminishes, the deep snows of the mountains become more crucial for wolverines because they need the snow in the  high bowls for denning.

With the coming of high powered snowmobiles much of this country has already been damaged. A five-year study of Glacier NP, where these machines are not allowed shows that its deep winters snows are a critical remnant of denning habitat.

Story in the Great Falls Tribune. By Eric Newhouse.

Wood River Valley: Wolf howls and water woes. The state of the environment in 2007

The Wood River Valley is a long, many-forked drainage that rises in southern central Idaho mountains and flows southward across the Snake River Plain into the Snake River.

It drains a large area of very scenic backcountry, mountainous frontcountry, and contains the towns of Hailey, Ketchum, Bellevue and Sun Valley, giving the area a much higher average level of wealth than the rest of Idaho.

For environmental, economic and political reasons, it is a part of the state that gets more than average attention.

This article is an overview of “environmental” events there during 2007. Wolf howls and water woes. The state of the environment in 2007. By Jason Kauffman. Idaho Mountain Express.

The biggest story, however, was the Castle Rock forest fire, which threatened Hailey and Ketchum and had a perimeter of about 50,000 acres. Castle Rock Fire brought valley together. Lightning-sparked blaze burned for 20 days near Ketchum. By Jason Kauffman, Idaho Mountain Express.

At the north end of the Valley begins the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, a large parcel of public land, managed by the U.S. Forest Service and set aside by Act of Congress in 1972 primarily for use as recreation and scenery.

Photo of Big Wood River near the southern boundary of the SNRA.

[Utah] Off-road activist says he’s tossed in the towel

Off-road activist [Huck] says he’s tossed in the towel. He declares, after ruling, he’ll no longer fight wilderness designations. By Patty Henetz. (link expired) The Salt Lake Tribune. Note the SLT link died, but a found an active link at an off-road activist site.

“It’s like battling the Borg: Resistance is futile,” Huck said during a phone call from Blue Notch, a desert region near Lake Powell’s Hite Marina where he was dirt-biking with his family. “We might as well just designate all of Utah wilderness now and get it over with.”

Pickup truck kills huge grizzly bear near Lincoln, Mountana

A 700 pound grizzly (huge for the interior Rocky Mountains) was hit and killed by a pickup truck on Highway 200 not far from Lincoln, Montana.

This is in the NCDE grizzly recovery area, not the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

Story: Pickup truck kills 700-pound griz near Lincoln. By John Cramer. Missoulian

Update. Nov. 6. Grizzly Killed by Pickup: The Photos. New West. By Matthew Frank.

Update. Dec. 12. Folks in Montana have tug-of-war over display of giant grizzly. By Kark Puckett. Great Falls Tribune. It turns out the bear was not 700 pounds, but well over 800 pounds!

Update. Dec. 14. The big griz will be mounted and displayed in the Lincoln Ranger District Office (US Forest Service). By Larry Kline. Helena Independent Record.