The rain has brought a rich suite of greens to obscure western public landscapes.

Tributary to Leadbelt Creek, Central Idaho © Brian Ertz 2009 (click to enlarge)

Someone must have told Palin she’s a contender for a presidential run in 2012 ? Good luck with that ex-Governor Palin …

If you think you can handle it, there’s the video of Sarah Palin’s resignation speech on the Huffington Post link :

Sarah Palin Resigning as Alaska’s Governor – Huffington Post

And a great photograph of one wolf’s response on ecorazzi :

Sarah Palin Resigns As Governor, Wolves Everywhere Celebrate – ecorazzi

Killing predators to “conserve” other more “desirable” wildlife has been a consistent topic of conversation on this forum.  It’s ugly enough in it’s own right in my mind – single-species conservation runs into such ethical dilemmas, especially when most wildlife managers don’t see a problem at all.  It appears one wildlife manager in Nevada doesn’t see an ethical problem with much of anything :

Ethics concerns raised at NV wildlife commission – AP

The projects before the Nevada Wildlife Commission seemed simple enough: spending about $160,000 to kill ravens and coyotes to protect sage grouse and mule deer from the predators.

But the situation has since turned into an ugly soap opera, with ethics questions raised over ties between one commissioner’s mother and backers of the predator projects.

Yet, from my perspective, it’s frustrating that a story about “ethics concerns” of a wildlife management agency could miss the mark so fundamentally.  Here we have a wildlife agency slaughtering coyotes & ravens in such a nasty way with public dollars and the ‘ethical question’ is about whether it is wrong that one of the commissioner’s family members might be the one to get the contract for the wildlife slaughter ?

Finally some international pressure on the coal pit/coalbed methane proposals just northwest of Glacier (and Waterton) National Parks-

United Nations Will Study Threats to Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. By Dan Testa, Flathead Beacon (in New West)

Does this third court rejection of Bush national forest rules put a stake through its heart?

The 2005 Bush revision of the rules for national forest planning were especially aimed at ignoring wildlife even though the law — the National Forest Management Act of 1976 — required plans to provide for species viability. That meant that projects on the forest would not be allowed to harm any species of fish or wildlife so that its population would no longer be viable.

Now after years of fighting, hopefully the Service will return to the 1982 rules implementing NFMA. This decision will have far reaching effects.

Judge Tosses Bush-Era Forest Management Regulations. By Noelle Straub. Greenwire in the New York Times.

Some worry that Mexican Gray wolf pups were abandoned due to human activity near densite.

Wolf pups rescued; some found dead
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN – Associated Press Writer

A lot of ecologically important land is going to be put under the bulldozer with this.

Secretary Salazar, Senator Reid Announce ‘Fast-Track’ Initiatives for Solar Energy Development on Western Lands - Department of Interior News Release 6/29/09

And some comment :

Interior fast-tracks Big Solar on public lands - Chris Clarke, The Clade

Note the phrasing: “rapid development of renewable energy, especially on America’s public lands.”

Interior Unveils Solar Hot Spots Across West – David Frey, NewWest

Woolgrowers try to spin the decision to muddy the waters on Bighorn/Domestic sheep disease

Bighorn sheep lamb © Ken Cole

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has voided the Payette National Forest Science Advisory Committee’s contribution to management decisions when it decides whether or not to ban or reduce domestic sheep grazing on the Payette National Forest.

Federal judge voids bighorn sheep disease report – AP

The Woolgrowers successful claim means that the public should have been granted access to ‘listen in on’ the Science Advisory Committee, which was assimilating and summarizing existing information.  This decision cuts both ways, ensuring access for industry as well as conservation advocates.  The Woolgrowers were not successful in overturning previous decisions restricting domestic sheep grazing.  

The judge goes out of his way to affirm that the existing information, including the scientific data demonstrating evidence of disease transmission from domestic to wild sheep that the committee summarized, can still inform management actions.

Not included in the article is the irony that Mark Rey, former undersecretary for natural resources and agriculture for the Bush Administration, is the man responsible for establishing the science advisory committee at issue.

The AP story is inaccurate in one instance :

Idaho Conservation League Executive Director Jon Marvel, head of the Hailey, Idaho-based Western Watersheds Project, which is fighting grazing on public lands across the West

Jon Marvel is not ICL’s executive director.  

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill’s Decision

Earlier (in June) we posted an article about grizzlies that had come out of the Rocky Mountain Front mountains are were out on the plains east of Interstate 15 in Montana (that is a N-S 4-line highway).

The bear was 177 miles from Pine Butte Swamp, a nature preserve on the Front where grizzly bears are often found in the springtime.

Wayward grizzly caught. By Karl Puckett. Great Falls Tribune Staff writer.

In April, Ralph contrasted the disproportionate media hysteria that takes place when a wolf kills a cow or sheep versus when any number of other natural events result in vastly more significant livestock loss.  The example that he used :

SE Montana blizzard kills far more livestock in 2 days than Montana wolves in a year :

cattle losses to wolves in Montana in 2008 totaled just 77 dead with a couple dozen more “probables.”

Another more recent example of the glaring disparity of livestock loss to wolves & environment versus the weather is aptly illustrated on the other end of the weather spectrum :

Extreme heat kills hundreds of cattle in Nebraska - AP

In southeastern Nebraska’s Hamilton County, temperatures in the 90s and high humidity contributed to the deaths of roughly 600 cattle.

That’s one county.