Oregon too heads for wildlife dark ages

In Idaho and Wyoming it’s wolves, but in Oregon the state legislature has focused on cougars (oh, they’ll do that in Idaho too, soon enough).

Here is the sad story as told by George Wuerthner. Oregon’s Cougar Slaughter: A Return to the Dark Ages. New West.

Oregon’s Department of Fish and Wildfire is using the same tactics as the anti-wolf forces . . . Oh my God, you are going to be killed!

Will these people stop it!!? They tell us to fear terrorists, fear wildlife, keep the kids indoors because there is a sexual predator on every street corner, drug dealers are everywhere. So stay home, shut up, let us handle it.

Oh, and while you’re indoors, safe from exercise and fresh air, be sure to worry about getting fat.

Note: People asked if the governor of Oregon signed this into law. Yes he did. He is a Democrat, and he has also supported letting the timber industry kill thousands of bears because they damage young conifers on the tree farms of the Oregon timber industry.  

Update July 26: Wyoming wants to increase its cougar “harvest.” Jackson Hole News and Guide. State raises hunting pressure on Wyo. cats. Cougar Fund says Teton County hunting quotas are not based on science.

Sheep in wolves clothing (editorial cartoon)

At the Western Watersheds Project blog.

Decisions on potential endangered species by disgraced Administration official to be reviewed

Decisions on species to be reviewed. Methods of Interior official who resigned in question. Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Here is yet another example of the Administration ignoring science to the detriment of our plants, fish and wildlife. This is not the first time Julie MacDonald, a former Interior Department official in charge reviewing ESA petitions has been in the news, but now the Department of Interior feels it must go back and look at 8 of her decisions.

Popular Granite Hot Springs (Gros Ventre Mtns, WY) may burn down.

Yet another wildfire. This one is in Wyoming in Granite Creek, familiar to many people who love the nearby Grand Teton National Park.

Updated July 25. News from Inciweb on the Granite Creek Wildfire.

Blaze ignites criticism. Ranchers question rules of engagement in Murphy fire

Blaze ignites criticism. Ranchers question rules of engagement in Murphy fire. Times News. By Nick Coltrain.

This is very irritating. Some of the ranchers are blaming the fire on not enough grazing and BLM’s tiny attempts to rest a few areas. The years of abusive grazing are the reason for the cheatgrass spread.

You don’t graze cheatgrass away because it is palatable for only a couple weeks before it starts to go to seed, and it goes to seed anyway even if it is grazed. Try it yourself if you have cheat-grass. Mow it to the ground (to simulate heavy grazing) while it is still green and downy. If there is any moisture at all, the mowed cheat grass will go the seed anyway.

The ranchers are a major reason for the spread of this weed grass that has changed the ecology of the West. They created the bare spots where it invaded and pushed out the native grass that stays green most of the summer.

This fire exploded at an incredible rate to become the largest in the country. What do these ranchers mean the “BLM didn’t react fast enough?” The firefighters are stretched incredibly thin. This is one of scores of rangefires. The sense of entitlement of these ranchers is appalling.

Now that the area has burned, it should be reseeded with native grasses and shrubs and rested for 10 years, but you can bet these ranchers will be using the political connections to be grazing in two years, and even next spring.

The BLM does deserve blame for not restraining the grazing, and planting the non-native crested wheatgrass under guise it was fire resistant. Thousands and thousands of acres of this exotic wheatgrass burned along with the cheatgrass.

~Story on why cheat grass wins~

I just got this email, which is certainly telling . . .

Huge Murphy Fire ravages rare species habitat

Slickspot peppergrass and the sage grouse will be a step further toward extinction because of the huge Murphy Fire burning in SW Idaho.
Huge fire ravages rare species habitat. By Cynthia Sewel. Idaho Statesman.

The only place in the world that slickspot peppergrass grows is southwest Idaho.

More Idaho fire news.

Governor declares state of emergency declared in five counties. Idaho Statesman.

Today’s Inciweb update on the Murphy Fire complex. Some progress at containment has been made, especially on the north side.

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