There is still time to comment on the proposed new (and just plain awful) wolf rules.

 

Although I earlier posted a lot of material about the USFWS proposed changes to the 10j rule on the “non-essential, experimental” population of wolves in Idaho, Wyoming, and much of Montana, a month ago, I’ve been asked to post again now that the due date approaches — August 6.

Here is the proposed new 10j rule as it was published in the Federal Register on July 6.

What do these changes mean? Fact sheet from Defenders.

What is the worst part? It is the new allowance for killing of wolves by the government for “herd management” purposes. The proposed new rule defines “herd management” in such a way that a state could kill wolves that affect ungulate herds in any manner they choose to find objectionable. It is no longer just a reduction in the herd’s size that may merit state ordered killing, it might just be that wolves have made elk more wary and so harder for the least capable hunters to find. In other words, some of the beneficial reasons why wolves were restored under 10j rule, may now be the basis for their termination — wolves just being wolves and making the elk, deer, and moose more wild, could result in an order from them to be gunned down.

Here’s what it says in the Federal Register about wolves having an unacceptable impact on “herd management goals.”

Unacceptable impact—State or tribally determined impact to a wild ungulate population or herd, with wolves as one of the major causes of the population or herd not meeting established State or Tribal population or herd management goals.

Contact Governor Brian Schweitzer (Buffalo Field Campaign update)

This is the time to contact Governor Schweitzer asking for bison habitat, especially since Republican Montana congressman Dennis Rehburg shot down an effort in Congress to provide it.

I’d think the Democratic governor would want to knock of this obstreperous retrograde Republican holdover.

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Here is the BFC update.

In this issue:

* Update from the Field
* Letter from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
* ACTION: Contact Governor Brian Schweitzer
* Buffalo in the News
* Last Words

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* Update from the Field

Dear Buffalo Friends,

Thanks to everyone who forwarded us copies of the letter and news article you received from Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer regarding his buffer zone idea for Montana lands adjacent to Yellowstone National Park. Apparently, Schweitzer sent this form letter and article out to everyone who has contacted him via email regarding the last wild buffalo. For those of you who may not have seen the letter, a copy is pasted below.

Montana gets a bison hunt proposal from two tribes.

Story by the Associated Press.

If Montana is not willing to provide bison habitat, I’d certainly prefer that tribes get their treaty priority first. Montana should not just get to suck off of the surplus from Yellowstone Park. If they want bison to hunt, they should allow bison to use the vacant habitat just west of Yellowstone Park.

Las Vegas’ groundwater pumping plans could leave Utah in the dust.

Plans and developments already underway to grab what little groundwater there is under the Great Basin desert valleys so endless growth at Las Vegas can continue could devastate not just the rest of Nevada, but Utah too.

Story in the Salt Lake Tribune. Downwind again: Utah must guard against Nevada Dust Bowl. Tribune editorial.

Where’s the smoke coming from? An estimated 900,000 acres-plus burning across Idaho

Where’s the smoke coming from? An estimated 900,000 acres-plus burning across Idaho. By Jody Jarkos. Idaho Mountain Express.

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