This web site now third most influential political blog in Idaho

Here are the data. It varies from week to week, of course. One week it was number one, and almost always in the top ten. Lately, visits per weekday have been averaging well over 4000. It drops off a bit every weekend.

Thanks for your support and so many excellent comments (to put it mildly).

It is number two, beginning today (Sunday, April 27).

Another essay on wolf 253. Video

The Delisting of wolf 253–

Brian Connolly wrote “recently I sent out a few EarthDay e-cards with the statement: If enough of us speak up for the universe, It will tilt in our direction. I borrowed ‘speak up for the universe’ from Norman Maclean’s father.”

“Mike O’Connell and I and some wonderful photographers are doing just that in a podcast which has now been posted on YouTube.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYGxfIJiBgA

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For folks who don’t know Brian Connolly, he is a best selling author of outdoor fiction about the wholeness of the natural world for young teenagers.

A Wolf Journal and Hawk are two of his best known works.

Special thanks to Steve Justad who provided all of the photos of  “Hoppy.” I see the other photographers are well known reliable folks who deserve credit too. Ralph Maughan

Idaho anti-wolf petition is falling short

Anti-Wolf Petition Drive Falling Short. From Huckleberries Online.

2007 produces bad news on increase of all greenhouse gases

There is bad news all around here, with the most alarming being the sudden rise in emissions of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas (25x that of carbon dioxide). If the arctic tundra has begun to seriously outgas, the outlook is very grim.

Greenhouse Gases, Carbon Dioxide And Methane, Rise Sharply In 2007. Science Daily

Carbon dioxide, methane up sharply in 2007-US govt. Reuters.

In British Columbia, a beetle upsets climate calculus. A record infestation of beetles is turning western Canada’s forests from a carbon sink into a CO2 source. By Peter N. Spotts. Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor.

Bad news beetles in Colorado: Tree killers could add to global warming. By Mike Saccone. The Daily Sentinel

“Keep It Colorado” aims to raise and spend $800-million to conserve open space, wildlife

This is a very ambitious program, far exceeding the size of all federal efforts. It is a plan for Colorado only. Perhaps 1/4 of the money would come from and oil and gas severance tax. The bulk would be raised privately in cash or land donations.

Open space dreams to protect wild. Coalition’s goal would help protect land in 24 regions. By Jerd Smith, Rocky Mountain News

Update 4-25. Ritter gets behind severance tax initiative. By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News