Idaho Statesmen is not amused by the governor’s priorities-
Our View: Lawsuits: An Idaho growth industry? – Idaho Statesman
Our View: Lawsuits: An Idaho growth industry? – Idaho Statesman
This is very bad but expected news. Both the BLM and the US Forest Service authorize domestic sheep grazing in areas near these bighorn populations. While there has been no mention of any interaction between domestic livestock and bighorn sheep there have been goats used to control weed in the Clover Valley just east of the East Humboldts.
In 1997 there was a die-off of both bighorn sheep and mountain goats in the Ruby Mountains where a large percentage of the animals were lost.
It bugs me that both the USFS and BLM are waiting on the Payette Forest to determine what they are going to do about sheep grazing in bighorn sheep habitat before they develop a policy to address this issue in other areas. The science is clear and the need for a strong policy is obvious. Why are they waiting?
Disease reported in Nevada’s bighorn sheep
Reno Gazette Journal
Bighorn sheep monitored for disease in NV
Associated Press in the Las Vegas Sun
DISEASE REPORTED IN BIGHORN SHEEP NEAR WELLS
Nevada Department of Wildlife Press Release
As is typical with this issue, the State of Montana has set up a false dichotomy with the bison in the quarantine program. They say that the bison need to be given to billionaire Ted Turner or slaughtered because they have no other options. This is nonsense.
As I have discussed before, there are other options including working with the Fort Belknap Reservation to locate the quarantined buffalo there, placing them back into the Park, or placing them on a state wildlife refuge, all of which would keep these bison in the public domain which was required under the plan. If Ted Turner receives these 78 buffalo he wants 190 of their progeny in return for his own commercial operations which also violates the agreement with the National Park Service to keep them in the public domain.
“There’s land in Montana,” said Stephany Seay with the Buffalo Field Campaign. “The alternatives are not Turner or slaughter. But that’s what we are being fed.”
Activists call for bison on state land
By DANIEL PERSON Chronicle Staff Writer