Obama, like Bush, seems to be stifling salmon science

Manipulation of science remains the same or worse.

In the first year and a half of the Obama Administration nothing has really changed with regard to environmental policy across several agencies. In fact, I think it has gotten worse for two reasons. One, things haven’t changed, and two, people just want to believe that Obama cares about the environment. The BLM and USFS still willfully break the law in their grazing decisions, the MMS issued categorical exclusions for deepwater oil drilling, and now it appears that biologists are still being pressured to manipulate science surrounding salmon to protect dams.

Obama, like Bush, seems to be stifling salmon science.
Crosscut.com

State wildlife officials had no idea what a hunt would mean for then delisted wolves

A couple of years ago, Steve Nadeau answered a question I had about the impact that a public hunt would have to wolf populations.  At that time, as the state was posturing for “competent manager” status, Nadeau spent much effort trying to reassure advocates that state managers had a good idea what effect a hunt would have:

Now, state managers are asking us to believe they need to learn more – apparently, the absence of knowledge is such that in response to the legal spanking state wildlife managers took last week on the wolf issue, state managers are looking to “research” what effect killing wolves will have to wolves.

Wildlife officials mull ‘research hunts’ for wolves – AP

Which is it ?

Did state managers know enough about the impact a hunt would have to remove federal protections via “delisting” ? … or do we now know so little that we need to remove  federal protections for “research” ?

Another pneumonia outbreak in Montana’s bighorn sheep

Herd lives close to site of previous die-offs

Bighorn Sheep lambs © Ken Cole

After last winter’s disastrous die-off of bighorn sheep in Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Washington State it seemed the news couldn’t get any worse for bighorn sheep. Well, today comes news of another outbreak of pneumonia in a heard of 100 bighorn sheep east of Hamilton, Montana. Officials have shot 8 of the sheep and have found at least 5 were suffering from pneumonia.

Pneumonia found in 5 bighorn sheep near Hamilton.
KULR-8 News

More Pneumonia Discovered in Montana’s Bighorn Sheep Population
New West

Domestic Sheep Rancher Appointed to Nevada Wildlife Commission

The “capture” of wildlife agencies, both state and federal, by agricultural interests continues, this time in the state of Nevada where another ‘flat-earther’ has been appointed to a position of authority over wildlife management.

Hank Vogler, a domestic sheep rancher who has actively denied the relationship between disease die-offs in bighorn sheep herds and contact with domestic sheep has been chosen by Nevada’s governor to bare the torch of muddying the waters on the ever-growing bighorn controversy :

Critic of NV wildlife agency named to policy board – AP

In an article posted last year on Raine’s website, Vogler criticized wildlife biologists for killing a bighorn sheep he nicknamed “Chin Creek Chin,” after biologists learned the ram frequently mixed with Vogler’s domestic sheep.

He called it a “political assassination” and wrote, “How embarrassing to have a wild sheep mingle with domestic sheep and not die instantly as the pseudo-science seems to suggest.”

Indeed.