Alan Gregory’s Conservation NewsRocky Barker has a blog today about the upcoming status of public lands in the government shutdown.
National forests and BLM lands will remain open but national parks close. By Rocky Barker. Idaho Statesman
Update. Looks like some deal was worked out late Friday night. Government remains open
It looks more and more like a government shutdown of uncertain duration. Dept of Interior just made it clear that national parks and monuments will be closed down and “secured.” I have to wonder what will happen come Saturday to all those currently inside of big parks like Yellowstone?
DOI said national wildlife refuges and BLM visitor facilities will be closed. I don’t know how they can bar entry to the hundreds of millions of acres of scattered BLM lands, but a lot of NWRs could have the access gates of major roads locked shut. National forests? That is the USDA. I haven’t read a statement from them.
We were on our way to some national parks, so I guess a lot of plans are being disrupted and people angry at the buffons in Congress. While others will no doubt disagree with me, I blame the tea party Republicans foremost for this totally avoidable problem of uncertain, but probably severe magnitude.
The oil industry recycles it for every international crisis, nevertheless; and the media take it seriously (sort of). Once again they are exposed, although simple logic tells us that a strategy that takes years to implement will not impact a short term price jump.
Oil and Gas Industry sitting on 7,200 drilling permits. By Environment & Energy and Environment Daily on March 29, 2011
Click to view in Google Maps
Last week I went out with a co-worker to check out what was going on in the Jarbidge Field Office where Western Watersheds Project has won a court victory that ends corporate ranching on 450,000 acres of public land. When we arrived we found cattle on several of the allotments even though the injunction is in place.
The ranchers are asking the judge to stay the injunction and say that they have met all of the terms of the stipulated settlement agreement (SSA) which has expired. They argue that utilization monitoring has shown that they have not exceeded the terms and conditions of their permits or the SSA and, because of this, sage grouse habitat has improved. Even if they have met the terms and conditions of their permits and the SSA, which I won’t say one way or the other, the BLM’s Analysis of the Management Situation (AMS) notes that the Jarbidge suffered the cumulative loss of 800,000 acres of sagebrush-steppe habitat from 1982 through 2006, such that 46% of the JFO is no longer sage-steppe habitat. This doesn’t even account for the massive fires which have burned since 2007 such as the Murphy Complex of 2007 and the Long Butte Fire in 2010. Sage grouse and other sage steppe dependent species are in dire straits in the Jarbidge and as the WWP press release says:
“Recent data from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game shows that sage-grouse populations in the Jarbidge Field Office are in a free fall, with declines of over 90% since 2006 alone. For example, in the Browns Bench area of the Field Office, total male sage-grouse lek counts are down from 185 in 2006 to 29 in 2010, and some areas are in an even steeper decline.”
Jarbidge FO Pastures. Click for larger view.
While my biggest concerns lie with the plight of the wildlife there, I also find it startling that the Jarbidge Field Office has essentially turned into a livestock feedlot. Even recreation values have been totally eliminated here. The whole Field Office has been fenced into small pastures with what amounts to a weeping sore in each caused by cattle that congregate at water troughs surrounded by feeding tubs with some kind of molasses slurry, salt blocks, and even oat hay. On top of that is the droning of military jets overhead, some of them containing training pilots from Singapore.
I guess this is what they mean by “multiple use”. I call it a cowpocalypse.
Economist Ray Rasker spoke the obvious at University of Montana’s Conservation and Climate Change lecture series. He also talked a little politics. If there is no guarantee of the feeds throwing money to the wind to save houses along the national forest boundaries the counties might be a lot less willing to grant building permits there because the costs would fall on them.
Speaker: Rethink who pays costs of fighting fires to protect homes in woods. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian.
It would be nice to see this building reduced because of its impact on water quality, scenery, wildlife habitat. A lot of the nasty “remove or shot the deer, elk, bears, cougars, wolves” complaints come from people who live in the woods and their pooch gets got or their shrubbery eaten.
An unprecedented number of comments came in on the Plains Exploration & Production Co.’s (PXP) plan for up to 136 gas wells south of Bondurant near Noble Basin. Most of the Wyoming and adjacent Salt River Range has been withdrawn from oil and gas leasing/drilling by act of Congress, but the PXP leases slipped through before the leasing was shut down by the Wyoming Range Legacy Act.
My experience in the Noble Basin and adjacent area is of some of the finest elk and moose country in Wyoming. A domestic sheep beleagered bighorn sheep herd is nearby. The huge number of comments seem to have strengthened the views of new Wyoming governor Matt Mead on the subject of drilling, after maybe fracking the area.
Wyoming Range drilling project garners 40,000 comments. By Environment & Energy Daily in WyoFile.
After 40 public meetings that drew 3,000 participants and 25,000 comments, the Forest Services has issued new draft rules governing the entire national forest system. Conservation groups are focusing on what they consider to be changes to the wildlife portion that would give too much discretion to local forest supervisors about conserving and improving wildlife habitat.
National forests plan would expand local discretion over wildlife management. By Darryl Fears. Washington Post.
The fact that conservation groups are comparing the new rules unfavorably to the old rules from Ronald Reagan would seem to be telling as Reagan was no favorite of conservation groups. On the other hand as the Missoulian points out, “Forest Service looks to add recreation, wildlife, water to management principles. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian.
Maybe, the best initial comment was “The devil, or the angel, is in the details.” We will have to look more closely.
Here are the FS draft regulations. pdf
Obama Administration Refuses to Reform Public-lands Grazing Fee
For immediate release – January 18, 2011
Contacts: Greta Anderson, Western Watersheds Project, 520.623.1878
Mark Salvo, WildEarth Guardians, 503.757.4221
Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, 928.310.6713
Brent Fenty, Oregon Natural Desert Association, 541.330.2638
Ronni Egan, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, 970.385.9577
Tucson, Ariz. – After a lengthy delay, five conservation organizations finally received an answer today from the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture concerning the artificially low fee federal agencies charge for livestock grazing on public lands. Claiming higher priorities, both agencies declined to address the outdated grazing fee formula. The government’s response was prompted by a lawsuit filed by Center for Biological Diversity, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and Oregon Natural Desert Association.
Conservation organizations submitted a petition in 2005, asking the government to address the grazing fee formula and adjust the fee in order to cover the costs of the federal grazing program, which costs taxpayers at least $115 million dollars annually according to a Government Accountability Office report. Conservationists contend that Americans lose even more in compromised wildlife habitat, water quality, scenic views, and native vegetation.
“Today’s long-awaited answer was a huge disappointment,” said Greta Anderson, Arizona Director for Western Watersheds Project. “Year after year, we watch as the government gives a sweetheart deal to public lands ranchers at the expense of taxpayers and the environment. We had hoped the Obama Administration would have done better, but it’s business-as-usual for the western livestock industry.”
“Subsidizing the livestock industry at the cost of species, ecosystems, and taxpayers is plainly bad public land policy,” said Taylor McKinnon, public lands campaigns director with the Center for Biological Diversity, “Today’s choice to continue that policy is both a disappointment and a blight on the Obama administration’s environmental record.” Read the rest of this entry »
Pinyon Juniper Forest, Nevada. Photo - Katie Fite
Recently the Nevada Pinyon-Juniper Partnership, aided by USDA, set up a conference to discuss pinyon and juniper trees. At the conference were several players in government and business who have an interest in the removal of pinyon and juniper trees in the Great Basin. Bob Abbey, the director of the BLM, attended the meeting.
Most people don’t think of the Great Basin when they think of old growth forests but the pinyon-juniper forests there are ancient forests with several hundred year old trees that provide important habitats and food for many species of birds like pinyon jays, Clark’s nutcrackers, black throated gray warblers, small mammals, nesting raptors. The charismatic seed-caching Clark’s nutcracker faces catastrophic food shortages in the Rockies due to whitebark pine die-off. It relies on large-seeded pines – and the pinyon pine has a superb large seed that was also vital to supporting Native American cultures in the Great Basin.
The refuge provided by these trees are probably the only reason that central Nevada has any elk at all. They are one of the important components that keep the entire Great Basin Ecosystem together because they retain snow later into the year due to their shade and absorb CO2. Their destruction would promote global warming and desertification by making the area hotter and drier. Read the rest of this entry »
Idaho’ federal judge Ed Lodge rarely rules in favor of conservation groups, but the defective job the BLM did on these 4 grazing allotments provoked a complete victory for WWP and an strong rebuke to the manager of the BLM’s Challis Field Office, David Rosenkrance. Rosenkrance has been criticized for years for running an incestuous, good old boy operation in this beautiful, if degraded, potentially terrific wildlife area. Fortunately last week was the end date for Rosenkrance in Idaho. He has been moved off to the BLM in Colorado.
Judge Lodge ruled that all three of the plaintiff”s claims were valid: that BLM violated the law by not analyzing the impacts to endangered bull trout, by refusing to consider a no- or low- grazing alternative when evaluating the impacts, and by failing to study the cumulative impacts of grazing in the area.
I understand there are similar appeals out there that will succeed because of this decision.
Here is a link to decision at the Advocates for the West web site.
The high Pahsimeroi Mtns from the east (Pahsimeroi Valley). BLM Grouse Creek Allotment. Photo copyright Ralph Maughan
Here is an interactive Google Map of the 4 grazing allotments (created by Western Watersheds Project).
Update. An AP story just came out on the decision. Judge rules against BLM on Idaho grazing permits. By Keith Ridler. Jan. 10, 2011 By The Associated Press
Medusahead grass has the ability to take over a landscape like cheatgrass but nothing will eat it after it dies and dries out in the early summer months. It is becoming a huge problem in some areas and I’ve seen allotments with vast expanses where it is about the only thing that grows. Of course, if you’re the BLM, what else is there to do but renew the grazing permit and continue the degradation?
Anatomy of a medusahead invasion.
High Country News
Idaho’s Gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred, challenger to “Butch” Otter, recently drew a distinction between wildlife management on public versus private land, standing behind Idaho sportsmen on the bighorn sheep issue :
Candidate’s Comments Cause for Concern – Frank Priestley, Idaho Farm Bureau President
During the October 9th discussion between Allred and members of the Idaho Sportsmen’s Caucus Advisory Council, the subject of bighorn sheep management came up. Following are Allred’s comments verbatim:
“My family a hundred years ago was driving sheep and cattle up to the Sawtooth Valley and running sheep. So I’d like to see a viable sheep industry. But we also have a long enough family history that we remember when there (were) much more substantial bighorn sheep populations in Idaho than there are now. So how do you manage those competing perspectives? Here’s one kind of distinction I would draw: On public lands, to me, wildlife populations have to take priority over individual private interests, really economic interests, and grazing. On private lands then private property owners need to take priority.”
(Emphasis added)
This recognition that wildlife management on public lands ought reflect all Idahoans’ interest, and ought preserve Idaho’s wildlife heritage is threatening to some.
To most, it’s just plain common sense.
UPDATE: Allred Licks the Boot 10/29/10 : Statement on Bighorn and Domestic Sheep – Keith Allred, Ag Weekly
From Keith Allred – I’m sorry to have inappropriately applied the distinction between public and private land to bighorn and domestic sheep questions in recent comments I made to the Sportsman’s Caucus. I’d like to clarify my points and suggest a solution.
[More…]
The EPA is considering lowering allowable particulate matter from 150 micrograms per cubic meter to the range of 65 to 85 micrograms. This would be a very good outcome for many reason ranging from health, soil erosion and snow melt runoff.
Recently a study implicated dust, primarily from western livestock grazing, as a big cause behind earlier and faster snow melt runoff in the Colorado Rockies which resulted in 5% less water in the Colorado River. Under current law there is little regulation on agricultural practices, especially livestock grazing, which could help mitigate this very real problem.
Of course the livestock industry is up in arms over the proposal and have gotten their lackey politicians involved.
“As usual, the EPA has failed to recognize the real-world impacts of their regulations,” [Mike] Simpson said in a press release.
Well, it looks like they are starting to recognize the impacts of their regulations. It now appears that they have seen the failure of their current regulations to protect long term public values over short term profits of the livestock industry. Let’s hope they make the change soon.
Proposed limits on dust irk farmers.
Capital Press agriculture news
“If we weren’t getting to them, they’d brush us off like a fly. After all, we’re just a little organization with 14 or 15 people, but they act like what we do is the end of the world.”
Dennis Higman does a profile on Jon for NewWest.
Fortunate for all of us who care about western public lands and wildlife, the degree to which ranchers and their politician lap-dogs whine about WWP is in direct proportion to the degree at which the organization is bringing much needed change and restoration to the western public landscape.
The Guy Idaho Ranchers Love to Hate – NewWest.net
There are two topics you don’t want to bring up with most Idaho ranchers: wolves and Jon Marvel, the white-haired, 63-year-old founder and executive director of the Western Watersheds Project.
Michael J. Connor, Ph.D.
California Director
Western Watersheds Project
Ancient Mojave yuccas on the Ivanpah power plant site. (2009) © Michael J. Connor, Ph.D.
Secretary of the Interior Salazar is about to initial a series of major giveaways of public lands in California to industrial-scale solar power producers. These “fast-tracked” power plant projects have had truncated environmental reviews in the current administration’s rush to place huge chunks of public land in the hands of developers to build on them at public expense.
The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant project is a prime example. The project’s proponent, BrightSource Energy, will build an experimental “power tower” solar power plant on over five and a half square miles of high quality desert tortoise habitat in California’s Ivanpah Valley. The 1.7 billion dollar project will be primed with $1.3 billion in public “economic stimulus” funds provided by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
The project is the first of a number of power plants proposed for public lands in the Ivanpah Valley. A photovoltaic plant is planned right next door to the Ivanpah power plant. Just down the valley over the Nevada border is the proposed Silver State power plant. These and other projects will block off the Ivanpah Valley, turn the North Ivanpah Valley into an industrial zone, and will have major consequences for rare and endangered wildlife. Although the ESA-listed desert tortoise population is declining, the Ivanpah power plant will split the North Ivanpah Valley, eliminate desert tortoise habitat, require that resident tortoises be relocated placing them and any resident tortoises at the relocation site in danger, and will severely compromise connectivity and gene flow between important desert tortoise populations. It will also impact foraging for bighorn sheep and other wildlife, a number of rare plants, and an assemblage of barrel cactus unrivaled elsewhere in the Golden State. Native Americans cultural remains including unusual stone structures will be stranded in a sea of mirrors. The agencies don’t know what these structures are, so how can they be important? No matter that the local Chemehuevi Indians don’t share that view.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
Finally some sanity ~ it’ll be interesting to see whether Obama has the integrity to follow through (not holding my breath):
Obama: Interior reforms too slow ~ By Dan Berman, Politico
White House insiders say Salazar has fallen out of favor and speculate that he will be gone after November’s midterms. Obama didn’t say directly whether Salazar would still have a job, but he acknowledged the overhaul of the former Minerals Management Service — long accused of being too cozy with the oil and gas companies it regulated — took too long.
It’s not just the MMS that’s been a disgrace under Salazar’s Interior, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management,and other agencies at Interior are all failing the American public, effectively liquidating America’s environmental heritage to appease the very industries that ran the Department under the Bush Administration.
Interior: same contractors doing their NEPA on behalf of the same industries … if it smells like Bush and tastes like Bush … we’re supposed to call it “Change” ?
President Obama’s Deficit Commission is co-chaired by Alan Simpson, a Wyoming rancher, who has used some pretty strong language critical of social programs’ cost to tax-payers.
Bill Willers points out how Simpson’s own favored past-time enjoys the massive cash infusion of a significant wasteful government program that produces little to no public value at the expense of the west’s wildlife and natural character:
Alan Simpson, Social Security, and the Welfare Barons of the Livestock Industry – OpEdNews
Alan Simpson, co-chair of President Obama’s Deficit Commission, likens Social Security to “a milk cow with 310 million tits.” But Simpson, a Wyoming rancher, is certainly familiar with a welfare “tit” that is a con game of continental magnitude maintained for “permittees,” mostly ranchers like himself, who lease grazing allotments on America’s public lands.
Conservationists have petitioned Obama to cut the federal grazing program to help balance the agencies’ budget.
Will Alan Simpson be willing to recommend to Obama a meaningful cut of a bloated, wasteful and destructive government program that disproportionately enriches the wealthy, landed gentry of the West ?
My opinion.
Anyone who has traveled extensively will find many Park and public land projects were originally built with stimulus funds from the Great Depression. You will often find a cabin, amphitheater, trail, etc. was built by the New Deal’s CCC or WPA. Despite the controversy over the stimulus funds for the “great recession,” similar projects have finally been undertaken 75 years later.
Story. Biden touts stimulus projects in national parks. By Matt Volz. Associated Press Writer
Below a prominent Idaho Statesman political columnist weighs in to Otter’s sorry move. Considering Otter’s last minute actions to turn once supportive congressional Republicans against this fairly good and delicately balanced bill, I am reminded of Otter’s position on wolves. We can certainty trace the change from partial compromise on the Idaho wolf issue to one of nasty divisiveness to one man — Butch Otter. Thinking of all the other non-outdoor related things he has done, I think he’s Idaho worst governor, even including legendary “dumb” Don Samuelson back in the day.
Kevin Richert: Otter writes his sorry wilderness legacy. By Kevin Richert. Idaho Statesman.
“The stay vindicates our position that public regulators have a primary legal obligation to protect the public interest, land, wildlife and fisheries habitat.” said Brian Ertz, media director for Western Watersheds Project. “In this case, BLM’s loyalties appear to lie with the industry it’s supposed to be regulating.”
It’s an obscure agency in the Dept of Interior to some, but not to the oil companies or the federal treasury. It collects more money than any federal agency except the IRS. It has been the seat of a number a scandals in recent years from undercollecting royalities, lax safety and environmental oversight, and giving out oil and gas leases for sex from oil lobbyists.
When Salazar took office he said these days were over. He hopes splitting the environmental oversight and safety part of the agency from the leasing and royalty collection will help.
In other news, public support for more offshore drilling is collapsing in the polls. So is perception that Obama is doing a good job handling the situation.
Here’s a story from the Washington Post. Minerals Management Service to undergo radical overhaul. By Juliet Eilperin and Ed O’Keefe:
Interior Department opening Colorado’s North Park to gas and oil drilling. By Bruce Finley. The Denver Post
I can already see that “we” are going to get blamed for the Gulf of Mexico oil fountain. Now we learn that “we” want to sacrifice North Park.
This seems odd. I wasn’t one of those “drill baby drill” people, and I don’t know any of them. It seems to me the phrase was invented by political organizers designed to be spread from the top down.
In the article above, certified genius Dr. Patty Limerick had this to say “Given our energy habits, and given our inability to change them, we have to go forward with this,” said Patty Limerick, director of the University of Colorado’s Center of the American West, who recently hosted BLM leaders at a forum and is preparing a report to guide conservation initiatives.”
I’ve heard this noted historian speak several times. This is typical. She tends to blame the masses (us). Maybe she should read Howard Zinn’s, A People History of the United States.”
This is a victory for WWPs Arizona Office in Tucson.
NEWS RESEASE
(PHOENIX, AZ)—The U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Western Watersheds Projects announced today settlement of a federal lawsuit involving the Sonoran Desert National Monument southwest of Phoenix, Arizona.
Western Watersheds Project filed suit in August of 2008 to challenge livestock grazing within the Monument. “Our goal was to compel BLM to manage grazing in ways that protect the National Monument and its natural resources,” says Greta Anderson, the Arizona Director of Western Watersheds.
The BLM, a federal agency, is currently drafting a land use plan for the management of the National Monument, called a Resource Management Plan. The settlement stipulates that the Plan must be completed by December 15, 2011. They will include a determination of whether or not livestock grazing is compatible with the protection of objects identified in the 2001 Presidential Proclamation that established the Monument. “The Arizona BLM is dedicated to protecting the objects of the National Monument, and this settlement affords the staff a greater opportunity to focus on field work and achieve the deadline to complete the management plans,” says Jim Kenna, the BLM Arizona state director.
Some think the mining ban could have been to cut off growing provincial demands for a park in the area to complement Waterton NP in Alberta and Glacier in the United States.
Details on Canadian Flathead mining ban short – for now. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian.
A formula to set federal grazing fees designed to partially insulate grazers of federal land from the market became law in 1976. It was supposed to go up and down according to livestock prices and costs of doing business, but it was rigged in favor of costs of doing business. In 1978, $1.35 was set as the lowest possible fee for an AUM (Animal Unit Month). Every once and a while the formula has required higher grazing fees, but never much more.
The rock bottom fee now in force has never been adjusted for inflation. So $1.35 in 1976 is now about like 50 cents. Think about this the next time you are charged $5 or $10 to merely park your vehicle at some federal recreation site such as a trailhead.
Oh, and you can’t pay the grazing fee yourself and get the livestock removed. If this was allowed, I’d write a personal check today plus a bonus and pay the grazing fees for all the livestock grazers who pay them on the local Forest Service ranger district and get the livestock removed. I’m not a rich person. I’m merely middle class, but I have enough money in my checkbook right now to pay all of their grazing fees. They are that low — that overprivileged!
Grazing fees on public lands unchanged for 2010. Seattle Times. AP
Federal Grazing Fee Announced for 258 Million Acres: Public to Subsidize Public Land Destruction, Species Endangerment. Center for Biological Diversity.
Arizona may shut down two-thirds of state parks. Associated Press
The deep recession is taking a big hit on state parks in many states; even those parks that are big money makers. Arizona has already closed 5 parks and might close 2/3 of them.
Last year in California, the governor wanted to close most of its huge state park system. He was rebuffed.
In Idaho, Butch Otter, wants to abolish the State Department of Parks and Recreation and transfer the function to the State Department of Lands whose mission has been resource extraction, land sales, and which has a close relationship to the grazing land barons.
One of the gems of Idaho’s state park system is Harriman State Park in Island Park. Its 11,000 acres was a donation from the Harriman family. The Henry’s Fork Foundation is worried that the terms of the gift might require the park be taken back.
Idaho governor puts Harriman Park access in jeopardy. West Yellowstone News. Given the large number of visitors, including access to 8 miles of Henry’s Fork, one of the world’s greatest trout streams, this is false economy.
I review grazing allotment renewal documents and rarely, if ever, have I seen climate change discussed. When it is discussed, and only in response to comments by WWP, the agencies claim that issues related to global warming and livestock grazing are beyond the scope of the project. Unfortunately, grazing compounds the effects of global warming by creating warmer and drier landscapes which, in turn, impacts wildlife.
There is a very good case to be made that eliminating grazing from public lands would also reduce the effects of global warming by 1) reducing desertification and 2) increasing carbon sequestration in soils. As Brian Ertz has illustrated in his post from last year, public lands can be very effective carbon sinks if allowed rest from livestock grazing. This is an important idea that needs to be kept in mind when discussing public lands ranching.
Federal agencies may have to consider climate before they act
By Jim Tankersley – L.A. Times
Heavily impacted soils and vegetation in Nevada's desert. © Ken Cole
Sage Brush with ancient soil crusts Cave Valley, Nevada © Ken Cole
The article says environmentalists, hunters, and off-roaders support the legislation. Part of these areas had been targeted for big solar power developments.
The total list is: Mojave Trails NM, 941,000 acres; Sand to Snow National Monument, 134,000 acres; 250,000 acres near Ft Irwin as Wilderness; 41,000 acres to the southern boundary of Death Valley National Park; 2,900 acres to northern portions of Joshua Tree National Park.
Story on Feinstein’s bill. By Louis Sahagun. LA Times.
Update 12-22-09
A more detailed article on the politics and economics of the bills. Desert Vistas vs. Solar Power. By Tom Woody. New York Times.
I think Feinstein’s bill is very good in directing solar farms into appropriate locations. Without her kind of “NIMBYism,” developers of big projects will just naturally gravitate toward pristine public lands because it makes their land-intensive projects cheaper by means of an indirect subsidy. Now they are more likely to seek out sunny derelict lands already destroyed by cattle or some other passing harmful use.
This has been in the news the last couple days. Rocky Barker blogged today about it, tying it to the recent popular PBS television film, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Here is Barker’s blog in the Idaho Statesman. Americans flock to nation’s “best idea.”
My comment is that it’s true Americans love their national parks, except for a relative handful of anti-government types. I also know from experience in the field and teaching that most Americans are generally clueless about the rest of the public lands they own: national forests, national wildlife refuges, and, especially the BLM lands. Granted people will say, “Oh yes, the national forests, but it doesn’t come to mind quickly. This gives a great opportunity for special* interest groups to dominate how these other public lands are used. Lack of public knowledge makes hard to organize folks to defend what we might call “the public interest” in these matters.
Politicians and interest groups that have big plans for the public lands often try to smooth folks by saying “our plans in no way involve our wonderful national parks.” What they don’t say is their plans will affect maybe millions of acres of BLM lands.
– – – – – –
* As a political scientist I prefer the more neutral term “interest group, which simply means an organized group that seeks to have the government do (or not do) something over which it has jurisdiction.
Most people who follow wildlife news the West now know about the epic migration of the the pronghorn in Jackson Hole from summer to winter on desert south of Pinedale, WY and the big squeeze being put on this migration by the gas industry and subdivisions. They are also aware of the major effort to keep the migration route from being blocked.
Idaho has its own migrations too. They are not so long, but impressive. Finally some study is being done to map the routes and to use fencing to protect the route.
John Miller of the Associated Press has a good article on this.
The Missoula Independent did a feature on the contentious issue of the management of the wild (or feral) horses of the West.
Alone on the Range. Only one wild horse remains on Flathead Lake’s Wild Horse Island. As officials look to repopulate the park, the government wrestles with the larger challenge of managing these icons of the West. By Erika Fredrickson.
The 9th Circuit just upheld the Clinton Roadless Rule, and slapped down Bush’s amended rule which granted states and local interests undue influence to craft their own roadless rules, rules which ended up being weaker than the Clinton Rule. Idaho and Colorado were the only states to ride Bush’s timber-train.
Clinton-era Rule Protecting Forests Upheld Green Inc., New York Times
The “roadless rule,” approved in 2001 during the waning days of the Clinton administration, substantially limited road development in national forest lands. The Bush Administration effectively replaced it with another policy that allowed states to establish their own rules on roads in forests.
A Bit of the Backstory
I won’t go over the details because Schneider seems to do a good job, but my general impression is that there is no reason for Montana conservationists to support this, even though it is not immediately clear whether the “stewardship” elements are good, bad or neutral.
What Tester’s Forest Bill Really Does. “Montana Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act attempts to cover a lot of ground and address a lot of issues, but will it be enough to win passage?” New West.
I don’t see any Wilderness designation in this bill that is a wow! This is great . . . something that would offset the other provisions.
I haven’t been to some of these areas, but I have to the southwest Montana ones. These have one thing in common and wrong — they are all abused by livestock.
The provision grandfathering livestock grazing in designated Wilderness area was absolutely necessarily in 1964 to get the Wilderness Act passed, and in many of the early Wilderness areas, livestock grazing was not a big issue because it was a minor use generally affecting just a small part of the total area.
In recent years, however, areas have been proposed for Wilderness designation where livestock effects are seen and felt on almost every acre. Yes, these areas are roadless, with little previous logging activity, and no permanent structures, but to call them places where the effects of humans are not lasting or very evident is a bad joke.
This bill continues in this bad tradition and grandfathers this use.
I’ve always been a strong supporter of Wilderness areas, but I refuse to support any more cow or sheep wilderness areas. It’s a joke, and just like depredation payments to livestock operators for losses to predators, this doesn’t win their support. They always opposed Wilderness and they always will no matter who low you bow before their majesty.
I’d rather have a clear trout stream with a road along side it, than some cowshit filled mud wallow you reach after a steep hike of 5 miles.
Why give up anything to win a pile of dust? Let’s kill this sucker!
Wild Horses in Nevada © Ken Cole
Rep. Nick Rahall, Chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, has a soft spot for wild horses. That’s good, it’s a national disgrace the way these animals are treated. His bill just passed the house:
Room to roam: House votes to rescue wild horses – AP
WASHINGTON — Galloping to the aid of the nation’s wild horses and burros, the House voted Friday to rescue them from the possibility of a government-sponsored slaughter and give them millions more acres to roam.
A great point by Rep. Rahall:
“How in the world can a federal agency be considering the massive slaughter of animals the law says they are supposed to be protecting?”
Welcome to the West Rep. Rahall, our good ol’ boys back here got a whole portfolio of lots of different animals that fit that description.
Story in the Great Falls Tribune. Group aims to put a stop to trapping on public lands. By Michael Babcock. Great Falls Tribune Outdoor Editor.
– – – – –
News Release from Footloose, Montana-
Footloose Montana Proposes
“Montana Trap-Free Public Lands Initiative”
Helena, Mont. – Public lands in Montana will become trap-free, if an initiative filed today with the Secretary of State qualifies for the November 2010 general election and is approved by a majority of voters. Download Initiative
The “Montana Trap-Free Public Lands Initiative” would prohibit trapping on public lands in Montana, except for scientific, public health and safety activities. Under the initiative, proposed by the Florence-based group, Footloose Montana, trapping on private lands, which comprise 65 percent of the state, will not be affected. Read the rest of this entry »
The 2005 Bush revision of the rules for national forest planning were especially aimed at ignoring wildlife even though the law — the National Forest Management Act of 1976 — required plans to provide for species viability. That meant that projects on the forest would not be allowed to harm any species of fish or wildlife so that its population would no longer be viable.
Now after years of fighting, hopefully the Service will return to the 1982 rules implementing NFMA. This decision will have far reaching effects.
Judge Tosses Bush-Era Forest Management Regulations. By Noelle Straub. Greenwire in the New York Times.
Bighorn sheep lamb © Ken Cole
U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill has voided the Payette National Forest Science Advisory Committee’s contribution to management decisions when it decides whether or not to ban or reduce domestic sheep grazing on the Payette National Forest.
Federal judge voids bighorn sheep disease report – AP
The Woolgrowers successful claim means that the public should have been granted access to ‘listen in on’ the Science Advisory Committee, which was assimilating and summarizing existing information. This decision cuts both ways, ensuring access for industry as well as conservation advocates. The Woolgrowers were not successful in overturning previous decisions restricting domestic sheep grazing.
The judge goes out of his way to affirm that the existing information, including the scientific data demonstrating evidence of disease transmission from domestic to wild sheep that the committee summarized, can still inform management actions.
Not included in the article is the irony that Mark Rey, former undersecretary for natural resources and agriculture for the Bush Administration, is the man responsible for establishing the science advisory committee at issue.
Sonoran Desert National Monument. Photo: BLM
Last Friday WWP won a reversal of a previous court decision that would have held that Presidents have the authority to designate – but not direct management of – national monuments.
Preservation and the President: A Positive Development in the Sonoran Desert – Ti Hays, PreservationNation
Last Friday, in a positive development, a federal district court in Arizona reversed a previous decision that held that President Clinton had exceeded his authority by including management directives in the proclamation for the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
The case began when an environmental group — the Western Watersheds Project — filed a lawsuit claiming that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had taken too long to prepare a resource management plan and grazing suitability analysis for the Sonoran Desert. President Clinton created the 486,149-acre monument in 2001 through a proclamation authorized by the Antiquities Act of 1906.
WWP sought to enforce very explicit conservation directives that then President Clinton had included in designating the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The judge’s previous interpretation of law could have rendered many national monument designations largely impotent from a conservation perspective. Fortunately, the judge thought twice and reversed that decision.
Earlier Ralph noted a new study that suggests fire mitigation work in the US may be misplaced. Along those same lines, George Wuerther shares an account of one experience he had digging deeper into the rationale & motive of some “fuels reduction” projects :
Burning Questions ~ George Wuerther
A couple of years ago I went on a show me tour of a Forest Service Thinning project that was funded under the National Fire Plan (NFP). A group of us, including some forest service employees, a university fire researcher, country commissioners, timber interests, and the like gathered at the Forest Service office. The district ranger explained that we were going to see a fuel reduction project designed to protect the small town where we were standing. After giving preliminary background on the proposed timber sale, we got into a bunch of Forest Service vehicles and drove out of town. And drove. And drove. And drove. Eighteen miles from the town, we got out of the car to look at the thinning project.
We’ve spoken of the potential for our public lands to act as carbon sinks.
When you think about public lands and the value that these places have to serve our efforts to curb global climate change I’d like you to consider a new idea that is as old as dirt ~ passive restoration. Yes, I’m suggesting that part of the answer might be to remove our footprint on those places we can – and in doing so – let the land catch it’s breath.
Just as trees draw CO2 out of the atmosphere, so does the life of soil and other healthy plant communities. In fact, even in places as arid as the Mojave desert, researchers have found that healthy, undisturbed living-soils may draw as much carbon out of the atmosphere as temperate forests ! Can you imagine ? Resting the land from soil disturbing activities that degrade living-soils and remove vegetation, precluding the living carbon from being recycled back into the soil, ~ preserving our natural environmental heritage ~ may actually be an important strategy in mitigating climate change – a way to actually and directly take carbon out of the atmosphere.
Perhaps these ideas will be considered in the study recently announced concerning sagebrush communities :
Soil carbon sequestration study begins – Casper Star Tribune
Scientists believe increasing the carbon in soils — a process known as soil carbon sequestration — may help reduce the rise of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere that contribute to global warming
Chinook - photo: USFWS
Many folk don’t realize the impact to native fisheries habitat that livestock grazing can and does have. The Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and other land and wildlife management agencies work diligently to avoid acknowledging livestock’s impact to listed fish species such as Bull Trout, Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Sockeye salmon even when their own biologists and other scientists officially describe the deleterious effect.
It’s real – fish depend on stream-side vegetation for shade, filtering sediment, and as habitat for insects that fish eat. Livestock grazing removes that vegetation and tramples stream-banks polluting spawning gravels and redds (fish nests) with sediment that suffocates fish eggs. Grazing widens stream-channels increasing water temperature beyond tolerable levels and reduces the number of pool habitat fish need in streams. A single livestock trampling event can wipe out entire redds (fish nests) killing thousands of protected fish eggs and baby fish.
Fish need water, water use to supply stock tanks on public land and diversions that irrigate private pasture those cattle use on the off-season robs fish of the water-flow they need to survive and thrive.
I was recently interviewed by a local (Challis, Idaho) paper in response to Western Watersheds Project’s series of letters notifying government agencies of our intent to sue across central Idaho to ensure public land livestock management doesn’t unlawfully impact Bull Trout, Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Sockeye salmon. The report was honest to the issue at hand – wildlife, a rarity for this state’s media – so I thought I’d post it :
Commissioners work with feds to head off grazing lawsuits. Todd Adams – Challis Messenger
It’s time to do something about the egregious mismanagement of these important and valued Idaho fisheries : Read the rest of this entry »
This past week, an amendment to allow guns in national parks and wildlife refuges was attached to the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights in the U.S. Senate.
Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva, Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands objects :
Credit card reform should not come through the barrel of a gun – Grijalva News Release 5/15/09 :
“When it comes to credit cards, doing the right thing and playing by the rules just doesn’t work because the companies are engaging in unfair and deceptive practices.
“And this past week, members of the Senate did the same thing, adding an unrelated and dangerous amendment to the credit card reform bill, without any real debate.
“There is no reason to be tacking on irrelevant provisions to “must-pass” bills. Knowing that the President has said he wants the measure by Memorial Day, it’s a cheap way to sneak in provisions that should be fully and openly debated on their own merits.
Update May 13: The Salt Lake Tribune publishes an important Editorial on the recent news: Saving sage grouse :
A funny-looking bird that fluffs its feathers to dance an elaborate mating rite just might be able to accomplish what well-funded environmental groups have been struggling to do for decades: bring about regional protection of vast swaths of Western lands.[…]
[…]In protecting the sage grouse, we protect ourselves and the scenic wonders we treasure from the headlong rush to extract more fossil fuels, to pollute our air, and to mar our most fragile landscapes with excessive ATV traffic.
The Guardian is running Todd Dvorak’s piece on WWP’s recent successful argument in federal court to keep its West-wide comprehensive litigation in one courtroom :
Judge rejects splitting up suit over Western bird – Guardian vi AP
The New York Times ran a clip of the piece as well .
This ambitious case is a big deal and promises to be a headache for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, whose promise to clean up Interior is being tested by the suit in a manner that moves beyond photo-ops and talking-points.
Will Salazar do the right thing for Western public landscapes and wildlife for real ?
Scope of litigation - map © Advocates for the West & Conservation Geography - click to view enlarged map
Judge B Lynne Winmill ruled in favor of Western Watersheds Project ordering that the group’s comprehensive challenge of over 16 Resource Management Plans, directing management of over 30 million acres, can be litigated in his single court.
Resource Management Plans (RMPs) guide management of livestock grazing, off road vehicles, energy development, and other potentially environmentally harmful administered uses of public land.
WWP argues that Bush BLM’s collective Resource Management Plans constitute a systemic effort to undermine fundamental environmental laws of the United States thereby threatening many imperiled species using the example of mismanagement and failure to consider impact to sage grouse – an imperiled landscape indicator species (‘canary in the coal-mine’ of sage-steppe habitat) across millions of acres.
Read the rest of this entry »
Obama names nominee to oversee national forests. By Jeff Barnard. Associated Press Environmental Writer.
This is the major nomination all interested in the U.S. Forest Service have been awaiting. Wilkes is a career civil servant, currently serving in Mississippi. The article suggest that this appointment means Obama puts a low priority on the issues of the national forests.
Wildearth Guardians has used satellite images and public land records to show the massive damage grazing of sheep and cattle does to the soil, water, forage, and wildlife of our public lands, including the spread of non-native invasive weeds.
Study: Grazing threatens wildlife habitat in West by Scott Sonner. Associated Press
The Allison-Berg Allotment, which lies east of Riggins, is in occupied bighorn sheep habitat where disease is a real concern. It appears that the Nez Perce Forest may follow the Payette National Forest’s lead on how to deal with domestic sheep allotments in bighorn sheep habitat.
The allotment has not been used since a federal judge ruled in favor of protecting bighorn sheep in 2007.
Officials to reconsider sheep grazing
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Scope of litigation - map © Advocates for the West & Conservation Geography
This morning arguments were heard in federal court concerning a Justice Department’s motion to split up WWP’s giant (over 25 million acre) BLM lawsuit into several district courts rather than to have one judge hear the case.
Lawyers ask judge to split sweeping grazing suit – Todd Dvorak, Associated Press
Laird Lucas, WWP’s lawyer and Executive Director of Advocates for the West, refuted the government’s motion to split the case :
Laird argued :
Group seeks halt to phosphate mine expansion in SE Idaho. By Gene Johnson. AP legal affairs writer
A lawyer for a group of environmentalists, landowners and outdoor enthusiasts asked a federal appeals court April 7 to at least temporarily block the expansion of a phosphate mine in southeastern Idaho…
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Note that on April 10, there was a big legal victory in the 9th Circuit court for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and conservationists fighting this mine. I haven’t seen any media on it yet. Ralph Maughan
Auction saboteur gets letter demanding $81K. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and BLM deny responsibility. By Patty Henet. The Salt Lake Tribune.
Why did he get this letter? Who wrote it.? It seems odd.
Park concerned about Sylvan Pass costs. By Gazette News Services. Billings Gazette.
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Prior to the season, financially strapped Yellowstone Park wanted to abandon the costly effort to keep this high altitude entrance open. News reports were that VP Dick Cheney personally intervened to overrule the NPS.
Now we see the cost.
Federal officials are asking people to stay out of caves in states from West Virginia to New England, where as many as 500,000 bats have died from a disease called white-nose syndrome.
The Fish and Wildlife Service made the request to guard against the possibility that people are unwittingly spreading the mysterious affliction when they explore multiple caves. There is no evidence that the disease is a threat to people.
Advisory Against Visiting Caves. Associated Press.
Salazar is drilling home renewables’ new power.By Michael Riley. The Denver Post
Wilderness Bill Clears the House on Its Second Go-Round. By Mireya Navarri. New York Times. Published: March 26, 2009
Why We Need Wolves In Our Parks. Todd Palmer and Rob Pringle. The Huffington Post.
It appears that there is not really specific details as to what kind of development these resorts can proceed with and seems to allow for water parks and numerous other “suburban” style theme park facilities which conservationists object to on public lands, they have a valid point.
Summer at the ski resorts: Congress must proceed very carefully with Udall’s bill. By Erika Stutzman. The Daily Camera.
This is a turn of events regarding OHV’s and the minimal fines that have been applicable in Montana. Currently fines are roughly $50 per offense, this Bill proposes $500 and jail time.
Bill proposes stiff fines for off-roading on closed lands. By Kahrin Deines. Montana Standard.
House Votes Down Omnibus Public Lands Bill. House rules requiring a two-thirds vote proved to be its undoing. By Bill Schneider. New West
The vote was 282 in favor and 144 against.
I still don’t know why they didn’t consider the bill under “regular order” and with a “closed rule” (a closed allows no amendments). The Washington Post says regular order is too complicated, but I don’t see how. House Defeats Bill to Protect Wilderness Areas. By Juliet Eilperin. Washington Post Staff Writer.
I think the bill will come up against in the House. It was passed the Senate.
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3/12. Much more on the temporary(?) derailment of the bill.
House Rejects Massive Public Lands Protection Package. ENS
Ill-fated Rocky Mountain National Park bill snagged again. Wilderness designation held up by rules change. Coloradoan.com|
Proposal that would protect public wild lands in Oregon and across the nation loses in the House by two votes. By Charles Pope. Oregonian.
‘Temporary setback’ for Wyoming Range bill. By John Barron. Casper Star Tribune.
Southern Oregon wilderness push hits snag. Public lands bill with proposed Soda Mountain and Copper Salmon areas fails. By Paul Fattig. MailTribune.com
In Colorado: Coffman, Lamborn blasted for vote on wilderness. Aspen Times.
Tucson, Arizona
Today, a federal judge reversed the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to allow livestock grazing on 412,000 acres of public land managed by the Bureau’s Kingman Field Office. Saying, “Cattle are not ghosts. They are bigger and heavier than any native wildlife,” Administrative Law Judge Andrew Pearlstein admonished the BLM for not sufficiently considering the impacts of cattle grazing on four livestock allotments before issuing the permit.
The judge determined that the BLM failed to justify any economic need for the decision, failed to provide any site-specific information on fences, watering sites and other range developments, failed to consider retiring the area from grazing, and failed to meaningfully analyze the potential environmental impacts of grazing on annual ephemeral vegetation. Western Watersheds Project (WWP) had raised all of these points in its appeal of the decision in October of 2008.
The four allotments – Planet, Primrose, Alamo Crossing, and Crossman Peak- have not been grazed for 18 to 25 years. The area includes two federally-designated Wildernesses, the Bill Williams River, and habitat for desert tortoise, bald eagle, and bighorn sheep. Additionally, hundreds of archeological sites have been recorded within the allotments. The region receives just 3 to 7 inches of rain a year and summer temperatures reach near 110 degrees.
“We’re pleased that the Judge recognized the detrimental effect of livestock on soils, vegetation, and riparian areas. It is great that such a large expanse of desert will continue to be spared those impacts,” said Greta Anderson, Arizona Director of Western Watersheds Project. “It’s also a good reminder to the Arizona BLM that they have a statutory obligation under the National Environmental Policy Act to take a hard look at their proposed actions.”
Western Watersheds Project works throughout the west to restore watersheds and wildlife. http://www.westernwatersheds.org/
Judge Pearlstein’s Order can be found at WWP’s web site at this URL: http://www.westernwatersheds.org/legal/09/az/alj_kingman_decision.pdf
His predecessor, Dirk Kempthorne, former Idaho governor, filled DOI with Idaho people, most of them long time foes of conservation, with scores to settle with Idaho conservationists.
Secretary Salazar’s people certainly have a different policy perspective, but almost all are coming from just one state — not surprisingly his home state.
This brief article is about the appointment of an “economic-stimulus money ‘czar’ ” at DOI.
Hickenlooper aide headed to Interior Department. The Denver Post
Congressmen to hear resident’s testimony
By Thomas Dewell, Jackson Hole, Wyo
McCarthy’s testimony will focus on the Outdoor Alliance’s perspective that public lands are vital in combating climate change because of their role in ecosystem adaptation, their natural ability to sequester carbon, their potential for renewable energy projects such as wind farms and solar arrays, and that they provide the opportunity for Americans to stay connected to the natural world.
States are discussing the concept of trimming due process and the rights of those contesting development activities by writing new legislation to cut out possible lawsuits for mining and other industries and claiming that it’s jobs vs the environmentalists.
Environmental rules at risk in downturn
By The Associated Press
Bill aims at curbing green group lawsuits
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
This is important news for management of public lands in sage-steppe country.
Sage grouse in flight, Bruneau uplands © Ken Cole 2008
Judge rules in southwest Idaho grazing case – AP
A federal judge has directed the Bureau of Land Management to rethink the way it manages grazing across thousands of acres of southern Idaho, especially the impact livestock have on sage grouse and other threatened species.
Following the intense Murphy Complex Fire that swept through southern Idaho a couple summers back, wiping out 76 sage grouse leks, intense political pressure to turn the cows back out quick largely eclipsed consideration for sage grouse, pygmy rabbits, and other wildlife displaced onto the remaining habitat spared the blaze. To give an idea of the regard for habitat in this part of the country, Ralph Maughan took photos of cattle grazing post-burn – Bad practice when one hopes to restore the landscape.
Given the critical importance of the remaining habitat in Jarbidge country, conservationists quickly filed suit to ensure wildlife wouldn’t take the short-end of the stick given BLM’s plan to fold and continue “grazing-as-usual” on over 625,000 acres following the fire.
The question:
When fire (or any catastrophic event) wipes out huge swaths of wildlife habitat, how should that affect management of wildlife values versus livestock on those remaining landscapes so important to remaining wildlife ?
It’s the Wilderness, Stupid
By Bill Schneider
The stimulus bill contains a rare infusion of major money for projects related to wildlife, fish, forest thinning, repair of decaying infrastructure, and more (folks are still looking).
If used correctly, this could create a lot of jobs and really improve the environment and local economies. If used wrong, long-lasting damage could result.
Bill Schneider thinks it will be positive. Parks and Wildlife Get Stimulus. Obama’s massive spending bill funds national park infrastructure and finds innovative ways to improve fish and wildlife habitat. By Bill Schneider. New West.
The devil is in the details, and what projects and what kind of projects get funded will depend on the competing wishes of green groups, brown groups, local and state public officials, individual activists, etc. So keep alert.
Can America’s West stay wild? Christian Science Monitor
Between 1970 and 2000, nonlabor jobs fueled 86 percent of this growth. Mining, timber, and agriculture (including ranching) contributed only 1 percent. Now, 93 percent of jobs in the West have no direct link to public lands, says Rasker. But wilderness areas, in conjunction with infrastructure like airports, correlated closely with areas that saw the greatest growth.
related: The Columbia Basin Pygmy Rabbit Is Now Genetically Extinct
Bill would block killing of wild horses, burros
“It is unacceptable for wild horses to be slaughtered without any regard for the general health, well-being, and conservation of these iconic animals that embody the spirit of our American West,” Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.V., said in a statement.
By SANDRA CHEREB – Associated Press Writer
Meanwhile, back in Utah…
Resolution supporting horse slaughter passes
The Salt Lake Tribune
And in Wyoming…
Lawmakers decry interference in horse slaughter
By MARJORIE KORN – Associated Press writer
And in Montana…
House takes up bill to approve slaughterhouse
By JOHN S. ADAMS – Tribune Capitol Bureau
Parks and Wildlife Get Stimulus
Obama’s massive spending bill funds national park infrastructure and finds innovative ways to improve fish and wildlife habitat.
By Bill Schneider, 2-14-09
Northern Rockies Wilderness Bill Back in Congress
After many years of failure, will this be the year?
By Bill Schneider, 2-11-09
This Bill is sponsored and presented by Raul Grijalva among others but is widely opposed by the usual suspects from Wyoming and Idaho…
Lummis should vote for public lands bill
Star-Tribune Editorial Board
Policy review touches on Grizzly Bear management.
Grizzly advocates see policy shifting
By BRETT FRENCH – The Gazette Staff
By Mark Jaffe – The Denver Post
Agency denies request to protect 165 species
The Associated Press
WildEarth Guardians petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list 165 species under the Endangered Species Act. They denied the request but said that some may warrant protection.
Here’s the link to WildEarth Guardians’ web site. Currently there is no press release in response to this decision.
Legislator takes aim at feds and ‘eco-terrorists’
By Bob Bernick Jr.
Deseret News
Salazar promises reform, but is it enough?
Since Ken Salazar took over as Interior secretary, his first order of business has been undoing the last business done by the outgoing Bush administration. Read More…
By David Frey, 2-04-09
DEQ issues ozone alert for Pinedale. By Jeff Gearino. Casper Star Tribune.
This is incredible. “The judge said he felt Dial [the defendent] . . . had been ‘selected out for prosecution’ on a conflict charge that ‘high executives in our government violate all the time.’ ”
Hence the small penalty. I’ll bet the Bush crooks pretty get away with everything. America’s double, or is it triple, standard of justice. 😦
Former federal minerals official gets probation. By Ken Ritter. Associated Press Writer
Thurston County Superior Court has ruled in favor of Dr. Steve Herman and Western Watersheds Project deciding that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) violated the State Environmental Protection Act when issuing grazing permits on its state wildlife areas without undergoing environmental analysis. The state and Washington Cattleman’s Association had claimed that such analysis was not required as the lands had been grazed in the past under a ‘verbal lease’ – a handshake, and that this arrangement exempted the parties from the need to undergo the analysis.
Court faults Fish and Wildlfie for granting Kittitas grazing lease – Yakima Herald-Republic :
Steve Herman, the Thurston County resident who filed the suit on behalf of the Western Watersheds Project, a regional conservation group based in Idaho, called last week’s ruling “a very clear-cut victory for those of us who would preserve some wildlife areas for wildlife.”
Whiskey Dick Wildflowers © Katie Fite, WWP (click to view slideshow)
The Whiskey Dick/Quilomene Wildlife Area was acquired by the people of Washington as critical wildlife habitat to preserve steelhead fisheries, big game, and other wildlife including the state-listed Greater Sage-grouse and other sage-steppe obligate species.
Sage Grouse Distribution in Washington State(click to enlarge)
The Wildlife Area is particularly critical for Greater Sage-grouse in Washington, whose populations have been significantly diminished given fragmented and degraded habitat, leaving the bird teetering on the brink of extinction in the state.
The Wildlife Area is located directly between the two remaining populations of sage grouse in Washington state, providing a critical link, a habitat corridor. Grazing the area threatens this habitat, potentially exacerbating the isolation between the two remaining sage-grouse populations.
Transmission lies Grist Environmental News and Commentary
Carol A. Overland posits the idea that a new electrical grid is “an enabler of dysfunctional energy planning and profit-driven projects that are against the public interest.”
Producers in 7 Montana border counties would need to test, vaccinate. By Tom Lutey. Billings Gazette.
This is a non-scientific Poll concerning the management of wild bison in Montana…
To vote in this online poll in the Bozeman Chronicle:
Scroll to the bottom of this link to find the question:
Do you think the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks should take over sole responsibility for managing wild bison in Montana?
Then vote.
Update: Poll results.
This is an interesting development in the DOI agenda under Secretary Salazar with this being his first public comment on his plans for a national preservation program. The questions begin with concerns about whom the actual beneficiaries would be? And just how would this program be implemented by anti-federal regulation interior western extractive interest promoting state legislative bodies? Another concern would be just what the definition of a “working farm” is with regard to such a program and would it really be considered “change”?
Salazar to take preservation nationwide – Interior secretary to use Colorado land-conservation program as model
by Joe Hanel – Herald Denver Bureau
“Salazar to revisit recent Interior Department actions. The department’s new chief will review many of the energy and environmental decisions made in the waning days of the Bush administration.” By Jim Tankersley. LA Times.
Bush oil-shale rules to get review. By Mark Jaffe. The Denver Post
Unlikely Allies. Owyhees Initiative unites warring factions. By Deanna Darr. Boise Weekly.
I’ve never been much of an enthusiast for the Owyhee Country because my picture of it is scenic, vertical-walled deep canyons with piles of manure and cheatgrass separating them. With the passage of this “unique Idaho solution,” almost everything will stay the same. Apparently the “model for the future” is more of the past.
What threats to the scenic canyons does the OI’s passage prevent?
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Note: it hasn’t truly passed yet. It must clear the U.S. House of Representatives. It is part of the Omnibus Public Lands bill, about why we have posted a number of articles.
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Photos: Scenic canyons. Big Jacks Creek. Trashed uplands.
“Hayes is vice chairman of American Rivers and a senior fellow of the World Wildlife Fund, advising that group’s president on climate issues.”
Story: Hayes to be No. 2 at Interior. By H. Josef Herbert. Associated Press.
This seems to be a reasonable conclusion made by Dr. Bechta and Dr. Ripple who studied the Lamar Valley’s rehabilitation of cottonwood and willow following wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone NP. These researchers feel that wolves, if returned to the Olympic Peninsula, would help restore the flora as well as a balance in the fauna in the national park. They claim that elk are an obstruction to forest health by feeding on the young trees which appear to be unable to thrive there.
The essay is by By Laura Paskus.
Department of Interior Secretarty Dirk Kempthorne swung into Boise, Idaho in a fleet of black Escalades yesterday to attend a luncheon in honor of his “public service”. While industry leaders met with Idaho’s politicos to celebrate Kempthorne’s ‘achievement’ Western Watersheds Project’s Katie Fite, Ken Cole and indie rock band Built to Spill bassist guitarist Brett Netson stood in the snow to bring attention to Kempthorne’s dismal record at Interior :
The protesters called attention to unethical actions of staffers in the department, which they say occurred during Kempthorne’s leadership and under the direction of his predecessor Gale Norton.
Yeah, let’s not forget all these midnight regulations, the attempt to gut the ESA (in a number of ways), the free-for-all oil & gas extravaganza and any number of other transgressions that occur(ed) under Kempthorne’s watch.
But Dirk, like any crafty politician, has never been one to let the truth stand in the way of a good talking point double-speak :
The “Darth Vader” of the national forests is poised to strike again during the Administration’s deaththrows. Former timber lobbyist Rey, who bosses the Forest Service, will try to set in stone the plan to make it easier to turn the remote backcountry to ugly, tax-draining subdivisions.
This is on behalf of Plum Creek Timber who would rather sale for subdivisions their timberlands interspersed with national forest land rather than grow trees. Plum Creek has about 8 million areas, mostly as the result of the 1864 Northern Pacific Land Grant.
This continues the host of housing policies of the Bush Administration which have caused a collapse of the economy of the United States and plunged the entire world into a recession. Fortunately, Obama can reverse this. In fact, he specifically referred to this during has campaigning in Montana.
U.S. Forest Policy Is Set to Change, Aiding Developer. Shift Would Let Firm Pave Logging Roads. By Karl Vick. Washington Post.
Mark Rey
“We need Interior decorating.” By Brian Horejsi. Colorado Springs Independent.
My view is that consensus decision-making, bargaining over what the rules and law are, destroys respect for the law and makes the country lawless, as we have seen with the Bush Administration where law and the Constitution are no barrier to what friends want to do. For example, let’s let the developers, bankers, no account mortgage seekers, and Wall Street investment firms decide what rules they like, if any. Ralph Maughan
This is according to USA Today. By Emily Bazar.
In response to President-elect Obama’s decision to name rancher Ken Salazar Secretary of the Interior, a selection widely celebrated by extractive industry groups and current Bush Interior head Dirk Kempthorne, grass-roots wildlife, public land, and animal rights activists continue to scratch their heads with dismay. It’s a bitter pill.
Despite Salazar’s abysmal record, Ralph (and many perhaps wiser than myself) have expressed the need for patience and continued effort pointing to the fact that the transition team’s choices regarding Salazar’s under-secretaries/agency-heads will likely be more important indications of Obama’s actual intent for Change of an Interior Department despoiled by corruption, greed, and extractive industries’ uninhibited will.
Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility has released a list of suggestions to fill these important positions for the transition-team to mull over – a list of “whistleblowers and reformers”, many whose integrity and real ability previously cost them their jobs.
PEER’s Press Release :
| Grijalva steps up to the plate and goes to bat against another Bush Interior “midnight regulation” aimed at looting sacred water for the Peabody Western Coal Company while tribes perform spiritual ceremonies.
Dang, if you listen close – that sounds like a John Prine endorsement to me ! |
Update 12/12 : Another Endorsement for Grijalva – Rep. Grace Napolitano backs Grijalva
Update 12/12 : Another strong Endorsement for Grijalva – Raul Grijalva Great Choice of Secretary of Interior – Howard Shanker – Huffington Post :
Once the land is gone or ruined, it cannot be bailed out by throwing money at it. The Secretary of Interior needs to be committed to the effective and comprehensive management of public lands. Grijalva understands this need and stands ready to fill the currently existing void in responsible federal land management.
WWP is funded by the financial contributions of our members, and without your help we could not carry out our critically important and successful work to protect and restore western watersheds and wildlife.
Nothing speaks more clearly than a good photograph about why WWP works so hard to change the management of western public lands. Please take a look at this photo taken in October 2008 of a riparian landscape degraded by cattle on Forest Service administered lands in the Little Lost River watershed of central Idaho.
106 117 130 grassroots groups (and growing) from around the country signed a letter to President-elect Obama’s transition team officially endorsing Grijalva for Secretary of the Interior.
Green Groups Galvanize Behind Grijalva For Interior Secretary Press Release – PEER
Read the letter [pdf]
As a decision approaches, the other name heavily floated as among those on Obama’s short-list for the position, Blue-Dog Democrat Mike Thompson, has a record that sheds some light onto previous uncertainty as to how he might lead at Interior. Of particular interest to among those of us here is Thompson’s past vote rejecting a congressional attempt to prevent federal expeditiures on Wildlife Services lethal predator control.
More history on Dailykos Diary
*Update 12/10: AP shows Grijalva on top of list Name by name, Obama’s Cabinet taking shape, Thompson & John Berry, National Zoo director, former executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation also on AP’s list.
A number of these are in the Department of Interior. You can never get rid of these assholes.
Administration Moves to Protect Key Appointees. Political Positions Shifted To Career Civil Service Jobs. By Juliet Eilperin and Carol D. Leonnig. Washington Post.
Rocky Barker takes note :
Two months before Obama’s inauguration, cattle ranchers declare a new ‘War on the West?’
This aggressive political posture in response to the prospect of change has been characteristic of livestock associations throughout the West since the beginning of their history. The survival of their influence, relative to the public’s interest at large, is stoked by their self-inflated sense of victimization – wolves, coyotes, even bighorn sheep and pygmy rabbits – i.e. the natural world, become a perceived threat to their ‘livelihood’ and exclusive political influence (a hyper-influence Ralph Maughan has aptly likened to a Western anomaly of political feudalism – a closed system of power practiced right here in these ‘democratic’ United States). The prospect of a president who stands behind a science objectively describing the natural world’s imperiled state is a threat.
Livestock has been "Waging war on the West" for a very long time
If we’re to be honest about it – Livestock has been waging ‘War on the West’ for a very long time. Take a look at these photo galleries compiled by WWP monitors – documenting the condition of your public lands this year :
Bass, a well know writer about the western landscape and wildlife makes an unusual suggestion.
Break the Cycle: Bring Interior Back to its Roots. By Rick Bass. Guest opinion. New West.
Bureau of Land Management didn’t alert agency to drilling bids near national park. By Patty Henetz. The Salt Lake Tribune.
U.S. to Open Public Land Near Parks for Drilling. By Felicity Barranger. New York Times.
The sales are set for Dec. 19. The BLM refuses to move the date back (of course, because Bush would not be in office). If you have ever been to Arches National Park, or Canyonlands National Park or any of the backcountry adjacent to Moab, Utah, you’ll know how awful this would be.
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Added later. It gets worse. Bush officials plan to dial back environmental protections. By Renee Schoof. McClatchy Newspapers.
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Buffalo Field Campaign Blog Demarcated Landscapes
The Wildlife News 