Alan Gregory’s Conservation NewsThe west entrance has been open for some time, but the East Entrance opened May 6 to five feet of snow. The southern gate of the Park from Jackson Hole and the Tetons will open May 13. There is deep snow here too, especially at Lewis River Divide.
The penned bison at the north boundary have been released. Hopefully they will go into the Park where grass is greening in the small lower elevation portion near the Yellowstone and Gardner Rivers.
Rocky 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.
Harsh criticism is increasingly justified in todays world of National Park and public land management, a world in which regulatory retreat from principles and regulation is the new norm and “gut and grab” politics seem to be an every day threat. One such issue deserving of harsh review is the continuous persecution of bison in the Yellowstone ecosystem. What is happening on Yellowstone’s borders is no less offensive than the corralling and clubbing of dolphins in Japan, the clubbing of seal pups off Canada’s coast, or the indiscriminate slaughter of African elephants that eventually led to massive population declines barely a decade ago.
A new superintendent of Yellowstone Park is always an event of major conservation importance. The Park’s super for the last 8 years has been Suzanne Lewis, a person not particularly favored by conservationists. She is retiring.
High-ranking park official to take Yellowstone reins in 2011. By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle.
The US Forest Service and the National Park Service are violating the law by not allowing bison the use of public lands. The grazing allotments provide the excuse the Montana Department of Livestock wants for their annual abuse of buffalo inside and outside of Yellowstone National Park.
Keep in mind, this issue has nothing to do with brucellosis, it is about political control of western lands and wildlife and about who gets to use the grass. It has always been about the noble landed elite showing the rest of us who is boss.
In the winter and spring of 2007-2008, the National Park Service “oversaw and carried out the slaughter of approximately 1,434 bison from (Yellowstone National Park), which represented approximately one third of the existing population of wild bison in the (Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem),” the group wrote in their complaint. “Such management, and ongoing commitment of NPS resources, severely restricts wild bison migrations, impacts their natural behaviors, maintains bison populations at artificially low numbers and negatively influences the evolutionary potential of bison as a wildlife species in the ecosystem.”
Hearing over hazing set for Tuesday.
Eve Byron – Helena Independent Record
With the sorry economy it is surely good we have Yellowstone Park in our area. Visit are also up at Grand Teton NP.
Yellowstone visits soar. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole Daily.
You have probably crossed Spread Creek if you visited Grand Teton National Park. It is a broad swath of gravel with a tiny stream running through the sun-baked rocks.
I didn’t know the cause of this for many years. Finally I was shown the crumbling old Spread Creek dam, a long ago scheme to irrigate to ranch pastures. Although it will take years to restore the riparian area, it is good news that this old mistake will be removed.
Spread Creek Dam removal to improve trout habitat. Project near national park will open up 50 miles of stream to migrating cutthroat. “Spread Creek Dam will be demolished to improve trout habitat and return the area to a more natural state”. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.
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
I have never been to this famous New Mexico supervolcano area with its scenic, but degraded grasslands and forests. The area is notable for its elk, but the herd is much smaller than it could be due to the competition with livestock.
In 2000 this former ranch was purchased by the U.S. government to become a national preserve, but under the rules of right wing ideology. The former ranch, as a preserve, was to be managed by the Valles Caldera Trust. It was supposed to be run much like a ranch — generate its own income by grazing, logging, oil and gas, and maybe geothermal development, and expensive visitor fees. These are hardly the rules the public expects for land it bought for scenic and environmental protection.
At the time, I wrote the whole thing off as a waste of money doomed to fail, and I forgot about it. I was right. The area could not support itself financially without destroying its amenities. Today it is overgrazed and too expensive to use, and the local public wants it transferred to the National Park Service to restore it and allow affordable public access.
There is a bill before Congress (S.3452) by Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Tom Udall (D-NM) to transfer it to the Park Service. If it becomes a national park, or some other public land unit, it will have to be rehabilitated.
RLMiller at Daily Kos has written a number of articles about it. Here is his latest. Hike On: A Valles Caldera National Park At Long Last? July 3, 2010
It (RB-51 vaccine) barely works as a vaccine. If it does work at all, it will take generations to make a difference. It might make the brucellosis bacteria more robust instead. Bison will soon become wary of people. It is expensive. Vaccinated bison will be painted. That won’t look good in a national park.
The benefit is it might increase tolerance to bison outside Yellowstone Park, although based on many years of past experience there is not one bit of empirical evidence that this is so. The great battle over bison and brucellosis is not really even about brucellosis, but about who has the political and cultural power to dominate wildlife in the Yellowstone area.
Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide.
Bison vaccine no magic bullet, Park Service says. Inoculating some in Yellowstone herd to protect cattle could make brucellosis bacteria stronger.
By Cory Hatch.
Here is a link to the actual draft environmental impact statement. You can comment on it until July 26, 2010
Studies Confirm Presence, Severity of Pollution in US National Parks. Science Daily
The worst of the problems is pesticides.
My hope is this county of inbred idiots keeps losing and wasting money until the public is totally outraged
Kane road battle turns into fight over records. By Mark Havnes. The Salt Lake Tribune
It’s not true, and on Monday the U.S. Senate will vote on his amendment that would lock in the noise for a lot more time, according to the Sierra Club. Of course you would be wise to do your own research, but below is the Sierra Club alert on this.
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Sierra Club Alert-
Restore the quiet of nature in the skies of the Grand Canyon
Timeline: The Senate votes on the destructive McCain Amendment MONDAY AFTERNOON. (may become part of FAA Reauthorization Bill unless blocked). Discussion and voting all afternoon and into evening on FAA bill.
McCain Spin: “The Arizona senator is tired of waiting for the FAA and NPS to reach an agreement over restoring ‘natural quiet.’” (AP Mar 17, 2010) Read the rest of this entry »
Story in the Salt Lake Tribune. Senate rejects move to bar new monuments. By Thomas Burr. The Salt Lake Tribune.
Last week Fox News reported with bells and whistles that the President might create a large number of new national monuments on federal land in Western States. I didn’t bother to link to the story because the leaked document clearly looked some odd page out of an EIS appendix. The areas listed were all areas that I think deserve more protection, but it was obvious to me that this leak was part of the contiuing partisan battle in Washington. The short excerpt from ?? document had been sent to Fox News for a political reason. Western Republicans quickly responded with expected outrage, calling it a “land grab.”
Today there is a story in the Salt Lake Tribune that Interior Secretary Salazar’s office said it was just a brainstorming document.
The list 021810_monumentlist.pdf
Herbert gets word: feds won’t do land grab in Utah. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar tells the governor a memo identifying potential land monuments was merely a “draft.” By Thomas Burr. The Salt Lake Tribune
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.
Massive rolling boulder rocks town of Rockville, UT. Buildings, vehicles damaged; another rock unstable. By Mark Havnes. The Salt Lake Tribune.
In the comments to this article in the SL Trib, one person wondered if folks looked uphill before they built? I have often wondered about this in towns set in deep canyons.
Earlier today “Salle” posted in our new “Have you run across any interesting news” section her views and a large number of links relating to this important (if judged by the huge amount of litigation) set of rules for using Yellowstone in the winter. There is an interesting view that rather than snowmobiles/snowcoaches, maybe it would be better to plow from West Yellowstone to Old Faithful in the winter. This would be similar to the long-standing plowing of the road from Mammoth Hot Springs out the northeast entrance of the Park to Cooke City, MT.
At any rate, an entire new set of rule-making for Yellowstone winter use is about to begin.
I thought it was an important enough news story to bring in as a “regular” post. Ralph Maughan
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“Salle” wrote on Feb. 5, 2010 at 8:29 AM
This past week Yellowstone NP has opened up for comments on winter use in the park. Recently there was a decrease in oversnow travel limits for the next two winters while this issue is addressed, once again. A big concern for the general public is that only those who can ~$150/person/day can go in to enjoy the park during winter, unless you are near the north entrance and can only go to Lamar Valley area between Mammoth Hot Springs and Cooke City. The rest of the park is only open to oversnow travel at the price noted above.
There is a massive decline in business activity for the gate communities and the only businesses that have any business to speak of are the (less than a dozen) permitees who facilitate oversnow travel.
Many, including some park officials, have been pushing for the park to just plow the road during the winter. Such a plan includes plowing from the west gate to Madison jct; Madison jct. to Old Faithful and to Mammoth HS. this would allow the general public to enter the park year round and with the regular fees that apply during the summer months. It also allows the general public to get to Old faithful and the northern sector in a couple hours rather than a five hour drive, one way, from the west gate – the major entrance to the park.
Actually it seems to me that there are too few differences in result so far to make a determination.
Glacier hazes roadside bears; Grand Teton, Yellowstone let people close. By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole News and Guide.
Back in the days before 1970, Yellowstone let people feed sandwiches and twinkes to bears along the roadside. About 60 tourists were injured a year as a result. Yet there was a great outrage from the public when the practice of roadside feeding was stopped.
Today bears are coming back to the edge or roads, but feeding is not allowed. Injuries are few to none. If injuries increase, how will the public and Park Service react?
Although this article focuses on the effects to Rainier National Park, melting could result in a deadly mudflow downriver.
Rainier’s rocks are filling riverbeds. The fallout from Mount Rainier’s shrinking glaciers is beginning to roll downhill, and nowhere is the impact more striking than on the volcano’s west side. By Sandi Doughton. Seattle Times science reporter
Initial plans are for 635 acre mine (one square mile) and would expand to over 6 square miles. The notion of a mine here has been floating around for years. Now it is serious.
Coal mine. Trucks could hurt Kane tourism. Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
I hope this new page will prove to be another site for good information on efforts to compell the Park Service and Forest Service to stop cooperating in the bison slaughter and eventually allow a significant number of bison to live on the open range outside Yellowstone Park in Montana.
See Yellowstone Bison. Western Watersheds Project.
I’m not suprised Alberta opposes it; a regressive province, but it sure works for me.
Story in the Calgary Herald.
A new park to save the plains, KansasCity.com
We already have approached this idea here in our discussion of the population decline of northeast Montana with wildlife from the Rockies, such as grizzlies and others, moving out onto the high plains on their own.
As winter comes, Montana Department of Livestock and 4 other agencies are again gearing up to kill bison that wander from the confines of Yellowstone Park under the discredited argument these will spread brucellosis.
This year they are being hit with a big fat lawsuit. Federal judge asked to end Yellowstone bison kills. AP. By Matthew Brown in the Billings Gazette. Please notice the excellent links attached to the story in the Billings Gazette.
The plaintiffs bringing the suit are Western Watersheds Project, Buffalo Field Campaign, Tatanka Oyate, Gallatin Wildlife Association, Native Ecosystems Council, Yellowstone Buffalo Foundation, Meghan Gill, Charles Irestone, And Daniel Brister.
More Media on suit.
Groups file lawsuit over Yellowstone-area bison. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole Daily.
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.
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* 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.
Todd Wilkinson has a good article on Jarvis, the new director of the National Parks System. Long To-Do List for New U.S. Parks Chief. By Todd Wilkinson, Christian Science Monitor. This is the first consolidated article on Jarvis I have seen.
As a regional director in the Park Service, Jarvis opposed the Bush Administration. He is also the first biologist to the Parks chief.
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.
New director: All of us should visits parks. Jarvis ranks protection, management of resources among his core values. By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole Daily.
As snow suddenly replaces warm late September, the fires in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and nearby are dying quickly. The Jackson Hole News and Guide reports the the 2800 acre lightning caused fire west of Jackson Lake (Bearpaw Bay fire) cooked things just right for good eating by wildlife next year and later.
Story by Cory Hatch. Light hand on the land: Bearpaw Bay firefighters use minimal tactics to contain fire in Grand Teton National Park.
Killing Bears to Save Bears. Let’s applaud Glacier Park bear managers for killing problem bears. It’s necessary to save the species. By Bill Schneider. New West.
The latest threat to the river and Glacier National Park is gold mining.
Interior chief Salazar visits North Fork. Missoulian. By Michael Jamison. BC’s indifference, I think, or at least hope, is mostly an accident of geography because no one lives in the B.C. area just north and northwest of Glacier National Park, and all the water flows into the United States.
Jarvis generally gives answers anti-conservation senators didn’t want to hear-
I think we will probably have a good Park Service Director. I suspect there may be Republican blocking tactics in the Senate like holds, but he will eventually become Park Service Director.
Senators Grill Obama’s Nominee for National Park Service Director. By Noell Straub of Greenwire in the New York Times.
A champion for national parks. The Boston Globe.
Nominee vows to protect ‘Crater Lake experience’. By John Sowell. The News-Review
When President Obama nominated Jon Jarvis to head the Park Service, I was not familiar with him.
However, the New York Times thinks Jarvis is the “best news [they] have heard in the past nine years about the national parks”
New York Times editorial. A New Voice for the National Parks.
More! 7/15/09. Parks nominee called “tops.” Jarvis, who worked through ranks, is said to value resources, understand visitor needs. Jackson Hole News and Guide. By Cory Hatch.
This may or may not be precedent setting, but it would allow public hunting in a national park. This is forbidden except in Grand Teton NP.
Editorial. New York Times. Elk Hunting in the Badlands
Enviros cheer, critics jeer report on ‘flawed’ oil leases. Bishop » Utah congressman calls it “crap,” Bennett is conciliatory. By Thomas Burr.
The Salt Lake Tribune.
From my perspective this dust-up turned out very well. 🙂
New on June. 13, 2008. Drilling decisions. Report shows flawed BLM process. Salt Lake Tribune Editorial
Most visited national parks. Jackson Hole Daily. By Cory Hatch.
Stanton was National Park Director under Clinton
Here is the news release from the Department of Interior:
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today appointed former National Park Service Director Robert G. Stanton as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Policy, Management, and Budget.
“Since beginning his career as a National Park Service ranger 47 years ago, Bob Stanton has dedicated his life to improving the conservation and management of our treasured landscapes and national icons,” Salazar said. “The Department of the Interior will benefit greatly from his vast experience, extraordinary management skill, and dedication to our public lands.” 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.
Supposedly it would be different this spring. Bison would allowed to migrate out of the Park and onto Horse Butte free from harassment until at least May 15. The reality is pretty much like recent years. Brutal Montana Department of Livestock agents and Yellowstone Park personnel on horses are chasing bison back into the Park. Helicopters harass them from above. Not just bison, but all Yellowstone wildlife on the west side of the Park are disrupted.
The whole exercise is pointless because there are no cattle in the area to which the bison can theoretically transfer brucellosis. According to the Buffalo Field Campaign, there remains just one small hobby rancher in the area who won’t have cattle on his ranch until mid- to late-June.
In case anyone has missed it, my view is that the entire point of this yearly outrage is simply to show us who really runs things in Montana, and it’s not the citizens of the state or of the United States.
Please contact President Obama. It’s time to see if our new President cares any more about this than George W. did.
Ralph Maughan
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Here is the report from the Buffalo Field Campaign.
~Update from the Field
This mama buffalo and her newborn calf have had a very difficult week.
Chaos is reigning along Yellowstone National Park’s western boundary as the thumping of chopper blades and the shouts of government agents repeatedly harass wild buffalo families and all wildlife near the Madison River. Nearly 200 buffalo – including dozens of newborn calves, yearlings, and pregnant mothers – have been ruthlessly run off of their spring habitat within the Gallatin National Forest. Agents are out harassing buffalo as this Update is being written.
Newborn buffalo calves and many pregnant buffalo cows have been run for miles through pockets of deep snow, barbed wire fences, thick forests laden with dead-fall, fast moving river currents, mucky wetlands, and steep, sandy bluffs. For these babies, it is a terrible and sometimes deadly introduction to the world. The new and developing muscles of these little ones cannot sustain such abuse. Today, mounted Montana Department of Livestock and Yellowstone National Park horsemen have picked up the hazing operation at Yellowstone’s border, after it left Gallatin National Forest land, and are currently pushing the exhausted buffalo deep into Yellowstone National Park’s interior with the assistance of the Montana Department of Livestock’s helicopter. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite how Americans love their national parks, this rarely translates into appropriations. While an big increase in appropriations is still needed, this is a significant event, which, according to the article, will also create many jobs.
National parks to get $750 million today. By Andrea Stone. USA Today.
Crapo Introduces Bill to Codify National Park Gun Rule. Gun politics is getting very interesting. Will Congress record a vote on guns in national parks? Will the President sign it? By Bill Schneider. New West.
This is all an attempt by the NRA, and its apparent auxiliary organization, the Republican Party, to generate some kind of issue to keep people from fleeing.
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Note: I am personally in favor of guns. Sometimes makes my liberal friends nervous, but I don’t think any conservationist who gets in the news should run around defenseless.
When Crapo had one of his famous colaboration meetings (on the roadless area issue) years back, I wonder if he knew some of the participants at the table were armed?
Winter visits to Yellowstone decline by 13%. Econony, late snowfall seen as likely reasons; few using Sylvan Pass. By Brett French. Billings Gazette Staff
It is disappointing to read the Park’s spokesman shrug off their big loss of money at the East Entrance. The story suggests that a bison slaugher this winter may also yet happen.
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.
Judge Blocks Rule Permitting Concealed Guns In U.S. Parks. By Juliet Eilperin and Del Quentin Wilber. Washington Post Staff Writers
Happy Birthday, Grand Canyon National Park! By Ray Stern. Phoenix New Times.
The new Logo
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
The Canadian Press: Ken Burns’ latest TV series explores America’s national parks.
Ken Burns has made a 12-hour, 6-part series that will air in September. He made the epic documentary about the Civil War and changed the way that documentaries are viewed. Other documentaries of his include Jazz and Baseball.
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.
Given the difficulty of detecting the more serious violations like these, I think it would be nice to see them get the max.
Story: 4 snowmobilers caught. Billings Gazette.
Bill Would Stop Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon National Park. ENS
Ex-Secretary of Interior Kempthorne deliberately refused to prevent this potentially massive group of developments from being halted despite protests from the Los Angeles Water District, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Coconino County and the Navajo, Hopi, Havasupai, Hualapai, and Kaibab Piute nations.
In 2008 the House Natural Resources Committee passed a resolution directing Kempthorne to withdraw about one million acres of public lands around Grand Canyon National Park from mineral entry. Kempthorne ignored the resolution.
Bush legacy leaves uphill climb for U.S. parks, critics say. By Julie Cart. LA Times.
The more I think of what Bush and has cronies did; the more I think it was like the United States was occupied by a foreign power for 8 years, and an unfriendly one at that.
I want a trial!
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.
This is apparently, though a good place to find the bleached bones of cattle, a common visual theme of cartoons of people lost in the desert.
Inane official, public actions scar Sonoran monument. By Linda Valdez. The Arizona Republic
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Update. Link to WWP Arizona Office. Great photo of cattle in Sonoran Desert National Monument 😦
The Caucus. New York Times blog. On a Sunday, the Senate Votes Yes on a Lands Bill. By Carl Hulse.
Here is the AP story. Senate boosts wilderness protection across US. By Mathew Daly.
The bill now goes to the House where there should be no challenge unless the bill gets an open rule from the House Rules Committee. An open rule permits amendments. The Rules Committee almost always follows the will of the Speaker. It is “her committee,” so to speak.
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Reaction is coming in.
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Cheers. SUWA Statement on Inclusion of Vastly Improved Washington County Public Lands Legislation in Senate Omnibus Lands Package
Federal wilderness protection for California land moves forward. By Richard Simon. LA Times
Senate votes to increase protections for land in Oregon and nationwide. By Charles Pope, The Oregonian
Another point is that Ken Salazar is still a U.S. Senator. It is smart not to resign your old job until you actually confirmed (witness Bill Richardson who is still New Mexico’s governor)
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Salazar is also pushing for 210,000 acres of protection on the Uncompahgre plateau of SW Colorado. It would be named the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. About 65,000 acres of this would be classified as the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area. This is possibly more significant than the Rocky Mountain NP Wilderness because designating the backcountry of a national park as Wilderness can be a bit redundant.
Salazar’s actions will no doubt burnish his credentialsl as future secretary of Interior.
This is a really big thing, much larger than the two parochial stories below, even though a lot of it deals with “cannonball parks.”
Here is s.22, ” The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.” This replaces the 2008 version I had up. They are debating it this weekend. Republicans are filibustering.
Last Congress the omnibus measure passed the House, but failed due to Senator Coburn’s filibuster at the last minute in the U.S. Senate. Majority Leader Reid said he would bring it up again without having the bills inside this “omnibus container” having to start at square one back in the committees of the two chambers of Congress.
Regarding Idaho, this contains the controversial Owhyee Initiative.
By Patty Henetz. The Salt Lake Tribune
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Original story in this blog from Nov. 9Utah oil and gas lease sale riles Park Service.
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Update 11-26. BLM backs off plan to issue drilling permits in Utah’s redrock country. Shoddy » Conservation groups criticize agency’s haste in issuing plans for 11 million acres. By Patty Henetz. The Salt Lake Tribune.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., sent a letter to Kempthorne saying, “this ill-advised fire sale of leases, which could irreparably harm the air, water and wildlife of three beloved national parks, should be halted.”
Grijalva, chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, has been mentioned as a possible candidate for Interior secretary in the Obama administration.
EPA Moves to Ease Air Rules for Parks. Regional Administrators Decry Decision. By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer. Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Trying to keep the air around and in the national parks has been a 30-year battle. One that is being lost. This just gives up and encourages the opposite.
Fortunately, this new regulation will probably not be completed by the end of the Administration and then dropped by Obama.
A very important recent development, in fact might kill off almost all new coal plants in the short run. I posted it the other day, but it got few readers probably because I billed it as a Nevada issue when it is actually a national victory for clean air.
Here is the Nevada story I posted. “Good news. Three coal plants planned for Nevada may have been killed.” It should probably read “EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board drives a nail into the heart of traditional coal plants.”
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More Bush giveaways
A Christmas present for oil shale developers. Oil shale frenzy. Bush rules a gift to oil companies. Salt Lake
Tribune Editorial.
The other day, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne ordered the opening of 190-million acres+ of your public lands in the West for development of geothermal energy.
He claimed national parks were protected, and, in fact, he didn’t open Yellowstone Park to geothermal leasing. However, all the land around the borders of the Park are open to development.
Development near, if not in geyser areas, throughout the world has usually destroyed them. In the guest opinion below Amy McNamara says Congress should protect the boundaries of Yellowstone.
Guest Opinion: Geothermal plan won’t protect Yellowstone. By Amy McNamara. Greater Yellowstone Coalition. Guest opinion in the Billings Gazette.
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A bit of history, the same thing happened during the Carter Administration back in the 1970s, and a huge battle was fought to protect the boundaries of Yellowstone. This was never resolved.
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Related: How the Bush Administration steals your money. This has nothing directly to do with geothermal, but it shows how this Administration is little better than thieves. They just stole an extra $140-billion for the banks. In the meantime President-elect Obama’s tax cut plan for the middle class, said by critics to be too expensive, would cost about $65-billion.
A Quiet Windfall For U.S. Banks. With Attention on Bailout Debate, Treasury Made Change to Tax Policy. By Amit R. Paley. Washington Post Staff Writer
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.
About 2 weeks ago, we reported that a federal judge had voided YNP’s winter use plan, bringing yet another change, and a big one, in this 7-year old studying, planning, commenting, and legal battle over the use and number, if any, of snowmobiles allowed inside Yellowstone Park.
Now plan’s are being made for the winter season, but the Park and the area businesses are not sure what will be legal.
Story: Where do we go from here? By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle.
8-19. Change marks Glacier’s approach to centennial. Park positioning itself to deal with new realities, emerging as a leader. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.
8-20. Glacier grabs hold of uncertain future. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.
8-21. Glacier Park: The next century – Threats from all sides. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.
The 100th year celebration of the creation of Glacier National Park in Montana on the U.S./Canada border is approaching. It’s in 2010. The Missoulian is doing a series. Here are parts I, II and III
House Natural Resoures Committee Invokes Rarely Used Powers to Block Uranium Mining Near Grand Canyon. Ascribe Newswire.
There is also an AP story on this unusual emergency action.
This is not only a threat to the scenic national park, but to the drinking water of 25-million people.
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Update: Permanent protection. Arizona Republic. Not quite, but for 3 years.
“Uranium mining and the Grand Canyon. What a terrible combination. And now it’s prohibited – at least for three years.”
“U.S. Cattlemen’s Association said Monday that the federal government should reduce Yellowstone’s elk and bison populations to keep the animals separated from domestic livestock.”
They aren’t satisfied with pushing bison toward extinction, and at the same time care little for elk in the Park or in the Greater Yellowstone.
It’s all about the cattle industry showing us who is boss and maintaining their power and privileges.
Story: Cattle group’s brucellosis proposal draws fire. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press.
Can we hear from the group Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife about this, or are the too tied to cattle to speak out?
In Montana, bison plan paused. Ranchers and conservationists are increasingly at odds, as Yellowstone herd numbers plunge. By Todd Wilkinson. Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor.
Actually, I think the genetically pure bison is now in danger of extinction and should be added to the endangered species list.
The buffalo held at Stephens Creek capture facility have been released and are heading back into the park on their own.
Bison heading back to summer ranges
On the west side of the park, buffalo are being hazed deep into the park using helicopters, ATVs, and horses from the Horse Butte Peninsula.
New rules governing air quality around national parks and wilderness could make it easier for big energy to put a power plant closer to a park or wilderness area near you :
Is that a power plant on the park horizon ? – The Washington Post
After one of the most devastating winters for Yellowstone bison to-date, the five agencies of the Interagency Bison Management Plan are announcing the implementation of a haze today that, among other things, will expect remaining buffalo calves to march 20 + miles back into the park.
Buffalo Field Campaign Blog has some comments, and the press release, issued yesterday is below.
National Geographic Society’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, in partnership with several conservation and tourism organizations (click here to see full list ), most notably Wyoming Travel and Tourism have launched a giant “geotourism” program for the Greater Yellowstone Region (click here for the main page of the project website). The effort is intended to “celebrate and help sustain the world-class natural and cultural heritage” of the Greater Yellowstone region (click here for the press release).
The project’s centerpiece is, “a community based process will create a National Geographic ‘Geotourism MapGuide’ for the region centered on Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and including communities and private and public lands in the three partner states.” In sum, National Geographic and their partners intend to give Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho an economic shot in the arm, in the form of well-heeled tourists, many from Europe, visiting the Greater Yellowstone region. Clearly, these three states couldn’t be more deserving, right?
Denali wolves wearing snares. Animals are roaming free with devices caught on necks. By Mary Pemberton. Associated Press.
Under Wyoming’s wolf plan this could happen inside Yellowstone Park because most of the packs leave the Park from time to time.
Forest Service May Move to Interior. Some See Agency As Out of Place Under the USDA. By Christopher Lee. Washington Post Staff Writer.
While this may seem new, this is one of the oldest controversies in the history of American conservation.
The Forest Service began at the end of the 19th century as the Division of Forestry in the Department of Interior. President Theodore Roosevelt and his key advisor, forester Gifford Pinchot, pushed to move the Division of Forestry to the Department of Agriculture. USDA was then a new department. Many felt it was progressive and science-minded compared to the old line Department of Interior, then properly regarded as a site of corruption. The Division was moved, renamed the U.S. Forest Service, and Pinchot became the first Chief Forester. He had a very close relation with President Roosevelt during his time in office.
Pinchot was the father of the concept that the national forests should be used for many things (multiple use), not protection of wildlife and scenery alone. In fact, he devalued these latter ideas, causing a split in the early conservation movement between the utilitarian and development minded conservationists and those who sided with John Muir — “esthetic conservationists.” Both were disliked in places like Idaho. In fact, Idaho’s senator Heyburn (an early day Larry Craig) successfully pushed legislation to stop the creation of more national forests by the President.
Park trespassing raises flags. By Daniel Person. Bozeman Chronicle Staff Writer
A 60-hour flood of water is being released from Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River in what is supposed to be renewal of the Grand Canyon’s dwindling sandbars, beaches, vegetation, and habitat for rare and endangered fish.
This is the third time such a flood has been created since the giant dam and reservoir was built in the 1960s. The project turned the warm, silt-laden Colorado into a cold and clear river that eroded away the beaches and backwaters during the artificial daily rhythm of generating hydropower.
It was felt that major releases of water every so often would mimic the floods that now longer occured and restore the river, but many who were once-hopeful say the floods have failed because they are too rare and not big enough. Others say no manipulation can restore the river from a dam that should have never been built.
Nevertheless, Secretary of Interior Dirk Kemphthorne is making a big show of the big release of water.
Questions on Grand Canyon ‘Blow Out’, By Mike Nizza. New York Times.
Western National Parks polluted by toxics from nearby and far away. By Matthew Brown. Associated Press
As I speculated in a number of threads, the hot new issue over guns in the national parks is indeed a political invention for this presidential campaign with the primary intent to stop a large number, over 60, relatively low controversy land protection measures that had been rolled into an omnibus bill.
Those promoting “the Coburn Amendment” were so effective in raising this wedge issue that few of media either knew or bothered to explain that it is an unrelated amendment to a public lands bill to designate wilderness areas, and enlarge a number of minor national park service sites.
Once Senator Coburn (R-OK) unwrapped this smelly fish of an amendment, it immediately became a partisan issue with McCain signing on as a co-sponsor and Senator Reid pulling the bill from the floor. It had already passed the House. Reid feared it would put too many Democrats in jeopardy with the upcoming election.
On most major Senate bills, senators bargain beforehand how many amendments and what kind of amendments will be offered to a bill when the bill is brought to floor. Senators of both parties generally do this is in good faith because they know their transgression of process today will come back and haunt them on their own bill tomorrow. The bargain between Coburn and majority leader Reid was that Coburn would get to offer five amendments, but this kind of amendment was not expected because Coburn had not raised this issue (guns) at all in the months leading up the floor action. Instead he had opposed the bill for being “bloated” and “too expensive.”
So Coburn will earn himself some payback, but for now he has probably blocked measures like the Wild Sky Wilderness near Seattle for yet another Congress.
Meanwhile, sensing an issue they can use, Republican Secretary of Interior Kempthorne is ordering the Park Service to see if he can allow guns in some national parks by administrative actions of the Department of Interior.
Story in the Missoulian by Michael Jamison. Park’s Gun Rules May Change.
This kind of amendment is called a “poison pill,” and Coburn and the Republicans carried it off with success.
This is great news! BP drops Flathead coal-bed plan. By Michael Jamison. Missoulian.
I recently did a story on the grave threat of these wells to the water, air and land in British Columbia just NW of Glacier National Park.
The plans for the huge mountaintop coal mine (the Cline Mine) remain, however.
Here is the most extensive article. BP Drops Coal-Bed Methane Exploration Project North of Glacier Park. Flathead Beacon. By Dan Testa.
“Wild Bill” has a good opinion piece on this. As I said earlier, this was an issue created for the election. It is not from the grassroots . . . . “This amendment and, it seems, most other gun legislation, isn’t about guns or the Second Amendment. It’s all about politics, and the gun lobby is panicked about who might be living in The White House next year.”
More Guns in National Parks. By Bill Schneider. New West.
The better to hunt elk, my dear. Wolf advocates say predators, not sharpshooters, best for national park. By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News.
WildEarth Guardians will sue over the plan to shoot 200 elk a year to control elk overpopulation in Rocky Mountain NP rather than introduce wolves to keep the elk population in check.
Weasel-like fishers reintroduced in Olympic National Park. AP. Seattle P-I.
Here is more. It’s from the National Park Service. Proposed Fisher Reintroduction.
Almost half the Senate pushes to allow firearms into national parks.
Senators push to allow guns in national parks
BY PETE ZIMOWSY of the Idaho Statesman
Here’s the editorial in the New York Times (registeration required) :
It looks like a political move more than anything ~ or pulling a cartridge out of a weapon is an undue infringement on the principle of it.
Tainted rainfall affecting parks. Agency’s report finds more ammonia in Yellowstone, Glacier. By Mike Stark. Billings Gazette.
Some good news for the vast, but increasingly threatened boreal region of Canada.
Canada creates huge protected forest reserves. Area as big as 11 Yellowstones offers buffer from oil, mining. AP in MSNBC.
The final decision for winter use for Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks has been signed. Sylvan Pass will remain open this winter with the use of howitzers and helicopters for avalanche control despite the huge cost of doing so for a trickle of snowmobilers.
The Park Service, however, will not send personnel up to shoot shells into the snow if they deem it too dangerous, as has been the case in the past. So at least Park employees will not be expected to sacrifice their lives for the perceived benefit of a few Cody, Wyoming businesses.
Once again, I think this illustrates what I said about Cody, Wyoming as Wyoming town most negative to wildlife and sound management of Yellowstone Park in the public rather than a parochial interest.
Story in the Casper Star Tribune. Sylvan Pass will stay open. By Whitney Royster.
There is a huge problem at Banff NP because of the 4-lane Trans-Canada highway that bisects the Park. There are also way too many elk in the Bow River Valley near the town of Banff.
An experiment is underway to try to make fences and highway underpasses tilted in favor of elk predators.
Use of underpass fencing sets up Banff elk for predators. Officials hope experiment will reduce numbers. Cathy Ellis, Calgary Herald
I can hardly believe this to be a real initiative, if only because the politics of any real push for this would be just devastating to the Democratic Party. Nevertheless PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, has issued this news release.
As a side note, does anyone know about this controversy over the National Bison Range — the Indians versus the federal government? I read some headlines, but I didn’t get around to reading the story.
Update 11-9: This story from a Montana TV station gives a somewhat different view of the hearing. Proposed bill that would effect management of National Bison Range debated.
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Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
For Immediate Release: November 6, 2007
Contact: Carol Goldberg (202) 265-7337
TRIBAL TAKEOVER OF NATIONAL PARKS AND REFUGES ON FAST TRACK — Legislation Would Set “Targets” for Transferring Jobs and Funds to Tribal Control
Washington, DC — This week, Congress will consider legislation that directs the Interior Department to turn over many national parks, wildlife refuges and other operations to tribal governments under virtually permanent funding agreements, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). National parks such as Redwood, Glacier, Voyageurs, Olympic and the Cape Cod National Seashore are among the 57 park units in 19 states listed as eligible for tribal operation, as are 19 refuges in 8 states, including all of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuges and the National Bison Range in Montana.
This Thursday, November 8th, HR 3994 by Representative David Boren (D-OK) is slated for hearing before the full House Natural Resources Committee, just nine days after it was introduced. The committee is chaired by Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), the bill’s lead co-sponsor. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a followup on the earlier story on the Texas state school land board’s attempt to sell the Christmas Mountains (given to them 16 years ago as a gift). They are adjacent to Big Bend National Park.
Story: Action delayed in land dispute. Board declines to accept a bid for the Christmas Mountains site. By Gary Scharrer. Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
Woodland caribou population is down to ten or less and grizzlies only 60 in Banff in 80 in the Kananaskis country to its south.
Grim for grizzlies. Gloom and doom’ for Banff’s ursine residents, says park report. Cathy Ellis, Calgary Herald.
By contrast both Glacier NP and Yellowstone NP each have over 200 grizzlies with about 300 more nearby outside these national parks.
The Opal mountain range in the Kananaskis country. Grizzlies struggle here and northward in Banff. Photo copyright Ralph Maughan
The Missoulian has this: Brucellosis plan divides state’s cattle groups. The Montana Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Cattlemen’s Association are split on Schweitzer’s thoughts of breaking the Yellowstone region from the rest of the state with regard to brucellosis-free status. Brucellosis has been used to stir up the annual slaughter of Yellowstone’s wild buffalo by Montana’s Department of Livestock.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is the need for a permanent solution to the Yellowstone Park brucellosis problem. The disease has been purged from Montana’s cattle herd for more than 20 years. The only reason it persists as a threat today is because bison and elk in Yellowstone Park carry the disease.“A lot of folks would like to see ranch practices applied to Yellowstone,” Seidlitz said.
I’d prefer to see wild buffalo and elk in America’s first national park.
Study: About 240 grizzlies live in Glacier park. USA Today .
Earlier, we have discussed the DNA population size study for the entire NCDE (at least 550). This is the first breakout I have seen for just the Glacier NP portion of the NCDE.
The antiquated 1872 mining act is not just a rip off of the taxpayer, but with rising mineral prices, it is a great threat to our most scenic areas because that law says mining always comes first, and thousands of claims are being staked.
Here is an article from the LA Times, and you can find many similar ones on-line.
Mining claims near wilderness areas in state [California] seen as threat. Wilderness areas in the state could be affected by pollution, public land analyst says. By Margot Roosevelt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer.
More than 21,300 mining claims have been staked within 10 miles of California’s national parks and monuments and federal wilderness and roadless areas, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Land Management records released Monday.
This list and story were the result of a comment by Secretary of Interior Kempthorne followed up by publicity and work by the Idaho Statesman with help from Dr. John Freemuth, a political scientist, at Boise State University.
I certainly like the idea of a Mesa Falls National Monument of 200,000 acres which would correct omissions made by Congress back in 1872 when Yellowstone Park was established.
The Lewis and Clark National Monument for the Clearwater country is a much needed proposal.
I doubt we will get any national monuments from Bush, although some of his “black site,” currently unlocated prisons (where they do not torture) may be eventually declared national historic sites like they did some of the Japanese-American interment camps from the 1940s.
Story by Rocky Barker.
A correction to the Idaho Statesman story . . . while it is true no more national monuments can be designated in the state of Wyoming by any President (part of the legislative settlement on Grand Teton NP in 1950), Cave Falls is not unprotected. It always has been inside Yellowstone Park (although not far).
Photo of Cave Falls on Google Earth. It’s safely inside Yellowstone Park.
This new bison hunt is controversial, but I see as necessary in the short run because of the continued winter feeding of elk in Wyoming, which by default also means feeding bison in the winter. It is controversial because it is hardly a hunt. It is a herd reduction measure.
The Yellowstone bison are not fed and leave the Park looking for food, and the herd is largely self-regulating. The Jackson Hole bison are limited only by summer range, having plenty of artificial feed during the winter. As a result, Grand Teton National Park has an excess of bison, and the herd just keeps on growing. The Jackson Hole bison have little winter mortality, and they are increasingly taking over the valley floor in Jackson Hole and damaging wildlife habitat.
Everyone should note that while Montana livestock politicians are seemingly always in a panic if bison leave Yellowstone Park, suposedly because of the brucellosis infection in the herds, Wyoming livestock politicians are much more interested in keeping the winter feedlots open even though that perpetuates a brucellosis disease rate far higher than in Yellowstone Park.
Once again, the bison issue and problems are really problems spawned by the livestock industry’s insistence on being first in line in the Yellowstone region.
Here is the story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. By Corey Hatch.
Another bit of bad news regarding bear. Yellowstone National Park safety manager, Ken Meyer, was injured by what is believed to be a grizzly bear along Little Trail Creek. He was hunting for black bear.
Grizzly suspected in attack on park safety manager
Mike Stark
Billings Gazette
This fire will be monitored and treated as a wildland fire (allowed to burn as long as it does not surpass pre-established conditions).
Arizona Lake and Creek are in the extreme NE part of the Park adjacent to the huge Teton Wilderness on the national forest. Much (most) of the west half of the Teton Wilderness burned in 1988 in the huge fires of that year.
Lee Mercer and I walked through miles and miles of burned timber in the West half of this Wilderness when we were writing our guidebook to the area in 1996-7. I’m not so sure that more burning in the area is harmless, given the wholesale transformation of the landscape and ecology of the area after 1988.
Story in the Jackson Hole News and Guide. Reid Fire starts near Arizona Creek in Grand Teton National Park.
The Salt Lake Tribune has an editorial today against the 1872 general mining law, which has endured attempts to reform it since the 19th century. Its harmful consequences to our public lands is increasing because of the recent rush to stake new uranium and other “hard rocks” claims.
These minerals are basically given away free under this law and the surface of the law is permanently privatized if the mining claim is patented. Meanwhile oil, gas, phosphate, potash, sulfur, coal, and geothermal, are classified as leasable minerals and bo th the federal government and the state receive receive royalties from their development.
The Tribune is not alone in covering this. Report: More Than 800 New Mining Claims Crowd Border of Grand Canyon National Park. Many Claims for Uranium: Yosemite, Arches, Canyonlands, Joshua Tree also Threatened. YubaNet.
From July 2007. Sportsmen want 1872 mining law revised. By Steve Lipsher Denver Post Staff Writer.
On Aug 27, the Washington Post had a warming article about the recent upsurge in claims under the 1872 law. Mining Our Treasures: An 1872 Law Paves the Way for a Rush of Claims in the West. By Jane Danowitz and Richard Wiles. “815 active mining claims lie within five miles of the Grand Canyon, 805 of them staked since 2003. Just outside Arches National Park in Utah, 869 claims have been snatched up, almost all within the past five years.”
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