Category Archives: Environmental Issues

New USFS study shows beetle-killed trees ignite faster

Environmental Issues, News, ,

Here’s official support, with actual numbers, for something that seems intuitively obvious . . .

The red needles of a tree killed in a mountain pine beetle attack can ignite up to three times faster than the green needles of a healthy tree, new research into the pine beetle epidemic has found.

The findings by U.S. Forest Service ecologist Matt Jolly are being used by fellow ecologist Russ Parsons to develop a new model that will eventually aid firefighters who battle blazes in the tens of millions of acres from Canada to Colorado where forest canopies have turned from green to red from the beetle outbreak.

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Glacier National Park begins harlequin duck study

Environmental Issues, News,

Glacier National Park just announced a two-year project to study harlequin ducks, which are, it turns out, pretty interesting critters. Here’s the core of the press release . . .

Glacier National Park scientists in cooperation with researchers from the University of Montana, will initiate a two-year study of harlequin ducks on Upper McDonald Creek in late April…

Harlequin ducks, a species of concern in Montana, occupy a unique niche among waterfowl. These small sea ducks spend most of their lives feeding in the turbulent surf along the North American coast. Each April, the ducks migrate inland to breed and raise their young along fast-moving, freshwater streams. They are specially adapted to feed on stream bottoms in raging water, a place inaccessible to other wildlife species. Male harlequin ducks are very striking, being slate blue, with bold white, black, and chestnut markings.

Continue to full press release . . .

Coalition pulls almost 30,000 acres from Rocky Mountain Front conservation proposal

Environmental Issues, News,

The Great Falls Tribune reports on the latest developments in the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front’s work on a proposal to provide protection for the Rocky Mountain Front . . .

Conservation groups dropped 28,937 acres in the Helena National Forest from a plan to better protect 300,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains…

The coalition’s plan to protect 275,300 acres in Lewis and Clark National Forest — 71,698 acres as wilderness and 203,602 acres as conservation management — remains in place.

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Adventures in wolf recovery ending for Ed Bangs as he retires from USFWS

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An interesting retrospective on Ed Bangs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator for the northern Rockies, who will be retiring in June . . .

Ed Bangs, who for 23 years led the effort to reintroduce and recover healthy wolf populations in the northern Rocky Mountains, is retiring from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June.

As the federal agency’s wolf recovery coordinator, Bangs was the face of the polarizing wolf reintroduction, conducting thousands of international, national, state and local interviews and holding hundreds of highly charged meetings, all to explain the effort as part of a massive public outreach effort.

At various times, depending on the stage of the reintroduction, he was heralded as a hero while simultaneously being denounced as a wolf lover or hater, depending on people’s perspective.

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SB 414, Montana Wolf Control Act, voted down

Environmental Issues, News,

From a recent email sent out by Janet Barwick, NRDC Montana Wildlife Advocate . . .

Senate Bill 414, the Montana Wolf Control Act, has been voted down in the Montana House.  This bill would have made it legal to shoot wolves on private land, at any time, even without a hunting license, endangering the hard fought recovery of wolves in the Northern Rockies. It is highly unlikely that there will be a revision of this bill before the legislature recesses on April 30th, and unlikely that it will come up again in the special session slated for June.

Montana sportsmen ask state for quick action on wolves

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

This article from yesterday’s Ravalli Republic is worth reading for context. It includes some indication of the likely quotas for this year’s wolf hunt, as well as information on the planning schedule . . .

Sportsmen’s groups from around Montana are asking wildlife officials to move as quickly as possible to implement the state’s wolf management plan once the animal is removed from federal protection.

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Idaho officials set meeting to plan wolf hunt

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Idaho is already spooling up for a wolf hunt this year. No word from Montana yet . . .

Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game plan to meet with Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter on Monday to discuss a public wolf hunting season.

“We will be ready to have another hunting season,” said Jim Unsworth, deputy director of Fish and Game.

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It’s official: wolves to come off endangered list within 60 days

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It’s official: Gray wolves are off the endangered species list in this corner of the country . . .

Federal wildlife officials say they will take more than 1,300 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list within 60 days.

An attachment to the budget bill signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama strips protections from wolves in five Western states.

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Feds want to take Great Lakes wolves off endangered list

Environmental Issues, News, , , ,

Seems like there’s also a move afoot to remove gray wolves from the Endangered Species List in the Great Lakes region . . .

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is making another attempt to remove gray wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the endangered species list.

The agency says Friday that wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin have recovered and no longer need federal protection. About 4,000 wolves roam the three states.

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Montana and Idaho wolves delisted by Congress

Environmental Issues, News, , ,

Here’s the Daily Inter Lake’s story on congressionally mandated delisting of wolves . . .

Congress passed legislation Thursday removing Montana and Idaho wolves from the Endangered Species list and returning management to the state, as part of a budget bill to continue federal funding this year.

The legislation was advanced by Montana Democratic Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus, along with Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, in the House.

Tester said the overall package is expected to be signed by President Barack Obama.

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