A federal judge kicked Wyoming’s wolf management plan to the curb a few days ago. After making a few legal tweaks to the plan, the state is asking her to reconsider . . .
Conservation groups are urging a federal judge not to allow the state of Wyoming to regain control of wolves.
The groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2012. They’re challenging the agency’s acceptance of Wyoming’s wolf management plan, which classifies wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in most areas.
For 37 years, Mike Gurnett has been paid to do something lots of folks would do for free . . .
The question longtime Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks filmmaker Mike Gurnett gets asked perhaps most frequently is: “Wait, you get paid to do this?”
“It reminds me that this is a good gig I’ve got going,” Gurnett said. “I figure that every month I take the trip of a year for somebody.”
In his 37 years making documentary films and short videos for FWP, Gurnett has spanned the state, filming in some of the most beautiful locations Montana has to offer. One week he may be filming biologists collaring grizzly bears. The next, it could be elk rutting in the Missouri River Breaks or sage grouse dancing on the prairie.
The North Fork News has a report from Tim Manley of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks that they will be releasing a young female grizzly into the upper Whale Creek drainage.
The saga of Wyoming wolf management continues . . .
Wyoming wolves are back under federal projection after a ruling Tuesday by a federal judge in Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday rejected a Wyoming wolf-management plan that had declared wolves unprotected predators that could be shot on sight in most of the state. Her ruling sided with national environmental groups that had argued Wyoming’s management plan afforded insufficient protection for wolves…
Berman ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was wrong to trust nonbinding promises from the state of Wyoming to maintain at least 100 wolves, including 10 breeding pairs, outside of Yellowstone National Park and the Wind River Indian Reservation.
This probably should be getting more news coverage than it is currently receiving . . .
Native tribes from the U.S. and Canada signed a treaty Tuesday establishing an inter-tribal alliance to restore bison to areas of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains where millions of the animals once roamed.
Leaders of 11 tribes from Montana and Alberta signed the pact during a daylong ceremony on Montana’s Blackfeet Reservation, organizers said.
It marks the first treaty among the tribes and First Nations since a series of agreements governing hunting rights in the 1800s. That was when their ancestors still roamed the border region hunting bison, also called buffalo.
The Hungry Horse News has a write-up on Brock Evans, who was in the area last week . . .
Decades ago a young man named Brock Evans from Ohio spent two summers working at the Many Glacier Hotel. When he wasn’t at work, Evans was out in Glacier National Park hiking trails and climbing mountains.
Evans went on to establish a distinguished career in the conservation movement. He was awarded lifetime achievement awards by the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Council of America and the John Muir Award, the Sierra Club’s highest honor.
Growing up in Ohio, Evans had never seen mountains before coming here.
“Glacier Park is where it all started for me,” he said last week.
Over at the Flathead Beacon, Rob Breeding doesn’t think much of this whole idea of devolving federal lands to state control . . .
If your goal is to destroy hunting there’s a clear path to follow: transfer ownership of federal lands to the states. It might take a couple decades, but if you put that ball in motion this is the inevitable result.
Maybe you think I’m exaggerating? Consider the opportunities federal lands offer hunters. Montana has large accessible tracts all over the state that we can enter, without need to seek permission, or the burden of entrance fees, to hunt.
Now imagine Montana without those resources. Understand that the real impetus behind the “transfer” movement is the eventual privatization of these lands. The states will never be able to afford to manage these properties, and once title is transferred to the state, the pressure to sell some or all of these lands will be overwhelming.
Debo Powers, NFPA Vice President, wrote a nice article (with photos) concerning some of the trails-related activity on the North Fork this month. You’ll see some familiar faces.
Reminder: As we mentioned here earlier, there is a rally at noon this Saturday, September 27, in Helena to protect access to public lands. The immediate trigger for this event is a movement within Montana to give up federal lands to state control. Such a move would mean a sharp increase in the state bureaucracy, a hefty bump in the tax burden and, more than likely, lead to much of the land being sold off to private interests to help finance the whole mess. Everyone from traditional hunting and fishing groups, to motorized recreation outfits to old-line enviros is pretty wound up about this.
For more information, see the National Public Lands Day Rally Facebook page.
Here are two useful and informative links. Both are recommended reading . . .
Ben Lamb of the Hellgate Hunters and Anglers posted an excellent call to action titled This Land is Your Land.
Earlier this month, the Billings Gazette wrote an excellent, well-reasoned editorial: Putting the rhetoric to the test. This piece includes links to supporting material.
Debo Powers sent in this report on the recent Crown of the Continent Roundtable. Thanks, Debo! . . .
On September 5-7, three NFPA board members (John Frederick, Annemarie Harrod, and Debo Powers) attended the 5th annual Crown of the Continent (CoC) Conference, which was held in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada this year. The conference began with a snow storm that covered Waterton with more than a foot of snow. When the sun appeared on Thursday morning, the surrounding mountains showed the beauty and majesty of the Crown at its best. The CoC Conference brings together a diverse group of people who live and work in the Crown on both sides of the Border to connect with each other and discuss issues facing the Crown.
One highlight was the pre-conference Tribal/First Nations Roundtable to discuss perspectives and initiatives on Tribal lands. All of the presenters and speakers were indigenous people, but observers were welcome to listen and learn.
The organizing theme of this conference was “A Balancing Act.” The conference explored how our businesses, cultures, and communities are taking forward-looking actions to balance values in the face of changing economic, demographic, political, and climatic conditions. During the conference, there were numerous presentations and discussions on a variety of topics. Another highlight of the conference was small group discussions on weeds and invasives management, watershed monitoring and management, geotourism, and forest management practices. Doug Chadwick added his insights and humor during the Thursday dinner presentation where he showed pictures from the new publication “Crown of the Continent: The Wildest Rockies.”