USSAF Takes Next Step in Delisting the Great Lakes Wolves
U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, 9/1/10 [here]
Though the removal of Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the Western Great Lakes wolves has not been as controversial as the battles over the Northern Rocky Mountain wolves, things are beginning to heat up again on this front also.
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, along with five other petitioners, sent a letter [here] on August 30 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) indicating that they will sue the agency within 60 days unless it issues a finding on their petition to remove the Western Great Lakes wolves from the Endangered Species List.
The letter makes clear that the Secretary of the Interior has not responded to the May 18 petition [here] by the Foundation and others seeking the delisting of the wolves. The petitioners refer to violations of both the ESA and the Administrative Procedure Act which gives the Secretary 90 days to issue a finding as to whether there is enough scientific evidence to proceed with the delisting.
Since this has yet to take place and FWS understands that the wolf population in the region has biologically recovered, the petitioners gave the agency their notice of intent to sue. This notice is required to proceed with any legal action.
“No one wants to engage in litigation on this issue,” said Bill Horn, U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation director of federal affairs. “However, the law is the law and it is high time that FWS move forward with giving states back their rightful ability to manage their wolf populations.”
Joining the Foundation in filing the petition are the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, Dairyland Committee of Safari Club International Chapters of Wisconsin, National Wild Turkey Federation of Wisconsin, Whitetails of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Firearms Owners, Ranges, Clubs and Educators Inc.
The Departments of Natural Resources in Minnesota and Wisconsin also filed separate petitions seeking the removal of ESA protections for the Western Great Lakes wolves in March and April of 2010 respectively. … [more]
Security guard pays $1,735 for killing black bear
Great Falls Tribune, September 2, 2010 [here]
A security guard at the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club has paid $1,735 in restitution and fines for illegally killing a black bear while trying to haze the animal away from a paintball course.
The Montana Standard reports Shane Barstad paid $1,000 in restitution and a $735 fine in Justice Court in Madison County this week.
Justice of the Peace Mary Ann O’Malley says Barstad paid the penalties for the misdemeanor citation for killing a large animal out of season.
Barstad told state Fish, Wildlife & Parks officers that he killed the bear on Aug. 11 when he accidentally used a live round instead of a rubber bullet while trying to haze the bear. … [more]
Note: if the bear had attacked a paintballer, would the judge have fined the bear?
Pilot, two Fish and Game biologists killed in Kamiah helicopter crash
By Greg Meyer, KLEW TV, Aug 31, 2010 [here]
KAMIAH - A helicopter crash in Kamiah Tuesday morning claimed the lives of the pilot and two Idaho Fish and Game fisheries biologists.
According to Fish and Game officials, an apparent mechanical malfunction in the helicopter resulted in the crash at about 9:30 a.m.
The pilot and one of the biologists were deceased at the scene. The other biologist was transported to the hospital in Orofino, but Lewis County Public Information Officer Jeannette Dreadfulwater said he also died of his injuries.
Identifies of the victims are being withheld pending notification of families.
Fish and Game said the crash occurred near the Fish and Game office in Kamiah. The biologists were taking salmon redd counts on the nearby Selway River. … [more]
Oregon “Dead Zones” Sheer Quackery
A crab bounty
The Oregonian Editorial Board, August 25, 2010, 10:30 AM [here]
It was four years ago this month that a state marine ecologist described a Dungeness crab carnage off Oregon’s coast. Hal Weeks, after peering into waters off Cape Perpetua, told this newspaper the pileup looked like so many “jellybeans in a jar — you just can’t count them, there were so many.”
The ocean was killing them.
A vast oxygen-starved layer of water had blanketed Oregon’s central coast with a “dead zone” in which few creatures, including crab, could live. Dead zones of smaller magnitude had annually preceded the big killer, but the phenomenon by 2006 fueled fears that the ocean was in a strange and dangerous tailspin.
Happily, that seems now to be history.
Last week could hardly have been a better one in Oregon’s Dungeness crabbing community, which closed out the season punching up some very big numbers. The haul from the past 8 1/2 months is 23 million pounds — a figure that may well hit 25 million pounds once all pots are brought in, by the end of the month.
So far the value of the harvest to more than 400 crabbers exceeds $40 million, with tens of millions more in estimated economic impact in coastal communities. This is the fourth season in a decade in which the haul exceeds 20 million pounds, infusing families and businesses with real income. … [more]
Note: NOAA Chief Calamity Jane “Dead Zone” Lubchenco made her career by issuing Alarmist hysteria about the “death” of the Pacific Ocean. However, she was wrong. The Oregonian has admitted their error; will Jane?
Idaho Fish and Game Commission Threatens Hunters
by Rockholm Media Group, August 28, 2010 [here]
YouTube Video of Idaho Fish and Game Commission making terrorist threats to citizens in attendance at the July 2010 IDFG meeting
DNR says wolves likely killed Jackson County dog
The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, August 20, 2010 [here]
Jackson County, Wisconsin - On Monday wildlife officials (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources) responded to a call of a missing dog from a private landowner in the town of Bear Bluff in Jackson County.
After letting the beagle-mix dog out at 2 AM, the dog did not return. When it became light, the owner discovered wolf-like tracks in the driveway within 40 feet of the front steps. The tracks were mixed with the beagle dog tracks.
After searching the area, no trace of the dog was found. This incident took place 2.5 miles north of an incident where a wolf attack on a dog was verified on July 24.
After review of the evidence, the wildlife officials concluded this was a probable wolf depredation by the Bear Bluff Pack.
Related: DNR Wolf Depredations 2010 [here]
Note: Just forty feet from the steps of a property owner’s home in town, a wolf — part of a wolf pack — views a dog as a menu item. Does the family have children or grandchildren? As wolves are “protected,” people and their property — which includes children, livestock and pets — become the real endangered species by default. - JKS
Note: Thanks for the news tip to Julie Kay Smithson, Property Rights Research [here, here]
Coalition demands release of details on Ruby Pipeline $20M extortion deal
The Ogden Standard-Examiner, August 12, 2010 [here]
Members of a new coalition have formally asked El Paso Corporation to release the details of a $20 million contract between the company and environmental groups that wanted to stall the construction of the Ruby Pipeline.
County commissions from Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho and Oregon met at the Utah Capitol on Thursday to band together and figure out some way to respond to the recent news that El Paso entered an agreement with Western Watershed[s] Project that many fear puts ranchers’ grazing permits in danger.
El Paso will pay $15 million over 10 years, to form a sagebrush conservation fund, through a nonprofit third-party fund managed by El Paso, Western Watershed[s] Project, and a third individual who has not yet been selected.
The other $5 million will be paid to the Oregon Natural Desert Association.
Ranchers who depend on the use of public land for livestock grazing are most concerned about a provision of the agreement that may allow the money to be used to purchase and retire grazing permits, with the intent to decrease grazing on public land.
Dave Eliason, of Tremonton, president of the Utah Cattlemen’s Association, is a rancher who has faced Western Watershed[s] Project in court on two different occasions.
(El Paso) didn’t make a deal with a conservation group,” Eliason said. “They made a deal with the devil.”
Commissioners from 15 counties in all five states agreed that, while they remain in support of Ruby Pipeline’s construction, they would like to see El Paso back out of the agreement with Western Watershed, but for now they issued a statement requesting a full copy of the agreement. … [more]
Moose on the menu?
By Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune August 12th, 2010 [here]
Outdoorsmen say population is dropping dramatically, but state biologists say issue hasn’t been studied enough to know for sure
Wolves are killing moose.
Nobody disputes that. But how many they are killing, how often it happens and whether or not it is having a negative effect on the Idaho moose population depends on who is asked. Some hunters and outfitters say the situation is dire for moose.
“Last year, in all my time in the mountains, I saw two moose. The moose are practically nonexistent,” said Joseph Peterson, manager of the Flying B Ranch at Kamiah. “I saw two moose and I saw a dozen wolves last year. There is something wrong with that picture.”
Peterson said he gets similar reports from other outfitters around the state.
Wildlife managers at the Idaho Department of Fish and Game acknowledge moose-hunting opportunities in the Clearwater Region have been scaled back over the last five years. In some areas the reductions in moose permits offered has been dramatic. But they are careful not to place the blame squarely on wolves because there is a lack of science-based information indicating wolves are hammering moose. There is even a lack of information on the size of moose populations.
“We are concerned but we would like to have data from the North Fork study and radio-collared moose to help confirm some of the concerns we and hunters have regarding moose population trends,” said Jay Crenshaw, regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston. … [more]
Global Cooling Blamed for Increase in Rabid Vampire Bat Attacks
Peru battles rabid vampire bats after 500 people bitten
BBC, 13 August 2010 [here]
Peru’s health ministry has sent emergency teams to a remote Amazon region to battle an outbreak of rabies spread by vampire bats.
Four children in the Awajun indigenous tribe died after being bitten by the bloodsucking mammals.
Health workers have given rabies vaccine to more than 500 people who have also been attacked. …
The rabies outbreak is focused on the community of Urakusa in the north-eastern Peruvian Amazon, close to the border with Ecuador.
The indigenous community appealed for help after being unable to explain the illness that had killed the children.
The health ministry said it had sent three medical teams to treat and vaccinate people who had been bitten. …
[Experts] have suggested this latest outbreak of attacks may be linked to the unusually low temperatures the Peruvian Amazon in recent years. … [more]
MWGA on wolf decision: We need legislation
by Jim Brown, The Clark Fork Chronicle, August 06 2010 [here]
As a legal matter, the Montana Wool Growers Association (MWGA) is not surprised by Judge Donald Molloy decision to reinstate Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection to the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf population.
MWGA had its legal representation review the Final Rule delisting the Gray Wolf population in Montana and Idaho when the Rule was published in April 2009 and our attorneys concluded at that time that the Rule would not survive legal challenge due to the fact that wolves located in Wyoming were not being delisted with the other populations. Though the MWGA is as interested as any Association in proper management of gray wolves due to the losses caused by those predators to the sheep industry, MWGA decided not to intervene in the legal case in support of the delisting rule as a result of our conclusion that it was unwise as a matter of policy and legally unsupportable for the federal government to attempt to split Wyoming out from Montana and Idaho.
As a practical matter, the MWGA has no real position on whether gray wolves located in Montana should be managed pursuant to the mandates of the federal ESA or Montana’s state management plan. We find both management systems to be equally broken, although our experience tells us that federal Wildlife Services agency personnel are better at performing wolf control and location methods than state personnel and that the federal government should be the party ultimately responsible for the cost of managing and paying for the damage caused by the reintroduction of this predator species. We agree also with the State of Wyoming’s assertion that the gray wolf is “predator” species and that the gray wolf population should be managed as such and our members are disappointed that they will not be able to participate in Montana’s wolf hunt this fall.
Further, as a matter of reality, Judge Molloy’s ruling more than anything demonstrates that the Endangered Species Act as a legislative enactment is broken and in need of serious, immediate revision. … [more]
Jim Brown is Director of Public Affairs for the Montana Wool Growers Association.
Montana wildlife officials criticize Molloy decision on wolves
by Ron Aasheim, The Clark Fork Chronicle, August 05 2010 [here]
Montana wildlife officials decried today’s federal court decision that placed the recovered Rocky Mountain gray wolf back on to the federal list of threatened and endangered species.
“We believe we made arguments to the judge that he could have relied on to uphold the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision to delist the wolf,” said Joe Maurier, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. “We will carefully examine the ruling to determine what options remain open to Montana’s wildlife managers.”
While today’s decision by Federal District Judge Donald W. Molloy in Missoula takes away state management of the wolf, the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission officially asked FWP to immediately appeal the ruling to the 9th Circuit Court and to aggressively seek management options with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“If we understand the ruling correctly, Judge Molloy is telling the federal government that because Wyoming still doesn’t have adequate regulatory mechanisms to manage wolves, you can’t delist the wolf in Montana and Idaho.” Maurier said. “We simply can’t manage wildlife successfully in that environment. We must have the ability to manage wildlife, to do our job, to seek a balance among predator and prey. As a practical matter, as wildlife managers, we need the authority to respond to the challenges wolves present every day.” … [more]
Idaho fish and game statement on wolf relisting
IDFG News Release, August 5, 2010 [here]
We are very disappointed by District Judge Donald Molloy’s ruling, returning gray wolves to endangered species protection.
“This is a major setback for responsible wildlife management in Idaho. We have demonstrated our ability to conduct a hunting season in an orderly fashion,” Idaho Fish and Game Commission Chairman Dr. Wayne Wright. “It’s a shame when legal twists can trump wildlife management. This is not how the Endangered Species Act should work.”
We don’t know yet what this means for the upcoming wolf season. But for the time being we have suspended wolf tag sales until we’ve had a chance to further review the decision.
“We’re frustrated; we’re angry; we’re disappointed,” Idaho Fish and Game Deputy Director Jim Unsworth said. “We’ve played by the rules, but his decision allows procedural technicalities to overcome sound science and common sense.”
Wolves south of Interstate 90 have reverted to management under a section of the Endangered Species Act known as the 10(j) rule, allowing some flexibility to respond to livestock depredation and impacts on big game. The rule also allows individuals on private or public land to kill a wolf that is in the act of attacking their stock animals or dogs. Wolf north of Interstate 90 in Idaho are fully protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Idaho still must follow the rule of law, and we will look at all legal options to see what’s the best way out of this mess. Fish and Game still will work to resolve conflicts between wolves and other game animals, including proposals to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for wolf control actions to protect dwindling game herds and reduce livestock predation.
July Steelhead Catch Just Short Of Record
Counts Over Bonneville Dam Remain Strong
The Columbia Basin Bulletin, August 06, 2010 [here]
Based on the in-season projection through July 31, last month’s steelhead catch in the lower Columbia River fell just short of last year’s record July harvest (dating back to at least the early 1970s).
The July “kept” steelhead catch on the Columbia mainstem from Bonneville Dam 146 miles down to the river mouth was 8,213 according to preliminary estimates. The total was just eight fish shy of the 2009 total, which was taken from what turned out to be the largest upriver summer steelhead run on a record dating back to 1938. There were 601,619 summer steelhead counted passing Bonneville last year.
In all, anglers caught 15,589 steelhead during July but released 7,276 unmarked fish that are presumed in large part to be naturally produced and as such protected under the Endangered Species Act. A large majority of hatchery produced steelhead are marked with a clipped adipose fin so they can be identified by anglers as harvestable fish.
And August angling could be hot as well. Counts of steelhead climbing over Bonneville remain strong. From Jan. 1 through Tuesday 207,270 steelhead, including 95,576 unclipped fish, had passed over Bonneville’s fish ladders. That total is well ahead of the 10-year average (134,017 through Aug. 3) and actually ahead of the pace (150,733 through Aug. 3) last year. … [more]
Polar bear shot after dragging off Svalbard paddler
Nina Berglund, Views and News from Norway, July 30, 2010 [here]
A polar bear launched an unusual attack on the tent of two paddlers on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, dragging one of the young men out of the tent and carrying him around 40 meters before the other man shot the bear to death.
The dramatic incident took place on the northern coast of Nordaustlandet, one of several islands making up the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard that’s under Norwegian jurisdiction. The two men, both 22-year-old Norwegians, were in the midst of an expedition that they’d hoped would make them the first to paddle all 2,000 kilometers around the archipelago.
The expedition, called Svalbard 360, came to an abrupt end when the polar bear attacked while they were sleeping in their tent. Officials said Ludvig Fjeld, from Sarpsborg in southern Norway, more than likely saved the life of his expedition partner Sebastian Plur Nilssen of Fredrikstad, who suffered lacerations on his chest, head and neck. … [more]
Five reasons to rethink wind power
by Paul Wornham, Examiner.com, August 8, 2010 [here]
Wind power is high on the priority list for governments looking for ways to meet commitments to reduce CO2 emissions. As a renewable source of power, wind appears to fit the bill as a natural source of energy that can both provide power and be kind to the environment, but there is a down side to wind energy that may make the option less green than you might suspect.
Here are five reasons to rethink wind power as a green option:
Wind turbines need online back-up capacity …
Carbon cost of construction …
Wildlife …
Landscape blight …
Health …
[more]