Ashes and carcasses are the aftermath of failed government policies and environmental lawsuits
by Judy Boyle, Range Magazine, Winter 2008
At over 650,000 acres, the Murphy Complex Fire of last summer was the largest range fire in Idaho’s recorded history. Judy Boyle and Range Magazine tell the story of dead livestock, murderous backburns, idle firefighting crews, unkempt Federal lands, crippling enviro lawsuits, and the incineration of overgrown allotments ungrazed due to those lawsuits.
A thousand square miles of sage grouse habitat was destroyed in the Murphy Fire and 75 of the area’s 102 known sage-grouse leks, or breeding areas, incinerated. Newspapers reported flaming jackrabbits dashing across roads and spreading the fire.
For a heartrending account, please read Wildfire–Ashes and Carcasses [here].
February 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News, Latest Fire News
How the Environmental Extremists Manipulate the Masses
by Carole “CJ” Williams, January 26, 2008, NewsWithViews.com
Last March, global warming fanatic Al Gore used a picture of two polar bears purportedly stranded on melting ice off the coast of Alaska as a visual aide to support his claim that man-made global warming is doing great harm to Mother Earth. The one he chose, but didn’t offer to pay for right away, turned out to be a photo of a polar bear and her cub out doing what healthy, happy polar bears do on a wave-eroded chunk of ice not all that far from shore in the Beaufort Sea north of Barstow, Alaska.
The picture, wrongly credited to Dan Crosbie, an ice observer specialist for the Canadian Ice Service, was actually taken by Amanda Byrd while she was on a university-related research cruise in August of 2004, a time of year when the fringe of the Arctic ice cap normally melts. Byrd, a marine biology grad student at the time, was gathering zooplankton for a multi-year study of the Arctic Ocean.
Crosbie, who was also on the trip, pilfered the polar bear photo from a shared computer onboard the Canadian icebreaker where Ms. Byrd downloaded her snapshots; he saved it in his personal file. Several months later, Crosbie, who is known as an avid photographer, gave the photo to the Canadian Ice Service, which then allowed Environment Canada to use it as an illustration for an online magazine.
Today that photo, with credit given to photographer Dan Crosbie and the Canadian Ice Service, can be found all over the Internet, generally with the caption “Two polar bears are stranded on a chunk of melting ice”.
It’s a hoax, folks. The bears, which can swim distances of 100 miles and more, weren’t stranded; they were merely taking a break and watching the boat go by when a lady snapped their picture … [more]
January 29, 2008 | 1 Comment | Topic: Latest Climate News, Latest Wildlife News
The Discovery Park coyote is free to roam for another week or so without fear of being shot or trapped after it touched off a battle among residents, park advocates, city officials and the U.S. Navy.
Ken Gruver, assistant state director of wildlife services for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said Monday that his agency has agreed to hold off on any action until meeting with Seattle officials, maybe next week.
But Gruver said he is convinced the coyote is a real concern and that something will have to be done soon.
“He is getting real bold. He has killed a cat and injured a dog. He has less fear of humans than we like to see. It is at the point were it becomes a human health issue,” said Gruver.
Last week, the Agriculture Department approved the use of leg traps to catch the coyote. But worries about park visitors accidentally stepping in them, even though the traps were on private property, led to their removal. Over the weekend, Navy officials were talking about shooting the coyote, stirring city officials to action… [more]
January 28, 2008 | 2 Comments | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
A female gray wolf from Idaho’s Timberline Pack has been positively located in Oregon, using radio signals from her tracking collar. The wolf, a two- to three-year-old female identified as B-300, has been wearing the collar since she was captured northeast of Boise by Idaho biologists in August 2006. She’s now traveling in the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest near the Eagle Cap Wilderness Area, between Medical Springs and Wallowa. Biologists have observed evidence of wolves in this area over the past six months.
Aerial searches for signals from wolf tracking collars, specifically those which have been reported as missing from Idaho, helped the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife locate the wolf. A signal was picked up January 17, but the location of the animal was not confirmed. A ground search the next day turned up tracks which appeared to be of a wolf. Another aerial search January 21 failed to pick up the signal, but on January 23 the signal was picked up and a single wolf was visually identified.
This is the fifth confirmed wolf to have been found in the state. In March 1999, a radio-collared female was captured near John Day and returned to Idaho. In 2000, a collared wolf was found dead along Interstate 84 south of Baker City, and a wolf without a radio collar was found shot between Ukiah and Pendleton. Most recently, a mature female wolf was found dead from a gunshot wound in Union County in July 2007. All four animals were confirmed to have been migrants from Idaho… [more]
January 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
KODIAK, Alaska — At least 19 bald eagles died Friday after gorging themselves on a truck full of fish waste outside a processing plant.
Fifty or more eagles swarmed into the truck, whose retractable fabric cover was open, after the truck was moved outside the plant, said Brandon Saito, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who coordinated the recovery operation.
The birds became too soiled to fly or clean themselves, and with temperatures in the mid-teens, began to succumb to the cold. Some birds became so weak they sank into the fish slime and were crushed.
The truck’s contents had to be dumped onto the floor of the Ocean Beauty Seafoods plant so the birds could be retrieved. Some tried to scatter, but since they couldn’t fly, wildlife officers soon retrieved them. The eagles were then cleaned with dish soap in tubs of warm water to remove the oily slime and warm them.
The survivors were taken to a heated fish and wildlife warehouse to recover, though some were in critical condition. Saito said they would be released as soon as they were dry and strong enough.
The dead birds will be shipped to a U.S. Department of Interior clearinghouse, where Native American groups could apply to be given the birds or their feathers for ceremonial purposes… [more]
January 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
Conservative Rep. Don Young of Alaska and liberal California Rep. George Miller are going at it like wolves. Actually, like dogs and wolves. And the question, as Young sees it, comes down to: Who do you love more - dogs or wolves?
Young thinks Miller’s bill to protect wolves from aerial hunting is, well, a sheep in wolves’ clothing. What Miller calls the “Protect America’s Wildlife Act,” Young derides as the “Wolves Are Cute Act.” He says by protecting wolves, Miller’s bill would help predatory wolves continue killing pet dogs and other wildlife across his home state.
The Alaska congressman has been sending shockingly graphic e-mail letters to his colleagues with gory photos of dog carcasses, the victims of killer wolves, similar to the tactics of extreme anti-abortion literature. One of his “Dear Colleague” e-mails sent last month featured a photo too gruesome to share of a Chesapeake Bay retriever named Chesie who Young said was so viciously attacked by wolves that all that was left of her “was a couple chunks of collar sitting on top of three or four pieces of intestine.” (And that’s a dead-on description from the looks of the grotesque photo Young attached of the maimed dog, whose head and face was the only body part still intact.)
“These facts aren’t pretty, but they’re facts,” Young wrote, “and should Rep. Miller’s bill become law, more dogs will meet Chesie’s tragic fate.”
This week, another e-mailed letter from Young features Buddy, the beloved 10-year-old Nova Scotia duck-tolling retriever of one of his constituents who was ripped to shreds by wolves. This time Young spared his colleagues a graphic photo, choosing instead to include this cute picture of Buddy in happier times.
And in his letter Young proposed a solution to resolve the dog vs. wolves conflict: Let’s send Miller to the wolves… [more]
January 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
Environmentalists call federal proposal ‘recipe for extinction’ for endangered Quino checkerspot butterfly
Federal wildlife officials Thursday proposed slashing by almost half the amount of land they designated earlier as “critical habitat” for the Quino checkerspot butterfly, one of Southern California’s most endangered animals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed reducing the amount of land targeted for special treatment under the Endangered Species Act from 172,000 acres to 98,000 acres. Officials said the revision was necessary to focus on saving those areas where significant butterfly populations still exist.
As in the past, the agency’s strategy for saving the insect focuses solely on Southwest Riverside County and the Otay Mountain area of southern San Diego County —- the only known places where the butterfly still lives… [more]
January 18, 2008 | 1 Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
By Gazette News Services [here]
Five congressmen from the House Natural Resources Committee want to delay a plan to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies from the federal endangered-species list.
In a recent letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the congressmen wrote that states “hostile to wolf conservation” could reduce today’s 1,500 wolves to “as few as 300″ if the predators lose protected status.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which Kempthorne oversees, plans to announce the delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies next month.
That would allow Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to host public hunts for the animals. The states already are setting hunting seasons and quotas.
Last year, more than 140 wolves were killed in the Northern Rockies by federal and state officials and ranchers in response to wolves’ preying on livestock.
The Dec. 17 letter to Kempthorne was signed by Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.; Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.; Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.; Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.; and Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J.
Wolves in the Great Lakes region were removed from the endangered species list in 2007.
January 16, 2008 | 1 Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
The Southern California wildfires in late 2007 impacted more than humans. Wildlife also suffered. Listen to USGS Biologist Robert Fisher describe what USGS scientists discovered about the wildfire impact on wildlife by listening to episode 25 of CoreCast, the USGS podcast.
“Certain groups of animals seem to be disproportionately impacted by the fires, such as non-forest salamanders and shrews,” said Fisher. “We are not sure whether there is a physical change in the landscape after the fires where these animals do not have enough wet habitats to live in or whether there is a toxic effect of ash that may be directly causing mortality.”
Scientists are also concerned about the wildfire impact on the landlocked southern steelhead rainbow trout population in the Santa Ana Mountains of Orange County, Calif., because it may be the last genetically pure form of its kind in these mountains. Most other fish populations in this area have been wiped out over the past 20 years due to drought and flood conditions.
“When I was in the Santa Ana Mountains in July, there seemed to be a little more than 100 rainbow trout of all different size classes, scattered in about a quarter of a mile in the canyon, primarily in 10 to 12 pools,” said Fisher. “So it really is a restricted area, a restricted population, and any additional stresses in that type of situation are really going to have an impact on them.”
While examining a post-wildfire burn site, scientists observed extreme dry ravel events - a river of rocks - falling down hillsides and filling up the pools of water where the trout live. If the trout survived the dry ravel, the next impact could be when rain mixes with the dry ravel, and the mixture begins to move. This mixture could fill in the creek systems in the canyon and remove the rest of the water sources, Fisher said… [more]
January 11, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News, Latest Fire News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Federal officials said Monday that they will need a few more weeks to decide whether polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming.
The deadline was Wednesday, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it now hopes to provide a recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in time for a decision by him within the next month.
The department has never declared a species threatened or endangered because of climate change, Hall said.
“That’s why this one has been so taxing and challenging to us,” he said.
Environmental groups that petitioned to protect polar bears, arguing that warming threatened their habitat, said they would go court to ensure a timely decision.
“We certainly hope that the polar bear will be listed within the next month,” said Kassie Siegel, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity… [more]
January 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Climate News, Latest Wildlife News
By Jim Christie
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco police on Wednesday investigated whether a Siberian tiger had help in escaping its zoo habitat before it killed a teenager and injured two other people on Christmas Day.
Police told a news conference at the San Francisco Zoo that they were treating the city-run facility as a crime scene. Investigators are looking into whether the tiger, which had mauled a zoo employee last year, had been taunted before its rampage. Police also indicated they were considering whether someone might have let the 9-year-old tiger, known as Tatiana, out of its exhibit.
Police shot and killed the tiger after it turned toward them as they attempted to divert its attention from one of the injured victims on the ground.
Zoo spokeswoman Lora LaMarca said zoo officials could not comment on how the tiger got out of its habitat, a grotto surrounded by a 15-foot (4.5 meter) moat and 20-foot (6 meter) wall. “It is an ongoing police investigation and it is still being looked into,” LaMarca said.
San Francisco’s medical examiner identified the victim of the fatal attack as Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, of San Jose, California. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The two other victims, 19- and 23-year-old brothers from San Jose, were reported in stable condition at a San Francisco hospital… [more]
December 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
Rep. Stevan Pearce is expressing his discontent with regards to the direction the Mexican gray wolf recovery program is heading in New Mexico.
“I am disappointed more of my colleagues could not see the wisdom in eliminating an unsuccessful, ineffective program that has not only failed to produce results, but also threatens the lives and livelihoods of New Mexicans,” he said. “We have tried the reintroduction program for 10 years and have seen only growing problems and more wolf-human interactions.”
Pearce said he believes the time has come to concede that wolves cannot successfully be reintroduced into New Mexico, and is disappointed Congress has not yet reached that view.
“I will continue working to ensure that we are protected from these captive-bred habituated wolves,” he said. “The Fish and Wildlife Service must take active steps to better manage problem wolves and guarantee that farmers, ranchers, their families, and their livestock are not repeatedly stalked and attacked.
“I will furthermore continue working to educate my colleagues with regards to the problems associated with this program.”
Pearce said the vote by Congress this past June to continue the recovery program was a setback. The congressman said he intends to put more pressure on those who he believes have only wasted tax dollars and created what he termed “a menace within our communities.”… [more]
December 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
Neither the three women nor their dogs heard the pack of wolves creeping up behind them as they jogged on Artillery Road in the frigid morning air.
Camas Barkemeyer, 26, her dogs Buddy, a 3-year-old American bulldog, and Ginger, a 6-year-old husky, were among that group on Fort Richardson a little after 10 a.m. Thursday. One minute it was peaceful. Then she glanced back and saw the pack of about eight wolves spanning the road, only a few feet behind.
A melee ensued, accompanied by screaming, snarling, blood and pepper spray.
“The thought went through my head: ‘What dog? What dog am I going to let go?’ ” Barkemeyer said. “It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever been through.”
The increasingly emboldened Elmendorf wolf pack is blamed for killing one dog and wounding another in Eagle River this week as Anchorage saw its seventh wolf attack in the past month, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game…
Links to all Alaska wolf attack stories on Wolf Crossing [here]
December 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
Rocky Mountain National Park’s final plan to cull the elk herd in the Estes Valley is less lethal than a draft proposal released last year.
Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker laid out the culling strategies as part of the final environmental impact statement of the park’s Elk and Vegetation Management Plan during in a phone conference Tuesday morning.
Somewhere between 2,200 and 3,100 elk live in the Estes Valley and Rocky Mountain National Park, making it one of the highest population concentrations in the Rocky Mountains, Baker said.
Park biologists believe the elks’ foraging habits are to blame for reduced numbers of new-growth aspen and willow trees in the park, sparking a five-year effort to create the plan to reduce the herd size.
The management plan unveiled Tuesday has park officials and “authorized agents” culling 100 elk each winter with mainly rifles over a 20-year period, and no more than 200 animals killed annually. To goal is to achieve a target elk population of between 1,600 and 2,100 animals in 20 years, Baker said.
“That will be a year-to-year decision to determine how much culling is needed for the following winter,” he said.
Some years, no elk could be culled, Baker said, but added that the plan could change if populations aren’t going down.
That’s a dramatic shift from the preferred alternative released in the draft plan in July 2006, which had 200 to 700 elk shot annually to cut the population down to 1,200 to 1,700 animals in just four years. That plan would cost $16 million to implement and had rangers or authorized agents suited out with night-vision devices to corral and kill animals at night using various lethal devices… [more]
December 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Wildlife News
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Antarctica’s penguin population has slumped because of global warming as melting ice has destroyed nesting sites and reduced their sources of food, a WWF report said on Tuesday.
The Antarctic peninsula is warming five times faster than the average in the rest of the world, affecting four penguin species — the emperor penguin, the largest and the grandest in the world, the gentoo, chinstrap and adelie, it said.
“The Antarctic penguins already have a long march behind them,” Anna Reynolds, deputy director of WWF’s Global Climate Change Programme, said in a statement at the Bali climate talks.
“Now it seems these icons of the Antarctic will have to face an extremely tough battle to adapt to the unprecedented rate of climate change.”… [more]
December 11, 2007 | Leave a Comment | Topic: Latest Climate News, Latest Wildlife News
