wildlife

After years of back-and-forth decision-making, the federal government is ready for public comment on a proposal to bring threatened grizzly bears back to the North Cascades.

New technology requires minerals seldom used before, some of which can be found in Montana’s mine waste. But some appear eager to change Montana’s regulations that would oversee new mine development.

Mike Garrity writes, "One might think after losing a number of lawsuits in a row for blatant violations of the law the Forest Service might think twice about going forward with illegal logging, burning, and road-building projects."

Mike Bader writes, "There were 13 hunter-related defense of life grizzly bear kills within the borders of Montana in 2017 alone, an alarming statistic. Despite these facts they punted by saying that it is the responsibility of the legislature."

The increasing recreational use - some of it illegal - over the past few years prompted the need for better management than what was occurring under an interim management plan.

As part of the rapid response plan, the department staff is working to survey the physical range of the impacted area by collecting hundreds of samples from the Snake River for quagga mussel larvae.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced that $6.2 million in funding has been approved to acquire almost 2,500 acres to add Grays Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho.

The order from President Joe Biden arrived moments before an Oregon Senate committee met to address the state’s struggling populations of wild salmon and steelhead.

The conference is sponsored by some of the largest timber and real estate holding companies in the world, including Weyerhaeuser, and will be attended by officials from large banks such as J.P Morgan as well as international conservation and land trust groups, such as The Nature Conservancy and Pacific Forest Trust.

Dave Stalling writes, "Delisting should be based on science, not on politics driven by a disdain for predators."