Yellowstone Wolves: Embattled Again It was near Soda Butte in 1924 that the last Yellowstone wolves — two pups — were killed by rangers. Wolves remained starkly absent from the landscape until 1995, when the first experimental packs of gray wolves (Canis lupus) were brought from western Canada to the Lamar Valley to repopulate Yellowstone and restore a natural balance to the Park's wildlife. For 71 years, with no year-round predator to control them, the Park's elk herds had grown bloated and complacent, threatening to overgraze the land's willow and aspen shoots. But since the reintroduction of wolves, their grazing patterns have changed and the elk have become wary and more dispersed — as they ought to be. The reintroduction of the wolf — what ecologists call a "keystone species" — to Yellowstone has been a resounding success. The wolves thrived on the Park's abundant elk and moose along with weakened or winter-killed bison. They reproduced quickly, formed new packs and fiercely defended their territories. So, it did not take long before the wolves got into trouble. They wandered, inevitably, past the protective boundaries of the Park and out onto ranchland in the surrounding states of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where they were shot for preying on sheep and cattle. But these were isolated cases — the wolf retained most of the legal status of endangered species, protected from all but official "management" killing — and they did not go unpunished. In 1995, a trigger-happy gunman who killed a wandering Yellowstone wolf wearing a radio-tracking collar was convicted in federal court and sentenced to six months in jail, $10,000 and year of probation. Still, the wolf's triumphant return to Yellowstone may be its undoing....
NOAA chief urges study of climate The administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has no doubt that humans are causing part of the climate changes that are occurring. "It's a scientific consensus that's out here, and it's supported by everybody I know," added retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. in an exclusive Deseret Morning News interview. Lautenbacher spoke with the newspaper shortly after his keynote address at a three-day convention in the Sheraton City Centre in Salt Lake City. The meeting, "Water Policies and Planning in the West: Ensuring a Sustainable Future," is sponsored by the Western Governors' Association and the Western States Water Council....
Cong Miller Asks Inspector General To Investigate U.S. Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Nick Rahall (D-WV) today asked the Inspectors General at the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to launch investigations into private residential treatment programs for children that operate on federal land. The request comes one day after the release of a government report that documented cases of fatal child abuse and neglect in such programs, including deaths that occurred on federal property. In testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday, investigators for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which prepared the report, testified that an unknown number of private residential treatment programs – often called boot camps, wilderness camps, or behavior modification facilities – actually operate on federal land....
Group seeks contempt finding against Bush forestry official A watchdog group has asked a federal judge in Montana to send the Bush administration's top forest official to jail for contempt of court. The group says the U.S. Forest Service missed the deadline for a complete environmental analysis of dropping fire retardant on wildfires. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey responded yesterday that the environmental assessment the Forest Service submitted was as complete as it could be. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has yet to rule on whether the filing meets the terms of his order. If he finds the deadline has not been met, a hearing is scheduled Monday in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana for Rey to show why he should not be found in contempt....
Headwaters Economics: Real Solutions for a Changing West Created in 2005, the developers of Headwaters Economics were frustrated by the lack of reliable information on vital Western land use topics, particularly growth and development, and the changing economic role of our public lands. As an independent research organization, their mission is to improve community development and land management decisions in the West. Most recently, they have conducted research delving into the potential for future development on fire prone lands and the implications this growth will have on future firefighting costs. With 20 combined years of experience, the staff of six and board of five, blend research and field experience working with communities, businesses, landowners, public land managers and elected officials. This high-tech non-profit conducts research to understand demographic and socioeconomic trends in the West, and works to see how those trends impact land use patterns....