Oregon coastal coho listed as threatened — again The Oregon coastal coho, the subject of bitter court battles for years, is once again a threatened species. The decision Monday by NOAA Fisheries Service, the federal agency in charge of restoring declining salmon populations, came in response to a federal court ruling that an earlier decision not to protect the fish violated the Endangered Species Act and could not be supported by science. Bob Lohn, northwest regional director of NOAA Fisheries, said in a statement that the tight schedule under the court ruling made it difficult to reach any other conclusion, and he still believed that Oregon's plan for restoring coho largely through voluntary measures was working. Oregon coastal coho were originally listed as threatened in 1997 under a federal court ruling, then dropped in 2001 after property rights advocates convinced a federal judge that NOAA Fisheries had improperly distinguished between wild and hatchery fish. Putting Oregon coastal coho back brings to 27 the number of Pacific salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act and adds another layer of regulation to logging and other land use decisions on federal, state and private lands in the central Oregon Coast Range, particularly a U.S. Bureau of Land Management plan to ramp up logging to boost federal revenues paid to timber-dependent counties....
Interior Department plans to boost border security The Interior Department plans to boost border security by deploying more law enforcement officers along the Southwest border to deter drug smugglers that are endangering local residents and federal workers and damaging fragile ecosystems. The department controls large areas of land along the border with Mexico, either through the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service or Bureau of Indian Affairs. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's office says he's asking for an $8 million boost in spending for fiscal year 2009. Most of the money would be spent on adding law enforcement officers to border areas. About $2 million will go towards cleaning up environmental damage caused by smugglers and illegal border crossers and on improved radios....
The West, Washington, D.C., and Weapons n 1989, John Shuler of rural Dupuyer, Montana, heard grizzly bears outside his house; fearing they would kill his sheep, he grabbed his rifle and ran into the night. The good news is he survived his encounter with four grizzly bears, as did his sheep. The bad news is his lawyers spent eight years and a quarter of a million dollars to get him acquitted of charges that he violated the Endangered Species Act by killing one of those bears. Early on in that legal battle, the federal government ruled that, although Shuler justifiably feared “death or serious bodily injury”—the test for a self-defense claim—he had no right to arm himself and enter into what the government called “the zone of imminent danger.” That conclusion conflicted directly with an 1895 opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court, in which, quoting authority, the Court ruled, “Where an attack is made with murderous intent . . . the person attacked is under no duty to flee. He may stand his ground, and, if need be, kill his adversary.” Moreover, the government’s view of Shuler’s right to arm himself and confront danger conflicted with the ethos of the American West, a vast area from the midst of the Great Plains to the Cascades, from Canada to Mexico....
A look at the biology of wolves in Montana If all goes as planned, then the gray wolf of the Northern Rockies will become just the 18th of 1,255 animals to leave the endangered species list as a recovered species. That's scheduled to happen within the next 60 days and to better understand how the wolf came back from the brink, we took a closer look at the unique biology of a predator that evokes all kinds of emotion. No Montana animal evokes emotion like the wolf and one reason for that is a misunderstanding brought on by myths. "We grew up reading Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs and that's sometimes our only experience with wolves" says Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wolf Management Specialist Liz Bradley. Real wolves feed on elk and even that spurs controversy as some say wolves help elk....
BLM recommends reducing wild horse herd A wild horse herd along the Montana-Wyoming border that traces its ancestry to the mounts ridden by Spanish conquistadors could be reduced through adoption by more than 35 percent, under recommendations released Monday by federal officials. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management says a decade-long drought – coupled with overgrazing by the herd – is severely degrading portions of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range near Lovell, Wyo. To reverse that trend, BLM officials in a new study recommended reducing the herd through adoption to as few as 92 adult horses. The herd currently numbers 143 adults and several dozen foals. “There's definitely drought, but having too many horses during drought years magnifies the situation,” said BLM wild horse specialist Jared Bybee. Wild horse advocates warn that shrinking the herd so drastically would be disastrous. They say it could end up ruining one of the most genetically pure herds of Spanish colonial horses in the country....
World’s Greatest Horseman to be Featured on RFD-TV On Wide World of Horses A special program on the 2008 National Reined Cow Horse Association World’s Greatest Horseman will appear on Wide World of Horses, on RFD-TV. Filmed by Envision! of San Antonio, Texas, the program will feature the excitement and thrills of one of the horse world’s most popular events. The World’s Greatest Horseman contest is part of the NRCHA Fort Dodge Animal Health Celebration of Champions, slated for February 16-24 in Stephenville, Texas. Billed as “one horse, one rider and one very special title,” the event is just that, featuring some of the top trainers in the world, including former champions Ted Robinson, Bob Avila, Jon Roeser, Ron Ralls and Andy Adams. The 30-minute highlight show will air on Monday night, April 7, at 9:30 pm CST and also on Monday at 11:30 am CST. It will air again on Sunday, April 13, at 6:30 am CST. Wide World of Horses airs on RFD-TV (DIRECT TV 379 and DISH NETWORK 231). The National Reined Cow Horse Association, the governing body of cow horse competition, is responsible for promoting the sport, insuring high standards of competition and educating members and the public about the history and tradition of the cow horse....