Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Elk Deaths Are National Park Service's Fault, Says Group
More than 250 native tule elk have died at Point Reyes National Seashore since 2012, and a wildlife protection group says fences are to blame.
At issue is the Pierce Point herd of tule elk, which roams the extreme northern extremity of the Point Reyes peninsula in western Marin County. The herd's numbers have fallen from 540 in the autumn of 2012 to 286 two years later. According to the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, that's because an elk-proof fence maintained at the urging of Point Reyes dairy farmers is keeping the elk away from sources of fresh water, and the animals are dying of thirst as a result.
The news comes as the Park Service considers a plan to install more elk-proof fencing elsewhere in Point Reyes National Seashore, which activists say could consign Point Reyes' other elk herds to the same thirsty fate.
As part of a proposed Ranch Management Plan that would cover 28,000
acres of dairy and beef ranches in the Seashore and the nearby Golden
Gate National Recreation Area, the Park Service is considering fencing
in or removing other elk herds while extending grazing leases to a
20-year term. Miller charges that move would benefit ranchers at the
expense of wildlife...more
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