Blog
The High Cost of Cheap Grazing
By Andy Kerr Originally published May 26, 2017 on Andy’s blog site: www.andykerr.net It costs more to feed a domestic housecat than to graze domestic livestock on federal public lands. This has generally been the case since the early 1900s, when the federal government first required ranchers to pay a fee for grazing their livestock…
Greenfire: Verdancy on the East Fork Salmon River
By Anna Demetriades, Director of Development & Communications June 8, 2017 Contrary to its name, which conjures images of lush and robust greenery (but in fact derives its moniker from an Aldo Leopold quote), the Greenfire Preserve on the East Fork Salmon River possesses the stark, high desert beauty of sagebrush steppe – layer upon…
Bears Ears, the Final Piece in a Decades-Old Public Lands Vision, Deserves Protection
Eighty-one years ago, Franklin Roosevelt’s secretary of the interior, Harold Ickes, proposed a vast, 4 million-acre national monument for southern Utah. Over the ensuing decades, pieces of Ickes’ vision were realized in the establishment of Canyonlands and Capitol Reef national parks, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
Defending Idaho’s wolves from Wildlife Services
By Arie Weidemaier May 9, 2017 The phrase “Predator management” seems uncontroversial. In Idaho, this phrase often refers to “management” of wild wolf populations by a secretive federal agency known as Wildlife Services. One of the biggest problems with how this agency operates is the lack of public participation – the public is mostly unaware of…
A PRAYER FOR THE SALMON’S SECOND COMING
Excerpt from an essay by David James Duncan May 4, 2017 Feeling inspired to protect Idaho’s salmon spawning habitat? Make a gift to Advocates for the West for IDAHO GIVES. We’ll put your gift right to work protecting the very best of Idaho! On the eastern edge of Idaho last fall, seven hundred miles from the sea, I watched…
Star to Star
By Rachel Teannalach April 26, 2017 My most memorable Idaho days have stretched from the last star to the first star, without walking more than ten feet in any direction. These days in which I created “time-lapse” paintings were filled with inner peace and gratitude for natural places. I will tell you about one. The…
A Day at Fourmile Creek – Klamath Basin, OR
By Nancy Burgon & Todd Wells A canoe, a bluebird sky and miles of pristine stream to explore! As volunteer retirees, Advocates for the West’s Oregon Office asked us to assess the impacts of cattle grazing on the endangered Oregon spotted frogs along Fourmile Creek in the Klamath Basin. Why Are Oregon Spotted Frogs Endangered? As…
Islands of the Sagebrush Sea
By Amy Haak April 12, 2017 I discovered Geography my freshman year in college and have been immersed in the discipline for 40 years. As a lifelong conservationist, the sub-discipline of Island Biogeography and what it can tell us about the preservation of biodiversity is of particular interest. The theory of Island Biogeography was developed…
Inspiration for Better Days
By John McCarthy April 4th, 2017 Spring brings back the flamboyant courtship dance of the greater sage-grouse in scattered spots known as “leks”from Montana to California. Spring 2017 also brings uncertainty on how politics and industrialization may affect efforts to coordinate conservation for the vulnerable and venerable bird. Legislation introduced in February by Sen. Jim…
Just Another “Non-Target Take”
How a federal program uses our tax dollars to kill pets and wildlife. “Why can you plant a bomb near a house?” Fourteen year-old Canyon Mansfield asked after he endured watching his young yellow lab Casey die after triggering an M-44 cyanide ejector capsule planted on the hill behind his Pocatello, Idaho home. The bomb…
