Bio-Diversity Fighting Wildfires With Fire Due to well-intentioned “hands off” forest management practices – often intended to help wildlife – our national forests are accumulating highly flammable understory material faster than nature can cycle it away. The well-meaning prescription set forth in the article below is controlled burns. Based on our 50-years of range and forest experience
climate change After Years of Political Gridlock, Oregon’s Fire Disaster Brings ‘New Reality’ Insistence on unproven and costly schemes like “cap and trade” continue to block immediate, inexpensive measures for wildfire prevention. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on September 23, 2020. It was written by Mike Baker. Early this year, lawmakers considered legislation to thin forests, hire firefighters and
Bio-Diversity Painting Eyes On The Butts Of Cattle Surprisingly Effective At Scaring Off Would-Be Predators Here is another example of low-tech, non-lethal ways to protect cattle from predators. NOTE: this article was originally published to IFLScience’s Apple News Channel on August 7, 2020. It was written by Katy Evans. Researchers have come up with a novel way to protect the lives of livestock, lions,
California Public Land Grazing in California: Untapped Conservation Potential for Private Lands? “This article is more important today than when it was published 13-years ago. NOTE: this article was originally published to ResearchGate.net on January 7, 2007. It was written by Adriana Sulak and Lynn Huntsinger Working landscapes may be linked to public lands.
Bio-Diversity Mastodons and Mammoths in the Great Lakes Region, USA and Canada: New Insights into their Diets as they Neared Extinction “As discussed below, for millions of years and until very recently, elephant-like creatures were common in North America. NOTE: this article was originally published to Academia.edu. It was written by Catherine Yansa. The conventional image of Ice Age environments of North America includes mammoths feeding on grasses in open
Biodiversity Documents Detail Push To Manage Yellowstone Bison as Cattle The article below summarizes various objections to managing Yellowstone bison more like cattle in order to control brucellosis, among other things. Yellowstone’s elk and bison are now a regional reservoir for this disease, which causes spontaneous abortion in cattle and wild animals and can threaten human health. Because of
Alaska Ohio Hunter Killed by Grizzly Bear in Alaska in ‘Surprise Attack’ The tragic outcome described in the article below is not surprising. If you are in bear country and come upon a kill or carcass including livestock, you are likely within 100-200 feet of a bear. Bears camp out on these carcasses until they are completely eaten—and defend their food
Berry Creek Fire-Protection Plans Hit Red Tape, Then the Flames Came Over time, our beautiful, once-productive public forests have become overgrown, money-losing firetraps. Everybody knows what needs to be done, but government regulations and ideological disputes prevent common sense remedies—many of which cost nothing. When inevitable catastrophic fires occur, those in charge neither accept responsibility nor change their practices. Instead
brown trout Fishing the Firehole in Yellowstone with Laura and Nichole Fishing the Firehole, northwest of Old Faithful in Yellowstone Park. Fishing the Firehole In Yellowstone Park from Christopher Gill on Vimeo.
Aleutian Islands When the Otters Vanished, Everything Else Started to Crumble Quoting the authors of the article below, “In the Aleutian’s delicate seascape, otters hold the entire ecosystem together. As they have disappeared, the rest of the local food web has started to crumble. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on September 10, 2020. It was written
Biodiversity Climate Change Mitigation is a Side Effect of Regenerative Ranching: Insights From Australia And The United States “Whatever the causes of climate change, human damage to our environment cannot be denied. As the authors of this paper explain, more and more people are rejecting industrial agriculture in favor of regenerative (restorative) ag practices. NOTE: this paper was recently published to RoyalSocietyPublishing.org on August 14, 2020. It
Bio-Diversity Escaped Exotics Animals are Changing the Texas Landscape Quoting the author of the article below, “There’s an idea that gets played with in progressive futurist circles sometimes: the notion of deliberately engineering landscapes to mimic our understanding of their past shape. Quietly, without any particular plan or larger vision in mind, ranchers in Texas have done something
Biodiversity Save a Sage Grouse, Drop a Fence Line “As discussed in the article below, barbed wire fences are dangerous to grouse. Apparently grouse don’t see the wires, so they fly in to them. Many are killed. As the authors explain, there are many ways to reduce this risk, and help other species in the process. NOTE: this
Allan Savory Is the Way Cattle Are Grazed the Key to Saving America's Prairies? “The article below gives another example of the application of holistic grazing concepts for the purpose of regenerating rangelands. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on January 13, 2020. It was written by Karen Weintraub. An unlikely alliance of ranchers and conservationists is working to find the
food-supply Deadly Diseases From Wildlife Thrive When Nature is Destroyed, Study Finds “As discussed below, much of what is wrong with human health originates in our agricultural practices. NOTE: this article was originally published to TheGuardian.com on August 5, 2020. It was written by Damian Carrington. Rats and bats that host pandemic pathogens like Covid-19 increase in damaged ecosystems, analysis shows
Cascades High in the Cascades, a Lone Fire Lookout Still Keeps Watch The last of a breed. NOTE: this article was originally published to NYTimes.com on January 13, 2019. Photographs and Text by Ruth Fremson. GLACIER PEAK WILDERNESS, Wash. — Smoke was rising over Bonanza Peak. So Russ Dalton, 72, stepped inside the lookout post perched high above the Glacier Peak Wilderness,
Elk Elk Return to Kentucky, Bringing Economic Life After a concerted reintroduction effort two decades ago, the state is now home to the largest population of elk east of the Mississippi. The animals’ home: reclaimed coal mines.
Biodiversity Ranching Alongside Predators in an Idaho Forest “Using domestic animals to restore overgrown forest near Yellowstone Park in Idaho.” Cattle, Goats, Bears and Cougar from Christopher Gill on Vimeo.
Huckleberry Lookout Trail Trail Runner Suffers Minor Injuries After Colliding with Grizzly Bear in Glacier National Park Chance encounters with bears are a constant danger in the mountain West. The Rhodesian ecologist and range management expert Allan Savory offered this advice on shooing away bears: “Re the bears. I have not had to deal with them other than while fishing in Alaska and found them much like
"Invasion Biology" National Parks are Being Overrun By Invasive Species As this article points out, people introduce the vast majority of so-called invasive species worldwide. What the article doesn’t mention is that we humans are the world’s most destructive invaders. Or, that of the hundreds of thousands of so-called invasive species that have been introduced, virtually none have
Biodiversity Hunting Is Conservation: A Paradox Explained Quoting the authors of the article below, ” Non-hunters are often surprised to learn that it was hunters who spearheaded the conservation efforts that rescued our nation’s wildlife from the cusp of extinction. The truth is: hunting and conservation have had a symbiotic relationship since the close of the 19th
Bio-Diversity Allan Savory on Permaculture and Holistic Management Here is a very interesting interview with the ecologist Allan Savory who, in the opinion of many, knows more about rangelands than anyone alive. He is best known for his discovery that global desertification can best be addressed and reversed by using livestock to mimic the grazing patterns of the
COVID-19 National Parks Are Getting Trashed During COVID-19, Endangering Surrounding Communities For many decades our national parks and forests have suffered as Congress has diverted federal lands’ mineral royalties, which are supposed to support public lands. As a result, infrastructure maintenance including upkeep of trails, roads and facilities increasingly is deferred. As described in the article below, public use has surged
fast growing Why Women Are the Fastest Growing Segment of the Hunting Population Quoting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the article below the authors write that, “Of 143 drugs and pesticides likely to be found in raw [domestic] meat and poultry, 42 were known to cause cancer or are suspected of causing cancer.” Healthier food is only one reason for
