Some welcome, others question Friday grouse decision
Post Published: 06 March 2010As with any major announcement, Friday’s news that the greater sage-grouse is worth listing under the Endangered Species Act but isn’t a high-enough priority to do so right away sparked a range of reactions. Here’s a sampling of some of them:
Randy Smith, Magic Valley regional wildlife manager, Idaho Fish and Game:
The decision “certainly puts sage-grouse closer to being listed,” but also keeps new regulations to a minimum while emphasizing the need to do more for the grouse.
“I guess in a sense it gives us some time to make these local working groups as effective as we can.”
Don Kemner, Fish and Game state sage-grouse program coordinator:
His department will, of course, carry on its roles of facilitating local sage-grouse working groups, the state sage-grouse advisory council and the state grouse plan. It will also continue to follow that plan’s recommendations for hunting seasons, which are still allowed under Friday’s decision. Grouse seasons are usually set around August, after spring lek counts and public input are tallied up.
Kemner, who listened in to the media teleconference given by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and other officials, was gratified by the credit they gave Idaho and other states for tackling grouse problems on their own.
“They pointed out that these efforts are valuable, and that the collaborative process is leading to go things on the ground. And the listing decision that they decided upon took into account that.”
Walter Bradshaw, sportsman, “wildlife conservationist” and member of the South Magic Valley Local Working Group:
“That makes everyone a little happy.”
After all, he continued, hunters, ranchers and all others with an interest in the bird and its habitat would have their activities curtailed by a listing. “And that wouldn’t be good for anybody.”
Bradshaw’s been pleased with the collaborative aspect of the working group, and that fact that so many different people are working together to help the birds and the desert in general.
“It just isn’t one person, ’cause we’re all in it together.”
Read the rest of this entry »
A day at the falls
Post Published: 05 March 2010Spring’s almost here, but this week it might as well have already arrived.
Warm temperatures and (reasonably) sunny skies have made for several beautiful days, and on Wednesday I took up a suggestion from the city of Twin Falls a couple weeks back to swing on by Shoshone Falls.
“With the ticket booth not opening until late March/early April, it is FREE to view the falls,” the city notice stated. “We typically do not have heavy flows this time of year, however we do have about 1700 cfs (cubic feet per second) going over the falls (normally it is 300 cfs).”
Bureau of Reclamation figures now show at least 2,300 cfs going past Milner Dam.
Sure, it’s not quite on par with last spring’s fantastic display (be sure to check out the picture in this link). But my canine friend and I certainly enjoyed our stroll up the Centennial Trail. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Grouse’s fate to be revealed this week; Interior won’t please everybody
Post Published: 04 March 2010UPDATE: The Interior Department has scheduled a news teleconference regarding the grouse for 11:30 a.m. Friday.
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How do you solve a problem like the sage grouse?
The federal decision due out this week on whether the desert bird should be listed under the Endangered Species Act has been compared to (and distanced from) all manner of notable, historic listings. But in terms of its sheer range and repercussions, the decision clearly is one of the larger ones the Fish and Wildlife Service and Interior Department have grappled with in recent years.
(The decision itself was delayed one week from what the above links state due to the untimely death of Fish and Wildlife Director Sam Hamilton late last month.)
Grouse face numerous, diverse threats across their 11-state range that’s under consideration. While most roughly boil down to threats to habitat, the sources — fire, human development and livestock grazing, to name a couple — don’t always have enough in common to mount a coordinated response. Some, such as competition from invasive species, are remarkably difficult to fight.
The decision could come out many ways. The bird could be listed, either as threatened or endangered, or biologists could decide it’s not needed at this time. Faced with the geographic size of the listing, the government could conceivably choose to split the bird up into population segments in individual states. But that may not be a likely scenario, considering something of the same approach is being challenged in the ongoing court case regarding wolves.
Scientists: Logging backcountry won’t solve beetle problem
Post Published: 02 March 2010A report issued today suggests that Sawtooth National Forest officials have their priorities straight when it comes to fighting pine beetles. But it also counters their assumptions that the forest will have more fires on its hands in the near future.
As the scenic Sawtooth National Recreation Area was besieged by beetles over the last few years, forest officials focused on clearing out dangers around private land, campgrounds and other areas people congregate in.
The report by the National Center for Conservation Science and Policy in Ashland, Ore., backs up their approach, concluding that logging beetle-killed trees in remote, backcountry areas is a waste of tax dollars with few benefits to citizens. Like the forest officials, the writers of the report state logging in roadless areas would do little to deter future wildfires.
However, the report also suggests, counter to popular wisdom, that beetle outbreaks may not actually lead to greater fire risks. Thinning and logging trees also won’t make future epidemics easier to deal with, it states. And temporary or permanent roads in roadless areas could carry sizeable “short- and long-term ecological costs.”
Drought and high temperatures are the largest factors behind the West’s current massive beetle outbreak, and logging won’t effectively address the climate issues driving those, according to the report’s lead author, Scott Hoffman Black, executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. His work was targeted mainly at Colorado, but applies just as equally to Idaho’s situation.
Of course, the argument for protecting more of the SNRA wasn’t necessarily one of safety. Rather, it was an appeal to protect more of the area’s scenic qualities. Gray trees now make up a large part of the stands seen by visitors.
Go here to read more of the report.
Fish and Game: 58 wolves left in statewide quota
Post Published: 02 March 2010More wolf news out of Fish and Game in recent days:
The state’s inaugural wolf hunt wraps up at the end of this month, and so far half of the 12 wolf zones are closed. Another one, the Salmon zone, is one wolf away from its quota of 16. The Middle Fork, Southern Mountains, Palouse-Hells Canyon, Dworshak-Elk City, McCall-Weiser and Upper Snake zones have shuttered one by one since November.
According to Fish and Game, hunters as of Monday have taken 162 wolves, with 58 to go before reaching the statewide harvest limit. Whether they’ll actually fill that limit is doubtful, and has appeared so for a while now.
Meanwhile, from last week, the agency has completed aerial surveys of the Lolo Elk Management Zone up north and is blaming “a marked decline” in elk on wolves.
The area’s elk population has dropped from 5,110 to 2,178 since 2006, a 57 percent drop over time. Surveys apparently concluded that elk cows, calves and spike bulls showed the greatest declines. Bull numbers were also down, with a shift in bulls to older animals.
Citizens clearly will play a larger role in Parks’ future
Post Published: 26 February 2010It became even more clear on Thursday that as the state continues to search for more ways to preserve its parks system, park users themselves will play an integral part.
Officials with the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and its governing board gave several nods during Thursday’s meeting to the work done locally by a stakeholder group led by Debbie Dane of Southern Idaho Tourism. While it’s not clear how long their volunteer effort can maintain itself, it has become a vital tool in keeping Thousand Springs State Park open for at least the next year.
“We’ve had a lot of help in this particular regard as to getting this park up to speed,” Parks Deputy Director David Ricks said during his presentation.
Dane and the other business, government and civic leaders involved have taken on a never-ending task. Within minutes of Thursday’s budget talk, they were working together to set up a Thousand Springs work day — likely March 27 — when volunteers would help plant about 200 new trees along Billingsley Creek.
Statewide, however, they’re only one of many groups that are looking for ways to lend Parks a hand. Steve Stuebner on Thursday addressed the parks board during its public-comment time to announce the formation of Friends of Idaho Parks & Recreation. Though his group has yet to file its paperwork as a nonprofit, he said, it intends to eventually raise funds for various park needs, as well as boost volunteerism and other efforts.
Notably, Stuebner said, its members will push the Legislature to give Parks closer to $3 million from the general fund this year, rather than the $1.6 million it’s expected to get. Parks has been unfairly targeted with a massive cut, he said.
Learn more about the new nonprofit here, and read its press release below the cut:
Another nail in Yucca’s coffin
Post Published: 25 February 2010One more sign that Yucca Mountain — once the planned home of the nation’s nuclear waste — is dead:
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported earlier this month that the federal government has dropped more than 100 applications for water rights related to the project. The rights were needed to build a rail line that would carry waste to the site.
It’s one more sign that Nevada’s congressional delegation, especially Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has won a valuable victory. (At the link above, you’ll read that Yucca’s fate was already largely secured, with President Obama cutting the project’s funding.)
But for Idahoans, it’s one more sign of the troubles ahead. The state has a deal to have waste removed from the Idaho National Laboratory in just a couple of decades, and without a clear successor to Yucca, it’s not clear what will become of that arrangement.
National Geographic sums up the wolf debate…
Post Published: 24 February 2010Thought I’d direct your attention here, to National Geographic’s take on the wolf debate in its March issue.
Douglas Chadwick writes about the passions the predator’s return has provoked, and notes the ripple effects — many good — that it has caused in the Yellowstone ecosystem.
Be sure to check out the illustration the magazine worked up comparing the park area before and after wolves. And, look for sheep belonging to the Lava Lake Land and Livestock ranch in the photos.
Grouse decision likely to take one more week
Post Published: 23 February 2010UPDATE 2/26: It’s official — Winmill approved the delay Thursday.
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The grouse may have to wait one more week.
Greater sage grouse are candidates for the endangered species list, and the federal government was supposed to decide their fate by Friday, a court-ordered deadline.
But the Associated Press reports today that the government has filed requesting a one-week delay. It’s in response to sad news: Fish and Wildlife Service Director Sam Hamilton died this weekend while skiing in Colorado.
The judge seems likely to grant the request. Here’s the full AP report:
Climate contention continues…
Post Published: 22 February 2010Two items of climate-change news today:
First, EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson has sent out a response to a Feb. 19 letter from eight U.S. senators “asking about the agency’s plans for 2010.” It doesn’t take much to see that the questions were centered on the agency’s recent finding that greenhouse gases endanger the public and should be regulated.
The finding was broadly seen as an attempt to put pressure on Congress to take action on climate change; instead, it prompted a bill attempting to bind the EPA’s hands. The letter still lays out Jackson’s plans for the next couple of years. Talking points she highlighted include:
- No facility will be required to address greenhouse gas emissions in Clean Air Act permitting of new construction or modifications before 2011.
- For the first half of 2011, only facilities that already must apply for Clean Air Act permits as a result of their non-greenhouse gas emissions will need to address their greenhouse gas emissions in their permit applications.
- EPA is also considering a modification to the rule announced in September requiring large facilities emitting more than 25,000 tons of greenhouse gases a year to obtain permits demonstrating they are using the best practices and technologies to minimize GHG emissions. EPA is considering raising that threshold substantially to reflect input provided during the public comment process.
- EPA does not intend to subject smaller facilities to Clean Air Act permitting for greenhouse gas emissions any sooner than 2016.
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