Some sad news about Minnesota moose. There has been speculation that global warming has been the cause of massive tick increases in the backcountry. This could lead to more parasites being transmitted and a weakening of the moose from loss of blood and things like Lyme disease.

Link

Lenarz said the evidence seems to suggest that global warming may be a contributing factor in the moose’s decline. When winter temperatures rise above 23 degrees Fahrenheit, moose breathe faster. In the summer when it gets above 67 degrees, they begin panting like a dog and will only find relief from the heat by spending most of their day in swamps, rivers and lakes.

Link

The public will have the chance to comment on a proposal to allow Ketchum-based Idaho Tower Co. to erect a wireless telecommunications facility on U.S. Forest Service land on Galena Summit near state Highway 75.

Link

Hapgood followed up his remarks with an offer to President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration to sell land at a low price for the establishment of a national forest. Middlebury’s Joseph Battell wished to either donate or will part of his large Vermont holdings. The government failed to act on either proposal because there existed no legislation that permitted putting private lands into national forest.

Link

Tahoe National Forest staff have proposed nearly 50 new off-highway routes covering close to 50 miles in a proposed update of its off-road vehicle route system.

Link

Struggling to recover from big fall floods in 2003 and 2006 that washed away miles of paths and access roads, the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest has received a figure for this year’s trail maintenance budget: It is reportedly $15,000.

Link

Former Salmon, Idaho, resident Tim Sundles, 49, had pleaded guilty in November to planting tainted meatballs in the Salmon-Challis National Forest in central Idaho in 2004 with the aim of killing western gray wolves.