This will be the last update for around sixty days or so. I want to thank everyone for reading the site. I’m still amazed at how the number of visitors keeps growing. Thanks for your interest in our great public lands!
Ralph Maughan’s Wildlife Blog and Ted Williams Conservation blog are both good sources of public land news, and they are in the “links” section of this blog.
A federal court has denied an attempt by off-road vehicle enthusiasts to reopen a rare, fragile desert stream in Death Valley National Park to extreme vehicle use. The off-roaders’ group had sued the federal government claiming it had a right to use the streambed under a repealed Civil War-era law known as R.S. 2477. District Court Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
BOISE, Idaho — Seventeen large wildfires were burning Tuesday on about 1,300 square miles of Idaho, including the giant Murphy Complex fire that’s been declared the nation’s No. 1 firefighting priority because it’s threatening grassland that ranchers rely on to feed their cattle.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed the “Lewis and Clark Mount Hood Wilderness Act of 2007″ unanimously on a voice vote. A troubled land exchange between a ski area and the federal government had held the bill up for a year, among other difficulties.
Forest managers say there now is a maze of more than 1,700 miles of trails through the forest. More than 18,000 acres have been closed to off-road vehicles since 2004 because of forest damage, agency officials say.
Though there are no significant fires currently burning in the Gallatin National Forest, Maryanne Baumberger of the Bozeman Ranger District says the restriction went into place due to high fire danger, the type of management resources available and the high amount of human activity in the forest.
The Indiana bat is a federally listed endangered species and is uncommon in Kentucky. What makes the find particularly interesting is that the bat showed evidence of having recently nursed young.