Countdown mocks the Obama VP craze:

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The wildlife rule, introduced in 2007 as a regional “implementation guide,” rewrites, weakens and violates a 1996 rule establishing standards and guidelines for all southwest national forest plans guiding management of habitat for northern goshawk and its prey.

In my experience in several northwoods national forests, it’s very difficuly to walk a half mile from a road and not find some sort of road immediately, or signs of logging. The upper midwest national forests have incredibly high road densities, and very little virgin timber left, less than 1%. It only makes sense to seek a bit more balance in these forests. The massive overlogging has really had an effect on trout streams, silting in many areas of once pristine fisheries.

The exception to this is the Superior National Forest which has around 1 million acres of protected wilderness, otherwise known as the BWCAW.

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Environmentalists took to the air over Ashland to make their case that the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is endangered forests from over-logging. Vanessa Feltes flew along.

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A four-lane highway that would cut through a portion of the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina would have little impact on the ecosystem, according to a new draft environmental impact study by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Area conservation groups say that conclusion is wrong.

I don’t post missing hiker stories all that often, but cases in Yellowstone and Glacier merit special attention IMHO due to the large predator species that still inhabit these parks. Let’s hope they can find them fairly soon.

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The family of Yi-Jien Hwa, 27, says they have not heard from their son in 10 days, and add they’re concerned for his safety.

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As local business owners, we feel very strongly that designation of the nearby Oregon Badlands just makes good business and economic sense, and we are urging our representatives in Congress to make this a reality this year,” said Kirk Schueler, president of Brooks Resources Corporation, a real estate and development company in Bend.