The Wilderness Sportsman

I think this timeline from the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy says it all:

MILESTONES IN THE HISTORY OF COUGARS IN MICHIGAN

Pre-Settlement – Cougars are indigenous to all 83 counties of Michigan.

1830 – 1930 – Cougars and other predators are hunted and trapped by the government and citizens to accommodate the expanding human population.

1907 – The Sault St. Marie Evening News reports on a five-foot six-inch, 80-pound male cougar killed in a wolf trap near the Tahquamenon River in Chippewa County.

1914 – 1922 – N.A. Wood of the University of Michigan Museum summarizes historical accounts of cougars in both the Upper and Lower Peninsula. The Michigan Conservation Department begins to list cougars among predators vanished from the state.

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Repubican Sen. Tom Coburn pledged to filibuster a massive lands bill that included about 125,000 acres of new wilderness on Mount Hood and along the Columbia River Gorge, in Idaho’s Owyhee canyons and elsewhere in California, Colorado and New Mexico.

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“At the national level, we’re hoping for a complete sea change,” said Peter Hart, conservation analyst for the Wilderness Workshop. “The conservation community has endured eight years of hell.

Generally, many horse riders agree with preservation. The only difference is they want a place to use horses. It’s no surprise there was so much agreement. The Bob Marshall Wilderness is a good example of horses and hikers mixing.

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“We all had more in common than we realized we all wanted to protect the resource,” said Wallace.

Wallace credits Federal Judge Phil Gilbert with a lot of the success. He says Gilbert acted more as a moderator between the sides because there was so much agreement.

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White Mountain National Forest officials plan to remove two backcountry shelters from the unicorporated township of Beans Purchase in Coos County to better meet guidelines for wilderness areas.

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Jackson District Ranger Dale Deiter proposed to consider Sturlin’s proposed mine as a “categorigal exclusion” under federal environmental law. That would give the project the least stringent level of environmental analysis.