National Parks

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3,000 bison counted in Yellowstone

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

According to a recent population survey:

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Rays of light in the mountains

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

spotlights

This was taken during a stormy session on Swiftcurrent Lake this past October. This park is something else! Click the image to view the proper size.

Hunter says he “wishes he had gun in Yellowstone” when approached by bear

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Interesting news. Was this supposed bear attack recorded? Would the bear have been shot if Wayne Bosowicz had a firearm in his posession? There’s no mention of bear spray here, which has been proven by top studies to be more effective and safe for deterring bears.

I guess we will find out in a more general sense this summer what exactly people will do when they feel a bear “gets too close” this summer.

But Wayne Bosowicz, a seasoned hunter and licensed guide from Sebec, said Wednesday that he wished he’d been allowed to carry a gun when a bear confronted him in Yellowstone National Park two years ago.

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Guns now allowed in national parks

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

I know this really isn’t news to a lot of my western friends who don’t see what the big deal is with guns. But many people east of the Mississippi and west of the Rockies understand that when you get too many people with too many guns in small areas, bad things happen. Of course it’s not the gun’s fault. It’s the fault of people who don’t or can’t use common sense(or of course just violent people).

There’s a big difference between a guy hauling around a rifle in his pickup truck in Big Timber MT population 800, and a guy riding with a glove box pistol in northern Chicago as 1,000 kids just get out from school. I’ve always felt gun control issues should be local and based on population densities. As for the national parks, I will most definitely side with the anti-gun crowd on this issue. There are way too many “easy shots” in these places. Before guns, national parks had the lowest crime rates in the nation. There was never any real reason to allow guns back in. The system was functioning perfectly.

I also base my opinion on behavior I have seen in the national parks. I don’t what the exact cause is, but some people get a little rowdy once they get into the wide open spaces. We all feel considerably more freedom when entering our great and wild public lands. However, in some people this sense of freedom dissolves into recklessness. I know it, I’ve seen it.

On top of this, my main concern is for endangered animals. I feel we may see several situations in which a “grizzly bear got too close” and was gunned down by a hiker. The problem with that is everyone has a different definition of “too close”. And to be perfectly honest, most people who carry guns are simply people who are more frightened. The act of carrying a gun eloqently conveys this. The people carrying guns are probably going to have a definition of “too close” that would not really be that close at all. A heightened sense of fear to begin with being the primary reason for that definition.

I wish our ranger friends in the National Park system the best of luck in adapting to the strange new rules.

Northfork of the Flathead will not be mined according to British Columbia

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

This is huge news. There has been a long battle over mining in this area for quite some time. The Northfork is beautiful country and deserves the protection. It is essentially the wildest lower elevation land in the lower 48. I would prefer much of this area be designated as national park and be joined with Waterton/Glacier, but that’s not going to happen at this point. This is the best we can hope for now.

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Michigan: Lawmakers push for part of Sleeping Bear Dunes to be wilderness

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

This is a really cool area in the lower Peninsula of Michigan. It doesn’t feel like you are in the Midwest. About 32,000 acres is slated for protection.

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Wyoming: Pine beetle infestation might slow

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Lets hope the freezing temps got to the buggers……

The recent run of subzero temperatures across Wyoming earlier this month may have slowed the spread of bark beetles by killing its larvae, said ecologist Duane Short, wild species program director for the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance..

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Obama admin goes to bat for bull trout!

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Bull trout critical habitat would rise from 3,780 to 22,679 stream miles and 110,364 to 533,426 acres of lakes in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

How cool is this? Thanks go out to the Alliance for the Wild Rockies for the lawsuit which forced the “second look”.

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The new designation proposal, which will be the subject of public meetings next month across the region, follows complaints that former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a Bush-era appointee who oversaw the endangered species program, interfered with at least 13 decisions about endangered species listings and critical habitat designations, including that for the bull trout.

Global warming to keep hitting northern Rockies

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

Bad news for the last best intact ecosystem in the lower 48.

By 2080, temps could cause two additional months of drought! Disruption of carbon uptake could force the area trees to actually release carbon by the end of the century.

What are we leaving for our kids?

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Colorado: Piece of garbage arrested for dragging dog to death in Colorado National Monument

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Do us all a favor Mr. Romero and hang yourself in your prison cell.

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