Thanks for lending you voice to the effort to push back against a cynical political ploy in the U.S. House of Representatives that would see 50 years of conservation undone.

The Wilderness Act has protected special places in Oregon and across the country from motorized vehicles for decades and the “Sportsmen’s Heritage Act” would undo it all. The deceitful bill is framed as increasing access for fishing and hunting when, in fact, it would destroy the very habitat that fish and wildlife need to thrive.

A new bill passed by the U.S. House last week would undo the protections of the Wilderness Act and allow off-road vehicles to motor through previously protected lands. The bill is being touted as a pro-fishing and pro-hunting proposal, but we can see through that veneer.
Ever hiked in the quiet grandeur of Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness? Been amazed by the fragile beauty of the wildflowers in the Kalmiopsis? Felt overwhelmed by the grandeur of the old-growth forests towering above Opal Creek?

These treasured Oregon experiences are protected thanks to the 1964 Wilderness Act, and thanks to years of hard work by Oregon Wild supporters to win permanent protection for special places all across our state and the country. Sadly, on April 17 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to put our Wilderness heritage at risk – and they did it through deceitful legislation that was advertised as promoting hunting and fishing.

Write to your U.S. Senators today and urge them to reject HR 4089, a bill that would open up pristine Wilderness areas in Oregon to motor vehicle abuse.

Regardless of whether you hunt or fish, wildlife science has shown us that the best places for wildlife to thrive (and therefore, the best places to cast a line and track game) are unroaded landscapes free from invasive species and abuse brought by off-road vehicles.
Don’t let Congress get you down! Join Oregon Wild on the trail this spring. Hikes are filling up fast. More details and sign up information here.

So, why would the U.S. House pass legislation called the “Sportsmen’s Heritage Act” when, in fact, the bill would allow off-road vehicles to roar through protected Wilderness, restrict the President’s ability to protect public lands through National Monument declarations, and potentially open up millions of acres of currently protected public lands to oil and gas drilling?

The answer lies more in politics than in good land management. The current U.S. House of Representatives is the most anti-environment legislative body in American history. Dozens of bills are currently being considered that would do everything from privatize public lands to exempt polluting industries from the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.

Unfortunately, some of Oregon’s elected officials voted for this cynical measure. Voting to undermine the Wilderness Act were Reps. DeFazio, Schrader, and Walden.

Thankfully, Reps. Blumenauer and Bonamici cast their votes to maintain Wilderness protections for places like Mount Hood, the Eagle Cap, and Steens Mountain.

Now it us up to the U.S. Senate to stop this terrible legislation. Take action now to let your Senators know that you want Wilderness areas protected from deceitful attempts to open them up to off-road vehicles, oil and gas development, and other destructive activities.

Thanks for taking action to protect Oregon’s 2.4 million acres of Wilderness!

For the wild,
Steve Pedery
Conservation Director
Oregon Wild

PS: While some in Congress may not value Oregon’s unspoiled wildlands, we do! Join us on upcoming hikes – find out details and sign up here.

Contact your senator

Wilderness areas and wildlife under attack by new bill (HR 4089), would allow mining and ATV’s in wilderness areas. M The bill attacks the marine mammal protection act (polar bears), would ban regulation of poisonous lead bullets. Help stop this extremist bill.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr4089

http://conservationlands.org/time-to-stop-hr-4089-in-its-tracks

http://www.care2.com/news/member/100041282/3229748

the vote is tomorrow. Please contact your rep:

https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Disturbing video of gutshot wolf in Idaho, 2012

I think a lot of us wolf advocates expected clean and regualted hunts when wolves were taken off the list. We did not get that.

Please share this horrible video with everyone you know. You can contact your reps, too:

Contact your reps

Other contact numbers:

Call the President
Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111

Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD

Comments: 202-456-6213

Visitor’s Office: 202-456-212

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Senator Tester:

Billings
Granite Tower
222 N 32nd Street, Suite 102
Billings, MT 59101
Phone: (406) 252-0550
Fax: (406) 252-7768

Bozeman
Avant Courier Building
1 E Main Street, Suite 202
Bozeman, MT 59715
Phone: (406) 586-4450
Fax: (406) 586-7647

Butte
Silver Bow Center
125 W Granite, Suite 200
Butte, MT 59701
Phone: (406) 723-3277
Fax: (406) 782-4717

Glendive
122 W Towne
Glendive, MT 59330
Phone: (406) 365-2391
Fax: (406) 365-8836

Great Falls
119 1st Avenue N, Suite 102
Great Falls, MT 59401
Phone: (406) 452-9585
Fax: (406) 452-9586

Helena
Capital One Center
208 N Montana Avenue, Suite 202
Helena, MT 59601
Phone: (406) 449-5401
Fax: (406) 449-5462

Kalispell
14 Third Street E, Suite 230
Kalispell, MT 59901
Phone: (406) 257-3360
Fax: (406) 257-3974

Missoula
130 W Front Street
Missoula, MT 59802
Phone: (406) 728-3003
Fax: (406) 728-2193
Washington, D.C.

724 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2604
Phone: (202) 224-2644
Fax: (202) 224-8594

Department of the Interior

Mailing Address:
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-3100
E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov

Idaho Fish and Game:

Headquarters Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 25
Boise, ID 83707

Headquarters Street / Walk-in Address:

600 S. Walnut
Boise, ID 83712

Telephone: (208) 334-3700
Fax: (208) 334-2148 / (208) 334-2114
Idaho Relay Service: 1-800-377-2529 (TDD)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

-800-344-WILD
1-800-344-9453

The best part of all this? You can easily avoid poisoning animals with lead simply by purchasing and using alternative bullets. If only all problems were so easily solved.

Check out the story at the link.

Many, many outdoor groups that understand how ecosystems work are against this bill, of course. A few “flat-earthers” still don’t understand that protected roadless lands and wilderness produces better hunting and fishing and just plain better recreational opportunities. There seems to be a lot of confusion on this issue from groups who don’t understand the science. You can’t sustain a vibrant ecosystem such as the one in Montana by eliminating wilderness. It exists because of the wilderness.

This really is the dumbest possible course of action a true outdoorsmen could take…unless that outdoorsman’s idea of a “the outdoors” is between the fences of some ranchers land.

This bill goes far beyond Montana, however, and pplaies to national forests across the country.

You can read more about thie foolish bill here.

Distrubring news. This stuff is not only hamrful to humans, but it’s wiping out aquatic creatures, too. People spray it on their driveways for a “new” look. What they don’t realize is how toxic this stuff is to their family, and the local ecosystem. Bad news all around.

This can all be stopped by using steel or copper bullets. Here is one source:

Link

Link

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Contact: Kirsten Stade (202) 265-7337

http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1537

GRAZING PUNTED FROM FEDERAL STUDY OF LAND CHANGES IN WEST
Scientists Told to Not Consider Grazing Due to Fear of Lawsuits and Data Gaps

Washington, DC — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is carrying out an ambitious plan to map ecological trends throughout the Western U.S. but has directed scientists to exclude livestock grazing as a possible factor in changing landscapes, according to a scientific integrity complaint filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The complaint describes how one of the biggest scientific studies ever undertaken by BLM was fatally skewed from its inception by political pressure.

Funded with up to $40 million of stimulus funds, BLM is conducting Rapid Ecoregional Assessments in each of the six main regions (such as the Colorado Plateau and the Northern Great Plains) covering the vast sagebrush West. A key task was choosing the “change agents” (such as fire or invasive species) which would be studied. Yet when the scientific teams were assembled at an August 2010 workshop, BLM managers informed them that grazing would not be studied due to anxiety from “stakeholders,” fear of litigation and, most perplexing of all, lack of available data on grazing impacts.

Exclusion of grazing was met with protests from the scientists. Livestock grazing is permitted on two-thirds of all BLM lands, with 21,000 grazing allotments covering 157 million acres across the West. As one participating scientist said, as quoted in workshop minutes:

“We will be laughed out of the room if we don’t use grazing. If you have the other range of disturbances, you have to include grazing.”

In the face of this reaction, BLM initially deferred a decision but ultimately opted to –

Remove livestock grazing from all Ecoregional assessments, citing insufficient data. As a result, the assessments do not consider massive grazing impacts even though trivial disturbance factors such as rock hounding are included; and
Limit consideration of grazing-related information only when combined in an undifferentiated lump with other native and introduced ungulates (such as deer, elk, wild horses and feral donkeys).
“This is one of the screwiest things I have ever heard of. BLM is taking the peculiar position that it can no longer distinguish the landscape imprint of antelope from that of herds of cattle,” remarked PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch, noting BLM has far more data on grazing than it does on other change agents, such as climate change or urban sprawl, that it chose to follow. “Grazing is one of the few ‘change agents’ within the agency’s mandate to manage, suggesting that BLM only wants analysis on what it cannot control.”

Earlier this year, the Interior Department, parent agency for BLM, adopted its first scientific integrity policies prohibiting political interference with, or manipulation of, scientific work. The PEER complaint charges that BLM officials improperly compromised the utility and validity of the Ecoregional assessments for reasons that lacked any technical merit and urges that responsible officials be disciplined.

“This is like the Weather Service saying it will no longer track storms because it lacks perfect information,” added Ruch, pointing out that an extensive formalized Land Health Assessment database, including range-wide assessments of livestock grazing across the sagebrush biome, has existed since at least 2008. “If grazing can be locked so blithely into a scientific broom closet, it speaks volumes about science-based decisionmaking in the Obama administration.”

This is a huge victory for anyone who values open spaces and wild animals. The Wilderness Sportsman blog was started because of my passion for the roadless rule, and I’m overjoyed that the plan has been upheld by the 10th Circuit court.