http://www.greateryellowstone.org/news Latest News From the Greater Yellowstone Coalition en-us Tue, 10 Jun 2009 09:41:01 GMT Weblog Editor 2.0 5 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1385 Editor's note: Further proof of the need to clean up the toxic releases from phosphate mining in southwest Greater Yellowstone. Pollution from a phosphate mine in southeast Idaho and near Star Valley is causing deformities in fish populations, including two-headed trout, conservation groups say. Images of two-headed cutthroat trout and other deformed fish come from a 1,200-page report by J.R. Simplot Company that the company produced in an attempt to skirt Idaho Department of Environmental Quality selenium pollution rules, said Marv Hoyt, Idaho director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. The fish were found in tributaries of the Salt River, which drains into Palisades Reservoir.Simplot officials deny knowledge of the photographs. To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1385 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1380 Editor's note: Doug Christensen was an active supporter of GYC, and his wife, Ann, recently served as a Board member. When Ketchum resident Doug Christensen died Jan. 25 at age 87, Idaho's rivers and salmon lost one of their most ardent and influential advocates—as did conservationists throughout the Pacific Northwest. When Doug and his wife, Ann, bought the Circle A Ranch just west of Stanley back in 1978, they could look out their windows and see chinook salmon spawning in the nearby creeks. But as the story goes, they were also horrified by what they saw on moving day—salmon stranded in the irrigation ditches near their home. Acting with characteristic decisiveness, Ann grabbed the empty moving boxes, and called to her two young daughters to help carry the fish back to Valley Creek, conducting a rescue operation. That story helps to illustrate Doug and Ann's deep connection with the Sawtooth Valley, their passion for wild places and wild creatures, including Idaho's wild salmon and steelhead. Those connections grew stronger with each passing year since 1987, when they became full-time Idaho residents. To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1380 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1381 Editor's note: GYC has been working with other groups to halt this proposal for oil and gas development on the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Conservation groups are asking Bridger-Teton National Forest officials to honor a historic restriction on energy development that could radically curtail a plan to drill for natural gas in Noble Basin south of Jackson. Honoring the 1947 Jackson Hole Area Oil and Gas Lease Stipulation would limit the area available for well pads and other infrastructure, representatives from Citizens for the Wyoming Range and the Wyoming Outdoor Council said Tuesday. Noble Basin is at the headwaters of the Hoback River in Bondurant, 30 air miles southeast of Jackson in Sublette County. To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1381 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1382 Editor's note: More and more, it's clear that the only opposition to Sen. Tester's bill is coming from the far right and the far left. Supporters of Sen. Jon Tester’s forest bill remain hopeful that the measure can be passed despite a tough reelection fight for the first term senator. Conservation groups and logging companies continue to push for the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, which would designate more than 670,000 acres of wilderness on three national forests while mandating 8,000 acres per year of logging for 15 years. Tony Colter, a spokesman for Sun Mountain Lumber in Deer Lodge, said the owners of Montana’s eight remaining timber mills are strongly supportive of the bill. “It’s a critical thing for us in the timber industry,” he said. “We’re not giving up on it.” To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1382 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1383 Editor's note: BOULDER — Hunters pleaded with the Jefferson County Commission Tuesday to not institute a bounty on wolves and mountain lions, saying that Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks needs more time to figure out how to better manage them. But Commissioner Leonard Wortman said their hands are tied if more than 51 percent of the livestock owners in the county petition for the controversial reward system for presenting dead wolf and mountain lion hides. By statute, the livestock producers would have to tax themselves to create the bounty money. “The statute says we ‘shall’ impose a fee if they request we do it,” Wortman said. “It’s something that comes from the people, from the bottom up. It doesn’t come from us.” To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1383 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1384 Editor's note: This process will directly affect the Absaroka-Beartooth Front and the Yellowstone wildlife that depend on its wild spaces for survival. The Shoshone National Forest portion of the Front is between the Washakie Wilderness Area and the Bureau of Land Management's lands in the Bighorn Basin. Yellowstone wildlife such as elk, grizzly bears, bighorn sheep and wolves move through this territory between winter and summer ranges. One reason GYC has been so engaged in the BLM's recent Resource Management Plan is that if the BLM offers high protections for the Absaroka-Beartooth Front, it's easier for the Shoshone National Forest to follow suit — all to the benefit of Yellowstone wildlife. Stay tuned for more information on the Shoshone's forest plan, how you can help, and what it will mean for the future of one of our most precious resources — Yellowstone wildlife. CODY, Wyo. — Working against a tight deadline and a dwindling budget, the supervisor of the Shoshone National Forest asked cooperating partners Tuesday to help advance efforts to draft a new forest plan sooner rather than later. To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1384 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1376 Editor's note: The idea of restoring bison to some of their historic habitat isn't just an American one. Canadians like it, too. CALGARY — Banff could be the next home where the buffalo roam. Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent is scheduled to make an announcement Friday with details about reintroducing “an iconic Canadian animal” to Banff National Park, which government officials have confirmed is bison. Kent, minister responsible for Parks Canada, is expected to provide details on a public consultation process for the animal’s reintroduction to Banff. While officials have not specified the breed of bison, the most recent Banff park management plan, from 2010, includes details on the reintroduction of the plains bison, described in the document as “a keystone species that has been absent from the park since its establishment.” To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1376 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1377 Editor's note: This is more reassuring news for the beleaguered residents of Pavillion, Wyo., who felt blindsided when the State of Wyoming attacked the EPA's report. This week, members of Congress received a report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report of the Pavillion groundwater contamination investigation. EPA’s draft report, issued on December 8, stoked America’s ongoing debate over the oil and gas industry’s use of hydraulic fracturing — or “fracking” — by concluding that compounds found in the aquifer near Pavillion, Wyo., are likely associated with industry activity, including fracking. To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1377 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1378 Editor's note: It was so much easier when wolves were on the Endangered Species List. Then, Wildlife Services took care of these issues. A proposal to put a bounty on large predators like wolves and mountain lions in Jefferson County is leaving state and federal officials a little confused. County Commissioner Leonard Wortman said he’s hearing from ranchers who have experienced numerous conflicts between their livestock and large predators, so at the county meeting this afternoon the commissioners will discuss whether to explore allowing livestock owners to tax themselves and use the funds as a reward for killing wolves and mountain lions. “We found a statute that allows a bounty on large predators,” Wortman said on Monday. “It says the livestock owners would have to petition the county to place a bounty on them, up to $100 for a wolf or mountain lion and $20 on pups and kittens.” To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1378 http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1379 Editor's note: What else can be blamed on wolves? Now it's the fear of elk infecting cattle with brucellosis. As one expert points out, elk will carry brucellosis with or without wolves. xx To read the entire story, click here. http://greateryellowstone.org/news/index.php?id=1379