Polar Bear Follies
The latest chapter in the Global Warming Hoax is the “endangered” polar bear. GW is not happening; global temps dropped to the coldest levels in 100 years this Winter. Obviously, AGW (anthropogenic or human-caused global warming) isn’t happening either, since the former is conditioned on the latter and the latter is kaput.
Nor is the polar bear endangered; populations have been growing for two decades. That didn’t stop the eco-nazis from demanding the polar bear be listed as a T&E species, however. And get this — 670,000 hysterical ninnies sent comments to the USFWS demanding the listing. Apparently rationality is going extinct, if not the polar bear.
We present two great discussions on all this. First, in the Wildlife Sciences Colloquium we have posted: Armstrong, J. Scott, Kesten C. Green, Willie Soon. 2008. Polar Bear Population Forecasts: A Public-Policy Forecasting Audit Working Paper Version 68: March 28, 2008 [here]. This paper is great science. Dr. J. Scott Armstrong is the World’s Foremost Authority on forecasting, i.e. the science of making predictions.
Sea Lettuce Bugs WA State Legislature
or Legislators sea kelp (seek help) but cat (cougar) gets their tongues
By WA State Rep. Joel Kretz, 7th District
You’ll all be glad to know the people of Puget Sound will be able to sleep a little easier tonight. The state legislature has given them the right to protect themselves from dreaded attacks by, uh, Sea Lettuce.
For those of you who hadn’t heard, Sea Lettuce is a native species that has become more abundant around the Sound in recent years. The problem is that it grows profusely then dies off, leaving a stinking mess that threatens the health, safety and welfare of the residents in those waterfront mansions.
I can tell you, the legislators from the areas hardest hit by this invasion showed up with blood in their eyes and murder in their hearts.
Sea Lettuce has got to die, they said, and we don’t care how.
Now, these are the same urban legislators who told rural residents overrun with cougars that we had to “learn to live with cougars,” to somehow peacefully co-exist.
I was shocked at this knee-jerk reaction. These people have a little trouble with Sea Lettuce and they immediately want to kill it?
I felt compelled to offer other solutions, something along the lines of how they wanted us to deal with cougars.
Couldn’t we explore non-lethal means of dealing with wayward Sea Lettuce?
Couldn’t we trap the Sea Lettuce and relocate it? No, they said, it would just cause problems elsewhere.
OneCreek On Wolves and Cougars
The Idaho Statesman ran dueling reader’s opinion pieces about wolves this week. One was by Suzanne Asha Stone of Boise, the wolf conservation specialist for Defenders of Wildlife:
Forty years ago, there were no known wolf packs in the northern Rockies because people had driven them to near extinction in the region. Today, 1,500 wolves roam across Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Returning wolves to the wild has been a remarkable wildlife achievement, but this is a story whose next chapters are just now being written. The question is: Will this story have a happy ending? … [more]
The other was written by Nate Helm, executive director of Idaho’s chapter of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.
Yes, it is time - time to remove the population of wolves living in Idaho from the endangered species list. Sportsmen in Idaho and across the West support the Department of Interior’s (DOI) recent proposal to delist wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Wolves in Idaho are currently managed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In the case of wolves, the constitutional right given to all states, including Idaho, to manage her wildlife has been superseded by the ESA. The traditional managers of wildlife in Idaho - the citizens of the state, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game - have had little say. … [more]
Both opinion pieces drew a rash of comments. Most are typical Internet drivel, but one comment stood out head and shoulders above the rest. It was submitted by OneCreek, a pseudonym no doubt. I don’t have any idea who One Creek is, but his comment was so superb that I am posting in its entirety. Please enjoy, and hopefully learn:
Heck - This should have been a “Letter to the Editor”…
I am going to tread dangerously here, and make an assumption that most, if not all of the previous commentary has been penned by those who live and work in cities. Therefore, thoughts and commentary on the subject outside of that which reflects on certain legal perspectives is mostly little more than “abstract”, rather than objective.
I live and work in the North Fork Ranger District of the Salmon-Challis National Forest. Not only do I live in said District, but my property is totally surrounded by the National Forest. Residing here year-around since the year the wolves were established in the area, 1995, perhaps my observations should be of some consideration regarding this debate.
Living here as I do, observation of the natural world around me is secondhand practice. I see things that the casual visitor does not, and for that matter, even the dedicated hunter or the naturalist. By the time their observational talents begin to truly and measurably improve, they must leave for more civilized environs. Conversely, this grand landscape is my constant companion.
What federal wolf delisting means for Oregon’s livestock producers
Here is an example your government at work. What follows is a press release from the Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, with some commentary from Wildlife and People thrown in:
ODFW Press Release, March 21, 2008 [here]
LA GRANDE, Ore.—A radio-collared gray wolf was confirmed in Oregon in January. Credible public reports of wolf sightings continue, and biologists are finding tracks and other wolf sign in northeast Oregon. The de-listing of wolves from the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in a portion of eastern Oregon is scheduled to take effect on March 28, 2008.
The gray wolf is not endangered. There are thousands of them roaming the West. Despite the best efforts of eco-nazis, the US Government was forced to delist them.
As wolf activity in Oregon increases, the state is ready to take the management reins. Oregon adopted a wolf management plan in 2005 and has been implementing it since.
But not to worry. ODFW HAS listed gray wolves under Oregon State T&E laws, and so will be protecting them from all harm despite the Federal delisting
“Oregonians are in a fortunate position to already have a Wolf Conservation and Management Plan in place, so we’re ready to conserve and manage wolves,” says Russ Morgan, ODFW wolf coordinator. “But there seems to be confusion about how the plan deals with depredation by wolves. We want to set the record straight so livestock producers are clear on what tools are available to them.”
How fortunate are we! But just in case the victims of unrestrained, multiplying, ravenous wolves don’t understand, Russ Morgan of ODFW will be setting them straight.
Wolf-Proof Bus Stop Shelters Go Up In New Mexico Community
by Admin at Wolf Crossing [here]
Finally, a few of the kids from the Reserve School District in New Mexico, will be sheltered from both the weather and from local wildlife while they wait for the bus.
Wolf-Proof Bus Stop Shelter (built from donated funds raised by Louis Oliver and Mimbres Farm Bureau)
In May of 2007 two Catron county Reserve School district school children were followed home from the bus stop by what appeared to be a Mexican wolf although later two sets of wolf tracks were found in the immediate area of the incident.
In a separate incident a 14 year old camper was surrounded by three Mexican wolves while on a hunting trip with his father and family friends. Locations determined the wolves were likely members of the Luna pack. The incident lasted 5-10 minutes and the young man although armed and afraid for his life, chose to wait patiently while the wolves investigated him. Thankfully the incident ended with the wolves moving away, possibly due to the smell and presence of a rifle the young man was carrying. However, these incidents have underscored the need to protect rural children from escalating encounters with Mexican wolves.
This incident among others prompted the Catron County Commission to pass an emergency ordinance directed at protecting children and defenseless persons from mismanagement that is prevalent in the program and growing worse as power struggles become common within the adaptive management oversight committee overseeing the project and the ongoing development of the environmental impact statement that will eventually lead to program expansion.
Wilderness, a sportsman’s view
By Byron Delk and Ralph Ramos, for the Las Cruces Sun-News [here]
Man has become part of the landscape as much as the absence of man was in historical times. The mere presence of wilderness will not change the dynamics of wildlife populations. There are other factors, which include the state’s authority and management of wildlife and predators, the presence or absence of yearly precipitation, and the enhancement or absence of habitat management, that will alter such dynamics. Wilderness will affect access. Access is only one issue that will alter populations, but, if wilderness and access are indistinguishable, there are now historical details worthy of investigation.
Arizona’s Department of Game and Fish has compiled a document entitled “Comprehensive Historical Perspective of the Department’s Activities that have been Restricted Resulting from Special Land Designations and Anticipated Future Restrictions.” Every sportsman should seek a copy and read it. A summary of the contents is described in a quote that appears in the historical section that says, “The Arizona Game and Fish Department has experienced restrictions resulting from Special Land Designations (wilderness) including project delays, increased costs, (and) increased man hours. This ultimately leads to decreased efficiency in protecting and managing Arizona’s wildlife resources.” The document describes 16 pages of project derailments dealing with federal land agencies in wilderness areas.
Conflicts include the Paria Canyon Wilderness desert sheep herd that was exposed to predator threat when forced to travel long distances to water because the BLM reneged on an agreement to place water in that area. In the Aravaipa Wilderness, AGFD was denied helicopter access when they needed to determine what was causing a die-off of desert bighorns. Water projects in the Harcuvar, Maricopa Complex, Juniper Mesa, Paiute, and other areas have been denied after initial agreements prior to wilderness designation. Winter grid surveys of deer in the Kanab Creek area of the Kaibab have been discontinued because AGFD was disallowed placement of visual references in that wilderness, and bat populations in a major cave in the Superstition Wilderness are continuing to decline because the department is not allowed to place a simple gate to control human access. Perhaps what is more appalling is the legal action taken by Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society and other groups (all related to the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance) to deny the maintenance of 16 water sources in the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
Brucellosis Infests Yellowstone Ungulates
Brucellosis is a bacterial disease carried by livestock and capable of infecting people. Tainted milk or meat causes undulant fever and inflammation of the joints, spinal column, and heart. Brucellosis was a serious problem prior to World War I, but antibiotics (Strain-19 vaccine) had largely eliminated the disease in U.S. livestock by 1997.
There is one spot where Brucellosis lingers: Yellowstone National Park. Bison and elk in YNP still carry the disease, and those migrating animals are still spreading it to ranches in Montana.
The YNP Brucellosis story has been artfully reported by journalist Dave Skinner in the Spring 2008 issue of Range Magazine. And Range editor C.J. Hadley has generously put the story, Buffaloed in Paradise, online for the free reading pleasure and education of the public [here].
Range Magazine consistently prints the stories most important to the rural West, written by the top journalists in the West, and is always ahead of the pack. Buffaloed in Paradise is no exception.
Skinner weaves a tale that includes the tragic but necessary destruction of entire cattle herds, the severe economic losses, and the suffering of ranch families unfortunate enough to be caught in the epidemic YNP has spread. He correctly identifies the scientifically absurd “natural regulation” policy that has led to much destruction of wildlife and vegetation in Yellowstone.
Haughty NPS managers have for decades ignored science in favor of superstition and pre-Darwinian bogosities in their mismanagement of America’s flagship National Park. The results of their Disney-esque foppery include the million-acre 1988 Yellowstone Fire, destruction of the prairies and forests of Yellowstone, and the infection of cattle ranches 100 miles or more from the Park.
YNP has also been the staging center for “reintroduction” of wolves that have wandered across four or five states and caused massive livestock and wildlife losses. Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho state governments are up in arms over the problems caused and emanating from the most mismanaged Park in America today (that’s saying a lot because parks like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite are in terrible shape).
From Buffaloed in Paradise:
Yet something rings especially false about NPS’s obstinacy: its natural regulation policy implies that native species and their interactions reign supreme. Brucella abortus, however, is neither native nor natural. It’s a virulent infectious organism, native to the Levantine regions of the eastern Mediterranean, where its debilitating effects on both livestock and humans likely had a major role in establishing Hebrew kosher and Islamic halal rules concerning meat and milk.
One would expect the Park Service to spare no effort in banishing an exotic disease from its natural realm, but instead the park deliberately and nonsensically quit managing the disease-40 years ago.
For the entire article and more from Range Magazine, see [here].
Cougar Control, or Who Is Merrill Lynching?
Last Thursday the Olympian Online reported [here] that Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed a bill expanding the use of dogs in cougar hunts. The Senate passed the bill by a 31-18 vote earlier this month. The measure adds three years to a program that allows people to hunt cougars with dogs. The existing program has been operating since 2004, and it includes five counties in northeast Washington. The new bill allows all counties to participate.
The Democrat-controlled Senate and Democrat Governor passed and signed the bill despite Initiative 655 of 1996 whereby the practice was banned.
The Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife reports that there are 2,500 cougars in Washington and the population is growing in leaps and bounds (the actual number may be as much as 4,000 according to some sources). From the WDFW website [here].
[M]ore cougar attacks have been reported in the western United States and Canada over the past 20 years than in the previous 80. In Washington, one fatal cougar attack was recorded in 1924. Since then 12 non-fatal attacks have been recorded, 11 of them since 1992. …
Washington populations have more than doubled since the early 1980’s. Our increasing cougar and human populations and decreasing habitat creates new management challenges. The WDFW is responding to over 500 complaints a year regarding urban sightings, attacks on livestock and pets, and cougar/human confrontations.
The problem is serious enough to warrant action, at least in the judgment of the Washington State government.
more »
The Orogrande Slaughter
The pictures in the linked report were taken during 4 separate trips within just an 11-day period from 2-28-2008 through 3-9-2008. The location of the elk predation by wolves was along a small section of road at Orogrande Creek, which empties into the North Fork of the Clearwater River in North Central Idaho. This small section of this huge country is indicative of how severe the predation has been this winter as elk have been trapped by deep snow and are easily killed by wolves.
Warning: the pictures are graphic and gruesome.
The Orogrande Slaughter is [here].
Montana biologist withdraws claim of rabbit’s disappearance
Egg on His Face
By MATTHEW BROWN - The Idaho Statesman, 03/06/08 [here]
BILLINGS, Mont. — A Montana biologist has withdrawn his claim in a recent study that a rabbit species has disappeared from the Yellowstone area.
Joel Berger, a senior scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said Thursday that he has been contacted by at least six biologists and naturalists refuting his conclusions about the white-tailed jack rabbit. He said they provided photos and anecdotal evidence the rabbit still lives in the area.
“Yes, there were some left,” Berger said. “I’ve got egg on the face, absolutely.”
Berger’s study, published in January in the science journal Oryx, claimed the once-common rabbit had disappeared from the Yellowstone region sometime last century, for unknown reasons. His findings were written about by news organizations including The Associated Press.
On Thursday, Berger said he now believes the rabbits survive in small numbers within Yellowstone National Park and nearby Gardiner. He provided a copy of a letter he said will correct the record in Oryx’s April issue.
The conclusion that the rabbits had vanished was based on Berger’s own work in the Yellowstone region, historical records and interviews with park biologists and naturalists. In the letter, Berger acknowledges interviewing more people for the study “would have improved abilities to detect whether the hares still persist.”
Are the bunnies really missing?
Jackrabbit Junk Journalism
By Dave Skinner, Flathead Beacon, 03-05-08 [here]
If you were expecting a riff from me on the Whitefish doughnut war, sorry, but something else is jammed in my craw: Crummy science and even crummier science journalism.
Around Valentines Day, the Associated Press reported on Wildlife Conservation Society scientist and University of Montana professor Joel Berger’s “discovery” that jackrabbits have disappeared from Yellowstone Park.
This is news? Yep, at least to the 73 news outlets that ran the story on their Web sites. But, as the AP’s Matthew Brown duly reported, jackrabbits are “listed as a species of ‘least concern’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.”
Berger nonetheless suggested reintroducing jacks – apparently to go along with reintroduced wolves, and then of course, study the results.
My initial response to this latest ecological crisis? Turn the page. But a few days later, Park “ornithologist emeritus” and Gardiner resident Terry McEneaney wrote in the Billings Gazette he’d seen at least two Park jackrabbits in the past two days and that perhaps Berger’s bunny issue is “moot” and the species “doesn’t need the help.”
McEneaney’s critique spurred a huffy Gazette open letter from Berger suggesting “Terry read the [journal] paper first” (not the newspaper) and then comment “on the full intent of the paper rather than basing his response only on the media account. That is not responsible.”
Important Facts about Alaskan Wildlife and Predator Control
Originally posted at Alaskans for Professional Wildlife Management [here] and Wolf Crossing [here]
* Wild game is an important food source for many Alaskans and the goal of predator control is to reduce wolf and bear populations in order to increase the number moose and caribou available to be used as food by people
* In much of Alaska, predators keep moose and caribou populations below what their habitats could support
* There are up to 11,000 wolves, 30,000 grizzly and over 100,000 black bears in Alaska
* Wolves and bears may kill up to 80% of the moose or caribou that die each year
* The goal of predator control is to sustain healthy caribou and moose populations AND healthy wolf and bear populations
* In control areas, predator numbers may be reduced, but are never completely eliminated
* There is no indication that predator control permanently damages wolf or bear populations
* There are only five current wolf control programs in place, covering only 9% of Alaska
* Predator control is not hunting; it is a wildlife management tool only used to reduce excessive predator populations. As a result, the rules of fair chase do not apply
* When properly conducted, predator control programs have successfully increased moose and caribou populations
Lochsa River Elk Report
by Steve Alder, Chairman of the Clearwater Chapter of Sportsman for Fish and Wildlife Idaho
I just returned from looking for elk in the Lochsa River (unit 12, Lolo zone) and in my opinion there aren’t enough elk to support 10 wolves, let alone the proposed 500+ wolves the enviros want in this area, due to the severe winter this year and let alone the predation.
I filmed this trip and the snow is still 5-7 feet deep in the upper 40 miles of the Lochsa. We will lose almost all of our elk in this region even without the help of the wolves, just as we did in the winter of 96-97.
We saw elk below Fish Creek in the lower section of the Lochsa, but the numbers are in single digits compared to the thousands of elk that were there prior to the Fall of 1996. Saw a few whitetail deer standing next to the river dying and a moose that was in the river that I didn’t quite capture on film.
We checked the Lower Selway River and it didn’t have such deep snow. The few elk left are looking good. I question whether we have enough elk from Challis north to I-90 in our Idaho DPS to sustain Nadeau’s 500-700 wolves that he’s hoping to retain, cuddle, and manage in the proposed Idaho Wolf Plan.
I’ve decided to take a full day each week to personally get in the air or on the ground and monitor, document, and film what is really going on. I will be joining my 75 year old father who has been hiking this country a full day each week for the past 25 years. There is not a ridgetop along the Lochsa he hasn’t explored. Even if we don’t accomplish anything, I will get in shape and will feel like I’ve contributed something to the cause!
Pronghorns and Wolves
The Far Left leaning Missoulian published a cheesy science report on pronghorn antelope in Yellowstone [here].
BILLINGS - More gray wolves mean more pronghorn antelope in the Yellowstone area, according to researchers who say the region’s rebounding wolf population is killing and scaring off coyotes that otherwise prey on pronghorn.
The researchers said that during a three-year study, pronghorn fawns were three times more likely to survive in areas dominated by wolves versus those ruled by coyotes. That’s because wolves favor larger prey, such as elk or cattle, and generally leave pronghorn alone.
The findings appear in the latest issue of the journal Ecology.
The “science” reported by the Missoulian here is a little twisted. Yes, wolves generally prefer larger prey, when they can get it. And no, coyotes generally do not predate elk. But the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem is so messed up that strange things happen there.
A super-abundance of wolves has been decimating what used to be a super-abundance of elk. Historically both species were rare in Yellowstone due to anthropogenic predation over thousands of years. Lewis and Clark encountered few of either when they traversed the Yellowstone in the early 1800’s (actually just Clark and a few of the Corps of Discovery-Lewis and the rest went another way).
In the absence of human predation the elk populations rebounded, or as biologists say, irrupted. Then wolves were reintroduced in the 1990’s and their population irrupted. Carnage has ensued.
Today the Yellowstone elk are in serious decline due to wolf predation. The Northern Yellowstone elk herd is at record low population numbers and may be extirpated in the next year or two by a burgeoning number of wolves at record high counts.
Hunters: The State of Idaho needs your HELP!
by Bobby Cupp, Dec 12, 2004
[Note: this dated letter was sent to us recently. We post it out of a spirit of inclusion, but generally we prefer new work. The same could be said for the previous post as well.]
We are faced with a problem in our country that most Hunters, Ranchers and Politicians don’t know how to approach or solve.
For example Hound Hunters have the right to hunt and run their hounds on public or private land, but some are scared to release their hounds because of the threat that wolves may kill them. Therefore this takes away their right to hunt. There have been sightings of wolves in our area, but authorities seem to cover it up for some reason or another.
This affects our rights to pursue Bear, Mtn. Lions, etc. Hunting those predators is legal in our state.
This problem also affects other hunters as a whole. The wolf population is increasing yearly with no attempt to control them. Wolves are affecting our Deer, Elk, Sheep and Moose populations.
No matter what other groups or activists say or print, the public is being misled in so many ways. The activists provide only false and inaccurate numbers that lead people to believe there are fewer wolves so they stay on the endangered species lists.
