Wolves To Be Delisted

[Fairweather]

All the work and money put into restoring some balance for naught? I can't believe Obama is going forward with the delisting of Wolves as an endangered species. Idaho has already announced a hunt. I was once against these reintroduction efforts--and I was wrong. Wolves bring life to mountains and their presence has been missing for far too long. Pay the fucking cattlemen for any losses on their private property--then hand them a bill for the destruction of public lands caused by overgrazing.

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wolves7-2009mar07,0,3909363.story

 

 

"After reversing President Bush on a pack of environmental rules in its first month, the Obama administration let one of Bush's last-minute changes stand Friday: removal of the gray wolf from the endangered species list in the Upper Midwest, Idaho and Montana.

 

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, announcing the decision at a news conference, said the finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service under Bush was "a supportable one. . . . Scientists have concluded that recovery has occurred. He also agreed with the Bush administration's decision to keep the wolf on the endangered species list in Wyoming, calling that state's wolf recovery plan insufficient.

 

Salazar praised efforts by Idaho and Montana to restore and manage wolf populations and said, "I do not believe we should hold those states hostage to the inadequacy we've seen in Wyoming."

 

The delisting of the gray wolf was the latest chapter in an ongoing battle between the federal government and environmental groups, which successfully sued to keep the animal on the endangered list.

 

Bush's Interior Department announced the delisting in the final days of his term, and it wasn't finalized by the time President Obama took office and froze all pending rule changes.

 

Salazar's announcement Friday almost assuredly means environmentalists will sue again to keep the wolf under federal protection, continuing the saga of an animal that rouses fierce debate among ranchers and conservationists in the West.

 

"This delisting rule is bad for wolves," said Jenny Harbine, an attorney with the environmental group Earthjustice in Bozeman, Mont. "Wolves aren't recovered biologically, and they still need the protection of the Endangered Species Act."

 

Harbine said Earthjustice will formally ask the Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider the decision. "If they don't," she said, "we'll take this unlawful and unsound rule to court."

 

Wolves once roamed most of the nation, but dwindled to near-extinction before the Clinton administration reintroduced them in Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s. Populations grew quickly enough that a decade after reintroduction, Bush officials tried to remove the wolf from the endangered list, only to be blocked by courts.

 

Salazar, who grew up on a ranch in rural Colorado, made the announcement on Friday, traditionally the day for an administration to dump news it knows could stir controversy. The news also came after a string of Obama administration moves to freeze or roll back Bush-era environmental decisions, including Salazar's moves to slow efforts to increase oil and gas development offshore and in Rocky Mountain shale.

 

"

[billcoe]

We are in agreement on most of that. They were delisted yesterday and the states now take over management. It's good they are keeping this at a local level and the wolves will do fine as management is moving to the states is all and they can decide what to do locally. I just got back from Eastern Oregon Sunday where they are still discussing Oregons first major wolf encounter.

 

2 Wolves killed 19 lambs (final count I believe although 12 was the initial number) but only ate 2 of them near North Powder. Here's a link to that encounter with them. Link to pic This won't be cheap to deal with. However -large predators are critical in ways we often don't understand. Turns out, the aspen were dying in Yellowstone and no one knew why. When Wolves were re-introduced the aspen started coming back.

 

They know why now. Guesses?

 

ps, there is an organization which compensates ranchers for losses, I don't believe it's the gobment though.

[Fairweather]

However -large predators are critical in ways we often don't understand. Turns out, the aspen were dying in Yellowstone and no one knew why. When Wolves were re-introduced the aspen started coming back.

 

They know why now. Guesses?

 

 

I would guess that absent wolves, the deer population exploded and began eating most of the Aspen saplings--the famous Trophic Cascade that Aldo Leopold describes in A Sand County Almanac's "Thinking Like a Mountain".

[prole]

Wow, great guess! How did you do that?

[Pete_H]

In Yellowstone they keep elk and moose out of streams beds which improves watershed vegetation, thereby improving the fish and other aquatic life. Apparently.

[olyclimber]

wolves eliminate human stragglers, cleansing the genetic pool

[Pete_H]

Wolves remove the slow sheep from the herds, thereby removing temptation from certain degenerate climbers.

[billcoe]

no close no and no

[akhalteke]

However -large predators are critical in ways we often don't understand. Turns out, the aspen were dying in Yellowstone and no one knew why. When Wolves were re-introduced the aspen started coming back.

 

They know why now. Guesses?

 

 

I would guess that absent wolves, the deer population exploded and began eating most of the Aspen saplings--the famous Trophic Cascade that Aldo Leopold describes in A Sand County Almanac's "Thinking Like a Mountain".

 

I could do that with my .270. It would also have the added benefeits of:

1) Not requiring wolves; thereby saving livestock

2) Feed my family

3) Save the trees (keeps hippies happy)

 

 

[olyclimber]

wolves are among the most delicious dogs according to my Korean neighbor.

[Hugh Conway]

he should try homeless man

[akhalteke]

he should try homeless man

 

Too gamey for my taste. Much prefer Parisian street whore.

[Hugh Conway]

by that you mean "abused eastern european woman"

[murraysovereign]

The article I read attributed the aspen decline/rebound to Elk, not deer, and it had more to do with grazing behaviour than with the size of the herd. But FW's basic premise blaming the decline of aspen on the shoots being eaten by ungulates is accurate.

 

Around the BC interior they graze sheep in the replanted clear-cuts to allow the seedlings a chance to grow without being choked out by the surrounding grasses. To keep the sheep safe from wolves, they leave one donkey with each herd of sheep. Apparently donkeys have a serious hate on for wolves, and are fearless in attacking them and driving them away from the sheep. So maybe tell your folks in Oregon and elsewhere to run a few donkeys in amongst their livestock.

 

We never wiped out our wolves up here, and we've always had livestock operations, and it's never been a very big issue.

[marylou]

This is just the kind of thing I feared we would see with Salazar's appointment.

[billcoe]

This is just the kind of thing I feared we would see with Salazar's appointment.

 

Oh?

 

"Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, announcing the decision at a news conference, said the finding by the Fish and Wildlife Service under Bush was "a supportable one. . . . Scientists have concluded that recovery has occurred."

 

You are a fish and wildlife biologist and you disagree with this?

[Fairweather]

 

 

 

I could do that with my .270. It would also have the added benefeits of:

1) Not requiring wolves; thereby saving livestock

2) Feed my family

3) Save the trees (keeps hippies happy)

 

 

It seems that if anyone can appreciate the beauty of the wolf, it's gotta be a soldier. Beside Orcas, there aren't too many creatures that demonstrate a coordinated and flexible pattern of attack.

Edited May 6, 2009 by Fairweather

[olyclimber]

i believe he was talking about the deer (or elk) actually

[akhalteke]

 

 

 

I could do that with my .270. It would also have the added benefeits of:

1) Not requiring wolves; thereby saving livestock

2) Feed my family

3) Save the trees (keeps hippies happy)

 

 

It seems that if anyone can appreciate the beauty of the wolf, it's gotta be a soldier. Beside Orcas, there aren't too many creatures that demonstrate a coordinated and flexible pattern of attack like these creatures.

 

They are allright. I would be all for "managed approach" to wolves. If they get too numerous, slay em. If they are too few in number, take measures to help them out. The factors that used to control the ebb and flow of their population are not able to keep up with their reproduction.

 

We fucked up the eco-system, we gotta regulate it. If that takes a few good ol' boys with some guns, then so be it. The state goes to far each time they make regulations. ie. wiping them out, then letting them rampage unchecked across the countryside. Moderation is key.

 

They make really bitching hats by the way. I have a russian chapka make out of wolf to damn hot to wear anywhere.

[Jim]

More importantly:

 

ENDANGERED SNAFFELS

 

For Release on May 6, 2009

Contact: Diane Katzenberger (303) 236-4578

 

 

Fish and Wildlife Service to Conduct Status Review of the American Pika

 

Following an initial review of a petition seeking to protect the American

pika under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service announced today that the American pika may warrant federal

protection as a threatened or endangered species.

 

The Service will undertake an in-depth, scientific review of the American

pika to determine whether to propose adding the species to the federal list

of threatened and endangered wildlife and plants.

 

The petition provides information suggesting that climate change may have

effects resulting in individual mortality, population extirpations, and

reduced species range for the pika.

 

Today’s decision, commonly known as a 90-day finding, is based on

scientific information about the American pika provided in the petition

requesting that the species be placed on the federal list of threatened and

endangered wildlife and plants protected under the ESA. The initial

petition finding does not mean that the Service has decided it is

appropriate to give the American pika federal protection under the ESA.

Rather, this finding is the first step in a process that triggers a more

thorough review of all the biological information available.

 

To ensure this review is comprehensive, the Service is soliciting

information from state and federal natural resource agencies and all

interested parties regarding the American pika and its habitat.

 

The Service is seeking scientific information regarding the American pika’s

historical and current status and distribution; its population size and

trend; its biology and ecology; its taxonomy (especially genetics of the

species); ongoing conservation measures for the species and its habitat;

and threats to the long-term persistence of the species. If listing the

American pika is warranted, the Service intends to propose critical habitat

and therefore requests information on what may constitute physical and

biological features essential to the conservation of the species; where

these features are currently found; whether any of these features may

require special management considerations or protection; and whether there

are areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species that are

essential to the conservation of the species.

 

Scientific information will be accepted until July 7, 2009 and can be

submitted electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at:

http://www.regulations.gov, or can be mailed or hand delivered to Public

Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-R6-ES-2009-0021; Division of Policy and

Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 4401 N. Fairfax

Drive, Suite 222; Arlington, VA 22203.

 

[tvashtarkatena]

The article I read attributed the aspen decline/rebound to Elk, not deer, and it had more to do with grazing behaviour than with the size of the herd. But FW's basic premise blaming the decline of aspen on the shoots being eaten by ungulates is accurate.

 

Around the BC interior they graze sheep in the replanted clear-cuts to allow the seedlings a chance to grow without being choked out by the surrounding grasses. To keep the sheep safe from wolves, they leave one donkey with each herd of sheep. Apparently donkeys have a serious hate on for wolves, and are fearless in attacking them and driving them away from the sheep. So maybe tell your folks in Oregon and elsewhere to run a few donkeys in amongst their livestock.

 

We never wiped out our wolves up here, and we've always had livestock operations, and it's never been a very big issue.

 

Fucking donkeys. You can't get within 50 feet of a Canadian sheep these days, which sucks, because Montana sheep are too skiddish to get within a mile of.

[G-spotter]

Beside Orcas, there aren't too many creatures that demonstrate a coordinated and flexible pattern of attack like these creatures.

 

 

 

[tvashtarkatena]

Try hitting a hornets nest with a stick sometime....

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Try hitting a hornets nest with a stick sometime....

 

yellowjackets

[Fairweather]

Try hitting a hornets nest with a stick sometime....

 

Good point. I guess I was thinking only of higher-order mammals.