The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views
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Thanks to Terry Seyden for this one from the Mountain Standard. Who knew that Fleecer Mountain had such a thriving population of grizzly bears? And who would have thought that taking out some dead and dying trees, working on stream restoration and improving sagebrush range lands might lead to the extinction of lynx? Environmental groups … Read more
I found this piece on a pingback from our blog.The author and associates seem to have an enemy known as Big Timber, and I’m not sure that there is an extant energy source of which he would approve. I think the expression “the wages of compromise” may be a reference to the “wages of sin” … Read more
Thanks to Sharon for her most-recent post (below) on the Colt Summit timber sale project on the Lolo National Forest. Here is a link to the AP article, which takes a more balanced look at the project, the lawsuit and the “friend of the court” briefs filed this week. As the AP article indicates, my … Read more
We have discussed the Colt Summit project here before, here and the Cone of Silence post here. There may be more, you can just use the search box to the right and type in “Colt Summit.” It might be interesting to imagine that we were using objections instead of appeals and see whether you think … Read more
From E&E News: I haven’t dug into this but sounds interesting. I just wonder about the first sentence “considering the matter for six years”. I also have to wonder about every rule being tied to its President. So the rule that will be done for objections based on the Approps bill will be an “Obama-era … Read more
Thanks to Matthew Koehler for sending this brief that was filed Friday. Summary.Judge.OPENING.BRIEF.FINAL.filed.jan.27 . I think it’s great to watch a single project go through appeals and litigation. We can also ask the question “how do we think it would be different if we had an objection process instead? I’m still trying to glean what … Read more
Thanks to Derek for these. Here’s an editorial from the Bozeman Chronicle: Editorial: Protecting Bozeman’s water supply is our best long-term plan Posted: Sunday, January 22, 2012 12:00 am Right on cue, a trio of environmental groups has again challenged a plan to protect the main Bozeman municipal water sources from catastrophic wildfire. The plan … Read more
Here’s the link..thanks to Matthew Koehler. Collaborative’s logging plan still controversial By Mike Garrity – IR Your Turn | Posted: Tuesday, November 8, 2011 A Nov. 1 article in the Independent Record reported that a “collaborative” group developed and submitted to the Forest Service a proposal to log thousands of acres in and around an … Read more
It seems like this project has led to much discussion so.. Here’s the map of this project.. Given the discussion of wildlife impacts on previous posts, I thought it might be enlightening to review the FWS letter on the project. Here is the link (the FWS letter is listed under “supporting”): The proposed action consists … Read more
Here’s the link, thanks to Matthew Koehler for submitting this.. Guest column by MIKE GARRITY | Posted: Thursday, October 6, 2011 Government has to follow laws as well How ironic is it that while the Missoulian was chastising the Alliance for the Wild Rockies for filing a lawsuit to protect the environment in its editorial … Read more