Sunday, July 24, 2011

A new insect killing fungus(lecanicillium muscarium) is being tested to determine its viability in killing the deadly Asian Adelgid, the exotic insect scourge of our Eastern Hemlock trees..........U. of Vermont Entomologist Scott Costa has tested the fungus on sections of Tennessee forest generating a 50% kill rate-------Will this fungus provide enough of a knock out punch to give our Hemlock a frighting chance from blinking out the way our American Elm and Chestnut did from exotic pathogens and insects?

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Hemlock Trees Saved from Woolly Adelgid With 'Forest Fungus Factory' The Hemlock is the third most common tree species in Vermont. B...

The National Wolfwatcher Coalition wants all of us to strongly encourage the Obama Administration to stand up to the US House of Rep's latest assault (H.R. 2584) on the Endangered Species Act and wolves.......I signed their petition below and encourage you to consider doing the same

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From : National Wolfwatcher Coalition NWC < mail@change.org > To : Meril, Rick Sent : Sat Jul 23 12:37:27 2011 Subject : Please j...
Saturday, July 23, 2011

As a good friend of mine with impeccable wildlife credentials has told me............"State biologists are very hard to communicate candidly with because they hold back to cover their ass(and retain their job)"......." These State wildlife agency biologists are appointed by fish and game commissioners(chosen by the Govenor of the State who tends to appoint powerful hunting, ranching and farming business people who supported their run for Office) who dictate to professional wildlife biologists"..........."As a result, these biologists will never stand up for the wildlife resource like the federal biologists do".............. "As a Fed one can be a good listener to private citizens and political animals alike, but do what they feel is right and necessary without real risk to their careers, whereas state biologists are doing all they can to keep their jobs ( walking on eggshells)"........."State biologists are pawns in the game of wildlife management who march to the beat of the state drum which means kiss the ass of agriculture and sportsmen who buy the tags that provide their salaries".............. We need a whole different system to manage natural resources"............Most folks in Montana feel that Carolyn Sime of MONTANA FISH, WILDLIFE AND PARKS did the best she could under challenging circumstances to approach wolf management with a fair hand............We wish her luck in her pursuit of a law degree and hope that she re-enters the Northern Rocky Wolf debate being a positive voice for the wolves, bears and cougars who still call "Big Sky" Country their home

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Wolf management pioneer Sime leaving Montana FWP HELENA - Carolyn Sime, a pioneer in wolf management in Montana, is leaving her job with M...

Having lived in Dallas for 5 years, I will tell you it is a fine City for business...........However, it has the least amount of Parkland of any major Metropolis in the USA...........While wide open spaces abut Dallas(although shrinking severely due to the sprawl that has Dallas reaching North toward Oklahoma and South to Austin), most Dallas residents equate wildlife with the goings-on at the thousands of restaurants and bars laced across the Metroplex.............As of late, Bobcats have found their way back into the slivers of waterways and "beauty strips" that occur here and there across the landscape.............Many folks have registered ill-placed concern and fear about bobcat attacks on pets and children...............I credit the author below for setting the record straight on the beneficial contribution that our "BOBS" deliver for the environment..............Kudos for Mr. Kim calling for coexistance and suggesting the proper "rules of the road" for minimizing conflicts

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Bobcats: Plano's animal services director offers his tips and perspective by-Theodore Kim "I saw your blog posting about the bob...

A joint U.S/Russian Polar Bear Commission is scheduled to meet next week to discuss subsistence hunting of our great WHITE BEARS across the two Countries..........Involving Native Peoples in both Alaska and Russia is a teriffic initiative and the hope is for illegal poaching to be curtailed as the Villagers in both Nations get a stake in regulated hunts

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Joint commission to meet on Chukchi polar bears By: DAN JOLING Polar bears in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast face an uncer...
Friday, July 22, 2011

DEFENDERS OF WILDLIFE Jamie Clark's position on federally delisting Wolves in the Great Lakes and the Northern Rockies

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Jamie Clark: Wisconsin's win for wolves  Wisconsin has a conservation success to celebrate this summer — the recovery of the gray wolf i...

Dr Charles Kay - alleged wolf expert who has communicated with this blog previously is not highly regarded by the majority of wildlife biologists.....It is important not to hide in the sand from his "hail mary" negative pronouncements about Wolves.............It is critical for us to to figure out how to discredit his anti-wolf positions responsibly and with peer reviewed science so that we can get a sane wolf management policy in place that does more than just allow an arbitrary minimum number of lobos to occupy viable wolf habitat across the Americas

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"In the final analysis, wolf recovery has nothing to do with wolves. Instead, ,it is all about the elimination of livestock grazing/ran...

British Columbia is now allowing the killing of Wolves year round, with no bag limit and no restrictions on killing females caring for pups..............The Northern Rockies whether they be under Canadian or U.S. jurisdiction once again managing Wolves as if they were Vermin...............There has been no learning, no evolution of thought on the circle of life and the health of the land as aided by Apex Carnivores like Wolves.................In fact, this Canadian Province is so hateful of wolves that it has an unlimited bag limits on the species......This, in contrast to every other Carnivore that it manages in the Province----Wolves.....were, are and will always be the "Boogeyman" of the landscape out West??????

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Regulation changes leaves wolf killing wide open By Carole Rooney The provincial government has changed the hunting regulations to a year-ro...
Thursday, July 21, 2011

Why has it taken so long for Wolves and Grizzlies to recolonize the Northern Cascades in Washington State?,,,Paula Mackay of the Western Transportation Institute weighs in on this subject

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A long road for recovery of Washington's grizzlies and wolves Guest columnist Paula MacKay celebrates recent documentation of a grizzly ...

Finding adequate funding to protect Grizzly Bears and People in the Greater Yellowstone--As Louisa Wilcox at NRDC reiterates constantly, Bears are ranging farther and farther afield to find food as climate change has adversely impacted whitebark pine seed availability...........More chances to encounter people along the way.........

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Tragic human death by a grizzly, and the need for more resources to avoid conflicts The tragic death of a hiker in Yellowstone Park is a chi...

Commentary on the status of Bobcats in Louisiana by Wiley Hilburn, Professor emeritus at Louisiana Tech U.

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Wiley Hilburn: Bobcats are back -- if they were ever gone My source for that statement is the excellent outdoor writer Glynn Harris, who rec...
4 comments:
Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Straightforward talk and facts from Hayden Janssen..............expressing the sentiments of most Blog readers about the need for an "ecosystem benefits" management plan for wolves and all carnivores which does not solely revolve around a mantra emanating from a % of ranchers/farmers/hunters which boils down to: "get rid of as many of them critters as you can"

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Wildlife Management Opinion: Wolves Under Fire in the Rocky Mountain West With no quotas planned for Idaho's hunt and Montana planning t...

The COYOTE YIPPS blogsite had some great pics of a young coyote staying clear of humans and dogs in the LA area...........The vast majority of near encounters between wild animals and ourselves(and pets) are just that----near encounters that do not end up in conflict or causing us concerns

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  Here are two occurrences of near encounters in two  different parks. In the top row of photos, a coyote  was calml...

Dan Huertas of Icon Films(based in the United Kingdom) is coming to America to film a Wildlife Mysteries tv series.........If any of you blog readers have any ideas for the show, email Dan with your suggestions

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---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dan Huertas < Dan.Huertas@iconfilms.co.uk > Date: Wed, Jul 20, 2011 at 6:47 AM Subje...
Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Brooks Fahy at PREDATOR DEFENSE shared this letter with me that he recently received from Environmental biologist Rick Hopkins at San Jose, California based LIVE OAK ASSOCIATES regarding Brooks question about the National Rifle Association's assertion that Predator(Carnivore) control having to be a central component of State Wildlife Agencies management plans for Wolves, Cougars, Bears, Coyotes, Bobcats, etc, etc ..........Rick states: "All too often, wildlife managers mistakenly rely on single species management paradigms that seek to naively manage wildlife for statis; a goal that is never achievable, and in reality, is not desirable. While conservation is often given lip service by these same state game agencies,almost all management of large carnivores is focused on killing carnivores through sport take, or broad efforts of Wildlife Services or other vector control agencies. This is why over the last decade, conservation biologists, such as myself, have focused on using spatial models thatinform conservation at relevant spatial scales (tens of thousands of km2) as my colleagues and I have done for over 40,000 km2of the Southern California landscape for the cougar. Efforts that are focused on actual conservation of cougars and not simplistic models of moderating lethal take. Conservation strategies, I might add, that have as its explicit goals the preservation of cougars within a functioning ecosystem while reducing conflicts with humans".............."Many game managers and wildlife services expend considerable energy ignoring the best available science that clearly demonstrates efforts to manage predators by broad lethal efforts, fails. It is astounding that we have failed to heed the sound and evidence basedrecommendations of such revered scientists, as was part of the Cain Report and not shifted our focus away from costly and ineffective predator control programs to efforts that focus onremoving the offending predator. It is disappointing that we find ourselves unwilling to movefrom severely failed management schemes to more cost effective and ecologically relevant ones"..........Read the full letter below

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click here to read entire letter (LIVE OAK ASSOCIATES  commenting on NRA'S position on Predator Control

WILD EARTH GUARDIANS is bringing to our attention truly concerning news about House Republicans efforts to pass legislation which would prohibit species listings and habitat conservation under the Endangered Species Act................They are looking to fund the USFW Service only if the funds directed to the Service are not utilized to list endangered species and to create critical habitat for these species...............INSANITY RUNS AMUCK IN OUR GOVERNMENT............WORSE THAN ANYTIME IN THE 50 YEARS I HAVE BEEN ON THE PLANET...........OUR PRESIDENT SHOWS NO GUTS IN FOLLOWING THROUGH ON HIS POSITIVE WORDS ABOUT LAND AND WILDLIFE ISSUES WHILE OUR NEW CONGRESS IS DAILY CRAFTING BILLS TO GUT 50 YEARS OF ENVIRONMENTAL GAINS(THOSE GAINS THROUGH BI-PARTISAN EFFORTS)

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Tell Your Representative Not to Gut the ESA The Republican majority in the House of Representatives is on the warpath. Their target? Our n...

Instead of the current archaic, ineffective and "band-aid" approach that USFW has used forever in listing threatened and endangered species( of which there is a growing and endlesss number of worthy candidates), it is time to start listing entire watersheds as endangered so that we can get on with actually perpetuating and sustaining systems of life across the Planet.................This type of Ecosystem approach to conservation runs so counter to the current Republican Congress efforts of trying to gut the ESA(see previous post from Wild EARTH Guardians for further details)

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  Fish and Wildlife Won't List Threatened Whitebark Pine as Endangered After 12-month study, officials acknowledge the tree key to grizz...
Monday, July 18, 2011

Colorado habitat restoration plan sounds positve if in fact trophic/keystone/apex carnivores are allowed to engage in the benefits of a more dense population of deer, elk and Bighorns.............Will that ever be the case with our State Game Commissions so dominated by Ranching and ungulate hunting Groups?

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Wildlife will benefit from forest habitat project Forest Service will rejuvenate 46,500 acres of winter range for deer, elk, bighorn sheep...

Whether it be the whitebark pine in the Northern Rockies or Hemlocks in the Appalachians, our important mast and shelter trees throughout the Americas are under dual siege from both climate change and chemicals in the air................How many species have to go "belly up" before Griz hit the wall out West and Black Bears sink to unsustainable levels in the East?

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Invasive Pests: Coming Soon to a Tree Near You! by David A. Orwig New England has an expansive landscape filled with a wealth of almost 33 m...

Despite what Montana Wildlife has to say about a sustainable upcoming half year Wolf hunt,THE HOWLING FOR JUSTICE BLOGSITE stated accurately in what is likely to be the result of the upcoming "killing frenzy".......... "The Federal Wildlife Services Unit killed 141 wolves last year (MT FWP2010 report) and 145 wolves in 2009, so I don't expect them to slow down this year. Add that to the 220 wolf hunt quota for 2011 and it makes things even harder for wolves...............220 plus 140 equals 360 dead wolves. What about the new pups of this year? We all know the answer to that"..... Dead adults mean unborn wolves or pups who die due to lack of adult supervision.............We could see the Montana Wolf population plummet to 196 animals from the 556 on the ground today............."Why did we bring them back if all we want to do is destroy them?"

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FWP approves hunt of 220 wolves   Daniel Person BIG SKY -- Montana will allow hunters to take 220 wolves during the fall hunting season, th...
Sunday, July 17, 2011

A cornerstone and consistant theme of this Blog is that Apex/keystone/trophic carnivores(predators) are the axis/"franchise players" that must be part of any natural system for optimum health to occur and for ecosystem services to be fulfilled.............Trophic Carnivores(predators) are the "#3 and #4 hitters" in natures design.........Critical for successful rewilding across the spectrum of natural systems(terrestrial as well as aquatic)..............U. of California(Santa Cruz) Ecologist James Estes et al just published another definitive peer reviewed article on this all-so-important topic in the July 15 issue of SCIENCE(you can click and read entire article at end of this posting)

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Loss of Large Predators Has Caused Widespread Disruption of Ecosystems The decline of large predators and other "apex consumers" a...
Saturday, July 16, 2011

As we Posted the other day, New York State has petitioned the USFW to keep the Gray Wolf federally listed throughout its Eastern range where it is not yet recovered............They are fine with Great Lakes Gray Wolves being delisted because of their populations being robust and continuous through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan............However, New York and New England have the potential for a Gray Wolf rewilding while not yet a reality..............USFW agrees with Biologists David Mech, Jon Way, Brent Patterson, Linda Rutledge and the full Trent U. team of geneticists and biologists in that the Eastern Wolf is its own species and not a subspecies of the Gray Wolf......The USFW wants to delist the gray wolf in NY and New England and potentially(but not guaranteeing)institute a rewilding plan for the Eastern wolf.............Controversy abounds as the 3 Great Lakes States seek to delist their Wolves which the USFW are saying are a varying population of both Gray and Eastern Wolves.........Will this mean that the delisting requires these States to have a management plan and minimum populations of both Gray and Red wolves?.............. ....From a conservation standpoint, Mech states: "It's nice to know what the origins are(Gray wolves and Eastern wolves) from the standpoint of curiosity, but from a conservation standpoint, it shouldn't make any difference"(as it relates to delisting and managing this "canis soup" swirl of wolf in our Great Lakes region

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L. David Mech, senior research scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Research Center in St. Paul, Minn., and founde...
Friday, July 15, 2011

Wolverines hopefully will receive ENDANGERED SPECIES STATUS toward the end of fiscal year 2013 due to the strong efforts made by our friends at WILD EARTH GUARDIANS AND THE CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY................At least another 100 animals are thought to be needed in the USA(400 in total) for the species to have the population reserves to withstand virulent disease, climate change and other habitat and environmental challenges..................Pound for pound our most formidable carnivore and once occupying Northern tier States Coast to Coast, 300 individuals cling to a broad patchwork of habitat across the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest

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Wolverines, sage grouse gain 2nd shot at protection Agreement could grant endangered-species listings By KATHERINE WUTZ   A wolverine...