Thursday, April 25, 2013

Our friend Rachel Tiseth in Wisconsin raised an excellent point today calling my attention to the fact that in Europe and in Yellowstone Park here in the USA, Wolf watching and Wolf watching ecotours are generating millions of $$ for business and State and Local Governments..................Instead of looking to institute hunting seasons on the Wolves of the Great Lakes region, State Game Agencies should be encouraging outfitters and other enterprising folks to be promoting wolf watching and tracking.........Far more $$ in these type endeavors and far more appeal to a wider net of tourists than the shrinking pastime of hunting..........By the way, Rachel has created a very fine facebook page about all things wolf which I recommend that all of you blog readers check out at www.facebook.com/WolvesOfDouglasCountyWisconsin

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- From: Rachel Tilseth [mailto: rachelwt72@gmail.com ] Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2013 1:00 PM To: Meril, Rick Subject: Re: Wis...

Where to put wildlife crossings along Montana highways has been the focus of a 2 year study along the states busy Interstate Highway 90, 95 and 200...............Only 4 of the 15 Black Bears collared for this project crossed the highways and mostly this took place at night when the bruins seem to feel protected by the darkness....................We hope that the information gleaned from this study will spur the construction of culverts and/or underpasses to allow for the bears to spread their genes across the "big sky" state without impediment..................Highways as we have learned, act as gene bottlenecks for all animals and effectively cause inbreeding and male of the species in-fighting due to the inability of younger animals to seek out and find new territories of their own

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Federally funded black bear study in analysis stage By GORDON RAGO;shoshonenewspress.com   Back in June 2011, the Federal High...

Oregon is known as the "Beaver State" and yet in the State Senate corridors there is a display featuring the skin of a Puma with the following text---"It is admitted by all, that bears, wolves, panthers, etc., are destructive to useful animals owned by the settlers of this colony".--Minister of the Public Meeting, March 1843, French Prairie.........I always find it so ironic that we honor animals by naming our sports teams, cars and armed services branches with their nom de plume,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,but we do all this after we virtually drive them off the face of the earth..................And the "Beaver State", Oregon, known to America as one of the "greenest" and "natural" sections of the Country is no different in its latest efforts to do everything possible to kill off the few Wolves that have recolonized the state

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Lions and Wolves and Bears! Oh My!  Tommy Hough;oregonwild.org The official portrait of Governor Tom McC...
Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Kentucky which reintroduced Elk to their state in 1997 now have a herd of 100,000 strong...............The Bluegrass state wildlife officials have been collaborating with nearby Virginia in a restoration program which thus far has 24 Elk placed in the "Commonwealth"----Over the next 10 years, a herd of 400 is envisioned................My question as always for both states is where is the corresponding predator restoration program as it relates to Pumas and Wolves...............Yes, Coyotes and Black Bears will take out a % of Elk Calves but the true Elk and Deer hunters(Wolves and Pumas) have long been absent from this part of the world................Over time, the Elk/Deer combo is sure to nub forest and meadow ground layers to the quick with biodiversity suffering in the process

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Virginia to take in  more Kentucky  elk in May courierjournal.com Southwest Virginia will see  its...
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In the pre colonial period, Bison roamed the Eastern half of North America from New York down through Virginia and the Southeast........ In Ohio, the last recorded Bison was killed in Lawrence County in 1800............Had Ohio not been settled by Europeans, it is estimated that there could be as many as 500,000 of the creatures living there today ............. Madison County, Ohio historian Mike Bergman states that the famed Ohio frontiersman Jonathan Alder frequently mentioned bison in his journal.............. Alder was captured by American Indians as a boy in Virginia and was brought back to the Ohio country, where he lived with them in the late 1700s................... He later had a cabin along what is now Rt. 142 in Madison County, Ohio where he wrote in his journal---""Some of the hunters(Indians) went as far south as Big Darby and Paint Creek"......... "Here they killed deer, elk, buffalo and bear in great numbers and dried and jerked the meat and returned with as much as they could carry, which was no small quantity, for an Indian can carry a larger load of provisions than any other people I have ever seen"

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Nice to see bison  back here(In OHIO) columbusdispatch.com First, get one thing straight.  Ne...

Our good friend Sue Morse runs the KEEPING TRACK program(surveys wildlife populations in townships and communities across the USA) writes a quarterly column on Wildlife in Northern Woodlands Magazine(perhaps the best regional-New England/NY State-Magazine on people, wildlife, nature and lifestyle published in the USA)....................Her insights into how Black Bears physiology allows them to climb and utilize trees is fascinating --"Black bears are built to climb".......... "Their prodigious upper body strength, coupled with a unique skeletal adaptation, enables bears to scurry squirrel-like up tall trees in seconds"............. "The ursid shoulder blade is key to this success"............. "A flange-like extension from the rim of the scapula accommodates a specialized muscle attachment that dramatically increases the bear’s strength and leverage while simultaneously minimizing debilitating wear and tear on the shoulder joint."......................Seems to me that researchers could and should be studying the bears to determine how that "spiderman-like" climbing abililty could be incorporated into our medical, industrial and military technologies...............As we all know, natures stockpile offers an endless treasure trove of raw material to improve and enhance our everyday life..................Our mission is to keep a functioning population of all creatures and lifeforms for their own sake as well as ours

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Bear Tracks on Trees by Susan C. Morse;Northern Woodlands Magazine June 2010   Climbing black bear; note hind feet are vertical a...
Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Nearly 6 million amateur American birdwatchers are legitimizing the findings of biologists and scientific researchers regarding the fast occurring impacts of Global Warming...............The Audubon Society estimates that nearly 60 percent of 305 bird species found in North America in winter are shifting northward and to higher elevations in response to climate change................ For comparison, imagine the inhabitants of 30 states — using state residence as a proxy for species of American human — becoming disgruntled with forest fires and drought and severe weather events, and seeking out suitable new habitat..........The birds in question have shifted an average of 35 miles north over a period of about 40 years — seemingly insignificant in human terms, but a major move ecologically(not ever recorded in the modern record)!..............Birds are not moving north in anticipation of climate change; rather, they are moving in response to it. ................We can't escape trying to see the future through birds. Too many canaries were deployed to detect gas leaks in coal mines, too many ravens launched from ships to find land — bird anxiety is an essential component of the human predicament...........Ignore their actions and we invite calamity,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,take heed of their actions and we prevent calamity.

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newyorktimes.com OPINION What Do the Birders Know? Tatsuro Kiuchi By   BRIAN KIMBERLING         A BIRD-WATCHER is a kin...
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