Saturday, April 26, 2014

While we tend to concentrate(and rightly so) on the breeding Puma populations in South Dakota and Nebraska(eastern outposts that are the source of prospectors going East), we do not often hear about the Puma population that exists in the Big Bend National Park in West Texas where most researchers think some 20 to 24 "big cats" exist...............The Park Service is seeking to collar the entire population(seems a bit intense to me) so as to this population uses the various habitats in the region and whether they wander in and out of Park grounds

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http://cbs7kosa.com/news/article_d1020700-cb60-11e3-ae46-001a4bcf6878.html#.U1nrY0Fk4Qk.gmail Research Team Sets out to Collar all Mount...

Richard Conniff is the author of 'The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth' and other books.............His take on the the killing of 1000 Wolves in Idaho since 2009............"Why not make wolves the basis for new jobs in the tourism economy, as has happened at Yellowstone National Park?"........... "Idaho’s political leadership, caught up in fairy-tale notions about wolves and a fanatic determination to oppose anything, even a native species, with the taint of the federal government on it, seems determined instead to drive this magnificent state down in a self-destructive cycle of hatred and killing"

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http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/04/21/inside-idahos-irrational-war-wolves?cmpid=organic-share-email#.U1vOWF29ejU.email Inside Idaho...

The second-longest land migration in North America. and the longest mule deer migration ever recorded occurred during the winter of 2011 up in the Red Desert in Wyoming.............Mule Deer decided to trot 100 miles north from the low elevation desert to the high elevation summer range of Hoback Basin near Yellowstone..............Biologist Hall Sawyer of Western Ecosystems Technology states that "a migration like this could take hundreds or even thousands of years to shape" ..............“It leads them(the Mule Deer) to a place to maximize their fitness and reproduction...............The information regarding this migration will be shared with traffic and resource managers so as to mitigate difficult road crossings, fences and other barriers that can stymie the Deer in their marathon to the high country

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http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2014/04/26/outdoors/doc535b4c6c3724f392611987.txt Group documents new mule deer migration co...
Friday, April 25, 2014

Unfortunately, the uninformed at local newspapers, tv networks and tv stations constantly take the "no change in numbers" information from state game agencies as PROOF POSITIVE that the hunting management plans in place are benign and positive for Wolves, Bears, Coyotes and Pumas.................What is not on their radar to dig deeper on is the social disruption that Carnivore killing brings onto the remaining population as well as the trickle down out-of-whack variables that negatively impact the entire natural system..........In a Wolf Pack, when older wolves are killed, packs structures are often disrupted............. Territories become less defined and younger wolves may be left to fend for themselves too soon............ Without the guidance of more experienced wary adult wolves, they may not learn to avoid livestock and humans............ Full-sized packs with a natural distribution of age groups, and intact social systems will not resort to killing livestock as often as packs that have been hunted, nor will they kill as many wild elk or deer................Disruption of social organization and management based only on numbers has important consequences............ If the “cultural knowledge” of where to hunt and/or the ability of a pack to effectively hunt is destroyed by loss of key pack members, social systems may destabilize and the remaining pack member may be more prone to conflict with humans and livestock............ Smaller wolf packs – typical in the Western US - may be particularly susceptible to such impacts as odds are higher that any adult killed is a breeder making social disruption much more likely...."............"AIN'T" IT ABOUT TIME THAT OUR MEDIA SEEK TO GET EDUCATED ON THIS CRITICAL ASPECT OF CARNIVORE ECOLOGY????????????

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http://abc10up.com/wolf-population-decreases-but-no-significant-change-from-2013/ Wolf population decreases, but no significant change ...
Thursday, April 24, 2014

Like the YELLOWSTONE TO YUKON INITIATIVE in the Rocky Mountain West which seeks to create large protected wild habitat with continuous wildlife safety corridors linking those habitats, the HARVARD FOREST WILDLANDS AND WOODLANDS PARADIGM is laser focused on protecting 70% of New England's remaining forests in a matrix of both working forests(Woodlands) and forever wild forests(Wildlands)...................Our friend and head of the HARVARD FOREST, David Foster is tirelessly collaborating with land trusts, industry and private landowners to make this vision a reality over the next 50 years

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W&W at a Glance Wildlands and Woodlands calls for conservation of 70% of New England as forests—while we still have this spec...