The New Republic, a publication dating from the original Progressive Movement, recently ran an article with a cute and provocative title, “Aquacalypse Now: The End of Fish.” The author is Daniel Pauly of the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia. Essentially, the article correctly argued three points. First, because fish in the oceans […]
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The conflict over listing or delisting wolves places the Endangered Species Act (ESA) back in the news. By their nature, nearly all environmental issues are contentious and problematic, ESA decisions especially so. Scientifically complex questions and classifications, unequally distributed costs and benefits, and heavy emotional baggage are ingredients for error, sanctimony, and acrimony. I find […]
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently delisted the grey wolf from the ESA. This generated outcries from many directions and it’s no wonder; few western issues are as emotionally charged as wolf reintroduction, recovery, or regression (to the 1800s). One’s choice of words speaks to his position on this controversial issue. All can cheer […]
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I have two friends who are salmon innovators. On Al Adams’ quarter-acre lot I watched two species of salmon and a foot-long steelhead living in 50 linear feet of water. I think Al and Jerry Manuel represent a future for native fisheries in Montana and the Greater Yellowstone area. Al and Jerry developed a backyard […]
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I live in the Sourdough Creek watershed, just south of Bozeman. This mix of federal, state, and private lands is highly valued — as a recreation spot for city residents, for its wildlife habitat, and as one of Bozeman’s primary sources of drinking water. The watershed’s forests and soils are a natural filter for the […]
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I recently visited the National Conservation Training Center near Shepherdstown, WV. My goal was to find an eastern site for our seminar series for federal judges. It is an excellent facility run by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of Interior. (Its creation and operation exemplify political entrepreneurship, but that’s another column.) […]
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Three years ago Ramona and I were returning from Santiago, Chile, on a new Delta flight. It was less than a quarter full. I asked a flight attendant if we would go faster since the plane seemed empty. He responded that we were maxed out on weight. “Why?” I asked. “We’re nearly empty.” No, he […]
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Here’s a fundamental truth of ecological and economic systems: Not all good things go together. A neighboring rancher, an old timer I’ve liked and admired for over 30 years, called my attention to a Bozeman Chronicle article of May 26, “Canadians consider wolf kill to save caribou.” I’m a guy who, with my wife Ramona, […]
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Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2000, John A. Baden and Pete Geddes, editors.
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The recovery of the gray wolf may stand as the pinnacle of the Endangered Species Act’s (ESA) success. This summer the wolf will probably be “delisted” as endangered in Minnesota. At a meeting on June 2 called by U.S. Senator Conrad Burns, Republican from Montana, Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator of the U.S. Fish and […]
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