Brownback and other officials contend it will damage the economy because farmers, ranchers and oil and natural gas producers face restrictions on their operations and potentially hefty conservation fees.
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Commissioners flew over the proposed 592,000-acre national monument earlier in the Wednesday and are scheduled to hear a staff presentation on the proposal currently before the Obama administration.
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The Greater Yellowstone grizzlies will remain a borderline viable population as long as they remain isolated from other grizzly populations. Grizzly bears and people do not make ideal neighbors, but they can and do coexist. It is a chance to move beyond restoring separate island populations.
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Similar legislation stalled at the end of the 112th Congress over a provision that would allow the Interior Department to increase the price of the duck stamps.
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For years that chore meant trapping the elusive wolves and fitting them with tracking collars, then flying circles above the canopy of spruce and hemlocks in hopes of sighting a pack. Tough to trap and rarely seen, the animals are notoriously hard to count. The hair-snaring tactic could one day reduce the need for flying, which Logan said is expensive, prone to weather delays and sometimes dangerous.
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The year before, they killed 90 cattle and 251 sheep across the state. In the Wood River Valley alone, wolves killed 34 cattle and 79 sheep in 2012. Last year, they killed 23 cattle and 146 sheep. In response, 94 wolves were killed from helicopters, up from 73 in 2012. But the money was not enough to pay ranchers market rates.
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...minimum age to hunt big game in Idaho created a public relations problem for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. The new law -- which lowered the minimum big game hunting age from 12 to 10 -- took effect July 1. But the controlled-hunt drawing took place in June. The department's eligibility guidelines were unclear, resulting in 283 underage applicants drawing tags that eligible youth and adult hunters should have gotten. Because of the new law, some underaged youths...
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...species," Rabot said. A listing as threatened under the Endangered Species Act would protect U.S. wolverines as a population segment geographically separated from those in Canada and Alaska. (There are scattered populations of wolverines, the largest member of the weasel family, beyond Wyoming, Montana and Idaho; a lone wolverine was spotted in California in recent years.) Walsh ordered a reversal of the recommendation to list the animals as threatened, the agency confirmed...
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PHOENIX -- Whether you won or lost when you bought a lottery ticket last year, some of your money benefits Arizona's wildlife and students. That's because the Arizona Game and Fish Department uses some of its Heritage Fund monies that come from Arizona Lottery ticket sales to provide grants for wildlife education and research. This year, more than $410,000 is being awarded to 27 grant projects across Arizona. When combined with matching money from other sources, the projects being funded total nearly $1 million invested in Arizona. "By simply buying Arizona Lottery tickets, Arizonans can help conserve wildlife and habitat, and provide schools with outdoor-related opportunities that can keep kids connected to nature despite the reduced budgets of local schools,"…
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Moreover, the state's original goal of having 350 of the animals is outdated and needs updating. But many don't survive for a variety of reasons, some natural. Staunch opponents of Wisconsin's wolf hunt don't want any animals shot and killed. But northern Wisconsin residents deserve some protection for their livestock and pets.
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