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Lesser prairie chicken plan touted

By Issues
...lesser prairie chicken and its habitat. "The point of the program is to provide protection to landowners," said Beauprez. Even if the bird were not to be listed, the program assures efforts would take place to preserve the bird, which could prevent future petitions for listings. "We're hoping to preclude the need to list the species," Beauprez said. The voluntary program would pay farmers in the shinnery oak region of the lesser prairie chicken, which encompasses...
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Groups sue to halt the killing of wolves

By Issues, Wolves
...killing any wolves. "A wilderness is supposed to be a wild place governed by natural conditions, not an elk farm," said Preso. Maughan says the lawsuit is not about wolves; it's about protecting the wilderness values enshrined in the Wilderness Act. Maughan has written several guide books about the area with his wife, Jackie Johnson Maughan, and has long ties to that part of the state. Jackie Maughan's father, Bill "Blue Moose" Johnson, was an outfitter in the area and...
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Sage grouse plan: ‘mind-boggling’

By Issues
...of acres of public land in Eastern Oregon to protect the sage grouse and its habitat. That deadline will give another federal agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for managing sage grouse, time to decide, based on the BLM's new strategy, whether the sage grouse, like the spotted owl, needs legal protection under the Endangered Species Act. A federal court has ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to make that decision during 2015. Bennett said...
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Drought, American River flows affects Steelhead and Salmon

By Hunting, Issues
Unlike fall-run salmon, steelhead are protected by the Endangered Species Act. Without reducing water releases to the river, and without a return to normal winter weather, water agencies such as San Juan Water District would risk running out of water by March. The survey found that many imperiled fish species remain near historic lows, including Delta smelt, longfin smelt and striped bass.
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1989 Prediction on Wolf Reintroduction Revisited.

By Issues, Wolves
In 1989, Gordon Eastman made a number of predictions in a Jackson Wyoming newspaper regarding the then proposed reintroduction of wolves. A photo copy of a portion of that article is here. This article is a great example of the numerous warnings that while counter to the prediction of the advocates of Wolf reintroduction, were accurate and should have served as a warning of the huge challenges that would be created by allowing an apex predator to be reintroduced into western ecosystems.   
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