US Appeals Court Allows Wolf Hunts

By Matthew Brown

Billings, Montana - A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit from conservation groups that want to block wolf hunting and trapping that have killed more than 500 of the predators across the Northern Rockies in recent months.

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress had the right to intervene when it stripped protections from wolves last spring.

Lawmakers stepped in after court rulings kept wolves on the endangered list for years after they reached recovery goals. Wildlife advocates claimed in their lawsuit that Congress violated the Constitution's separation of powers by interfering with the courts.

But in an opinion authored by Judge Mary Schroeder, the court said Congress was within its rights. 

Schroder wrote that lawmakers changed the Endangered Species Act to deal with Northern Rockies wolves, and did not directly interfere with the court's prerogative to decide when the law is being followed.

The amendment marked the first time Congress has forcibly removed a species' endangered status. It was tacked onto a federal budget bill by Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson and Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

"This case has made it clear that those who persist in trying to manage wildlife through the courts, in spite of all scientific evidence that this species has recovered, no longer have a defensible position," Simpson said Wednesday.

Michael Robinson with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that sued to restore protections, said a Supreme Court appeal was possible but no decision had been made.

"We're very disappointed and very saddened," Robinson said. "Hundreds of wolves have been hunted and trapped and snared, and they are essential to their ecosystem."

He called the congressional budget bill rider that lifted protections "undemocratic" and said that it set a precedent for future political meddling with imperiled wildlife.

Wolves once thrived across North America but were exterminated across most of the continental U.S. by the 1930s, through government sponsored poisoning and bounty programs.

They were put on the endangered list in 1974. Over the last two decades, state and federal agencies have spent more than $100 million on wolf restoration programs across the country.

The Northern Rockies is now home to more than 1,700 wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and expanding populations in portions of eastern Oregon and Washington. That figure is up slightly from 2010, although Wyoming and Idaho saw slight declines.

In the Northern Rockies wolf hunting is allowed in Montana and Idaho and could resume in Wyoming this fall.

Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin also are considering wolf seasons after protections for wolves were lifted in the upper Great Lakes in December.

Wisconsin's legislature on Wednesday approved a measure to establish a hunting and trapping season that would run from mid-October through the end of February. It still has to be approved by the governor.

There more than 4,400 of the animals in the Great Lakes and a struggling population of several dozen wolves in the Desert Southwest. Alaska, where the animals never went on the endangered list, has an estimated 10,000 wolves.

In parts of Montana, ranchers and local officials frustrated with continuing attacks on livestock have proposed bounties for hunters that kill wolves. Montana wildlife officials said they will consider ways to expand hunting after 166 wolves were killed this season, short of the state's 220-wolf quota.

Idaho allows trapping. Its 10-month wolf season runs until June and has claimed 353 wolves so far.

Prior lawsuits resulted first in the animals' reintroduction to the Northern Rockies and then later kept them on the endangered list for a decade after the species reached recovery goal of 300 wolves in three states.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is monitoring the hunts. But agency officials have said they have no plans to intervene because the states have pledged to manage wolves responsibly.

Federal officials have pledged to step in to restore endangered species protections if wolf numbers drop to less than 100 animals in either Montana or Idaho.

Even without hunting, wolves are shot regularly in the region in response to livestock attacks. Since their reintroduction, more than 1,600 wolves have been shot by government wildlife agents or ranchers.

Wyoming Tribe Gains Right to Kill Bald Eagles

By Laura Zuckerman

Wind River Indian Reservation, Wisconsin - The Fish and Wildlife Service has approved a first-time permit allowing a Native American tribe in Wyoming to kill two bald eagles in a centuries-old religious ceremony once outlawed by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The step was hailed on Wednesday as a victory that honors the cultural and religious rituals practiced by the 9,600 Northern Arapahos on the Wind River Indian Reservation in west-central Wyoming.

"The eagle has been with us for so long, even before the settlers came. For the government to tell us, you can't use that bird anymore ... it slaps natives in the face," said tribal member Lokilo St. Claire.

It is almost always illegal to kill bald eagles, which were removed from the federal threatened and endangered species list in 2007 but are still safeguarded by laws like the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States and is depicted on everything from the Great Seal of the United States to the dollar bill.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees conservation of eagles, has granted very few so-called "take" permits allowing Native Americans to kill golden eagles for religious purposes, spokeswoman Diane Katzenberger said.

The permit allowing a tribal take of bald eagles is believed to be the first of its kind.

Approval for the permit for the Northern Arapaho stems from a federal lawsuit the tribe filed in November that claimed the government's ban on the taking of an eagle infringed on religious and free speech rights guaranteed to tribal members by federal law, the constitution and treaties.

The Northern Arapaho first applied to the service in October 2009 and submitted a revised application in November 2010 to harvest eagles to be used in the "sun dance," an annual summer ceremony sacred to the tribe.

It was unclear whether the lawsuit would now be withdrawn. Andrew Baldwin, attorney for the tribe, said the Northern Arapaho would seek to renew the permit each year.

SUN DANCE

The bald eagle soared back from the brink of extinction after a 1972 ban on the pesticide DDT and after protections under the Endangered Species Act in 1978.

Breeding pairs have climbed from about 400 in 1963 to an estimated 9,700 today.

The Northern Arapaho say a robust population of eagles and the fact that the service is considering an application by a wind developer in Oregon that would permit the killing of golden eagles are sufficient reasons to approve their request.

The whirring blades of wind turbines can kill eagles.

The permit was issued to the tribe on March 9 "after careful consideration," according to the service.
Groups like the American Bird Conservancy say they support giving priority to permits for public safety - near airports, for example - and tribal religious needs.

Outside of those areas, permits need to be carefully evaluated to ensure they will not reduce the still-recovering bald eagle populations, conservancy vice-president Darin Schroeder said.

The sun dance, which requires the use of eagle feathers, and other ceremonies were banned as "Indian offenses" by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 1890s and it wasn't until 1934 that the government formally lifted those prohibitions, according to the Native American Rights Fund.

For the Northern Arapaho tribe's St. Claire, the bald eagle is a powerful symbol of native pride just as the sun dance is a powerful symbol of native spirituality.

"When we do take a bird, it will be treated with the utmost respect. Every part of it will be used and nothing will be wasted," he said.

The government maintains a repository for Native American tribes for feathers and other parts of eagles killed by accident or by poaching. But the demand can exceed supply and St. Claire said those articles are sometime unfit for ceremonial purposes.

"The feathers have to be in good condition - not damaged by being frozen - because they are meant to be used all through the person's life and even passed from father to son," he said.

Odd Stories: Student Must Pay $210.79 Fine for Doughnut

Powell, Wyoming - A Northwest college student has to pay $210.79 for a doughnut.

Zach O'Dell was accused of eating the doughnut without paying when he was with friends in a store in November.

There will be no trial for the deed because O'Dell has agreed to pay 200 dollars for the fine, 10 dollars for court costs, and the 79 cents for the original cost of the doughnut.

Even though O'Dell offered to pay for the doughnut after finding out it wasn't paid for by his friends the store ownder, Brent Foulger, said “There is no gray area; it’s either paid for or not paid for,” citing in the past he has had things stolen from his store by the college-age crowd.

City attorney Sandra Kitchens said if in six months O'Dell has stayed out of trouble the charge will be dropped from his record.

Drones Slowly Becoming a Fact of Life

Grand Junction, Colorado - Denver's ABC-7 seems to be in preemptive spin mode with the idea of having drones keeping an eye on the residents of Mesa county.  It reports:

The Mesa County Sheriff's Department has purchased a small drone aircraft for $14,000 to use in investigations and in search and rescue operations...The sheriff's department is test-flying the aircraft and expects it will be ready for use within the next couple of months. Officials said the department has FAA permission to fly the drone anywhere in Mesa County in daylight hours.

Now I don't doubt what else is present in the article, that it will help find lost hikers and bikers, but just like what happened in Montana and other western states it will more than likely be used on civilians too.  The station then went on to praise the drone's looks and abilities, never stopping to question the real possibility it may be used on citizens.

Sheriff's officers demonstrated the 4-foot-long, 9-pound vehicle Friday. The plane can stay airborne for an hour, fly at an altitude of 400 feet and send video and infrared images to ground controllers...Officials said the plane could also be useful for observation during wildfires. The plane has manual pilot capabilities but is most useful and efficient on autopilot, allowing its operators to type into a computer where they want the plane to fly. "You tell it where to go, and it will continuously fly over those parameters you set for it," [sherriff's spokeswoman Heather] Benjamin said.

It will only be a matter of time before seeing drones in the skies for no reason will become commonplace.  Right now we are just being normalized to it.

Dimock Water to Be Checked By EPA

Stating the residents of Dimock, Pennsylvania are claiming their wells have been polluted by a nearby fracking facility, federal regulators are considering the option of shipping fresh water to the townspeople.

This treatment is taking place after just a month after the Environmental Protection Agency deemed the water to be safe for consumption after they presented hundreds of pages of data linking their water's pollution to fracking.

If the EPA does go along with it, it's sure to be one of the strongest blows against the fracking industry. For years fracking has been theorized to be the reason water supplies across the country have become polluted or able to be set on fire. Along with the water damage, which has unknown short- and long-term effects, is the direct link between fracking and earthquakes. Some of the earthquakes are in areas which hardly ever happen to them.

The EPA said January 5^th they will conduct their own tests on the area's water. It is already aware of the effects the gas extraction process had on the Wyoming town of Pavilion. In that case the agency's report expressed the concluding chemicals related to fracking were present in the town's aquifer.

Previous to this development the company Cabot Oil & Gas was providing water to about a dozen homes for three years until state regulators said it could stop if they wish. Now that their water supplies have stopped, some are showering in pond-water.

The residents started complaining about the foul-smelling cloudy water they were getting from their faucets in 2008.

Climate Change Strikes Hard in Thailand

Denver – The Listera virus is continuing its outbreak and claims a 29^th life. The victim is the eighth death in Colorado. According to the Centers for Disease Control 139 people either died or were sickened in 28 states.

The reason why new listeria outbreaks are occurring weeks after they were pulled from the shelves is its symptoms may not show up for three months.

Some of the other deaths happened in Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming, Reuter adds.