In case you missed it, on Aug.12 in Cheyenne, federal Judge Clarence Brimmer issued a permanent injunction against the Clinton Administration’s so-called “roadless rule.” The roadless rule, of course, was the “most significant public lands measures of the last century,” according to the Wilderness Society. Or, the biggest political con job ever … as Judge […]

Last month, at a Bozeman meeting about changing the legal status of wolves to a species in need of management, only 11 citizens showed and only four said anything. Why did so few bother? The answer came two days later, July 18. Federal judge Donald W. Molloy granted environmentalists a preliminary injunction effectively blocking removal […]

Here comes fire season, along with plenty of toxic political smoke. In the last couple of weeks, the Idaho Statesman and Los Angeles Times have produced serial articles about the “wildfire problem,” and of course “solutions,” plus various advocates have started churning out their “fire is good and natural” press releases and op-eds. Overall, the […]

The Supreme Court finally bit the bullet, ruling on the good old Second Amendment for the first time since the Dirty Thirties. Wow! “The people” have an individual right to keep and bear arms?!? One needn’t be enlisted in either the National Guard or Militia of Montana?!? Shazam! Handsprings and cartwheels! While some pundits feel […]

Well, this week I set ANOTHER record gassing up my weapons carrier. Dang, that hurts! Yet there are some who think paying five bucks or more a gallon is a good idea. I think they’re nuts. America is an energy economy. Remember the geezer in the post-Apocalypse epic Soylent Green, pedaling his generator to power […]

Welcome back, class. Let’s dig out that copy of the Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 (MUSYA) you saved in your computer from last time, specifically MUSYA Section 4(b): “‘Sustained yield of the several products and services’ means the achievement and maintenance in perpetuity of a high level annual or regular periodic output of […]

Well, did you buy Plum Creek stock on my suggestion last month? A few weeks ago, Congress passed HR 2419, the “Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008,” aka the Farm Bill. Deep within this 682-page pig were two impressive, and impressively stupid, pork slabs for corporate America: $182 million in tax breaks for Weyerhaeuser; […]

Welcome back, students. My esteemed colleague, Professor Schneider’s recent lecture (May 21 Beacon: “Wilderness is Multiple Use”) redefining wilderness as the fullest form of multiple use has changed our lesson plan. Today, we’ll backtrack a bit in our study of wilderness politics and take a fuller look at the Multiple-Use Sustained Yield Act of 1960 […]

Early in April, I attended the 70th Intermountain Logging Conference in Spokane. This year, we heard the gospel from such public-sector big shots as Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, Idaho director of state lands George Bacon and Washington lands commissioner Doug Sutherland. But a panel featuring three big private-sector wheels – Mike Covey, CEO of Potlatch; […]

On April 23, I joined a packed house attending the City of Whitefish vs. Flathead County Board of Commissioners hearing before Flathead District Court Judge Kitty Curtis. The main point of the argument presented by Whitefish attorney John Phelps was that irreparable harm would occur were the county to resume zoning jurisdiction. Flathead County counsel […]

Our previous Wilderness 101 class covered how Bob Marshall almost single-handedly created the “wilderness movement” in American politics and set the stage for the eventual passage of the law governing wilderness areas on American public lands: The Wilderness Act of 1964. When Marshall died in 1939, various federal agencies had set aside roughly 5 million […]

It must be spring. After all, environmentalists have “sprung” at least six or seven new lawsuits on the Northwest court system the past couple weeks – and Earthjustice is about ready to file against delisting Northern Rockies wolves. But it’s a just-dismissed lawsuit that has my attention, especially since I just got “carded” for this […]

After my “Wildernists” column, my secret advisory board jumped me for not fully explaining the “wilderness” concept to readers. To begin with, wild land is wild land, but whether it is “Big-W” Wilderness, sanctioned by Congress, is a political act by human beings. God makes the ground, but only Congress (people) make Wilderness. So, since […]

If you were expecting a riff from me on the Whitefish doughnut war, sorry, but something else is jammed in my craw: Crummy science and even crummier science journalism. Around Valentines Day, the Associated Press reported on Wildlife Conservation Society scientist and University of Montana professor Joel Berger’s “discovery” that jackrabbits have disappeared from Yellowstone […]

Bill Schneider’s last column lives up to his “Wild Bill” marquee, with his wish for environmental groups to stop bickering and get Congress to pass a “wild bill” for Montana. Let ‘em bicker. First, the original Wilderness Act, signed by President Johnson in 1964, designated 9.1 million acres of big-W wilderness up front. Section 3(B) […]