Dear Wildlanders,
We are excited to announce that the “wildest bill on the hill” has been introduced in Congress! The Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act is a grassroots-driven, scientifically based piece of legislation that would designate the remaining roadless wildlands in the northern Rockies bioregion as wilderness and protect crucial migration corridors for plant and animal species in the era of climate change. Read more.
We have joined allies in filing a lawsuit in federal district court against the USDA Wildlife Services for the inadequate environmental analysis of their tax-payer funded wildlife killing program in Idaho. Every year, this secretive federal agency kills thousands of native fish, bird and wildlife species in Idaho through aerial gunning, neck snares, leg-hold traps and poisoning methods, including the use of M-44’s. Top attorneys at Western Watersheds Project and Advocates for the West ably represent the plaintiffs. Read more.
FOC and allies are preparing to file a formal objection to the draft decision for the Clear Creek Integrated Restoration Project on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. We have serious concerns about the potential impacts to important fish and wildlife habitat, as well as the cumulative impacts to the watershed. This massive road building and logging project, disguised as restoration, is a pet-project of the industry-heavy Clearwater Basin Collaborative. Stay tuned.
A big thank you to Moscow’s own Yellow Dog Flats for playing the 2015 FOC Benefit Concert last weekend. We also want to extend congratulations to the 6th grade students at the Palouse Prairie School of Expeditionary Learning for their excellent analysis of old growth forest “management”. The students presented their findings at the start of the event.
It’s ridiculously warm and wild,
Brett Haverstick
Education & Outreach Director