Environment

Gov & Politics

Mar 28, 2025 | 6:10 pm ET

By Jordan HansenShare

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A view of the Ten Lakes Wilderness Study Area in northwest Montana. (Micah Drew/ Daily Montanan)

A Senate joint resolution urging Congress to release over a million acres of wilderness study area in Montana from consideration of inclusion into the National Wilderness Preservation System brought significant opposition this week.

Montana lawmakers can only urge federal action on these parcels of land since only Congress has the authority to classify the land.

The National Wilderness Preservation System protects about 111 million acres of land across the country. No action has been taken yet on the measure, Senate Resolution 14, which was brought by Sen. Tony Tezak, R-Ennis.

Proponents of the resolution said it would open up the areas to more uses, like ranching and logging. Opponents argued the resolution was a full-fledged assault on public lands. 

The resolution would involve a little more than a million acres.

The Wilderness Study Area Act was passed in 1977, and none of the land under consideration has been formally designated as wilderness. 

Tezak believes the land should be, “returned into public lands management decisions of our local forest service and Bureau of Land Management districts, rather than their current state of being managed as a wilderness study area dictated by Washington, D.C.

The 1977 law requires a review of potential wilderness areas within five years. The resolution addresses this specifically, as well as a 2000 law that created more study areas on Bureau of Land Management land.

“The vast majority of Montana lands identified in the Montana Wilderness Study Act have never been formally recommended by the Secretary of Agriculture for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System and no law has been signed by the President to designate these lands as wilderness,” the bill reads.

Opponents of the bill included Wild Montana, Montana Chapter of Back Country Hunters and Anglers, Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, Montana Audubon, Trout Unlimited, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and many individual residents. The Blackfeet Tribe, Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy also opposed the resolution.

“We see this as a destructive attempt to undermine the hard work the localized community, including the Blackfeet Tribe, has done to protect these areas,” said Patrick Yawakie, who was representing multiple tribal communities.

Proponents for the bill included the Montana Stock Growers Association as well as several ranchers. 

“We are supporters of multiple use of public lands, and know that management of WSAs can curtail livestock grazing, something our organization cares deeply about,” said Ellie Brighton, who was representing the Montana Stock Growers Association. “Many existing WSAs did not have substantial support from livestock producers, and we support a collaborative approach.”

Opponents of the bill pointed to the slow pace of the federal government for not resolving the issue.

“The problem with creating lasting solutions for WSAs is not with the locally developed collaboratives or the balanced proposals that they’ve developed,” said Noah Marion, representing Wild Montana. “The problem is with Washington, D.C., and their inability to pass legislation in a timely manner. There have been many bills in DC to resolve the status of WSAs, including one in the late ‘80s that resolved many of them. That was pocket vetoed.”

by Karen Mehall Phillips, NRA Media – Monday, March 31, 2025

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There is good news on the wildlife conservation front as the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee recently held its initial legislative hearing on a bill seeking to remove Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the long since recovered gray wolf. Introduced in early February as H.R. 845—the Pet and Livestock Protection Act—the NRA-backed move aims to restore a 2020 Department of the Interior final rule to delist the species so its management can be turned over to state wildlife agencies where wolves reside using the best available science.

As tracked by this NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum hunting news website, passage of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO-04) and co-led by Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI-07), would be a major victory for hunter-conservationists. Many will recall how the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) was quick to applaud President Trump’s first administration for recognizing the triumphant return of gray wolf populations to levels that no longer warranted federal ESA protections. Even the Biden administration said President Trump was right to delist the gray wolf, upholding the decision until receiving pressure from animal rights extremists who filed lawsuits to stop the delisting and tied up the process in court. In 2022, a federal judge in California sided with extremists, tying the hands of the federal government as the gray wolf remained under ESA protections. The NRA and partners such as Safari Club International remain entrenched in federal lawsuits upholding the science and giving hunters and those who live amongst wolves a voice.

The truth is that after more than four decades of recovery efforts, the gray wolf far exceeds the scientific goals for the species’ recovery, with more than 6,000 wolves now present in the Lower 48. This is why Rep. Boebert also tried to move along legislation to delist last year in the form of H.R. 764, the Trust the Science Act, which passed the House but was not acted on in the Senate. Now hunter-conservationists have renewed hope that ESA resources ultimately can be diverted to species truly in need of protections.

In closing, NRA-ILA has always held that state agencies where gray wolves reside are much better equipped to manage the species than legislators in Washington, D.C. As the NRA’s millions of members are aware, NRA-ILA will continue to advocate for the importance of hunting and trapping in wildlife conservation management plans both in Congress and in the federal courts.

Please check back with this NRA website and with NRAILA.org for updates on H.R. 845 as we await what comes next.

IN THIS ARTICLE

U.S. House weighs whether to Delist Gray Wolf h.r. 845 would remove wolves from Federal Protection

• Published: Mar. 31, 2025, 11:40 a.m.

• https://www.silive.com/news/2025/03/bird-flu-in-new-york-kitten-triggers-cat-food-recall-in-14-states.html

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• Ann Marie Barron | ABarron@siadvance.com

Samples of a popular cat food have tested positive for avian flu and are being recalled by the manufacturer, according to the New York State Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Savage Pet of El Cajon, California, is recalling 66 Large Chicken Boxes and 74 Small Chicken Boxes with the lot code/best by date of Nov. 15, 2026, because they have the potential to contain H5N1, also known as bird flu.

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The boxes are cardboard and contain individual plastic packets inside. The lot code/best by date is stamped on the bottom and on each packet.

Savage Pet was notified on March 13, 2025, of a kitten in New York that contracted avian flu after eating the recalled food.

The FDA said that in February samples of the cat food tested negative for avian flu after being taken off the shelves.

In addition to New York, the recalled chicken boxes were distributed to retailers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia, Wyoming and Washington, D.C.

Consumers should not feed the recalled product to pets or animals and should return it to their retailer for a full refund, the FDA said.

People who fed cats the recalled products should watch for symptoms of bird flu. These including fever, lethargy, low appetite, reddened or inflamed eyes, discharge from the eyes and nose, difficulty breathing, and neurological signs like tremors, stiff body movements, seizure, lack of coordination, or blindness, according to the FDA.

People with cats exhibiting these signs after feeding this product should immediately contact their veterinarian, the FDA announced.

While no human infections have been identified among people handling raw pet food products, humans can become infected if the live virus gets into their eyes, nose, or mouth.

People should wash their hands while handling raw products and sanitize contact surfaces, the FDA advises.

Those who handled the recalled products should watch for symptoms of bird flu. Symptoms include eye redness or irritation, cough, sore throat, sneezing, runny/stuffy nose, muscle/body aches, headaches, fatigue, fever, trouble breathing, seizures, rash, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.

People exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should reach out to their health-care provider and the local health department, the FDA advised.

• Sydney Ferguson
• Mar 30, 2025 Updated 14 hrs ago

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• https://www.kake.com/home/local-farm-store-says-bird-flu-egg-shortage-has-now-led-to-baby-chick-shortage/article_cb2d212b-00a0-410f-870b-dcaf559b69c3.html

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MAIZE, Kan. (KAKE) – While many may be looking to raise chickens as a way around the egg shortage caused by bird flu, one farm store says another kind of shortage is going to delay interested buyers.

Inside Woodard Mercantile’s Maize locations, staff at the store says every day, more customers call or come in, looking to purchase chickens of their own.

Store Owner Leslye Woodard says it’s a great idea.

“When the price of eggs go sky high, then everybody says, ‘I’m going to raise my own eggs,’” said Woodard.

Woodard says it takes about 6 months before a baby chick is old enough to lay eggs, but buyers can expect to wait even longer now that the egg shortage has led to a shortage of egg-laying chicks as well.

“A lot of the hatcheries are short because they’re also trying to supply the big houses that have that have had to euthanize all their chicks,” said Woodard.

The store says customers can normally reserve egg-laying chicks and have them within a week. However, with the effects of bird flu, that wait can be up to a month and a half or more. 

“Most of them are pretty willing to do that, because they can’t get them from anybody else either,” said Woodard. “We don’t do a first come, first serve, but I heard at one of the other stores, they were sold out within like 10 minutes.”

Woodard says chick reservations made at the store now wouldn’t be fulfilled until May or June.

She estimates it’ll be another seven to eight months before the egg supply is replenished, but the threat of bird flu remains.

“It’s about a six month process to euthanize the birds, clean the place, disinfect the place, and start over,” said Woodard. “We’ve had this cycle several times.”

The only solution Woodard can offer for baby chick buyers right now is patience.

“There’s not a whole lot you can do about it if you don’t buy eggs,” said Woodard.

In the meantime, Woodard Mercantile stores have two upcoming “Chick-Chats” where interested buyers can come and learn more about taking care of chickens. The events will be April 3rd at the Maize location and April 4th at the Andover location. More information is on the flyer below. 

“Wolf recovery in the West — the biggest success in wildlife management history — took decades to achieve.”

By Ted Williams | Writers on the Range

PUBLISHED: March 26, 2025 at 6:00 AM MDT

On Jan. 31, the 30th anniversary of wolves getting reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, congressional representatives Lauren Boebert, R.Colo., and Tom Tiffany, R.Wis., introduced their “Pet and Livestock Protection Act.”

It would abolish Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for wolves in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and Michigan, among other states.

“Protective listings,” wrote Boebert, are the work of “leftists (who) cower to radical environmentalists.”

As Boebert notes, populations of wolves have rebounded. But the constant slaughter of the animals in the Northern Rockies makes it likely that at some point, federal recovery actions will once more be necessary. That can’t happen if Boebert’s bill succeeds because it contains a provision that blocks courts from again ordering protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Wolf recovery in the West — the biggest success in wildlife management history — took decades to achieve. I served on the advisory board of the Wolf Fund, which pushed for wolves coming back to Yellowstone, helped get grants for wolf recovery and urged recovery in national publications. As a lifelong hunter, I confronted wolf-haters publicly.

But what does recovery look like?

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In Montana, wolf quotas are increasingly liberal. In 2023 alone, a quarter of the state’s wolves were killed. The population is declining by about 100 animals per year, but that’s not fast enough for wolf-haters. Montana’s legislature is considering a bill for non-stop hunting until a 600-wolf quota is reached.

The sponsor, 19-year-old Rep. Lukas Schubert, Republican from Kalispell, says it’s needed “to drive the wolf population down faster.”

In Idaho and Wyoming, one may collect bounties by choking wolves to death with neck snares, gunning them down from helicopters, shooting them at night, attacking them with dogs, burning pups and nursing mothers in their dens, and trapping. In Wyoming, it is still legal to chase wolves from snowmobiles — a sport known as “wolf whacking.”

Wayne Pacelle, president and founder of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy, said, “It’s astonishing to me that, last year, House Republican leaders brought up a bill to remove all federal protections for wolves on the heels of the gut-wrenching revelations about cruelty to wolves in Wyoming. In that state, a man ran down a wolf with a snowmobile and crushed the animal… Then he paraded her around a bar before finally killing her.”

That is why states can’t be trusted when they allow such practices and when they jeopardize wolf recovery.

Wolves also get unfairly blamed for fewer animals to hunt. Elk are being depleted by wolves, proclaim the Sportsmen’s Alliance, Safari Club International and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, all of which sued to block ESA protections.

But in most of their range, elk are dangerously above population objectives. The real issue for these litigants is that with wolves back in the ecosystem, elk are acting like wild animals again, becoming more wary and harder for hunters to kill.

Wolves do occasionally kill livestock, especially livestock unprotected by fences and guard dogs. Much of that loss is compensated, and sometimes wolves need to be moved out of an area.

But wolves can be useful on the land, killing deer and elk that have contracted chronic wasting disease (CWD). Dan Ashe, former U.S. Fish and Wildlife director, said wolves and other predators cleanse CWD from the environment by removing infected ungulates.

In a column for Writers on the Range, Ashe noted that the CWD pathogen is a self-replicating protein called a “prion” that is not alive. Humans can’t kill it by inoculating animals or even by cooking infected flesh. Wolves, however, are immune to the prions, deactivating them through digestion.

Here’s the irony: Princeton University biologist Andrew Dobson and University of Calgary biologist Valerius Geist theorized in a 2003 Denver Post news story that “killing off the wolf allowed CWD to take hold in the first place.”

Because CWD may infect humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns people not to handle or eat infected game. In 2022, two hunters died who ate venison from a CWD-ravaged deer herd. CWD seems the likely culprit in their deaths.

“We are quite unprepared,” warns Michael Osterholm, Center for Infectious Disease director at the University of Minnesota. “If we saw a spillover (to humans) right now, we would be in free fall.” In the words of Dan Ashe about wolves, “Emerging science tells us that these apex predators aren’t the enemy, they’re allies.”

Ted Williams is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is a longtime environmental writer and author.

Clayton Murphy, University of Montana School of Journalism | Last updated Mar 27, 2025 10:5am0

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A Senate Fish and Game Committee meeting last week was dedicated entirely to three hours of fiery debate on two controversial gray wolf management bills from Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls.

House Bill 258 would extend the seven-month wolf hunting season by another three months and House Bill 259 would legalize infrared and thermal imagery for wolf management.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks Chief of Conservation Policy Quentin Kujala, speaking for the department director, opposed the season’s extension into Spring.

“A spring hunting season during denning periods could result in undocumented and indirect mortalities of pups if the lactating female is killed, as well as direct hunting mortality of pups,” Kujala said. “Indirect mortality of pups could also result from increased harvests of other pack wolves at and near den locations.”

Kujala was among more than 40 opponents to the bill, compared with eight proponents. Proponents cited wolf-related livestock, elk and deer deaths as reasons to support the bill, saying the FWP needs more tools to maintain wildlife populations.

The House amended the season extension bill last month to set a 15-mile boundary around national parks, a motion that passed near-unanimously. But Fielder is working to remove that amendment, a decision that will ultimately be left up to the Senate committee.

House Bill 259 attracted many of the same proponents and opponents to testify. Kris Killorn with Safari Club International supported the thermal optics bill, saying he sees it as a simple cleanup of prior legislation.

“I remember when it was first passed, night vision was understood as being anything that could see at night. So they thought thermals and all that was in there,” Killorn said. “ We need to add these tools because as our wolves get smarter, they are more nocturnal, just like a lot of animals are.”

But opponents continued to protest what they see as an extended privilege given to wolf hunters, which one conservation lobbyist called a “weapon in the crusade to eradicate wolves from Montana.”

Another effort from Rep. Shannon Maness, R-Dillon, for an unlimited wolf hunting quota when the population is above 550, is also being heard in the Senate. Rep. Jamie Islay, D-Bozeman, carried a bill to classify wolves as furbearers in an attempt to provide more legal sideboards to their harvest, but the bill missed a key deadline and has died.

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