Environment

The federal government is preparing to stop protecting gray wolves in the lower 48 states, according to a draft document. The plan is drawing criticism from environmental groups.

The impending decision isn’t a complete surprise. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had announced its intentions earlier this year to propose a blanket delisting of wolves as a ‘threatened’ or ‘endangered’ species.

The Peregrine Fund’s American Kestrel Partnership launched its 2013 KestrelCams today.  Already the breeding pair has laid one egg. 

Last year, we told you about the project's kickoff in Boise to sign up citizen scientists to build nest boxes for these dwindling birds.  

Today marks the next step in a 1,000 mile proposed power line that would cross most of southern Idaho.  Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power want to build the Gateway West Transmission Line to add power capacity.

More than half of Idaho’s land is considered public. These are lands that are managed by federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.  We ride horses, hike, camp and play on these lands. It’s part of what makes Idaho a great place to live.

Dam removal on the Elwha River in Washington has been temporarily halted because massive amounts of sediment released from above the dams have clogged one of the city’s water treatment facilities.

One of the two dams on the Elwha has been completely removed. That’s released about 20 percent of the 34 million cubic yards of sediment stored up behind both dams.

But the muck, silt and debris been clogging the intake system at the Elwha Water Facility. The facility provides drinking water to Port Angeles as well as two nearby fish hatcheries and the nearby paper producer.

A coalition of tribal leaders and politicians gathered in Seattle Monday to announce the formation of a new group that opposes coal exports in the Northwest.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and State Representative Reuven Carlyle were among a group of Washington politicians and tribal leaders who announced the creation of the Leadership Alliance Against Coal. The group says it will work to “raise awareness about the damaging economic, cultural and health impacts of coal trains and coal exports”.

Last week, Rough and Ready lumber started shutting down its sawmill in the Southern Oregon town of Cave Junction. It’s a story that’s repeated itself in timber towns across the northwest. In 1980 there were 390 mills operating in Oregon. Today there are 103. 

Last week, the employees of Rough and Ready Lumber were called in to a staff meeting. Most of them walked out without their jobs.  But the mill isn’t shuttered quite yet. There are tall stacks of sugar pine lumber and six inch timbers to take care of. A dozen workers sort the wood and load it on to carts.

American Rivers has named three Northwest streams among the most endangered in the United States this year. Two are remote creeks in Southwest Oregon. The conservation group says exploration for nickel could harm the creeks.

Rough and Ready Creek and Baldface creek flow through the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest.

River guide Zach Collier knows both creeks well. He says they are unusually clear and clean. And they flow through a part of Oregon known for its rare native plants.

There are fewer wolves overall in the West, but Oregon and Washington's wolf populations continue to grow. That's according to the federal government's annual gray wolf tally, released Friday. The count has also revealed the initial effect of a controversial wolf hunting season in Idaho.