The first reported case of chronic wasting disease
has hit Montana. The fatal disorder has been slowly spreading
throughout the West’s elk and deer populations for the past 30
years (HCN, 9/27/99). Early this month, an autopsy report proved it
killed a game farm elk on the Kesler ranch in Philipsburg. Josh
Turner of the Montana Wildlife Federation called the disease “the
greatest threat to Montana’s public wildlife in this century.” The
remaining 80 elk on the Montana game farm will be
destroyed.
On Nov. 5, President Clinton announced
that the last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River, the
Hanford Reach, is now part of the Saddle Mountain National Wildlife
Refuge (HCN, 10/27/97). The 51-mile reach runs through the Hanford
Nuclear Reservation in Washington and is critical spawning habitat
for fall chinook salmon. The area was managed by the Department of
Energy but Clinton has transferred the land to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. “This is a critical step towards protecting
salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest,” says the head of American
Rivers, Rebecca Wodder.
Environmentalists were
also happy about the addition of Puget Sound bull trout to the
endangered species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed
the fish Nov. 1 after four environmental groups threatened to sue.
Now local governments will develop conservation plans for the fish.
This was the last unlisted population of bull trout in the country
(HCN, 6/22/98).
The House Resources Committee has
passed a bill that gives states $3 billion to fund land purchases
and wildlife conservation programs. The money is revenue the
government brings in from off-shore oil leases, which has been
sitting in the Land and Water Conservation Trust Fund (HCN,
3/1/99). Environment-alists were thrilled, but some Western
Republicans don’t want the federal government to buy any more
private land. “We will all rue this day,” Republican Helen
Chenoweth-Hage of Idaho told the National Journal News
Service.
* Rebecca Clarren
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Wayward West.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
