Wolf Numbers Up Again
Wolf populations are continuing to grow in the northern US Rocky Mountains. New wolf census data shows a steadily rising population, especially in Idaho where remote habitat-rich wilderness is ideal for expanding wolf numbers. After being extirpated in the early 20th century, wolves were reintroduced into central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s. (A few wolves had also begun re-colonizing Montana.)
I'm always inspired simply by the raw data of wolf recovery, especially because the returning wolves have frequently acted as agents of ecological restoration. So when wolf populations are expanding rapidly, their ripple effect on ecosystems is even more positive. The return of the wolf--happening much faster than even the most Pollyanna wolf-lovers predicted--reminds me that, at least in some instances, we still have a chance to repair the harm that we've done to wild places.
Here's the state-by-state breakdown.
Read the full story in today's Idaho Statesman.
Measure 37 One Year Later
Editor's note: Guest contributor Rex Burkholder is Deputy Council President of Metro, greater Portland, Oregon's regional government. He also chairs the Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT) and serves on the Bi-State Transportation Committee, as well as other regional transportation committees. See a full bio here.
This coming November marks the anniversary of the passage of the landmark Measure 37 in Oregon. The measure (described here and here) created statutory permission for property owners to claim compensation or waiver of any land use regulation adopted after they or their ancestors acquired the property that they feel reduced its value.
You can imagine the bizarre and harmful impacts. Setbacks from streams to prevent flooding downstream? Demand compensation or a waiver (and because most governments in Oregon are in tight fiscal straits, a waiver will always be the response) so you can log to the edge, downstreamers be damned? Walmarts and subdivisions in the middle of farmland? Why not?
The newest development is that Metro, the Portland area's regional government recently released findings from a broad-based task force that cataloged the impact of Measure 37 in the North Willamette Valley and determined what responses may be possible.
Is this the opening of Pandora's Box, releasing plagues and demons that can never be constrained? Is it a dangerous beast, that, released from its chains, trashes the countryside enough to alarm the good citizens who voted for "fairness" to recognize that protecting community livability and environmental health requires some restrictions on individual action? Here is what the task force found out:
- The number of claims region-wide has continued to increase dramatically; almost all of the claims are located outside the Metro Urban Growth Boundary and on exclusive farm use and exclusive forest conservation lands.
