Tippets: Fish Killing Parasite Detected in Montana Rivers, Expanded Wilderness Areas, Grass Carp Invade Great Lakes

February 8, 2017 By: Erin Block

  • Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has released a map showing the parasite that led to the deaths of thousands of whitefish in the Yellowstone River is also living in portions of the Big Hole, Jefferson, Madison, East Gallatin, Boulder, Shields and Stillwater rivers. Via The Billings Gazette.
  • Under the Obama administration, wilderness areas were expanded on Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front, in the Boulder-White Clouds region of Idaho and Alpine Lakes in Washington. And in the south, wilderness was protected in the Pine Grove Hills and Pine Forest Range of Nevada, the Hermosa Creek watershed near Durango, Colorado, and the Columbine Hondo in northern New Mexico. “Our 44th president proved to be a true champion who pushed many conservation measures over the finish line,” writes Jamie Williams. Via High Country News.
  • Invasive grass carp have reached three of the Great Lakes, posing a serious environmental risk to the lakes and surrounding wetlands. The recent study “Binational Ecological Risk Assessment of Grass Carp for the Great Lakes Basin,” concludes that “unless actions are taken to curb the invasion of the grass carp, the ecological consequences would be devastating and would be extreme in the Great Lakes Basin within 50 years.” Via Digital Journal.