--The Washington House is considering a bill that would prohibit private citizens from feeding many wild animals — elk, deer, bears, raccoons, opossums, cougars, wolves, coyotes, wild turkeys and skunks. Rep. Brian Blake of Aberdeen told a local newspaper the goal is to prevent animals from becoming troublesome because they depend on people. To read more, click here.
Sierra:
--A massive fire ripped through the Lower Owens River Gorge last week. High winds caused the fire to rapidly spread. The combination of high humidity and fire crews were able to get the fire under control. Rain and snow helped put the fire out. To read more, click here.
Notes from All Over:
--At the end of 2008, the Federal Government opened pristine locations throughout Utah to oil and gas development. The new Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, said Wednesday that the government is scrapping the leases of 77 parcels of federal land for oil and gas drilling in Utah's redrock country. This is a major victory for climbers and environmentalists alike as many of these parcels bordered some of the best climbing in the country. To read more, click here.
--In a related story, Tim DeChristopher has been making the media rounds. DeChristopher is the young man that was able to gain entry into the Oil and Gas Land Leasing auction and then "bought" parcels of land as a form of protest. The activist's actions threw the whol auction out of whack and kept many oil and gas interests from obtaining sensative land. DeChristopher may be facing federal charges for upsetting the process. To learn more, click here.
--On January 2nd, Sasha Gukov, Alik Izotov, Sergey Kondrashkin and Viktor Koval blasted off from their base camp in a remote corner of the Russian Caucasus and made the first winter ascent of Mizhirgi East's(16,165') elussive north face. The steep and imposing 6,500 foot wall has a long history but no winter attempts or ascents. This strong team was the first. To read more, click here.
The West Face of Makalu in the Summer
Photo by Evert Wesker
--Two solid climbers reached the top of Makalu on February 9th. Simone Moro and Denis Urubko made the first winter ascent of the world's fifth highest mountain under extremely difficult conditions. To read more, click here.
