Magazine
February 17, 1997
The deliberate slaughter of bison straying from Yellowstone National Park - killed because the brucellosis they may carry might endanger livestock - provokes a storm of protest, and calls into question the concept of wildlife management in the park.
Feature
The deliberate slaughter of bison straying from
Yellowstone National Park - killed because the brucellosis they may
carry might endanger livestock - provokes a storm of protest, and
calls into question the concept of wildlife management in the
park.
Essays
Life at 25 below in towns like Livingston, Mont., is made
bearable by things like poker, polar fleece and Portabello
mushrooms.
Dear Friends
Out for birds at N.M.'s Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge;
HCN board meeting in Socorro, N.M.; 19,000 readers; subscription
raise; obituary for Ruth Hutchins.
News
Recent maulings and a death caused by wolf-dog hybrids
leads to talk of legislation in Colorado and discussion elsewhere
in the West about the dangers the wolf-dogs pose.
A Utah County's decision to permit helicopter skiing on a
private ranch raises opposition from residents and backcountry
skiers.
The fires of summer 1996 in Colorado's Mesa Verde National
Park damaged at least one petroglyph panel beyond repair - but also
revealed 92 "new" archaeological sites formerly hidden by dense
shrub growth.
Colorado's Animas-La Plata project makes a Washington,
D.C., "corporate welfare" hit list, while the Southern Ute Tribal
Council ousts outspoken A-LP opponent Ray Frost over allegations of
sexual harassment.
Big Horn, Wyo., residents who lost a lawsuit to stop a
resort and 600-home development get revenge by ousting one of the
county commissioners who allowed the development.
A project to restore a riparian ecosystem would return
water to California's Lower Owens River.
Environmentalists urge President Clinton to budget more
money for public lands and conservation in a difficult era of
cutbacks and competing causes.
Jet skiers and those who rent and sell machines to them
are irate over a possible ban of the noisy watercraft from Lake
Tahoe.
Sylvia Baca becomes temporary head of the BLM as Mike
Dombeck moves to the Forest Service, and the National Park Service
seeks a replacement for Roger Kennedy.
The Forest Service wins a lawsuit over an illegal addition
to an A-frame house on private property in Idaho's Sawtooth
National Recreation Area.
The non-native weeds covering Mount Sentinel in Missoula,
Mont., prompt an emotional debate over the possible use of
pesticides to eradicate them.
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission opposes the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service's plan to restore grizzly bears to the
state.
Book Reviews
The new group, the Grand Canyon Private Boaters
Association, seeks to unite private river runners as effectively as
the professional boaters.
The Denver-based Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute holds a
conference March 13-14.
A report by the National Parks and Conservation
Association says that gateway communities suffered big economic
losses when national parks closed during the 1996 government
shutdown.
ASARCO Inc. is offering tours of its giant Mission Mine
near Tucson, Ariz.
The Seattle Times has reprints of its five-part series
documenting how the deregulation of tribal housing offices led to
some tribal leaders building huge mansions for themselves while the
majority of Native Americans live in substandard housing.
Native plant societies help gardeners learn to cultivate
their state's home species.
The Nature Conservancy's report, "America's Least Wanted,"
lists the 12 most threatening invaders of U.S.
ecosystems.
Heard Around the West
Mark Wattles' 50,000-sq.-ft. Oregon mansion; bee power in
Colorado; snail ranching in Oregon; repelling geese with grape
spray; Sen. Craig defends Bobby Unser's wilderness trespassing;
Valentine's Day "boudoir in the sky" in LA.
Sidebar
The history of bison in Yellowstone National Park is a
century of human manipulation of wildlife.
The federal agency APHIS has broken scientific protocol by
experimenting with a live brucellosis vaccine in bison herds in
national parks and a national wildlife refuge without knowledge and
consent of the Park Service.
Yellowstone National Park photographer Jim Peaco, in his
own words, on the bison slaughter.
While the Yellowstone bison are slaughtered , south of the
park near Grand Teton National Park, cattle have grazed next to
brucellosis-infected bison and elk for 75 years with no
problems.
In his own words, Mac Carelli, owner of C&C Meats in
Sheridan, Wyo., describes how he deals with bison
carcasses.
