I recently wrote about the drug-related violence in Mexico and along our southern border. That generated some nice discussion. Even in the short time since I wrote that, the violence seems to have intensified: Already, more than 300 people have been murdered in the Juarez area this year. Yes, THIS year — that’s less than […]
Fueling the fire in Mexico
Posted inWotr
The very worst thing about hard times
Studs Terkel died as last year drew to a close. He was one of the great chroniclers of life in the 20th century, gathering the oral histories of hundreds of Americans. Most were the people historians don’t trouble themselves with — people who pay the price when the historical figures bungle the task of running […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
True tests of ‘Stay and Defend’
Australian wildfires could alter Western fire policies.
Posted inGoat
The big, bad, brucellosis-spreading wolf?
In Wyoming, some legislators are straining to connect the dots between two of their biggest management headaches. The livestock disease brucellosis, which causes cows to abort their calves, has cost ranchers millions. And the gray wolf, reintroduced in ’95, has created huge controversy. Now, a state lawmaker is asking for $45,000 to test wolves for […]
Posted inGoat
If you can’t beat ’em, shoot ’em.
Idaho is not exactly known for its wolf tolerance, so it’s not surprising that the state is again proposing to kill wolves in an effort to boost elk numbers on the eastern side of the panhandle. The Ravalli Republic reports: In the next few weeks, the Idaho Fish and Game Department will ask the federal […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
Aquatic invasive: $29.95
It’s no hassle to get on the Internet and buy a kit containing adorable tadpoles from the Florida-based Grow-a-Frog company. But this is something the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks hopes you’ll never, ever do. The company may say that the animals merely morph into baby froglets that only hop around in the […]
Posted inWotr
Time to cowboy up
There’s a saying here in the West when you’re sniveling too much. The term is “cowboy up,” and it means, “Suck it up.” It’s “buck up, little camper” for grownups. Here’s a sample use: If you’re a cowhand who just tore a thumb off in a roping accident, you need to cowboy up and bite […]
Posted inGoat
One winner in the recession — quagga mussels
It’s been just over two years since the notorious quagga mussel first turned up in Lake Mead. The mussel, an invader from the Black Sea, first hit the Great Lakes, then hitchhiked across the country to California, Colorado, Arizona and Utah. The fingernail-sized quagga mussels (and their close relatives, zebra mussels) are incredibly destructive — […]
Posted inOctober 13, 2008: Back to the future
A macabre measure of the human footprint
I’m a student of roadkill. I keep an informal tally of the carcasses I spot on the roadside — what kind, how many and where — and I note the splatters that accumulate on our car wi”ndshield. They’re an indication of the diversity and abundance of animal and insect lives along the unnatural transects we […]
Posted inGoat
Airing dirty laundry
The Vulcan Project, an interactive map and tracking system for carbon dioxide emissions, is like one of those UV light photographs that show all the splotches of sun damage you’ve accrued on your face over years of neglecting to wear sunscreen. Clever scientists at Purdue University have created a Google map that shows not only […]
Posted inMarch 2, 2009: How low will it go?
How low will it go?
Colorado may face a dry and difficult future of fighting for water
Posted inGoat
Will pesticide applications require a Clean Water permit?
On January 7th the Federal Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision in a long-running battle over whether the application of pesticides in, near or over water requires a Clean Water Act point source permit. In a case which consolidated multiple challenges to a Bush Administration regulation exempting pesticide applications from clean […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
“But enough about you…”
Former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said goodbye to his employees with a slide show, reports Washingtonpost.com. He showed about 600 slides, “each picturing the distinguished secretary, many of them taken at a national park.” One staffer who sat through the presentation commented, “It was special. That’s all I should say.”
Posted inFebruary 16, 2009: The Half-life of Memory
The call of the tame
Jack London was a sustainable farmer
Posted inGoat
Revving the “engine”
It’s become something of an Obama administration mantra: The latest economic stimulus package will help jumpstart the U.S.’s green economy. And at a press conference Feb. 20, Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar repeated it yet again, as he spoke on how the Department of Interior, which oversees agencies like the National Park Service and the […]
Posted inGoat
A collar for a big kitty
Scientists studying black bears and mountain lions near Tucson, Ariz. found a surprise in one of their traps this week — a 120-lb. male jaguar. They put a radio tracking collar on the big cat and released him. Now, for the first time ever, biologists will get regular updates on the location of a U.S. […]
Posted inWotr
Decriminalizing drugs could stop the violence on the border
It sure didn’t seem like the kind of place where bloodied drug smugglers stumble out of the scrub after shootouts. But it was. On a recent road trip to Mexico, my family and I stopped for the night at some friends’ house near Tubac, Ariz., between Tucson and the border. Our friends’ backyard stretches into […]
Posted inHeard Around the West
The dangerous, dusty trail
Lest it be outdone in the attacking-animal category, Boulder, Colo., can report that a “bitter bovine” attacked a Boulder biker. NewWest.net said a cow “charged a woman” on a trail and knocked her down. Fortunately, she wasn’t injured. “The cow had left the scene by the time rangers arrived, but hikers coming down the trail […]
Posted inGoat
West Nile virus and avian biodiversity
Researchers John Swaddle and Stavros Calos have found that high bird diversity is linked with low incidence of the West Nile virus in humans. Their study can be found online. Called the “dilution effect,” the link between biodiversity and disease rates is not completely clear, but scientists believe that increased diversity within an ecosystem reduces […]
Posted inWotr
How long do we wait for clean coal?
When Joe the Plumber donned a baseball cap displaying the words “Clean Coal” last fall, he may not have known it, but he was participating in a public relations effort sponsored by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. So far, that campaign has been a smashing success. The phrase “Clean Coal” was chanted over […]