OREGON Near the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon, Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds, has come to life. Over 10,000 pairs of Caspian terns nest on Rice Island, and while the birds aren’t attacking people, they are eating millions of young salmon (HCN, 10/26/98: Are birds to blame for vanishing salmon?). A biological assessment […]
Tern terror
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Dog doesn’t get its day
NATION Ranchers, farmers and land developers can breathe a sigh of relief; the black-tailed prairie dog won’t be listed as an endangered species – at least not yet. Citing a lack of money and staff and a long list of species in greater need, the Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that protection for the black-tailed […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
BLM signs snatched
UTAH San Juan County officials recently removed federal “road closed” signs on three dirt roads they claim in the Grand Gulch area of southeastern Utah. The action could provoke a lawsuit to test who owns these roads – San Juan County or the Bureau of Land Management (HCN, 10/28/96: Utah counties bulldoze the BLM, Park […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
What to do about “Frankenfoods’?
NATION The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may say bioengineered foods are safe, but two natural-food chains say they don’t trust the agency’s word. Boulder, Colo.-based Wild Oats Markets and Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market are banning genetically engineered foods from their private product lines. “There are significant unanswered health and environmental concerns,” says a […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Roadkill keeps the peace
WASHINGTON In January, hunters from eastern Washington’s Methow Valley delivered 300 pounds of roadkilled deer to six western Washington tribes. The delivery signaled the start of a groundbreaking agreement, in which the tribes agree to stop hunting in the valley in exchange for the meat. Tribal hunters have lost much of their traditional hunting ground […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
10th Annual Spring Conference
The Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts is sponsoring its 10th Annual Spring Conference in Golden, Colo., April 6-8, opening with a talk by High Country News publisher Ed Marston. Topics include water rights, public policy updates, monitoring and enforcing conservation easements, and finding and using volunteers. Early registration deadline is March 15. Write Colorado Coalition […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Northwest Wilderness Conference
Author David Brower and veteran Northwest environmentalist Polly Dyer will speak at the Northwest Wilderness Conference in Seattle, March 31-April 2, where everything from Lewis and Clark’s legacy to the economic value of wilderness will be discussed. Sponsored by the Wilderness Society and the Northwest Wilderness and Parks Conference, the groups want to increase wilderness […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
High Altitude Revegetation Workshop
Colorado State University’s High Altitude Revegetation Workshop in Fort Collins, Colo., March 8-10, features William Perry Pendley, director of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, as keynote speaker, and a tour of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Call 970/491-7501 for registration information, and Gary Thor for workshop information, 970/491-7296. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Impressions of Nature, an Internet photography exhibit and auction
American Land Conservancy is presenting Impressions of Nature, an Internet photography exhibit and auction. From March 3-31, visit their on-line gallery at www.impressionsofnature.org and view 71 works (see illustration at right) by renowned nature photographers such as Art Wolfe, Thomas Mangelson and David Muench. Then link to www.ebay.com to bid on the photos. For more […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
The Murie Center
The Murie Center in Moose, Wyo., in Grand Teton National Park, will host a gathering July 20-23 to celebrate the legacy of the Muries: Mardy and Olaus and Adolph and Louise Murie. The program includes speakers, conversations about wilderness, conservation biology, history, and personal reflections on the contributions the Muries have made to American conservation. […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Porta-potties to Posters: Planning Community Events
Community planners and historic site interpreters can prepare for tourism along Lewis and Clark’s historical route by attending a variety of courses at Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Training Academy in Great Falls, Mont. One session offered this summer, Porta-potties to Posters: Planning Community Events, even tells how to prepare for the unexpected. Contact Lewis and […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Saving the environment saves money
A coalition of 27 environmental, taxpayer and budget-watchdog groups has produced its sixth annual report, Green Scissors 2000, which cites 77 wasteful government programs that harm the environment and cost taxpayers $50 billion. The 26-page report targets programs such as timber and irrigation subsidies and predator control projects, detailing their cost to the taxpayer and […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Fed-bashing investigated
Gloria Flora got the ball rolling. After she resigned as supervisor of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in November (HCN, 11/22/99: Nevadans drive out forest supervisor), the Forest Service sent a team to investigate her charges of “anti-federal fervor” and “fed-bashing” in Nevada. Although the team’s report says that working conditions for Forest Service employees throughout […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Goose eggs in Congress
According to the League of Conservation Voters’ 1999 National Environmental Scorecard, over one-third of senators received a zero percent score. Western delegates cast their votes against the environment more often than their counterparts from other regions. Eleven Western senators earned a big zilch, including the entire delegations of Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming. Of those, […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Bovine boondoggle
Cows eat up more than just grass in the West, says a special investigative report by the San Jose Mercury News. According to “Cash Cows: The Giveaway of the West,” federal-lands grazing consumes tax dollars without giving much back. Published in November and now available in eight-page color reprints, the report was compiled by 10 […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Drain it now, says organization
Glen Canyon Action Network, an advocacy group that wants to drain Lake Powell, will hold its Restoration Celebration and Rendezvous at Glen Canyon Dam on March 14. The event, which coincides with the International Day of Action Against Dams and the anniversary of author Edward Abbey’s death, “will be a celebration, not a protest,” says […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
A test case on access
MONTANA A federal judge says a family living inside Montana’s Glacier National Park can no longer use a snowmobile to access their property. Former Denver residents Jack and Stephanie McFarland sued Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in Missoula’s U.S. District Court on Feb. 2. The McFarlands said park officials had acted improperly when they refused to […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Tribe calls dam a trout trap
MONTANA The Blackfeet Tribe’s Fish and Game Department wants to remove a 95-year-old dam on its reservation that backs water up three miles into Glacier National Park. Getting rid of aging Sherburne Dam, says Blackfeet biologist Ira New Breast, would eliminate the biggest threat to the St. Mary River’s bull trout, a population recently added […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
The Wayward West
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has a new name for his proposed protected areas: National Landscape Monuments (HCN, 12/20/99: The Wayward West). Landscape monuments run by the Bureau of Land Management would lack the tourist amenities of national monuments, and mining would be prohibited. But not everyone is convinced that the BLM is the right agency […]
Posted inFebruary 28, 2000: Acre by acre
Montana loses an environmental leader
WHITEFISH, Mont. – The works of great men last long beyond their passing, so it was fitting that the memorial service for Ben Cohen was in the community theater he helped found, at the base of the mountain he loved to ski. Friends, family, former and sitting Supreme Court justices, legislative colleagues, ski buddies, and […]