The feds give locals control of bearreintroduction
Wildlife
Posted inDecember 4, 2000: Road Block
Last chance for the whitebark pine
A remarkable tree, spread by birds andeaten by bears, finally gets someattention
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
A wilderness bill with a little something for everyone
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “A New Dialogue for Idaho.” For wilderness advocates: If passed, the Central Idaho Economic Development Act would create two new wilderness areas in the Boulder-White Cloud mountains, separated only by a narrow dirt-bike trail. The Ernest Hemingway/Jerry Peak Wilderness, above the famous writer’s old home […]
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
Timber counties get new money
NATION Since 1908, counties with national forests have received 25 percent of Forest Service timber receipts to pay for schools and roads. In recent years, rural communities have struggled financially as logging has declined (HCN, 12/20/99: Counties grab for control of national forests). Now, after several years and six legislative versions, President Clinton is expected […]
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
Snake River salmon and steelhead
How much do people value the restoration of Snake River salmon and steelhead runs? Environmental economics students and faculty from Reed College in Portland, Ore., and Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., are trying to find out using a confidential Web survey. Find the survey at people.whitman.edu/~crouter/survey/intro.htm. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
Will a watched refuge ever revive?
Buenos Aires managers see slow progress, but ranchers are champing at the bit
Posted inNovember 6, 2000: 'Re-inhabitation' revisited
A hunter for gun control
In my family, we talk about hunting like it’s religion. My mom bemoans the fact that none of us have the kind of faith in God that “seems to hold other families together,” but at least, she sighs, there’s Hunting. Opening day’s the occasion we all come home for, more than Thanksgiving or Easter, more […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Council guns down ban on predator hunts
ARIZONA In 1998, an Arizona contest called “Predator Hunt Extreme” offered $10,000 to the person who killed the most coyotes, bobcats, foxes and mountain lions. Public outcry against the event and multiple petitions from both hunters and wildlife advocates convinced the state Game and Fish Commission to propose a ban on such killing contests. But […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
Birds break boundaries
The Colorado state office of The Nature Conservancy has worked for years to preserve chunks of the state’s shortgrass prairie, breeding grounds for birds such as mountain plovers, burrowing owls and long-billed curlews. But staffers always knew their efforts in Colorado could provide only part-time protection, since most of these species travel south during the […]
Posted inOctober 23, 2000: Stalking Slade
When ‘hunting’ becomes staggeringly stupid
“Canned hunting” is the term critics use when referring to the “sport” of paying thousands of dollars for the privilege of executing “wild” animals trapped in escape-proof enclosures on “game ranches.” The term is overtly derogatory, but hardly derogatory enough. “Pay-per-kill” or “execution by contract” are more apt, as there’s no hunting involved, canned or […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
The Black Hills won’t log everything
SOUTH DAKOTA The Black Hills National Forest, which straddles the Wyoming-South Dakota border, has always been a friend of the timber industry. Since the first commercial timber contract in the country was secured there in 1898, the industry has logged 97 percent of the 2 million-acre ponderosa pine forest and carved 8,000 miles of road. […]
Posted inOctober 9, 2000: The hunters and the hunted
Killing salmon to save the species
Critics say hatchery reform takes the wrong tack
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Red-legged frog habitat slated for protection
The red-legged frog was once common throughout California, but development has devastated its habitat and reduced the species to three viable breeding populations. Now, the amphibian may get the protection it needs to survive. On Sept. 8, under pressure from a federal court order, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 5.4 million acres in […]
Posted inSeptember 25, 2000: Backyard boom
Fires bring on a flood of federal funds
As this summer’s massive wildfires wind down, the West still can’t decide who’s at fault. Yet nearly everyone agrees on one thing: A century of fire suppression has disrupted the cycle of frequent fires in dry conifer forests, replacing old-growth pine stands with thickets of small trees. When the fuel buildup collided with drought and […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
A whir of wings
Just before sunlight hits New Mexico’s Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in November, visitors can hear the squawking of ducks, geese and cranes. In a roar of wings, thousands of these birds take flight at dawn – an event most viewers consider a highlight of the annual Festival of the Cranes. “Then, during the […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Finding fresh flora
A month ago, Scott Sundberg added another plant to his growing list of Oregon flora – kudzu, an exotic vine usually found in the South. With this discovery, the Oregon Flora Project tallies 4,430 species, subspecies and varieties of plants identified in the state. The project was started by Sundberg, a professor at Oregon State […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
www.birdsource.com
The call of a golden-winged warblers and the habitat needs of finches are only a click away. A new Web site managed by the National Audubon Society and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, www.birdsource.com, allows birders not only to gather information but also to record and share bird sightings with other enthusiasts. This article appeared in […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Faith found in forests
Religion and the Forests, a new publication by the California-based Religious Campaign for Forest Conservation, illustrates the trend of religious groups going green. In the first edition of the magazine, personal essays and biblical references show the relationship between forest conservation and moral responsibility. The publication aims to end all commercial logging on public forests. […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
Cold can knock out whirling disease
New research on whirling disease, the malady killing trout populations in the West, has scientists crossing their fingers (HCN, 9/18/95: The West’s fisheries spin out of control). The disease targets fish less than nine weeks old, destroying cartilage and causing the young fish to swim in circles. In search of a remedy, Richard Vincent, a […]
Posted inSeptember 11, 2000: Holy water
‘Weed’
A marriage of the arts and government took the stage Aug. 4 as Weed premiered at the Creede Repertory Theatre in Creede, Colo. The Colorado Rural Development Council commissioned the play last year, hoping to present a nonbiased – and entertaining – view of land-use issues. During playwright Micki Panttaja’s research for Weed, she toured […]