Note: two sidebar articles accompany this feature story: “A tiny owl with a big name” and “An ESA cheat sheet.” MARANA, Ariz. – An eerie calm hangs over Dove Mountain, a mega-development spilling out of the saguaro-lined canyons about 30 miles northwest of Tucson. Here in the foothills of the Tortolita Mountains, developers have spent […]
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
An ESA cheat sheet
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Endangered – Any species in danger of extinction throughout all or most of its range and “listed” as such under the Endangered Species Act. Now, 357 animals and 568 plant species in the U.S. are listed as endangered. Threatened – Any species […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The king of fish
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. The hefty chinook salmon, also known as the king salmon, often exceeds 30 pounds. In 1949, a 126-pound chinook salmon was caught near Petersburg, Alaska. It remains the largest chinook on record. In the past 25 years, the number of chinook caught […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Salmon and suburbs struggle over a Washington river
Note: two sidebar articles accompany this feature: “The king of fish” and “The secretary speaks.” CEDAR FALLS, Wash. – In this valley at the foot of the Washington Cascades, 40 minutes’ drive southeast of Seattle when traffic is light, the Cedar River runs clear and cold. Slipping over its bed of cobble and gravel as […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The secretary speaks
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Since taking office in 1993, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has been an ardent supporter of habitat conservation plans. In a recent telephone interview, he elaborated on his position. Bruce Babbitt: “I got involved (in urban habitat conservation plans) early on in Southern […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Slow and steady
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Desert tortoises don’t have an easy childhood. Since the softer shells of baby tortoises make them easy prey for ravens and coyotes, less than 5 percent survive to adulthood. Tortoises who make it to maturity typically live long lives – they’ve been […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Judge halts nine timber sales
After five years of an uneasy truce, both sides in the Pacific Northwest timber wars are slugging it out again (HCN, 11/23/98). On Aug. 2, federal Judge William Dwyer sided with 13 environmental groups and blocked nine major timber sales while threatening to stop dozens more. Dwyer ruled that the Forest Service and Bureau of […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
America’s Redrock Wilderness
America’s Redrock Wilderness “I’m here to disprove the lie that local people don’t want wilderness; the truth is that most southern Utahns are frightened by runaway growth and want to see as much land protected from development as possible.” * Linda Wood, Cedar City, Utah, testifying at Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt’s 1995 hearings on wilderness […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Dams must go
Can salmon be saved? A free, 15-page report, Returning Salmon by Restoring Rivers: The Case for Partially Removing Four Dams on the Lower Snake River, says yes. Prepared by the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, which includes 230 conservation groups, Indian tribes and others, the report says breaching the dams is the best way to […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Shooting: It’s not a hunt per se
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The man in the baseball cap sits in a chair at a table, a high-powered rifle in hand. “Right there, he’s standing straight up right in front of you,” says his companion. “Get him.” “I got him,” says Randy. Boom! The rifle sounds, and […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
One grassland grows prairie dogs
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The sage-dotted prairie of Thunder Basin National Grassland in eastern Wyoming is alive with wildlife. Coyotes skulk in the draws while antelope outrun approaching vehicles across the flats. On slight knolls, ferruginous hawks and golden eagles are often seen at rest. In the overgrazed […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Do prairie dogs steal grass?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Over the past century, conventional wisdom has said prairie dogs compete with cattle for grass and dig holes that can break the legs of unwitting livestock. Maybe stampeding cattle injured themselves during long cattle drives of the 1880s, but not many ranchers say it […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Reviving a refuge
TULE LAKE, Calif. – It goes by the unappealing name of “Sump 1-B,” and it is a far cry from the vast lakes and marshes that covered much of the lower Klamath Basin at the turn of the century. Only inches deep, its murky water is too hot for fish. Sump 1-B has a twin, […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Facts about prairie dogs
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Prairie dogs come in five types: Utah, Gunnison, Mexican, white-tailed and black-tailed. The Utah prairie dog is listed as a threatened species and the Mexican is listed as endangered. Prairie dogs are active during the day, but only if the sun is out. Socially, […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Prairie dogs found in pet stores and pounds
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. “So this is where prairie dogs live.” That was the first thought in Rebecca Fischer’s mind as she drove up to a flourishing 300-acre dog town not far from the Marias River outside Shelby, Mont. Although she hadn’t seen a dog town since she […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Craig Knowles, scientist caught in the middle
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Stoic is the word that might best describe Montana biologist Craig Knowles. If he were a university professor, some students might pan him as boring. But the students who went on to become experts themselves might dedicate their first book to him. Wearing blue […]
Posted inAugust 2, 1999: Jon Marvel vs. the Marlboro Man
Poisoning a stream back to life
A plan to poison a 77-mile-long trout stream on Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch in southwest Montana is raising the hackles of some unlikely critics. The plan is the brainchild of the state of Montana, which hopes it will bolster westslope cutthroat trout populations and ward off a federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. […]
Posted inAugust 2, 1999: Jon Marvel vs. the Marlboro Man
Old growth by the numbers
In 1987, foresters on the Clearwater National Forest in north-central Idaho pledged to set aside 10 percent of the Clearwater’s 1.8 million acres in old-growth forest reserves. The agency says it has lived up to that pledge, reserving almost 200,000 acres. Environmentalists in Idaho who have studied the agency’s data say the numbers don’t add […]
Posted inAugust 2, 1999: Jon Marvel vs. the Marlboro Man
No luck for this lynx
On the morning of June 19, a truck driver hauling road base to the Vail ski expansion reported he had seen what he believed was a squashed Canada lynx on Vail Pass. He had. A radio collar revealed it was a small, two-year-old female, trapped in British Columbia in December and released into Colorado’s San […]
Posted inJuly 5, 1999: The new faces of the West
Governor floats a wilderness bill
In May, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt announced a 1 million-acre wilderness proposal for the West Desert, the latest step in what he calls an “incremental approach” for BLM lands. But while his proposal is supported by the Department of the Interior, it’s drawing criticism from county politicians, and it’s only a small part of the […]