Ten months ago, I was in the Indian Himalayas, cut off from the media connections most Americans take for granted. On Christmas Day, a young neighbor from the village, who taught math and spoke limited English, stopped by to ask if I’d heard the news: A huge wave had slammed many parts of Southeast Asia, […]
Dan Oko
Posted inFebruary 18, 2002: Here lies the Rio Grande
What is poisoning border babies?
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. BROWNSVILLE, Texas – In April 1991, health care workers in this border town were brought up short. In a matter of hours, three babies were born at the Community Health Clinic with anencephaly, a rare birth defect marked by the failure of the fetus […]
Posted inFebruary 18, 2002: Here lies the Rio Grande
Running for cover on the Rio Grande
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. LOWER RIO GRANDE VALLEY, Texas – Spanish explorers who came here in the 16th century found a jungle of cedar elm and sugar hackberry hung with moss. They called the river Rio de las Palmas, the River of Palms, because of the sabal palm […]
Posted inMay 8, 2000: After the fall
Bart: Still a trooper
Bart, the 1,500-pound star of The Bear and most recently The Edge (co-starring Anthony Hopkins), missed out on the Academy Awards a couple of weeks ago. But the 23-year-old actor and coastal Kodiak grizzly will be appearing this month on the small screen as spokesbear for Colorado State University’s Animal Cancer Center’s new research facility. […]
Posted inNovember 8, 1999: A new road for the public lands
One forest takes on roads
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. On the Clearwater National Forest in north-central Idaho, a group of hikers follows a Forest Service tour guide along a creek not far from where Lewis and Clark crossed the Bitterroot Mountains. Under clear August skies, they discover a different sort of pioneering effort. […]
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 inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
A question of photography ethics
It’s been said that a fed bear is a dead bear. So it was ironic when National Wildlife, the glossy, bimonthly publication of the National Wildlife Federation, illustrated portions of an article on efforts to save grizzlies with three photos of grizzly bears that allegedly had been lured into the photographer’s backyard with birdseed. The […]
Posted inDecember 21, 1998: Grand Canyon Gridlock
Cougars too close for comfort
Mountain lions will soon be prey in the popular federal Rattlesnake Recreation Area on the edge of Missoula, Mont. In early December, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Forest Service announced the end of a ban on hunting the big cats in the lower Rattlesnake area. The announcement comes after […]
Posted inJanuary 19, 1998: After the gold rush
Wolf wars enter next round
As the fallout settles from federal Judge William Downes’ decision ordering that nearly 200 introduced wolves be removed from Yellowstone and Idaho, members of the environmental community who have been at each other’s throats are putting aside their differences and preparing to appeal the decision (HCN, 12/22/97: Judge says wolf reintroduction was illegal). Immediately following […]
Posted inMarch 17, 1997: Working the Watershed
Still no deal for New World Mine
With great ceremony last August, President Bill Clinton announced he had saved Yellowstone by blocking a proposed gold mine that bordered the park (HCN, 9/2/96). Once the applause died down, critics who worried that the the deal was a ploy for re-election warned that the deal was not done: Clinton still had to secure $65 […]