Looking back on the disastrous wildfires of 1999 and facing a devastating future in the Great Basin, the Bureau of Land Management saw an opportunity to try a holistic restoration effort that would break the cheatgrass-induced fire cycle (HCN, 5/22/00: Save Our Sagebrush). This landscape-sized idea spawned the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition, a nonprofit partnership […]
Julie Elliott
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Spreading seeds of knowledge
When Greek scholar turned cattle rancher Claude A. Barr died in 1982, he left behind a lifetime of discoveries and observations about South Dakota flora. He was “a self-taught wizard of Great Plains native plants,” says Cindy Reed, a South Dakota native and protege of Barr’s. To preserve Barr’s legacy, Reed founded the Great Plains […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Woody leviathans
Robert Van Pelt, a forest ecology researcher at the University of Washington and Evergreen State College, has two lifelong obsessions: trees and curious facts. So it seems inevitable that he would hunt out the woody leviathans showcased in his book Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast. Measuring trees is a science, and Van Pelt takes […]
Posted inMay 13, 2002: Beyond ecology: Restoring a cultural landscape
Dredging up debate
OREGON Keeping the Port of Portland competitive means dredging the Columbia River so bigger ships can float through, at least according to Port officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who want to deepen the river from 40 to 43 feet. They say the extra depth would save the Port from sinking into obscurity, […]
Posted inMay 13, 2002: Beyond ecology: Restoring a cultural landscape
Bison under the gun – again
MONTANA It was a hard winter for the bison of Yellowstone National Park. Increased herd size and harsh weather prompted many animals to head beyond the park for better feeding grounds in Montana. There, federal and state officials have so far killed 170 bison in an attempt to prevent the spread of brucellosis to cattle […]
Posted inApril 29, 2002: The Great Salt Lake Mystery
Mountainfilm
In 1979, a group of mountain enthusiasts put together a festival of 25 films in Telluride, Colo., to celebrate mountains and the people who love them. Twenty-four years later, Mountainfilm still focuses on rocks, but has expanded to include cultural and general environmental topics among its more than 40 films and art exhibits, symposia, slide […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Fashion faux-pas in the forest
COLORADO Designer Ralph Lauren’s proposal for a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service has been sent back to the drawing board after encountering fierce local opposition. The swap called for the Forest Service to give Lauren 525 acres, including part of a public-access road that runs through his Double RL ranch near Ridgway, Colo. […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Salmon poison
Ten years after Pacific salmon were first given federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the fish are still swimming in pesticide-laced water, and the Environmental Protection Agency is ignoring the problem, says a report recently issued by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides and the Washington Toxics Coalition. Besides directly killing the fish, […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Habitat protection takes a critical hit
Developers’ lawsuits force government to revise critical-habitat designations
Posted inApril 1, 2002: Move over! Will snowmobile tourism relax its grip on a gateway town?
Letting their lights shine
They have stayed quietly in the background for decades, watching as their men vainly tried to pound the round peg of European governmental tradition into the square hole of tribal culture. But no longer: The women of Indian Country are speaking up, taking charge, and making things happen, according to a recent series by Montana’s […]
Posted inMarch 4, 2002: Seed in the ground
Bull trout get some help
After living in legal limbo for three years, bull trout will get a recovery boost. On Jan. 16, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had settled a lawsuit with two environmental groups and agreed to designate critical habitat for the fish. “It’s another step on the long road to the recovery of […]
Posted inMarch 4, 2002: Seed in the ground
BLM’s coalbed methane plan disappoints enviros
The federal government wants to allow gas companies to drill nearly 40,000 new coalbed methane wells in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin over the next 10 years. That many wells would quadruple the number currently in Wyoming and increase the nationwide tally by almost 70 percent. The plan is outlined in the draft Powder River Basin […]
Posted inFebruary 18, 2002: Here lies the Rio Grande
Moose-slinging ends
UTAH Utah’s emergency program to relocate moose by air has been grounded. A heavy early snowfall brought a larger than usual number of moose down close to Interstate 80 in search of food, and drivers struck and killed seven of the animals in December alone. These accidents, combined with an anticipated increase in traffic during […]