The fluvial Arctic grayling hasn’t had an easy time of it during the last 10,000 years. Left stranded in the rivers of the Northern Rockies after the last glaciers receded, it remains the only native grayling population in the lower 48 states. But the grayling almost disappeared in Montana over the last 100 years. It’s […]
Juniper Davis
Posted inJune 21, 1999: The disappearing farm
Wolves get no welcoming party
The 1 million acres of Olympic National Park could sustain as many as 56 gray wolves, says a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report. Yet even though the peninsula provides ample prey and habitat, no wolves will wander the park soon. The obstacle is Washington Republican Sen. Slade Gorton, says Gerry Ring Erickson of Defenders […]
Posted inJune 7, 1999: Mining the past
Fee fighters blast the Adventure Pass
New recreation fees have incensed some Southern Californians who say they don’t want to pick up the tab for playing on public lands. A major point of conflict is what the Forest Service calls its “Adventure Pass,” which is sold for trailhead parking at $5 a day or $30 a year. In the Los Padres, […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
‘Duck cops’ ruffle feathers
According to a confidential survey compiled by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), many law enforcement agents at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say their program is corrupt, understaffed and underfunded. “Protection of our resources is not as important as pleasing special groups,” said one special agent in the survey. “Our biologists and refuge […]
Posted inMay 24, 1999: The last weird place
Recreation doesn’t cut it
Many rural people hope that new industries such as tourism will offset the losses when timber and mining industries pull out of an area. Research conducted by the University of Idaho’s College of Agriculture found that for at least that one small county, recreation is not bringing in enough money to keep suffering economies afloat. […]
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
Less climbing to the top
The Mount Hood National Forest has traditionally been a weekend haven for many Oregonians, but it might not be for long. The three wilderness areas that lie within the forest have eight times as many visitors as they did 10 years ago, and an average of 900 hikers crowd the Mount Hood Wilderness Area during […]
Posted inMay 10, 1999: My beautiful ranchette
Opening lines of communication
To help keep locals informed about environmental issues on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada in California, a lone activist has spun an electronic web. The Eastern Sierra Agenda Network was founded by Elizabeth Tenney, a member of Preserving the Eastern Sierra Tradition of Environmental Responsibility (PESTER for short). This list-serve, a free electronic […]
Posted inApril 26, 1999: Visionaries or dreamers?
Nuclear waste goes camping
Rocky Flats, the closed atomic bomb factory on the outskirts of Denver, is running out of room to store the waste from its cleanup efforts. By this summer, low-level transuranic waste will be stored in stainless steel containers placed in 9,600 steel drums, which will then be stored outside under temporary tents. Although the tents […]
Posted inApril 12, 1999: Is trapping doomed?
Gold mine capsizes in Westwater Canyon
Kayakers and rafters are planning celebratory boat trips down Westwater Canyon on the Colorado River this spring. As they float past the redrock walls, they can look around and see, well … othing. Their joy stems from the recent removal of mine claims situated on 960 acres in the canyon, within a wilderness study area. […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Land deal links desert parks
A California-based land trust has arranged to put almost 500,000 acres of mountaintop forests, sand dunes and volcanic cinder cones into public hands. The $61.5 million deal now awaits a decision by Congress to release $36 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Wildlands Conservancy, based in Yucaipa, Calif., will pay the remainder. […]
Posted inMarch 29, 1999: Wheeling and dealing
Bison ranch in the balance
A bison ranch that sits in the shadow of the towering Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado could be sold to developers this year if The Nature Conservancy doesn’t come through. Rocky Mountain Bison Inc. has promised to sell its 100,000 acres to the nonprofit Conservancy if the group can raise the purchase price […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Toxic cleanup turns up frogs
During a routine survey of a toxic-waste dump near Santa Maria, Calif., EPA staffers stumbled upon a peculiar surprise. Hiding in the vegetation surrounding a series of rain-filled ponds were an estimated 300 red-legged frogs, a species listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. While the discovery was welcome news, biologists now worry that […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Here comes a wayward wolf
When the lone gray wolf appeared ahead of a snowplow driver on Highway 7 in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon, it became the state’s first official wild wolf sighting since 1946. Leaving Idaho, the two-year-old female had traveled hundreds of miles over mountains, rivers and highways, looking for a mate, but its days in […]
Posted inMarch 15, 1999: Selling off the Promised Land
Are salmon bear essentials?
New research shows that the decline of salmon populations in the Northwest has drastically altered the diet of the region’s grizzly bears. Historically, say Charles Robbins of Washington State University and other researchers, salmon accounted for an average of two-thirds of a grizzly’s diet, and, at times, as much as 90 percent. The biologists examined […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Are snowmobiles overpowering parks?
During the peak of the snowy season in Yellowstone National Park, as many as 1,000 snowmobiles a day roar over its groomed roads. Critics say the machines cause more noise and air pollution than the park should have to handle. Park rangers who sell entrance tickets complain of headaches and nausea from breathing in clouds […]
Posted inMarch 1, 1999: Working the land back to health
Pipe down!
A new group complains it’s too noisy in the Pike-San Isabel national forests. “Machines are over-running our public lands,” says Quiet Use Coalition board member Dick Scar. Founded in Buena Vista, Colo., the 100-member group hopes to convince the Forest Service to restrict motorized use in 16 areas of the forest to ensure a more […]
Posted inFebruary 1, 1999: Saving the Platte
Where will the waste wind up?
In December, the burial of high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was given a go-ahead by the release of a Department of Energy “viability assessment.” Project opponents, including the state of Nevada, say health and safety problems still aren’t addressed. “The assessment is a tool designed and dreamed up by the nuclear industry […]
Posted inJanuary 18, 1999: Desert sprawl
Starry, starry night
Many New Mexicans worry that their ability to see the stars is vanishing. Because light pollution is increasing, the New Mexico Historic Preservation Alliance has declared the night sky one of the 11 most endangered places in the state. “The night sky has always been looked at as simply a natural resource,” says National Park […]