This summer, southern Arizona – like much of the Southwest — experienced what weather mavens call a “meteorological singularity,” a weather event that happens every year around the same time. The phenomenon is the Arizona monsoon, a seasonal shifting of winds that moves moisture northward from the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico in July, August, and […]
Marian Lyman Kirst
Posted inGoat
Learning curve
If the wildlife news of the last few months is any indication, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is on the road to enlightenment, or at least, loitering on the sidewalk. In particular, three of their recent actions suggest the agency is learning from its mistakes. Lesson 1: No otter is an island On Monday, the […]
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Bugs abound at summer’s end
_____________________________________________________________________________ Colorado’s summer is drawing to a close. But the season’s remaining dog days still hum with the coda of hungry insects rushing to fill up before the coming fall. The other weekend, I happened upon one such bug, the pleasing fungus beetle (Gibbifer californicus), as it searched the hilly forests south of Denver for […]
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Industry Pot Calls Enviro Kettle Black
Environmental groups like the Center for Biological Diversity and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation are notorious targets for media label makers that live to pigeonhole with prose. But if the USFWS is the enviros’ legal whipping boy, then the Environmental Protection Agency is industry’s. A report released this week from the Government Accountability Office — a […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2011: For the love of hummers
Flight risks: Cities reduce hazards for migrating birds
What do you picture when you think about migratory birds? Chattering snow geese dropping in a feathery cloud to the surface of a reservoir? Or a sunlit marsh filled with amorous sandhill cranes, twirling and prancing for prospective mates? What you probably don’t envision is a metal-and-glass metropolis teeming with cars, people and pets. But […]
Posted inSeptember 5, 2011: For the love of hummers
Incredible hummingbird facts
Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world and the size of raisins when they hatch. The tiniest species is Cuba’s two-inch-long bee hummingbird. They often double their body weight before migrating. They can fly backwards and forwards, straight up and down, side-to-side, and are the only birds that truly hover. They convert nearly 100 […]
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Friday News Roundup: Of Fuel and Frogs
TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline — the world’s largest — has dominated the news this past week. Last Friday, the State Department issued a final Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline — which would run oil from the Alberta tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries — that concluded the project would not significantly impact the […]
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The Perils of Playing Favorites
When it comes to imperiled species that get the shaft, invertebrates — in all their backboneless-glory — often top the list. And of those invertebrates, insects, with exception of the ever-adored butterfly and economically-key bee, have a particularly tough time garnering societal sympathy. People tend to be suspicious of or “grossed out” by insects or […]
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Ancient Fish Gets Techno Boost
In 1999, the U.S. Navy approached the University of Washington’s Applied Physics lab with a mission: develop a tool that could help harbor surveillance teams detect DIDSON was the lab’s techno-fabulous answer. The advanced sonar technology works much like an ultrasound—converting reflected sound waves into visual images—but relies on a special acoustic lens that creates […]
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Gutter Trash
On August 1, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Anchorage officially charged Arne Fuglvog, a veteran commercial fisherman and the fisheries aide to U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, with the crime of poaching wild Alaskan fish. His crimes led to an eventual charge and sentencing for misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act, which protects wildlife, fish, […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Welcome, new interns!
Two new interns have just joined our editorial department for six months of “journalism boot camp” here in Paonia, Colo. “I was the shy nerd in school,” says Kimberly Hirai of Boise, Idaho. When she and her brother ordered pizza as kids, they fought over who had to talk on the phone. She’s more outgoing […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2011: Ganjanomics
Settlements prompt federal decisions on hundreds of endangered species
Updated 8/8/2011 The Arctic grayling, found only in the Missouri River Basin’s upper reaches, became an endangered species candidate in 1994, meaning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that it deserved federal protection but did not list it because other species took priority. The grayling has languished there ever since, along with more than […]
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Game on, Government!
Updated 8/3/2011, 2:46 pm A grouse, a prairie chicken, and a rabbit walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, “There’s a two for one special on drinks tonight. Who’s game?” Okay, cheesy pun, I admit. But here’s a worse joke: In June, Safari Club International, a wealthy hunters’ rights group, filed a […]
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Ignorance is blissless
Ever noticed how the loudest, most enraged environmental critics (you know, the ones with the tumescent neck vein that throbs angrily at the slightest mention of endangered species or roadless areas) are usually the people who know the least about environmental issues? “Global warming? That’s BS! Our state had record snowfall this year.” “Green energy? […]
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Don’t Forget The Little Guys!
In May, the environmental advocacy group WildEarth Guardians struck a significant bargain with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will require the agency to consider federal protections for more than 250 species under the Endangered Species Act. To solidify the agreement, The Center for Biological Diversity, which collaborated with the Guardians in earlier discussions […]
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Montana Fly Shops Welcome New Customers: Hair Stylists
Despite their reputation as hangouts for brawny hook and bullet types, fly-fishing shops–particularly the fly-tying sections–have always been a tad swishy. No matter how you slice it, scores of straight-faced men poking through purple Krystal Flash and pearl Flashabou or inquiring about the next shipment of pink chenille isn’t exactly manly. But a recent women’s […]