The pact worked out last year between Plum Creek Timber Co. in Montana’s Swan Valley and some federal and state agencies looked like a good deal for both bears and loggers. Then this May, the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund served notice it will file suit to negate the agreement. What’s changed is Plum Creek’s […]
Mark Matthews
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Back with a bang
Humans have killed five of the wolves restored to Yellowstone National Park last year, and a wolf pregnant with six pups died when she fell into a thermal pool; but biologists say at least 30 more pups are on the way. Mike Phillips, leader of the Yellowstone Wolf Recovery Team, is so impressed with the […]
Posted inApril 29, 1996: A park boss goes to bat for the land
Fish kill doesn’t sway the EPA
For years, the EPA has agreed with mining officials that toxic sediments stuck behind the Milltown Dam on the Clark Fork River near Missoula, Mont., were best left alone. But when polluted waters escaped from the dam in February, they killed fish and energized activists, who renewed their call for the agency to remove the […]
Posted inApril 1, 1996: Gambling: A tribe hits the jackpot
Top dog loses patience
Top dog loses patience Biologists at Yellowstone National Park expected the wolf to knock the coyote out of the top dog position in the ecosystem, but not this quickly. Biologist Bob Crabtree of Yellowstone Ecological Studies has counted 12 coyotes killed by wolves this winter, and says the actual number could be three times higher. […]
Posted inApril 1, 1996: Gambling: A tribe hits the jackpot
Yellowtail throws in his hat
Yellowtail throws in his hat Environmentalists in Montana have a congressional candidate they can enthusiastically support to fill the seat vacated by Democratic Rep. Pat Williams. He is Bill Yellowtail, 48, who quit his job March 18 as regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver. Three other Democrats, Mignon Waterman, Leo Hudatz and […]
Posted inMarch 18, 1996: What does the West need to know?
Grizzlies forego their snooze
Braving sub-zero temperatures to go winter camping in Montana’s Glacier National Park used to have one big perk – no need to watch out for grizzly bears. The bears usually hibernate from late-November to April. But now, say biologists, two or three young grizzlies are on the prowl year-round in the park, pilfering the kills […]
Posted inFebruary 19, 1996: Can a Colorado ski county say 'Enough is enough'?
Christians preach environmental gospel
God’s handiwork can only be destroyed by its maker, Wisconsin Evangelical Calvin DeWitt recently told National Public Radio. “If you didn’t make it, you’d better keep your hands off,” he warned, buttressing his argument with a verse from Revelation that says those who destroy the Earth will be destroyed. Evangelical Christians are only one source […]
Posted inAugust 7, 1995: Fighting fires, and indignities
Fighting fires, and indignities
“Them sons-of-bitches was Mennonites who wouldn’t fight in the last war … Them sons-of-bitches took them shovels and saws and Pulaskis and put a hump in their backs and never straightened up until morning when they had a fire-line around the whole damn fire. Them sons-of-bitches was the world’s champion firefighters.” – Retired smokejumper […]
Posted inAugust 7, 1995: Fighting fires, and indignities
A hot welcome on the fire line
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, Fighting fires, and indignities. History does not record the name of the first woman who got a paycheck for fighting a forest fire. Supposedly, she signed on with the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska in 1971. Today 30 to 40 percent of forest […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
In one man’s hands, this lynx became a teacher
John Weaver saw his first lynx in the wild and experienced a vision of sorts. The Forest Service biologist was hiking in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, when he came upon a Canada lynx sitting on its haunches about 50 yards away. “The longer I looked at that lynx,” Weaver says, “the more it […]
Posted inJune 12, 1995: The Southwest's last real river: Will it flow on?
Feds decide that the Canada lynx can slink for itself
Note: this is a sidebar to a news article titled “In one man’s hands, this lynx became a teacher.” When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the Canada lynx a place on the list of endangered species last December, conservation groups cried foul, saying the agency ignored the recommendations of its field biologists. Politics […]