The federal government’s proposal to take grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem off the Endangered Species Act’s threatened species list represents a tremendous achievement. It also demonstrates America’s enduring commitment to wildlife conservation. The National Wildlife Federation — one of the nation’s largest conservation groups at 4 million members and supporters — has reached […]
Wildlife
Posted inWotr
Yellowstone grizzlies aren’t out of the woods yet
Grizzlies and Yellowstone — bears and geysers. People have been coming from around the world to see the national park’s main attractions for decades. Now, the Bush administration wants to remove the Yellowstone grizzlies from the list of species protected by the Endangered Species Act. I think delisting is premature, because we need more bears, […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Ferret recovery pioneer moves on
In his 18 years as Wall District ranger in Buffalo Gap National Grassland, Bill Perry led the effort to restore endangered black-footed ferrets. He helped write the plan to bring in captive-bred ferrets, engineered land swaps to consolidate habitat, and helped manage the pens where the animals were acclimated before being released. Perry built the […]
Posted inAugust 22, 2005: A Military Town Fights for its Life
Island’s pig problem pits animal-rights activists against conservationists
An animal rights group is trying to stop the killing of thousands of feral pigs on Southern California’s Santa Cruz Island. But the National Park Service says the hunt, which started in April, is necessary to put an end to the pigs’ destruction of native plants and animals. Channel Islands National Park occupies the eastern […]
Posted inWotr
Dead birds off the coast tell us what we don’t know
Just 26 miles from San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, Northern California’s rugged Farallon Islands are a perfect backdrop for a mystery. Home to the largest seabird colony in the continental United States with about 250,000 birds, the islands are the Manhattan of the bird world. Yet things are far from normal in this avian city: […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Horn hunters face hard times
For centuries, Asian men have consumed powdered antlers to try to boost their sexual performance, a tradition that’s helped fuel today’s demand for deer and elk antlers. Recently, though, the rising popularity of Viagra has “just about finished off” the Asian market, says Mike Aldrich, of Pinedale, Wyo., who buys and sells antlers. But more […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Birds get a break from blades
This winter, the whirling blades of half of the more than 5,000 windmills perched atop Altamont Pass will grind to a halt for two months. That plan will allow migrating birds to fly safely through the area. Under new county permitting rules, the windmill companies, which supply power for 120,000 homes, will halt their turbines […]
Posted inAugust 8, 2005: The Gangs of Zion
Crazy like a fox, or a fish, or a bat…
Field biologists are a rare breed. If you have any doubt about this, Jennifer Bové’s book, The Back Road to Crazy, will change your mind. Field biologists find pleasure in wading, chest-deep, against a fast current of sub-zero water before the sun has even considered rising — all to net and count tiny fish no […]
Posted inWotr
Stubborn people appreciate the ‘barren’ Great Plains
When people who don’t live here write about the Great Plains, they usually use the words “bleak,” “empty” and “wasteland” to describe it. The writer often suggests that our economy and people are “depressed” because their “lifestyles” are “vanishing.” Photographs show sky and clouds above miles of windblown, rolling — not flat — grass. Prairie […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Western governors wary of roadless forest mess
Bush administration touts state control, but Washington, D.C., will make the final call
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Wolf man John
NAME John Morgart TITLE Mexican wolf recovery program coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service HOME BASE Albuquerque, N.M. AGE 53 HE SAYS “I’ve known what I wanted to do with my life ever since I was 3 or 4 years old. I just always knew I wanted to be a wildlife biologist.” John Morgart has […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
A most unusual sanctuary, where the Yeti roams free
The Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist country nestled in the Himalayas between India and Tibet, sounds like an enchanting place. People who’ve traveled there describe snow-capped peaks, lush valleys and ancient monasteries. The country is known for its progressive environmental laws, and is sometimes even called “the last Shangri-la” for its unspoiled natural environment. […]
Posted inJuly 25, 2005: The Many Faces of Richard Pombo
Life rises from the ashes, in the form of a humble toad
Change can be good — even violent, earth-shaking change. Just ask Charlie Crisafulli. Twenty-five years ago on May 18, at 8:32 in the morning, Mount St. Helens erupted, blasting ash, steam and superheated gases 80,000 feet into the atmosphere high above southern Washington. The north end of the mountain collapsed in the largest landslide in […]
Posted inWotr
A most unusual sanctuary, where the Yeti roams free
I keep hearing that the Kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist country nestled in the Himalayas between India and Tibet, is an enchanting place. People who’ve traveled there describe snow-capped peaks, lush valleys and ancient monasteries. The country is especially known for its progressive environmental laws, and is sometimes even called “the last Shangri-la” for […]
Posted inWotr
The last I looked, national parks weren’t zoos
“Yellowstone is a better park than Glacier because you can see more animals,” so announced one hiking client as I guided us through dense old-growth cedars. I didn’t know how to respond. Was I puzzled by the implication that our national parks should be rated on the same scale, even though each was set aside […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Wyoming’s unsung wilderness heroes
Wyoming’s wilderness culture has its heroes, but unlike the cowboys who get so much play in the state, they are largely unknown. In Ahead of Their Time, a new book covering four decades of the Wyoming wilderness movement, editors Broughton Coburn and Leila Bruno try to remedy that by asking writers to choose a wilderness […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Sometimes it’s hard to tell who the turkeys are
So you think wildlife biology is a science? Sure it is, if estimating wild turkey populations by counting the birds that run across the road in front of your truck is “science.” In Stalking the Big Bird, an often-amusing tale of his 27 years with the Arizona Game and Fish Department, biologist Harley Shaw reveals […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Frozen in time: Endangered species science
If scientists have learned anything new about the genetics of rare species in the past three decades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may not want to hear about it. In January, H. Dale Hall, the Service’s Region 2 director, released a new policy for developing recovery plans for rare species: Scientists are to use […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Hungry sea lions put salmon-savers in a bind
The California sea lions that snarfed up 3,000 chinook salmon at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River have finally headed south to mate. But their big appetites this spring have some fishermen calling for the quick removal and even killing of the protected mammals. “Our fishermen are very concerned. It’s their livelihood and they are […]
Posted inJune 27, 2005: Reflections on a Divided Land
Highway plans aim to keep habitat — and wildlife — in one place
In the Cascade Range, the question isn’t why animals cross the road, but how they can do so without becoming salamander road-cakes or elk a la SUV. The answer, say Washington state transportation officials and biologists, lies under and over a humming mountain highway. In June, the state’s Department of Transportation released plans for widening […]