Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Caught in the Headlights.” 4 million Miles of roads in the United States. 226 million Number of vehicles registered in the United States. 23 trillion Vehicle miles traveled in the United States in 2002 6.3 million Number of automobile accidents annually in the United […]
Wildlife
Posted inWotr
Drive-up nature is better than nothing
The woman dubbed “eagle lady” grabbed a chunk of fish and threw it out on the sand in front of her trailer. Fifteen bald eagles immediately jumped off their perches and flew into a scuffle for the meat. A large, younger eagle, its feathers still gray-brown and mottled, emerged with the prize clamped in its […]
Posted inWotr
Let’s hunt wild bison instead of plugging them where they stand
I’m a hunter, and I believe that the recent decision by Montana’s officials to postpone a bison hunt near Yellowstone was a stroke of bold leadership. It was also downright gutsy and the right thing to do. It earned Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the state game commission a lot of uninformed criticism. They’ve been […]
Posted inJanuary 24, 2005: Written in the Rings
Feds to hand wolves to states
Idaho and Montana are poised to take greater control of gray wolves, but the Nez Perce Tribe, and some environmentalists, are resisting
Posted inJanuary 24, 2005: Written in the Rings
Butterfly escapes endangered species net
New Mexico community creates its own conservation plan
Posted inJanuary 24, 2005: Written in the Rings
Wyoming wildlife faces twin threats
Drill rigs and houses gobble habitat and sever migration routes
Posted inWotr
Wolf opponents just don’t get it
Time flies when the sky is falling. At least, we were told to expect the sky to fall in 1995. That’s when federal biologists snatched a bunch of Canadian wolves, hustled them south of the border and cut them loose in central Idaho and Yellowstone. Ten years sped by in a flash. But when I […]
Posted inWotr
Bears in the backyard, oh my
A grizzly bear lumbered through my herb garden before winter set in. It was a striking visual experience. His muscles powered under his fur like an overloaded freight train, and his eyes swung to take me into his scrutiny. Northwest Montana is bear country — grizzly bear country, to be precise. Unimpeded by fences, unaware […]
Posted inWotr
It takes a community to save the sage grouse
Way out on the sagebrush sea of the American West, people are embarking on an uncharted new journey called community-based conservation. Their flagship is the greater sage grouse, a bird that has narrowly avoided being added to the endangered species list because of the cooperative efforts of people around the region. The decision not to […]
Posted inWotr
My jeans grow on trees
My family owns a timber company in Washington state, and for us, money grows on trees. Every time we buy something, we see the physical signs of our consumption in our backyard. Paying for my recent college education, for example, took about 300 log truckloads of second-growth Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock trees. A $60 […]
Posted inDecember 20, 2004: Stand Your Ground
The little bill that… can’t
For 13 years, the Ojito Wilderness Study Area — a 24,000-acre patch of semi-arid land just 40 miles from Albuquerque — has awaited full-fledged protection under the Wilderness Act. But despite the support of Democrats, Republicans, environmentalists, ranchers, miners, city folk and local American Indian tribes, the land has not been designated wilderness — because […]
Posted inDecember 20, 2004: Stand Your Ground
Rulings keep the West open for business
Decisions not to protect sage grouse and prairie dogs could mean more development in sagebrush and grasslands
Posted inDecember 20, 2004: Stand Your Ground
Fisheries agency rewards a loyal bureaucrat
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Conscientious Objectors.” People who worry about the Pacific Coast’s endangered salmon runs are likely to recognize James Lecky’s name. In 2002, Lecky, an assistant administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Region in Long Beach, Calif., reworked his agency’s flow recommendations for the Klamath River. The […]
Posted inWotr
Western governors take aim at wounded species
Judging by their comments last week at a meeting in La Jolla, Calif., Western governors have thought a lot about the Endangered Species Act and its consequences for ranching, farming and real-estate development in their states. It became equally clear during the meeting that many governors have not thought clearly about this most far-reaching of […]
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Old-growth sales end in courts
Ruling could put the kibosh on Biscuit Fire timber salvage and cutting in old-growth reserves
Posted inDecember 6, 2004: Where Do We Go From Here?
Transforming the Forest Service: Maverick bureaucrat Wendy Herrett
Since the frontier age, the West’s forests have been home to all kinds of rogues and rebels, from family logging operations to stubborn ranchers to hard-core eco-defenders. And for nearly as long, the U.S. Forest Service has been charged with keeping them all in balance. But sometimes, the Forest Service needs its own mavericks. For […]
Posted inWotr
Now that we’ve clear-cut the Forest Service…
I first met the U.S. Forest Service in 1967, when I helped build a log cabin at 9,600 feet on the Gunnison National Forest in western Colorado. The idea that I was part owner of 300,000 square miles of beautiful land intoxicated me. We became so drunk on the land that in 1974, we moved […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
EPA pulls back on fish-killing rule change
A little attention from the media helped thwart an attempt by the federal government to do a favor for the mining industry at the expense of fish and birds. In question is the metal selenium, which is a byproduct of coal- and phosphate-mining, copper-smelting and agriculture. At low levels, selenium is an essential nutrient for […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
Calling all birders
Ever wonder how your feathered friends are faring in the face of deforestation, farming and other formidable foes? You can find out in the National Audubon Society’s State of the Birds 2004 report. Using 40 years of data collected from the U.S. Geological Survey’s national Breeding Bird Survey, the National Audubon Society assessed population changes […]
Posted inNovember 22, 2004: Conservationist in a Conservative Land
A New Dialogue for Idaho
Environmentalist Rick Johnson and Republican Congressman Mike Simpson are crafting a new language for wilderness protection, but not everyone wants to speak it.