A conservation movement is stirring on the Great Plains, but farmers are stuck with a stark reality: It pays to plow up virgin ground
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
New Mexicans move to make roads more wildlife-friendly
Local residents and school kids speak up about preventing roadkill
Posted inAugust 2, 2004: The Greening of the Plains
An icon of the Rio Grande has all but vanished in the wild
Consensus efforts and millions of dollars haven’t saved the silvery minnow
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Timber company collides with gas drillers
Conservationists have struck a $4 million deal with a progressive Canadian timber company, Tembec Inc., to protect land just west of the Glacier National Park/Waterton Lakes National Park complex. The Nature Conservancy of Canada is buying 3,800 acres of Elk River riparian habitat outright; purchasing a conservation easement on another 7,400 acres; and obtaining a […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
King of Fish, Slave to Man
In his new book, David R. Montgomery wants Northwesterners lamenting the decline of wild Pacific salmon to know they’re not alone. King of Fish documents the death of Atlantic salmon, while pointing out that the same threats — and similar challenges — face salmon recovery around the world. Today, one-third of Pacific salmon stocks are […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Oceans need a sea change
It’s time to wake up and smell the salt water. According to a recent report from the United States Commission on Ocean Policy, America’s oceans are overfished, polluted and in desperate need of new management policies. After three years of study, the President Bush-appointed commission came up with more than 200 preliminary recommendations aimed at […]
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Global Warming’s Unlikely Harbingers
The West is heating up — and bark beetles are moving in for the kill
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Life cycle of a bark beetle
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story, “Global Warming’s Unlikely Harbingers.” This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Life cycle of a bark beetle.
Posted inJuly 19, 2004: They're Here: Global Warming's Unlikely Harbingers
Roadkill is a right and a privilege, and don’t you forget it
Driving through northern Idaho this summer? Bring a fork. A judge in Bonners Ferry recently stood up for the right of people to eat the kind of roadkill that even other roadkill fanciers might find inedible. It sounds like one of those jokes bluegrass musicians tell: “How many banjo players does it take to eat […]
Posted inWotr
Living with wildlife in an urban setting
The good news is, there are foxes in my neighborhood. The bad news? There are foxes in my neighborhood. Bad news for my cats, anyway, because I allow them to cruise outside for a few daylight hours on warm weekend days. Recently, like an overanxious mother, I panicked when my favorite lap cat, Sonar, failed […]
Posted inWotr
Enough is enough
The announcement this June that Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal opposed new oil and gas leases in the Upper Green River Valley startled both conservation groups and the oil industry. After all, Wyoming is one of the few states fortunate enough not to face a budget crisis because of oil and gas royalties. Yet, in the […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Follow-up
Chalk one up for endangered species. For the last five years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has ignored citizen petitions to list endangered species if a plant or animal is already on the agency’s “candidate list.” Currently, there are 280 candidates, none of them protected under the Endangered Species Act owing to a lack […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Lame-duck governor moves deadlocked wilderness debate
UTAH The decades-old battle over how much of Utah’s desert should be protected as wilderness took a new turn in May, when Gov. Olene Walker, R, announced county-by-county discussions to break the impasse. Utah has lagged behind other Western states in designating wilderness areas on Bureau of Land Management land: Of nearly 23 million acres […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
High-stakes logging plan gets go-ahead
OREGON In June, federal land managers announced one of the largest timber sales the Northwest has ever seen. Two years ago, the Biscuit Fire torched 500,000 acres in southern Oregon and California. Now, in a final environmental impact statement, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management propose opening parts of the burned […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Debate rages over firefighting airplanes
WEST Just as fire season arrived in the West, the federal government touched off a blaze of controversy. In May, citing safety concerns, the Interior Department and the Forest Service canceled their contracts for 33 privately owned large air tankers. The decision followed a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, which detailed three plane […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Border Patrol wants motorized access to wilderness
ARIZONA As part of a sweeping new initiative to fight illegal immigration and drug smuggling, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is pushing to give the U.S. Border Patrol regular motorized access to more than 330,000 acres of wilderness along the Mexican border. The Border Patrol wants unlimited cross-country access by motorcycle, the ability to […]
Posted inWotr
Roadkill is a right and privilege, and don’t forget it
Driving through northern Idaho this summer? Bring a fork. A judge in Bonners Ferry recently stood up for the right of people to eat roadkill that even other roadkill fanciers might find inedible. It sounds like one of those jokes bluegrass musicians tell: “How many banjo players does it take to eat a possum?” The […]
Posted inWotr
The risky business of fighting fire in the West
The 2004 fire season has not yet truly begun in the Rocky Mountain West, and already three fire-fighting pilots have died in crashes. While investigations into the causes of the accidents are under way, the U.S. Forest Service finds itself crushed between a rock and a hot place. On May 11, with aerial tanker-training in […]
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
As fire season ignites, Smokey Bear’s legacy lingers
Land managers talk about letting firesburn, but politics douse the flames
Posted inJune 21, 2004: A Walk Between Worlds
Revenge of the old-timers: The beavers are back
At a recent barbecue during a breezy Sunday afternoon on the South Fork of the Shoshone River, near Cody, Wyo., I saw the largest beaver I’ve ever seen. It was floating in the river’s current like a big dog. The beaver looked to be about three feet long from nose to flat tail, and must […]