MONTANA A $54 million lawsuit filed against the U.S. Forest Service in July may remove a valuable tactic from firefighters’ toolboxes. On Aug. 6, 2000, in an attempt to stop the Spade Fire as it burned toward houses near Connor, Mont., federal firefighters lit backfires to deprive the fire of fuel in its path. But […]
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
A fish is a fish is a fish – or is it?
Are some fish created more equal than others? This conundrum is the subject of a draft policy released in late July by the National Marine Fisheries Service, regarding which salmon and steelhead deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act (HCN, 10/8/01). On one side of the debate are some Northwest farmers and landowners who bear […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Bikers waffle on wilderness
CALIFORNIA A new proposal to add two and half million acres to California’s 14 million acres of wilderness is gaining support, but not from the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA). Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., says her California Wild Heritage Act will protect the land from logging, oil drilling and road building. IMBA, however, is leery […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Blame game sheds little light on fires
It was boring, made-for-C-SPAN stuff, a round of congressional testimony on June 12 by Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth on what his agency has named “The Process Predicament.” The Forest Service has been hobbled, he said, by excessive environmental analysis requirements, management inefficiencies and a breakdown in “collaborative” public involvement. That, said Bosworth, had put […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
New desert town no home to the fringe-toed lizard
Massive development could doom the dunes
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Attack of the bark beetles
ISLAND PARK, Idaho – Oblivious to the dry summer heat, Forest Service silviculturist John Councilman hikes through a stand of trees looking for signs of violent struggle. It doesn’t take long. “There’s a beetle hit,” he says, pointing out a Douglas fir drizzled with thick threads of dull yellow pitch. “That tree is already dead. […]
Posted inAugust 19, 2002: The Great Western Apocalypse
Shrinking water supply makes room for birds
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories, “Attack of the bark beetles.” This year’s drought is bad news for most wildlife, but not for the endangered southwestern willow flycatchers at Roosevelt Lake in Arizona. During the six years of drought since […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Sound science or red tape?
A proposed amendment to the Endangered Species Act could weaken the roles of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service in deciding which species do – or do not – get federal protection. Since the Act was passed in 1973, the two agencies have been responsible for listing species and […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
Wasting disease sneaks south
NEW MEXICO Chronic wasting disease has reared its head in southern New Mexico, 600 miles from any previously known outbreaks. In June, an emaciated mule deer discovered at White Sands Missile Range tested positive for the disease. The state’s Department of Game and Fish was taken off guard by the discovery. Since 1999, officials have […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
It’s the dog days for prairie dogs
The West’s prairie dog populations are in bad shape. Of the five species in the West, two are already on the endangered species list, while a third is a candidate for listing (HCN, 2/1/99: Ranchers don’t want refugee prairie dogs). No one has been looking out for the white-tailed prairie dog – until now. In […]
Posted inAugust 5, 2002: Land or money?
River town gets into fish business
You’ve heard of Rocky Mountain oyesters — how about Yellowstone Caviar?
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Scientists uncover a weevil gourmand
COLORADO In the early 1990s, the U.S. Forest Service released approximately 500 flower-head weevils on the edge of Gunnison National Forest, near Almont, Colo., to control the invasive Canada thistle. Apparently, tastes change. In the 12 years since a 1990 study suggested that the weevil preferred Canada thistle to native species, the insect has been […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
White River Forest plan friend to all – and to none
COLORADO When a draft plan for how to manage Colorado’s White River National Forest was released in 1999, it was hailed as a precedent that would steer the agency toward emphasizing endangered species habitat and conservation over resource extraction and recreation (HCN, 1/17/00: STOP – A national forest tries to rein in recreation). Now, five […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
A landslide suit for salmon
OREGON Six years ago, a landslide that began in a clear-cut slammed into a house in western Oregon, killing four people (HCN, 12/23/96: Rain and clearcuts make fatal brew). That tragedy prompted state officials to limit logging on steep slopes near homes and busy roads. Now, a coalition of Oregon environmental groups says salmon should […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Prescribed burns tame the beast
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Ten days after the Hayman fire erupted southwest of Denver, Colo., and began spreading to the north and east, firefighters finally found a place where they could stand their ground: Polhemus Gulch. Weeks earlier, firefighters there gained the upper hand against the Schoonover Fire; […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
Life amid fire – the mundane and the macabre
Life in Durango, Colo., has taken on a surreal quality. Even for those of us not directly affected by it, the fire dominates our days. Handling mundane problems, pursuing our normal jobs and hobbies, grocery shopping and gassing up the car – everything takes place against a backdrop of disaster. It’s a crisis situation, but […]
Posted inJuly 8, 2002: The anatomy of fire
The anatomy of fire
I came like an investigator to a crime scene, notebook open, walking slowly, alert to changes in the perpetrator’s footprints, to oddities in the smoke-smell air. Anything could be evidence revealing the mind of fire: a blade of grass still alive in a forest of black skeletons; an unburned swing set that had parted an […]
Posted inJune 24, 2002: The buzz business
Columbia dredging closer
OREGON Plans to dredge the Columbia River are one step closer to fruition, thanks to the National Marine Fisheries Service, which has changed its biological opinion for the third time since 1999. In late May, NMFS, in charge of endangered salmon recovery, found that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ proposal to dredge 106.5 miles […]
Posted inJune 24, 2002: The buzz business
A wide-angled wilderness
WASHINGTON Washington state could soon gain a unique new wilderness area – its first in almost 15 years. Unlike most of Washington’s 4 million acres of federally protected wilderness, the proposed Wild Sky Wilderness northeast of Seattle would encompass more than just high alpine crags of rock and ice – it would also include often-ignored […]