When Greek scholar turned cattle rancher Claude A. Barr died in 1982, he left behind a lifetime of discoveries and observations about South Dakota flora. He was “a self-taught wizard of Great Plains native plants,” says Cindy Reed, a South Dakota native and protege of Barr’s. To preserve Barr’s legacy, Reed founded the Great Plains […]
Wildlife
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Woody leviathans
Robert Van Pelt, a forest ecology researcher at the University of Washington and Evergreen State College, has two lifelong obsessions: trees and curious facts. So it seems inevitable that he would hunt out the woody leviathans showcased in his book Forest Giants of the Pacific Coast. Measuring trees is a science, and Van Pelt takes […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Where there’s smoke wood, there’s less fire
An Arizona entrepreneur makes good on juniper slash
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
‘I respect wolves. I still don’t like them killing our sheep.’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Margaret Soulen Hinson helps run her family’s ranch near Weiser, Idaho, northwest of Boise. Wolves have killed 105 of the ranch’s sheep since 1995, but Soulen Hinson says: “In comparison to other predator problems, the wolves have been pretty minimal. We lose way more […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
‘There isn’t much room for more wolves’
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Ralph Maughan is a professor of political science at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho, and president-elect of the Wolf Recovery Foundation. He believes there are still reasons to worry: “There was no need to kill off all of the Whitehawk Pack. That […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Wolves still struggle in the Southwest
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. The effort to restore Mexican gray wolves to the Southwest started later and smaller than the restoration of wolves to the Northern Rockies, and it has run into stiffer local resistance. But “we’re on track,” says Colleen Buchanan, assistant Mexican wolf recovery coordinator for […]
Posted inMay 27, 2002: Wolf at the door
Wolf at the door
Now that the West’s top predator has reached civilization’s back porch, managers face some agonizing decisions
Posted inMay 13, 2002: Beyond ecology: Restoring a cultural landscape
Bison under the gun – again
MONTANA It was a hard winter for the bison of Yellowstone National Park. Increased herd size and harsh weather prompted many animals to head beyond the park for better feeding grounds in Montana. There, federal and state officials have so far killed 170 bison in an attempt to prevent the spread of brucellosis to cattle […]
Posted inMay 13, 2002: Beyond ecology: Restoring a cultural landscape
Bush takes a swing at community forestry
When George W. Bush campaigned for president, he stumped in the Northwest as a friend of forgotten rural residents. Now, proposed cuts in Bush’s fiscal year 2003 budget may pull the rug out from under some of those people. Over the last several years, Pacific Northwest timber communities and workers have retooled to perform more […]
Posted inApril 29, 2002: The Great Salt Lake Mystery
Bush will edit NW Forest Plan
The Bush administration thinks the Clinton-bred forestry plan that has governed – and limited – Northwest logging since 1994 is a failure and needs overhaul or replacement (HCN, 7/26/93: Clinton vs. Foley: House speaker is furious at plan to protect Northwest forests). The Northwest Forest Plan procedures that aim to protect habitat for endangered species […]
Posted inApril 29, 2002: The Great Salt Lake Mystery
Griz ordered to get scarce
WYOMING Grizzlies, wolves and other “unacceptable species” may want to rethink future visits to counties and towns in western Wyoming. In March, two counties and two city councils passed regulations that ban the animals. They were reacting to new federal regulations that require bear-resistant food storage and a minimum distance between campsites and food, trails […]
Posted inApril 29, 2002: The Great Salt Lake Mystery
Wildlife Saloon
In arid areas where streams run only during the spring or during storms, deer, elk and bighorn sheep can have a hard time finding a drink. Now, an artificial water hole called the “Wildlife Saloon” lets animals drink their fill. On the surface, all you can see is a small, mostly buried stock tank. The […]
Posted inApril 29, 2002: The Great Salt Lake Mystery
Are Wyoming’s feedgrounds a hotbed of disease?
Conservationists’ proposed phaseout could cause elk herds to plummet
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Evicted terns get new habitat
OREGON Caspian terns, much maligned for feasting on declining salmon runs on the Columbia River, just got a wing up. Displaced by development along the Pacific Coast, the world’s largest tern colony settled several years ago on an island composed of dredging material disposed of by the Army Corps of Engineers. There, near the mouth […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
City gets in the zone for fish
OREGON Portland is one of a few urban areas where endangered fish swim in the shadows of high-rises. In an effort to prevent eroding stream banks and rising water temperatures that harm fish, the city’s planning bureau designated zones along its streams that impose building and landscape regulations on 19,000 acres of residential property. That […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Elk and deer disease could waste Western Slope
COLORADO Chronic wasting disease, the fatal brain malady found in elk and deer, has jumped west across the Continental Divide despite efforts by Colorado wildlife and agriculture agencies to contain it (HCN, 11/5/01: Wasting disease spreads in Colorado). In late March, wildlife officials determined that two wild deer illegally penned on the Motherwell elk ranch […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Salmon poison
Ten years after Pacific salmon were first given federal protection under the Endangered Species Act, the fish are still swimming in pesticide-laced water, and the Environmental Protection Agency is ignoring the problem, says a report recently issued by the Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides and the Washington Toxics Coalition. Besides directly killing the fish, […]
Posted inApril 15, 2002: Raising a stink
Habitat protection takes a critical hit
Developers’ lawsuits force government to revise critical-habitat designations
Posted inApril 1, 2002: Move over! Will snowmobile tourism relax its grip on a gateway town?
Snowy plover predators become prey
OREGON Many creatures that forage along the sand dunes of the Oregon Coast consider the snowy plover’s cream-colored eggs a savory delicacy, and all those stolen eggs add up. Since 1993, the shy shorebird has been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Despite federal and state wildlife agencies’ recovery efforts, such as fencing […]
Posted inApril 1, 2002: Move over! Will snowmobile tourism relax its grip on a gateway town?
Protests from the (tree)top down
During the late ’90s, dozens of activists camped out in the treetops of Northern California’s Headwaters Forest, protesting clear-cutting by Pacific Lumber. Their months – and even years – above the ground didn’t save the entire forest, but they managed to protect a few of the oldest groves. The tree-sits also drew intense media attention […]