WASHINGTON In December, headline writers were delighted by the metastasizing controversy over samples of lynx fur, purportedly collected from two national forests in Washington state. “Fur furor,” one paper called it. “Fur flies,” wrote another. Government agencies, though, found the fracas far from funny. Seven wildlife biologists, both federal and state, submitted hair samples to […]
Wildlife
Posted inJanuary 21, 2002: Finding the words
Cat trouble dogs Flagstaff
ARIZONA Ever since the Arizona Game and Fish Department killed two mountain lions on the edge of Flagstaff last fall, residents have been grappling with the hard facts of life on the edge of the forest. Game and Fish contracted with the federal Wildlife Services agency to kill the two lions, one Sept. 16 and […]
Posted inJanuary 21, 2002: Finding the words
Judge puts kibosh on logging plan
The Forest Service’s rush to cut Montana’s burned Bitterroot forest
Posted inJanuary 21, 2002: Finding the words
Will listing hurt the Colorado lynx?
Broad federal plan may leave Southern Rockies population out in the cold
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
A price tag for protest
OREGON Sitting in trees to save them may become a costly pastime, if the Oregon Department of Forestry has its way. Since August, protesters have prevented logging in the Tillamook State Forest by occupying platforms in the boughs of giant trees, and the department is considering an unusual method to deal with them: charging protesters […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
Pesky pike persist
CALIFORNIA They’re back. More than 5,000 spiny-tongued predatory pike are once again haunting the waters of northeastern California’s Lake Davis. Planted illegally in 1994, the voracious exotic fish resurfaced just 18 months after the California Department of Fish and Game spent $2 million poisoning the reservoir to get rid of them (HCN, 5/25/98: How California […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
Griz numbers a mixed bag
WYOMING Federal biologists say the threatened Yellowstone grizzly bear population is healthy and increasing. This year, biologists counted 42 females with cubs in the grizzly bear recovery area, which encompasses Yellowstone National Park and surrounding areas for a total of 9,202 square miles, according to biologist Mark Haroldson. Last year, they counted only 35 bears […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
Audible biodiversity
The first few tracks of The Diversity of Animal Sounds take me from the enthusiastic song of a male satin bowerbird in Australia to the deep-toned, primordial growls of the American alligator to the unabashed mating grunts of a jaguar. I am amused, and then deliciously frightened, and finally, slightly embarrassed – I keep the […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
Quincy collaboration heads to court
CALIFORNIA The Quincy Library Group has given up on collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service. Nearly nine years after developing a controversial management plan for 2.4 million acres of national forest land in Northeastern California, the coalition of environmentalists and civic and timber industry leaders has suspended its monthly meetings with agency officials. It now […]
Posted inDecember 17, 2001: Bad moon rising
A crowded Washington wilderness gets ugly
The Forest Service tries to manage the masses
Posted inDecember 3, 2001: Closing the wounds
Ruling ripples through salmon country
Fisheries Service must rethink hatchery policy
Posted inNovember 19, 2001: Bringing back the bosque
Bonneville trout denied protection
GREAT BASIN Environmental groups have stepped up to the plate three times for the Bonneville cutthroat trout since 1979, asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant the trout a slot on the endangered species list. On Oct. 9, the agency threw the fish’s defenders their third strike. Officials said that threats to cutthroat habitat, […]
Posted inNovember 19, 2001: Bringing back the bosque
Will the circle be broken?
WASHINGTON Washington may log land formerly set aside for the endangered northern spotted owl. In 1997, the state implemented a Habitat Conservation Plan, which allowed the state to log some owl territories if it set aside other land for habitat. As an extra layer of protection, then-Department of Natural Resources Public Lands Commissioner Jennifer Belcher […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Ferrets weasel onto public lands
MONTANA The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has found that successful reintroduction of the black-footed ferret is nearly as rare and elusive as the weasel-like predators themselves. So when the Bureau of Land Management asked the agency this summer for an allotment of ferrets for release in less than ideal habitat, it ranked the request […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Utah’s flower child
Flower aficionado Paul Ames is no pansy: Gathering wildflower seeds under a Utah sun is hot, back-breaking work. Besides, he dislikes the pansy. It and all exotic flowers, he believes, are pampered intruders that drink too much water and don’t belong in a desert state. For the past three years, Ames has been a champion […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Buying into salmon recovery
Shopping smart just became a way to help imperiled Northwest salmon. The new Chinook Book is the region’s first salmon-friendly resource and coupon guide to restaurants, recreation, food and household products. Created by the Celilo Group, a Portland, Ore.-based environmental consulting firm, the $18 book contains $5,000 worth of coupons for products like soaker hoses, […]
Posted inNovember 5, 2001: Wyoming's powder keg
Cattle make way for tortoises in the Mojave
Closures could spark a modern-day range war
Posted inOctober 22, 2001: Healing the Gila
Pigs run hog wild in the Olympics
WASHINGTON An unprecedented number of feral pigs are causing a ruckus in a valley near Washington’s Olympic National Park. According to park officials, the pigs have invaded from the nearby Quinault Indian Reservation, where the tribe has hunted the animals for nearly 15 years. Since April, the wild hogs have breached the perimeter of the […]
Posted inOctober 22, 2001: Healing the Gila
ESA didn’t kill firefighters
WASHINGTON As flames sped through Okanogan National Forest on July 10, ground dispatchers delayed a helicopter water-drop because they were unsure whether siphoning water from the Chewuch River would violate the Endangered Species Act. That afternoon, four firefighters died (HCN, 7/30/01: Tragedy re-ignites wildfire debate). But an investigative report, released on Sept. 26 by the […]
Posted inOctober 22, 2001: Healing the Gila
Pygmy owls lose one in court
ARIZONA Since the federal government listed the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl as endangered in 1997, it has been a point of conflict between developers and slow-growth advocates in Tucson (HCN, 8/30/99: A pocket-sized bird takes on Sunbelt subdivisions). Now, a federal district judge has removed some federal protections for the tiny owl’s habitat. In July […]