Mushroom hunters descend on Montana’s fire-scorched national forests
Wildlife
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Tragedy re-ignites wildfire debate
Blaze in Washington’s Methow Valley kills four
Posted inJuly 2, 2001: Can Nevada bury Yucca Mountain?
Varmint hunters sidelined in Wyoming
The Forest Service takes a stand for prairie dogs
Posted inJuly 2, 2001: Can Nevada bury Yucca Mountain?
Tribes fight to clear the roads for salmon
Washington fears lawsuit could give tribes sweeping control of salmon habitat
Posted inJune 18, 2001: Transforming powers
Arizona waffles on wolves
The state may pull its support for reintroduction
Posted inJune 18, 2001: Transforming powers
A bird from the past, a warning for the future
My first California condor sighting was at the Grand Canyon. Imagine those huge birds aloft over that incomparable chasm – living gliders on wings that span 9 feet and 40,000 years. Imagine their oversized shadows passing over talus slopes and mesas, clouding the once blood-red, but now blue-green waters of the Colorado. Eclipsing the sun […]
Posted inJune 4, 2001: Tribal links
Dogs to sniff out grizzly numbers
WASHINGTON The mystery of how many grizzly bears inhabit Washington’s rugged North Cascade Mountains may soon be solved with some help from man’s best friend. David Wasser, a zoology professor at the University of Washington, is using four dogs to sniff out bear scat; Wasser says they can smell it from up to a half-mile […]
Posted inMay 21, 2001: Quenching the big thirst
Wolf assassin on the loose
IDAHO A murder mystery case is unfolding near Idaho’s Salmon-Challis National Forest. Over the past two years, nine endangered gray wolves have died there by the poison Compound 1080, according to recently released tests conducted at the National Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Ore. The discovery of all nine wolves occurred after their radio collars began […]
Posted inMay 21, 2001: Quenching the big thirst
Idaho reaches for control of the ESA
New office seeks to keep species management closer to home
Posted inMay 21, 2001: Quenching the big thirst
Bush administration blinks on roadless rule
Attack on forest protection may backfire
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Reform for dumpster-diving bears
COLORADO In Pitkin County, Colo., trash is now safe from prying paws. Last month, a “bear ordinance” went into effect in all the county’s rural areas. The law, which had been in the works for more than two years, says that every trash can that hits the curb in unincorporated Pitkin County must be “wildlife-proof.” […]
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Tribes scale salmon harvest
NORTHWEST Although treaties guarantee the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Warm Springs tribes the right to harvest salmon, contentious negotiations over just how many fish will come out of the river often end up in front of a judge (HCN, 12/20/99: Tribes cast for tradition, catch controversy). That’s about to change. In February, tribes and […]
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Debate rages over fish poisoning
Supporters say pesticide is the best tool for recovering native species
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
The West’s fire survivors
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. LODGEPOLE PINE If you watched the Yellowstone fires in 1988, you’ve seen lodgepole pine in action. This is a tree that is built to burn. It grows in dense thickets at high elevations where the climate is usually moist and cool. But when drought […]
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Making forests safe again won’t be a walk in the park
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Mark Shiery works quickly but methodically with a chainsaw in the ponderosa pine forest on the northwest edge of Flagstaff. He revs his saw to fell small trees and bucks them into two-foot sections. Then Shiery, the assistant fuels manager for […]
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
A modest chief moved the Forest Service miles down the road
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. In March, Mike Dombeck resigned as chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Dombeck grew up on Wisconsin’s Chequamegon National Forest and spent years working for the Bureau of Land Management before leading the Forest Service for four years under President Clinton. While the Forest […]
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
The year it rained money
In early September last year, I threw my lower back out. I drove to my job in Salmon, Idaho, but by noon I could hardly stand. I scooted myself to the office lobby on a wheeled chair, then hobbled as far as the sidewalk before my legs buckled. I lay panting on the cool concrete, […]
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Back into the woods
The West goes to work cleaning up its forests
Posted inMay 7, 2001: Back into the woods
Can Mr. Nice Guy lead the Forest Service?
Agency lifer Dale Bosworth lands in the hot seat
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Timber towns search for a new economy
NORTH FORK, Calif. – Hidden away in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, this town of 3,500 lies 16 miles from the nearest major road. Occupying, as the sign on the roadside says, “the exact center of California,” it’s a nice place to live: The air is crisp, everyone knows everyone else and the oak- and fir-covered […]