Dick O’Sullivan stands in a lush meadow near Mount Lassen. What he sees is excellent habitat for an uncommon and drab little bird called the willow flycatcher. It’s also plush green forage for his cows. He thinks there’s room for both. The upper third of the meadow is Forest Service land. The lower third is […]
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Restoring the Range of Light
In California, the Forest Service sets fires, protects big trees and owls, and leaves loggers in the lurch
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
A former oilman says no to drilling in the Arctic
I come from a long line of Texas earth-divers: prospectors, trappers and explorers who have spent their lives in the successful pursuit of oil and gas. I am proud of our part in supplying the world with energy – in feeding this country – and am proud of how today’s geologists have survived the volatility […]
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Drawing a line in the mud
Coloradans weed out tamarisk before it takes over
Posted inAugust 27, 2001: Restoring the range of light
Sierra Framework treads between protection, treatment
While everyone agrees that the Sierra Nevada’s vast forests and its creatures are in trouble, no one knows for sure how the U.S. Forest Service can restore the range to a condition that inspires rather than alarms – not even the authors of the agency’s 3,100-page Sierra Nevada Framework. The usual characters are present – […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Court helps candidates
NATION More than 200 wildlife and plant species have waited years for a spot on the federal endangered species list. A recent court decision could soon put an end to their wait. On June 20, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 1996 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ban on citizen petitions to list […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Predators keep their pelts
COLORADO In Colorado, three species of fur-bearing predators will hold onto their skins for a little longer. In its July meeting, the Colorado Wildlife Commission decided to not allow live-cage trapping and shooting seasons for the swift fox, pine marten and opossum. Commission chair Rick Enstrom, who cast the tie vote which killed the Colorado […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
On the trail of an exotic ‘native’
Long considered an “exotic” species, wild horses occupy a sort of borderland, caught between the mythology of their origins and the reality of their plight today. This is the subject of a new documentary, El Caballo, by Drury Gunn Carr and Doug Hawes-Davis. Known for their hard-hitting documentary films, Varmints (HCN,10/26/98: Varmints) and Killing Coyote […]
Posted inAugust 13, 2001: No refuge in the Klamath Basin
Old firefighters need not apply
Forest Service regulations are keeping experienced workers off the fireline
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Norton snubs grizzlies
MONTANA, IDAHO Unless they make it by their own devices, grizzly bears likely won’t return to the Bitterroot Mountains anytime soon. On June 20, Interior Secretary Gale Norton set aside a Clinton-era plan to reintroduce the bears to the wilderness of central Idaho and western Montana. Under the old plan, grizzly recovery would have been […]
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Logging cut short for salmon
OREGON Salmon in the Pacific Northwest just got a break. In late May, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the National Marine Fisheries Service must re-examine how logging affects endangered salmon before 24 federal timber sales can proceed. That may mean loggers would provide larger buffers around riparian areas, thin units instead of […]
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Bush fails to defend roadless rule
The roadless rule for national forest lands is still alive – but it’s caught in a legal and bureaucratic labyrinth. On July 9, the Bush administration missed the deadline to appeal a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge. The Idaho judge had blocked the roadless rule with a preliminary injunction in May, citing […]
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
Tragedy re-ignites wildfire debate
Blaze in Washington’s Methow Valley kills four
Posted inJuly 30, 2001: Not in our back yard
A ‘shroom boom rises from the ashes
Mushroom hunters descend on Montana’s fire-scorched national forests
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 […]