The flames have illuminated – and possibly strengthened – the park’s intimate connections with its neighbors
Wildlife
Posted inAugust 28, 2000: The mine that turned the Red River blue
The latest salmon plan heads toward a train wreck
Federal officials released on July 27 their long-awaited plan for saving 12 stocks of endangered salmon in the Snake and Columbia rivers. As expected, they stopped short of recommending to Congress what the majority of scientists say may be necessary to prevent Snake River salmon from going extinct – breaching four federal dams in eastern […]
Posted inAugust 20, 2007: Bonfire of the Superweeds
Bonfire of the Superweeds
In the Sonoran Desert, good intentions combust
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Reform school for wolves
MONTANA Things are shocking for three wolves on Ted Turner’s ranch near Bozeman, Mont. For the past several weeks they have been serving time in what one wolf biologist calls “reform school,” an experiment that managers hope will stop wolves from killing cattle. In a few weeks, when a beef calf is added to the […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Condors back in captivity
ARIZONA The California condor is one bird big enough to complement the vast size of the Grand Canyon. But it will be a while before visitors see the endangered birds’ huge soaring silhouettes again. All of the Grand Canyon condors, whose reintroduction began in 1996, were recaptured this summer after lead poisoning wiped out four […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Subdivision approved in owl habitat
ARIZONA Last year, when the federal government designated Tucson’s northwest side as critical habitat for the endangered cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl (HCN, 8/30/99: A pocket-sized bird takes on Sunbelt subdivisions), developers feared their boom had busted. But a federal Fish and Wildlife Service decision in late July may bring the bulldozers back. The agency says developer […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Tee off for salmon
OREGON When Ed and Janice Hopper bought a 27-hole golf course at the base of Oregon’s Mount Hood in 1989, they dreamed of coho and steelhead salmon swimming in the small stream that runs through the course. More than 100 years ago, the fish were there in the Wee Burn, a tributary of the wild […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Critter-watching etiquette
If you’ve ever wondered why it’s hard to see raccoons at night, or why Lassie’s favorite meal didn’t include broccoli, a new children’s book called On the Trail of Colorado Critters can help. “Have you ever been hiking and seen a deer? Have you heard an owl hooting at night? Does a woodpecker live in […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Migrating with the monarchs
Trying to unlock the secrets of the West’s monarch butterflies, writer and naturalist Robert Michael Pyle logged over 9,500 miles in his beloved 1982 Honda Powdermilk. In his Chasing Monarchs travelogue, Pyle starts by the Similkameen River in Canada, traveling south along the Columbia and Snake rivers, through the Great Basin, up onto the Colorado […]
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Who speaks for the sheep?
Desert bighorns are caught between waterholes and wilderness
Posted inAugust 14, 2000: Meth invasion
Forests on a forced diet
Hungry Washington office keeps Forest Service funds from reaching the ground
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Vulgar yet valiant
For most of us, a quick glimpse of a plane as it drones overhead on its way to a wildfire is all we’ll ever see of smokejumpers or the work they do, but Murry A. Taylor’s Jumping Fire: A Smokejumper’s Memoir of Fighting Wildfire in the West, offers insight into their hectic lives. Taylor, who […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Killing Coyote
The human hordes are still at it, roaming the last of the Big Open with their guns and traps and poisons, trying to wipe out yet another of their fellow creatures. This time, the target is the resilient trickster himself, coyote. Doug Hawes-Davis frames his latest documentary film, Killing Coyote, with the Calcutta, a coyote-killing […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Government writes wolf success story
NATION The federal government has declared its wolf recovery program a success. With wolf numbers at nearly 3,500 today – up from practically zero in the 1950s – the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on July 11 to downlist the gray wolf from “endangered” to “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in most of […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Buddhist temple hits a snag
CALIFORNIA While a Buddhist temple may be a place of tranquility, plans for a new retreat center in a canyon have environmentalists fuming and suing. The controversy began after San Bernardino County unanimously approved a 1998 proposal by Ling Yen Temple Inc. to build a 10-building retreat and a 600-car parking lot. Now, a Pasadena-based […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Loggers win one
WASHINGTON A county jury says the state of Washington must pay a logging company almost $10,000 an acre if it wants to protect spotted owls on private land. SDS Co. was forced to halt logging on 232 acres of its land in 1992 after state biologists found evidence of an owl nest in the area. […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
In New Mexico, a surprising proposal rises from the flames
For 11 years, Santa Fe’s Forest Guardians have been unflinching in their opposition to logging on the Southwest’s national forests. But this June, they blinked. Following the Cerro Grande fire that swept through Los Alamos, Forest Guardians released its first-ever proposal for cutting trees. The proposal calls for thinning and prescribed burning in Santa Fe’s […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Barberry bush beats bacteria
A compound from a barberry bush found on Colorado’s Western Slope is helping researchers fight antibiotic resistance. Some bacteria, particularly those that cause staph infections, can become resistant to antibiotics by pumping the drug out of cells before it begins to work. Colorado State University professor Frank Stermitz and Tufts University professor Kim Lewis discovered […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
Help search for snakes
Hikers, bikers and river rafters should be ready to capture – with cameras, that is – any scaly-skinned critters sunning themselves on Grand Canyon rocks. Nikolle Brown, also known as “the Snake Lady,” needs help documenting reptile sightings for her Snakes of the Grand Canyon Identification and Distribution project. Brown, a seasoned wildlife biologist for […]
Posted inJuly 31, 2000: Out of the darkness
The bees’ needs
Golf courses are becoming a great place to learn about the birds and the bees. A Portland, Ore.-based group says that with a little encouragement, native pollinators such as bees and beetles will easily inhabit golf courses. Only a small percentage of any golf course is used by golfers, and the rest has great potential […]