Colorado’s White River National Forest is a busy place. It hosts 11 ski areas – two-thirds of the state’s downhill skiing – and attracts about 8.4 million visitors a year (HCN, 12/7/98). Recreation use has boomed, with four-wheel drive devotees wanting more roads, and cross-country skiers hoping for more huts for winter use. Now, a […]
Wildlife
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
Endangered boreal toads
Colorado hikers will find “WANTED” posters at trailheads this fall. The state Division of Wildlife, which posted the signs, is not looking for fugitives, but endangered boreal toads. The toads are often confused with chorus frogs or Woodhouse toads and biologists are trying to track legitimate sightings. They hope hikers will help with pictures, postcards, […]
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
The Millworker and the Forest
Notes on natural history, human industry and the deepest wilds of the Northwest
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
Disease is wasting the West’s wild herds
Nobody knows where the disease came from, or if it has existed forever, confined to the lodgepole forests, shortgrass prairies and alfalfa fields of north-central Colorado and southeast Wyoming. It is not known how it passes among its victims. What is certain is that the whitetails, mule deer and elk that contract it inevitably die […]
Posted inSeptember 27, 1999: The Millworker and the Forest
Do you want more wilderness? Good luck
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Poor W. Howard Gray didn’t know what hit him. Just a few years before, in the early 1960s, the head of the American Mining Congress seemed justified in confidently predicting oblivion for this absurd proposal to set aside millions of acres of land for … well, for doing nothing with it. All […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Wolves and cows don’t mix
A pack of endangered Mexican wolves that developed a taste for beef headed back to captivity in early August. The Arizona Game and Fish Department captured seven wolves from the Pipestem Pack after they attacked cattle north of Clifton, Ariz. Three Pipestem pups have since died of parvovirus, a canine disease they apparently picked up […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Medicine Bow National Forest
In Wyoming, the Friends of the Bow, Biodiversity Associates and the Snowy Range Group Sierra Club are leading a hike to unprotected wilderness in the Medicine Bow National Forest on Sept. 18. To join this outing in the Rock Creek roadless area near Arlington, Wyo., call 307/742-7978. This article appeared in the print edition of […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Ranch is a squirrel sanctuary
When cattleman Frank Anderson settled into a remote house in rural Idaho, ground squirrels were the furthest thing from his mind. But once the critters emerged from hibernation, he could hardly ignore them as they devoured the chow he left outside for his dogs. “The bloody things were eating more dog food than the dogs,” […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
Bear spray manufacturers get a hit of reality
MISSOULA, Mont. – One summer night in 1977, Bill Pounds awoke to chewing and grunting sounds outside his tent. The disabled Vietnam vet had set up camp near Hungry Horse Reservoir in northwestern Montana. “Coming from Arkansas, I thought it was a wild hog,” he says. Then he remembered that there are no wild hogs […]
Posted inSeptember 13, 1999: Troubled Oasis
A spray can is no substitute for smarts
Note: in the print edition of this issue, this article appears as a sidebar to another news article, “Bear spray manufacturers get a hit of reality.” Even if armed with an effective bear spray, backcountry users should not let down their guard, says Gary Moses, bear specialist at Glacier National Park. Grizzly attacks are infrequent, […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Trappers set free in Big Sky state
After several months of debate, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners recently voted on new trapping regulations. Most of the rules will remain the same. “The trapping community in Montana has done quite well,” says Kevin Feist, a Kalispell-area man who advocates more stringent rules. “They only have to do a couple […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
A tiny owl with a big name
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. The cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl, described as “fist-sized” and “no bigger than a muffin,” measures seven inches from beak to tail, and is the second smallest owl in North America. Only the elf owl, also native to southern Arizona, is smaller. Pygmy-owls spend […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
A pocket-sized bird takes on Sunbelt subdivisions
Note: two sidebar articles accompany this feature story: “A tiny owl with a big name” and “An ESA cheat sheet.” MARANA, Ariz. – An eerie calm hangs over Dove Mountain, a mega-development spilling out of the saguaro-lined canyons about 30 miles northwest of Tucson. Here in the foothills of the Tortolita Mountains, developers have spent […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
An ESA cheat sheet
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Endangered – Any species in danger of extinction throughout all or most of its range and “listed” as such under the Endangered Species Act. Now, 357 animals and 568 plant species in the U.S. are listed as endangered. Threatened – Any species […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The king of fish
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. The hefty chinook salmon, also known as the king salmon, often exceeds 30 pounds. In 1949, a 126-pound chinook salmon was caught near Petersburg, Alaska. It remains the largest chinook on record. In the past 25 years, the number of chinook caught […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Salmon and suburbs struggle over a Washington river
Note: two sidebar articles accompany this feature: “The king of fish” and “The secretary speaks.” CEDAR FALLS, Wash. – In this valley at the foot of the Washington Cascades, 40 minutes’ drive southeast of Seattle when traffic is light, the Cedar River runs clear and cold. Slipping over its bed of cobble and gravel as […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The secretary speaks
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Since taking office in 1993, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has been an ardent supporter of habitat conservation plans. In a recent telephone interview, he elaborated on his position. Bruce Babbitt: “I got involved (in urban habitat conservation plans) early on in Southern […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Slow and steady
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Desert tortoises don’t have an easy childhood. Since the softer shells of baby tortoises make them easy prey for ravens and coyotes, less than 5 percent survive to adulthood. Tortoises who make it to maturity typically live long lives – they’ve been […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
A desert boomtown comes to terms with its quiet neighbors
Note: a sidebar article accompanies this feature story: “Slow and steady.” Hirschi feared the consequences as much as anyone. He had started hearing about tortoise troubles when he was a field representative for Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah. In 1989, he was elected a Washington County commissioner. He’d seen a disaster unfold in the Las Vegas […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
The city mouse
Note: This article is a sidebar to one of this issue’s feature stories. Preble’s meadow jumping mice deserve their name: By using their strong hind legs and (relatively) big feet, the three-inch mice can jump more than a foot and a half into the air and can leap three feet horizontally. Their long tails are […]