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 […]
Wildlife
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?
Who’s stopping sprawl?
Note: this front-page essay introduces this issue’s feature stories. The northern spotted owl created an enormous controversy in the timber towns of the Pacific Northwest. But at least it never had to tangle with the PTA. Less than 80 cactus ferruginous pygmy-owls are thought to survive in southern Arizona, and many of them live in […]
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 […]
Posted inAugust 30, 1999: Who's stopping sprawl?
Can the Preble’s mouse trap growth on Colorado’s Front Range?
Note: a sidebar article, “The city mouse,” accompanies this feature story. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – On the 13th floor of the tallest building in town, Steve Sharkey, vice president of Picolan Inc., pulls out his plans for the Northgate development. It’s a 1,200-acre residential and commercial development at the edge of town, and it’s been […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
America’s Redrock Wilderness
America’s Redrock Wilderness “I’m here to disprove the lie that local people don’t want wilderness; the truth is that most southern Utahns are frightened by runaway growth and want to see as much land protected from development as possible.” * Linda Wood, Cedar City, Utah, testifying at Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt’s 1995 hearings on wilderness […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Dams must go
Can salmon be saved? A free, 15-page report, Returning Salmon by Restoring Rivers: The Case for Partially Removing Four Dams on the Lower Snake River, says yes. Prepared by the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, which includes 230 conservation groups, Indian tribes and others, the report says breaching the dams is the best way to […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Judge halts nine timber sales
After five years of an uneasy truce, both sides in the Pacific Northwest timber wars are slugging it out again (HCN, 11/23/98). On Aug. 2, federal Judge William Dwyer sided with 13 environmental groups and blocked nine major timber sales while threatening to stop dozens more. Dwyer ruled that the Forest Service and Bureau of […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Reviving a refuge
TULE LAKE, Calif. – It goes by the unappealing name of “Sump 1-B,” and it is a far cry from the vast lakes and marshes that covered much of the lower Klamath Basin at the turn of the century. Only inches deep, its murky water is too hot for fish. Sump 1-B has a twin, […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Facts about prairie dogs
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. Prairie dogs come in five types: Utah, Gunnison, Mexican, white-tailed and black-tailed. The Utah prairie dog is listed as a threatened species and the Mexican is listed as endangered. Prairie dogs are active during the day, but only if the sun is out. Socially, […]
Posted inAugust 16, 1999: Standing up for the underdog
Prairie dogs found in pet stores and pounds
Note: This article is a sidebar to this issue’s feature story. “So this is where prairie dogs live.” That was the first thought in Rebecca Fischer’s mind as she drove up to a flourishing 300-acre dog town not far from the Marias River outside Shelby, Mont. Although she hadn’t seen a dog town since she […]